The Best Fast Food Cookie

Publish date: 2024-05-01

We compared chocolate chip cookies from five popular chains to see who bakes the best one.
We heard plenty of hype about Subway's cookie, but it was artificial tasting and had a strange aftertaste, so it ended up in last place.
Chick-fil-A took fourth place because it was dense and hard to chew.
Panera Bread's Chocolate Chipper Cookie was delicious — and giant — but it was also the most expensive of the bunch by far at $2.79.
McDonald's was our winner, closely followed by Starbucks.

A fast food chain might not be your first thought when you think of getting a warm chocolate chip cookie, but this classic dessert is a staple on nearly every fast food and coffee chain menu.

We decided to try chocolate chip cookies from five popular chains to figure out who does it best as a part of an ongoing INSIDER taste test series. In the past, we've compared everything from iced coffee to fried chicken.

Here are the contenders:

McDonald's
Chick-fil-a
Subway
Starbucks
Panera Bread

Keep reading to see who makes the best chocolate chip cookie.

McDonald's

McDonald's cookies come in packs of three. Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

McDonald's serves classic fast food cookies in packs of three. They were warm but not fresh out of the oven, and they had the perfect blend of crunch and chewiness. The chocolate was nothing revolutionary, although the overall taste and texture was exactly what we wanted from a cookie. These cookies also had the fewest calories of the group, at 170 calories per cookie and only 15 grams of sugar.

We paid $1.73 for three decent-sized cookies, which averages out to less than 60 cents per cookie. While we couldn't eat all of these in one sitting, they're perfect for sharing with friends or even saving for later.

Chick-fil-A

Chick-Fil-A's cookie had a more homemade taste. Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Chick-fil-A's cookie was the most unique of the group that we tested. It was more of a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, and it was thicker and denser than the other competitors. At 350 calories, it was also one of the more caloric cookies of the bunch, but it was also the most complex and tasted almost homemade. This cookie was $1.62, which seemed fair in relation to its size.

The oatmeal element of this cookie had us excited, but overall, it left something to be desired. The texture was a bit too tough (making it hard to chew) and the flavor was on the bland side, so we ultimately weren't dying for more.

Subway

Chocolate chip cookies from Subway are a cult favorite, but we felt something was a little off. Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Aside from $5 foot longs, Subway is also pretty well-known for its chocolate chip cookies. We always hear people raving about them, so this was the one we were most excited to try. This cookie was also the cheapest of the five at just $0.76.

Unfortunately, Subway's cookie was by far the most artificial-tasting of the bunch. It was ultra-sweet and chewy, and the cookie was so thin that it didn't feel like there was much substance to it. It was also pretty greasy.

All those criticisms aside, we would have been fine with this cookie if it didn't have such a strange aftertaste. Somehow, the cookie ended up tasting like the Subway restaurant smelled — it reminded us of the chain's Italian sandwich bread.

Needless to say, that's not what we're looking for in a chocolatey dessert, so this one was a disappointment.

Starbucks

Look at those gooey chocolate chunks. Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

We loved the giant semi-sweet chocolate chunks in Starbucks' take on the chocolate chip cookie. This cookie tasted like it came from an actual bakery. It was chewy enough to almost fall apart when we picked it up, but substantial enough to be satisfying.

Despite its rich taste, the Starbucks cookie ranked somewhere in the middle in terms of calories and sugar. At 310 calories and 27 grams of sugar, this cookie is definitely a treat, although the cookies from Panera and Chick-fil-A were significantly more caloric.

Panera Bread

That's a big cookie. Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Panera's Chocolate Chipper cookie is massive. Plus, it's filled with semi-sweet chocolate chunks and milk chocolate flakes. It came warm and had a freshly-baked taste, which we appreciated. Despite its impressive size, we were still a little put off by the price of $2.79, considering how much cheaper the other delicious cookies were.

Unsurprisingly, Panera's cookie has a whopping 380 calories, the most of any of the cookies we tried, and 30 grams of sugar.

The verdict

INSIDER/Madeline Diamond

McDonald's cookies reigned supreme because they had the perfect combination of crunch and chewiness, and just the right amount of chocolate. Plus, $1.73 is a pretty good deal for three cookies.

Starbucks was a close second — their cookie had a "fresh from the bakery taste" and giant chocolate chunks that we loved.

Panera's take on the chocolate chip cookie came in third because of its chewiness and ample chocolate chunks. However, it was a little too expensive.

Chick-fil-A had a different take on the chocolate chip cookie, which was interesting, but not what we wanted. It was also a little too dense for our liking.

Subway, a fan favorite fast food cookie, came in last because of its artificial flavor and odd aftertaste.

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