This keto chocolate bark with sea salt and almonds is easy to make and totally addictive. A little bit salty, a little bit sweet, and a whole lot delicious! Low carb and sugar free chocolate almond bark.
This keto chocolate bark recipe was first published in 2013. I recently made it again and was completely wowed by how good it is. It’s a tasty low carb dessert that stands the test of time. It’s back on the top of my favorite keto candy recipes!
I like to refer to this keto almond bark as addictive, but let’s take a closer look, shall we? Because there are good addictions and there are not-so-good addictions. And this one definitely falls into the good addiction category.
Sugar is addictive. I will venture to say that in the past few decades of nutritional science, this has become indisputable fact. Anyone who has ever tried to break their sugar habit will agree with me, I am sure.
Now that I’ve broken the habit, I look back and I can see just how addictive sugar really was. Eating something sugary always led to the desire for more sugar. The craving for more sugar. This is a common problem in many people eating a standard American diet. Even a little taste of sugar can trigger that uncontrollable desire.
Conquering Your Sugar Addiction
Some people feel you should eschew sweets all together when you go on a keto diet. Whereas others, myself included, feel that having keto sweets allows us to stay on track and stick with the program. Every person has to find their own way through it, their own personal journey. I can’t tell you what’s right for you.
But for me, being able to have a chocolate treat that is free of sugar and still feels like an indulgence is a powerful antidote.
Here’s the thing about low carb and sugar-free versions of my old favorites: they taste just as good, sometimes even better, than the originals, but are not nearly so addictive.
They tend to be much higher in fat, and thus much more filling. And because of the low carb and low sugar content, they don’t kick off that crazy roller coaster of cravings. Sometimes they taste so good that I find myself salivating at the very thought of them and can’t wait to have more, so I suppose that’s a sort of craving. But it’s not quite the same as the serotonin rush brought on by a sugary, carby snack. It’s much more manageable.
Sweet and Salty Keto Almond Bark
This keto chocolate bark was inspired by some dark chocolate sea salt almonds that my husband fell in love with. They were most definitely NOT sugar free, so I decided I had to fight fire with fire.
Keep in mind that this was back in 2013, when good sugar free chocolate that wasn’t loaded with artificial sweeteners wasn’t readily available. So I had to make everything from scratch. I had previously made my own keto sugar free chocolate chips, and I knew that it would make a delicious dark chocolate base for the bark.
The advantage to making your own keto chocolate is that you really control the ingredients. No commercial additives, no junk, no fillers.
I also wanted to capture that salty sweet taste for the almonds themselves, so I made a mixture of Swerve Sweetener and some butter, then tossed the almonds in it. After they cooled, they were like salty almond toffee. Delicious on their own and doubly delicious in the bark!
How to make Keto Chocolate Bark
This is an easy recipe to make, even when creating your own sugar free dark chocolate. You can watch the video in the recipe card for extra tips, but here are some pointers for getting it right:
- Prep the almonds. Bring the sweetener and butter to a boil and cook it for a few minutes, then add roasted almonds and a bit of sea salt. Spread them out on a pan in a single layer to cool.
- Make the chocolate mixture. You do need cocoa butter for this keto chocolate bark recipe. It’s the difference between a firm bark at room temperature, and a melty chocolate mess. You can purchase it online and in some health food stores like Whole Foods. I really like this one from Wild Foods because it comes in little discs and is easy to measure out.
- Use gentle heat. Unsweetened chocolate is finicky and can seize easily. Melt it double boiler style, with a heatproof pan set over a pan of barely simmering water. I like to get my water going over medium heat, but then reduce it to low when I add the chocolate.
- Coat the almonds. Break up your almonds so they aren’t sticking together, and then add most of them to the chocolate mixture. Keep a handful for the top of the bark so that they show through.
- Spread out the bark. You can make it thicker or thinner, as you desire, but try to get the almonds in one layer. Sprinkle with a little additional flaked sea salt, if desired.
- Chill the chocolate bark. Pop the whole sheet pan in the fridge to set the chocolate. If you can fit it in your freezer, it’s even faster!
- Break it up. Use your hands to break the bark into irregular pieces. Now you’re ready to eat!
How to store Keto Chocolate Almond Bark
This sweet chocolate treat should be fine on the counter for several weeks, assuming you don’t live in a very hot environment. It’s also fine in the fridge for weeks.
Store it in an airtight covered container for freshness.
More Delicious Keto Bark Recipes
- Keto Brownie Bark
- Keto Peppermint Bark
- Keto Raspberry Coconut Bark
- Frozen Cheesecake Bark
- Keto Cinnamon Praline Bark
- Keto Vanilla Protein Bark
Keto Chocolate Almond Bark
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Swerve Brown
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup roasted almonds, unsalted
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2 oz cocoa butter
- 1 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1/3 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Additional sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the Swerve and butter. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 2 minutes, watching carefully. Stir in the almonds and sea salt.
- Spread the almonds out in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, breaking up any clumps. Let cool.
- Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Combine the cocoa butter and unsweetened chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
- Stir in the powdered sweetener, then stir in the cocoa powder, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Break up the almonds and reserve about one quarter of them. Stir the remaining almonds into the chocolate until well coated. Spread the mixture out onto the same parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping the nuts in a single layer.
