The Best Store-Bought Cookie Dough Ranked
While some of the prepackaged cookies that you can buy at your local grocery store are really good, they can't hold a candle to cookies that are baked fresh in your oven. Take a sheet of cookies out of the oven, and everyone in your household will flock to the kitchen within seconds if only to get a whiff of the scrumptiousness.
To make the baking process easier and to cut down on the time it would otherwise take to make cookies from scratch, most stores have a big selection of cookie dough. The cookie dough, which is typically either refrigerated or frozen, comes with simple instructions that will allow you to have freshly baked cookies ready to eat within 20 minutes.
There are only two rules when it comes to cookie dough: First of all, don't eat raw cookie dough because that can be dangerous. Some cookie dough is safe to eat, but unless you see it spelled out clearly on the packaging, assume that it needs to be baked. The other rule is to not settle for second-rate cookie dough. To assist you with that second rule, we have ranked store bought cookie dough from worst to best.
16. Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough
Mrs. Fields is a brand that has been known for their delicious goodies since they first started selling cookies all the way back in 1977. However, even if you typically love Mrs. Fields cookies and you adore oatmeal raisin cookies in general, stay away from this specific cookie dough. The resulting cookies are so gross that you'll end up tossing them directly into the closest trash can.
While in the oven (they need approximately 15 minutes), Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough smells really good. But once you bite into the cookie, all your hopes and dreams will instantly go up in smoke. First of all, the raisins in this cookie dough are tiny and shriveled to a pathetic degree. The small pieces that you do find aren't even that sweet. Secondly, the texture of these cookies is terrible. Even if you eat them when they're still hot, the cookies are way too coarse and will crumble into pieces. Don't waste your money by purchasing this disastrous cookie dough.
15. Simple Truth Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Sold by Kroger, Simple Truth Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is a tempting option for the vegans of the world. Sadly, despite a plethora of yummy ingredients including chocolate, brown sugar, organic cane sugar, and cocoa butter, these cookies are barely even edible.
You will know there's an issue as these cookies bake in the oven. While just about every type of cookie smells heavenly as they bake, these don't have much of a scent at all. When the cookies are ready to eat, you'll be totally underwhelmed by the flavor. The predominant flavor you'll taste is whole wheat with a very limited amount of sweetness or chocolatey goodness.
To make matters even worse, this cookie dough doesn't even produce cookies that are notably healthy. While they're vegan-friendly, each cookie has 160 calories, seven grams of fat, and 23 grams of carbs. There are much better vegan cookie doughs on the market, so keep this stuff out of your shopping cart.
14. Great Value Red Velvet Frozen Cookie Dough
Anyone who has purchased Great Value Red Velvet Frozen Cookie Dough had to know they were taking a big risk. Scrumptious red velvet cookies aren't easy to find, so expecting that from a generic brand of cookie dough from Walmart was wishful thinking — to put it kindly. Unfortunately, the outcome of this gamble is even worse than could have been predicted.
Firstly, the resulting cookies are more brown than they are red, which is disappointing when you're expecting red velvet cookies. Secondly, the white chips in the cookies are basically flavorless. The box says the chips are white confectionery chunks, but they must have forgotten to add any discernible flavor to the recipe. As it is, these chunks of whiteness are basically ornamental. Thirdly, while these cookies have a surprisingly satisfying texture, they have a chemical aftertaste. Like most red velvet goodies, these cookies are made with cocoa. However, that cocoa is massively overshadowed by an artificial aftertaste that is wholly unpleasant.
13. Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Pillsbury has a history that dates back to 1869, and they have a wide array of cookie dough products for sale. But even if you have tried the Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in the past and loved it, you should think twice before buying it again. At one point in time, this cookie dough was outstanding and would have landed in one of the top spots in our ranking. However, Pillsbury has apparently changed their recipe — and the new recipe is much, much worse.
Look at the poor reviews for this cookie dough on Pillsbury's own website, and you'll see hoards of reviewers complaining about the new recipe. Perhaps the issue can be traced back to when Pillsbury changed their recipe to make their cookie dough safe to eat even when it's raw. Whatever the case may be, don't buy this stuff until they figure out where they messed up.
If you ignore this advice and purchase this chocolate chip cookie dough, you'll be forced to eat cookies that are laughably flaccid and have a strange baking powder-flavored aftertaste.
12. Immaculate Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough
If you are expecting immaculate cookies from Immaculate Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough, you will be disappointed. While these cookies have no gluten, no dairy, no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors, and no bleached flour, they also lack any sort of enjoyment factor. From your first bite to your final bite, you will be painfully aware that you aren't eating a genuine chocolate chunk cookie. It tastes like diet food — and that's not a compliment.
Immaculate Baking Company, which is now owned by General Mills, has three types of gluten-free cookie dough and three types of organic cookie dough. Immaculate Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough is the best of the gluten-free options, while Immaculate Organic Vanilla Sugar Cookie Dough is the best of the organic options. But unless you like cookies that taste like diet food, it'd be best to just skip this brand completely when shopping for cookie dough.
11. Nestle Toll House White Chip Macadamia Nut Cookie Dough
Nestle Toll House White Chip Macadamia Nut Cookie Dough is just weird. The cookies aren't terrible, but they won't be what you're expecting. You'll probably be able to eat the whole tray of cookies with a slight grin on your face, but you will be confused the entire time.
The weirdness about this cookie dough is that there is a noticeable amount of coconut flakes. While it's not unheard of for coconut flakes to be in white chip macadamia nut cookies, the number of flakes in this dough is overwhelming. It's the main reason why this cookie dough by Nestle Toll House has such mediocre reviews.
Honestly, if you want a tasty white chip macadamia nut cookie at a very affordable price, skip these strange cookies and go to Subway instead. Cookies from Subway are ridiculously cheap, and their white chip macadamia nut cookies are outstanding — and they don't taste like coconut flakes.
10. Sweet Loren's Fudgy Brownie Cookie Dough
With the mission of creating cookie dough that can be classified as wholesome, Loren Brill launched Sweet Loren's in 2011. By concentrating on selling only cookie dough, Loren Brill's brand has gotten extremely popular very quickly. Less than a decade after launching, Sweet Loren's is now available at more than 10,000 grocery stores. Recently, this cookie dough even started to appear in certain Costco locations.
Overall, Sweet Loren's Fudgy Brownie Cookie Dough is just about average. While these chocolate-powered cookies aren't as rich as you might expect, the flavor is pleasant. When it comes to the texture, there are no complaints. These cookies are soft but don't fall apart in your fingers.
Although these goodies may only be average, they get bonus points for being vegan-friendly, gluten-free, dairy-free, and GMO-free. Unlike the aforementioned cookies from the Immaculate Baking Company, these treats don't taste at all like diet food. They taste like real, authentic cookies.
9. Mrs. Fields Sugar Cookie Dough
While their previously mentioned oatmeal raisin cookie dough is a bust and should be avoided, Mrs. Fields Sugar Cookie Dough is actually pretty good and is safely above average. Unlike a lot of sugar cookies, these treats don't simply depend on an overpowering amount of sweetness. Instead, these sugar cookies have enough sugar to capture your attention but also enough flavor diversity to keep your taste buds thoroughly thrilled the entire time you're scarfing them down.
The only other flavor of cookie dough by Mrs. Fields that you can trust to be tasty is Mrs. Fields Rainbow Chip Cookie Dough. What's the secret to these rainbow chip cookies? They feature real milk chocolate M&M's! While the base cookie isn't as good as the sugar cookie, the presence of the M&M's helps make up the difference. Either way, you can't go wrong with Mrs. Fields as long as you stick to the sugar cookie dough or the rainbow chip cookie dough.
8. Annie's Homegrown Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Annie Withey founded Annie's Homegrown in 1985, and her company has been creating high-quality and healthy food items ever since. Annie's Homegrown believes that organic is always better, and you might just be convinced after you try their cookie dough. While it's not the best organic cookie dough on the market, it's certainly yummy and worthy of your money.
Annie's Homegrown Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough has no preservatives, no artificial flavors, no synthetic colors, no bleached flour, no hydrogenated oils, no GMO ingredients, and is certified organic. What it does have is a whole lot of chocolatey awesomeness. You can find both chocolate chips and chocolate chunks in these cookies. While you sometimes need to search for the chocolate in other brands of chocolate chip cookie dough, that's not a problem at all with this Annie's Homegrown offering. You can be confident that every bite of the cookie will contain a fulfilling amount of chocolate.
7. Eat Pastry Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Vegan Cookie Dough
Eat Pastry has been around since 2008, and they claim to be home to the original vegan-focused cookie dough. Try any of their cookie dough products, and that experience and know-how will shine through with each bite. In addition to four flavors of vegan cookie dough that need just ten minutes of baking, they also sell vegan fudge brownie dough and three kinds of ready-to-eat bite-sized cookie dough that is packed with protein.
While all four of their flavors of vegan cookie dough are good, the Eat Pastry Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Vegan Cookie Dough is the best of the bunch. These cookies have a sufficient amount of rich, creamy peanut butter that allows each bite to be adequately nutty. While there aren't a whole lot of chocolate chips in the mix, the combination of the chocolate and the peanut butter makes these goodies taste like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in cookie form.
6. Great Value Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
After the red velvet fiasco, you might be surprised that a Great Value cookie dough is this high on the list. However, this inexpensive cookie dough that can be found at Walmart is legitimately really good. In fact, if you're on a budget but you just can't get enough of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, you can make an argument that this is the cookie dough you should stock up on. You'll save money and your taste buds will be overjoyed — a definite win-win.
There aren't many negatives to report when it comes to Great Value Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. There's an ample amount of chocolate chips and the optimal amount of sweetness. The only issue is that mastering the baking process takes some work. If you don't bake this cookie dough long enough, the cookies will be grossly limp. If you bake them a little too long, they tend to become too flat and too rigid. But if you can bake the cookies just right, you'll have some that are perfectly crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle goodies at your fingertips.
5. Sweet Loren's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie Dough
If you're a big fan of oatmeal raisin cookies, you really need to try Sweet Loren's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie Dough. It's not hyperbolic to say that this dough makes glorious cookies that may stop you from ever going back to raisins again.
These oatmeal cranberry cookies are made with steam-rolled whole grain oats, tart cranberries that have been dried in the sun, rich molasses, and the perfect amount of cinnamon and sea salt. While subbing out raisins for cranberries might sound like a questionable plan, the flavor explosion you will experience in your mouth will convince you otherwise. And although the cranberries are definitely tangy, these cookies are otherwise sweet enough to completely counteract that tanginess to ensure that each bite is enjoyable.
Technically, this cookie dough by Sweet Loren's is safe to eat when it's raw. However, that's a very bad idea. It tastes disgusting when it's raw. On the other hand, after a short trip inside of your oven, they become spectacular.
4. Trader Joe's Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
"Chunky" is the key word that comes to mind when it comes to Trader Joe's Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. If you prefer for your chocolate chip cookies to have huge chunks of chocolate, this is a brand you should consider. Not only are these chunks large in size, they are gargantuan when it comes to flavor.
When you see these cookies, you will also notice that the cookies end up chunkier after they're baked than other competing cookies. That thickness allows these chunky cookies to have an extra soft center that is a pleasure for your taste buds to behold. The only reason why this cookie dough isn't higher in the ranking is that the bottom of the cookies can sometimes dry out and become too crunchy.
While Trader Joe's has amazing desserts like tiramisu torte and green tea ice cream, these cookies can go toe-to-toe with any treat you can find on their shelves.
3. Pillsbury Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
Although the Pillsbury cookie dough mentioned above took a turn for the worse when the company unveiled a new recipe, that's not true for all of their flavors of cookie dough. Pillsbury Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough is mouthwateringly stupendous. They don't hide the fact that these cookies are blessed with Reese's peanut butter, and the result is even better than you're imagining.
If you've tasted peanut butter made by Reese's that comes in a jar, you'll know that it's overrated and oftentimes overpriced. That said, the peanut butter used in this cookie dough tastes instead like the peanut butter that is in the middle of Reese's Pieces. It's sweet, rich, and fantastically delightful. While these cookies don't have any chocolate, the Reese's peanut butter more than fills any possible void.
This is another cookie dough that you can bake or eat raw. This one tastes really good either way, so if you don't have the time to pop them in your oven, you can just grab a spoon and get to work.
2. Cappello's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
If money is no object and you just want the best cookie dough your dollars can buy, Cappello's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough could just be what you're searching for. While this cookie dough currently costs $13 if you buy it directly from Cappello's, the cookies are so good that you'll find out that its seemingly inflated price tag is actually a small price to pay for the quality you receive.
Amazingly, not only do these cookies have the perfect texture and taste superb, this cookie dough is actually gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and vegan-friendly. Instead of relying on unhealthy ingredients, the cookie dough is made with almond flour, chocolate chips, organic maple syrup, organic vanilla extract, and organic coconut oil. You'll be blown away by these flavorful cookies. If you eat a vegan diet, these are the cookies you should purchase.
While you may be tempted by Cappello's Double Chocolate Cookie Dough, it's not as good as their original cookie dough. While double chocolate sounds like an upgrade, the cookies are actually too chocolatey.
1. Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
When it comes to cookie dough that reliably makes magical cookies that every single person of any age can enjoy, nothing beats Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. This is the cookie dough you're imagining when you think about getting your hands on the best of the best. It's the reason why these are the most popular cookies in the United States.
Try these cookies once, and you won't be surprised that Toll House literally invented chocolate chip cookies back in the 1930s. Once you pull them out of the oven, you can eat the cookies when they're still hot or wait until they cool all the way off. Either way, your taste buds will agree that this is how chocolate chip cookies should taste.
While Nestle Toll House has a large variety of cookie dough products, stick to this classic. Nothing else they offer comes close to matching the greatness of these cookies.