- Sprinkle with the reserved almonds and additional sea salt, if desired. Chill until set, 1 to 2 hours. Use your hands to break into chunks.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Yay for low carb!! I could eat this all day! Thanks for sharing! Time to get in the kitchen!
Hi! I just made this tonight with all the right ingredients and everything was going great until I added the vanilla! It caused the chocolate to sizzle and and thicken up like it was burnt chocolate. It was the strangest reaction ever!!! We quickly added the almonds back in and added a touch of heat with no luck! The chocolate is crumbly and flat looking:( have you ever heard of that? I’m using swerve and food grade cocoa butter, with bakers unsweetened chocolate and trader joes cocoa powder.
Yes, your chocolate seized. This can happen when you add a liquid to unsweetened chocolate. Because it sizzled, it sounds like your chocolate mixture was too hot when you added in the vanilla. Also I find Baker’s chocolate very prone to seizing like that and I always use Ghirardelli.
I realize this is an older post but I’d like to thank you for the recipe. I made it and it is the best chocolate recipe I’ve tried yet. I’ll be using it for all my chocolate needs. Mine seems to be suuuuper sweet, I’m just going to add a bit less swerve next time. Thanks!!
Glad you like it!
I just tried making this, and the Chocolate mixture turned out VERY thick. Not a liquid anymore. As far as I can tell, I followed the instructions exactly. Is this how it is supposed to be? If not, where could I have gone wrong?
No, that’s definitely not how it’s supposed to be. It sounds like your chocolate seized. What brand of unsweetened chocolate and/or cocoa powder did you use?
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much for sharing.
Donna
Wow! I decided to try this recipe — love, love, love dark chocolate and almonds. I was a bit intimidated by the thought of seized chocolate, but I decided to try it (a double batch, to share at work). I even roasted my own almonds. 🙂
I have my chocolate chilling right now. It looks absolutely fabulous! The chocolate I tasted from the bowl was amazing (used a bowl over a pan of water, as suggested). Even more amazing were the ‘candied’ almonds! I had no idea that erythritol could even DO that — with a bit of cinnamon, they would have tasted exactly like the candied almonds you can get at festivals in the fall here. I was almost sad to put them in the chocolate. 🙂 The great thing is my son LOVES candid almonds, so I am going to make him some (maybe for Christmas). So, two great things from one recipe!
Oh, one question — I was not sure how ‘dark’ the erythritol and water were supposed to get? I boiled it for 8 minutes, and figured that was as dark as it would get. It was darker than when I started, but not a caramel brown or anything….is there a particular darkness to strive for?
Thanks so much for all of your hard work. 🙂
Glad you liked it! Swerve will caramelize a little more than regular erythritol, and it should go a nice amber colour. That’s about right.
Hi,
I’ve been itching to make this, and I wanted to let you know about a tweak I ended up having to do which worked well. I had some cocoa butter in my larder, and it is supposedly food grade, but when I actually made the chocolate mixture (having already candied the almonds) it just tasted… off. And I know it was because of the cocoa butter. Won’t be buying that again. I didn’t want to waste the almonds, so what I did was melted 3 bars (100g each) of 85% chocolate, and added a little bit of liquid stevia – about two droppers worth. Mixed in with the almonds, did the rest, et voila – it was really good. Obviously not totally sugar free using 85% chocolate but still very very low in carbs…
Glad you managed to save it. I wonder if your cocoa butter had gone rancid?
This recipe looks yummy and I must try it!
Mine is dry and crumbly what did I do wrong?
I can’t really say without more info. What brands of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and unsweetened chocolate did you use? No one else I know has had this particular issue.
I just got cocoa butter and am looking forward to making this soon! Since “large baking sheet” is very subjective, I’m wondering if you know the size of your pan. I’m guessing it’s rimmed, too? I’m curious about the size of the pan because that will really affect the thickness of the bark once the mixture is poured in. Thanks!
It’s a rimmed half sheet, probably about 11 by 17. The bark won’t fill up the whole thing anyway, though so if you used a bigger one, it wouldn’t matter.
Thanks!
I was thinking it might spread out all over. Good to know!
Where can I find food grade cocoa butter? I cannot seem to locate any. Thanks!
I get mine on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009XEANGU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009XEANGU&linkCode=as2&tag=aldaidrabfo05-20&linkId=CD7UULIBU6O4ZETF
Has anyone tried butting bacon bits in this? Just saying, sound like a yummy idea to me. As soon as I get cocoa butter I’m going to make that happen.
I so appreciate all the recipes you post and that you do lots of experimenting to perfect your recipes. I like to experiment, too, but the cost of some of the ingredients makes that hard, so I’m thankful you post your results. I would like to know more about chocolate, and why you combine it in the proportions you do. I understand that unsweetened chocolate is a combination of cocoa butter and cocoa powder. Why do you use all three? I’m assuming you want to alter the proportions, but perhaps there is another reason. I’d like to figure out how to minimize the cocoa butter, since it costs 2-3x as much as unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder. If I upped the unsweetened chocolate, could I reduce the butter and powder, and by what proportions? I don’t know if you have time or inclination to answer this technical question or explain why the ingredients work the way they do. If you do, I’d be grateful. Thanks. -the other Carolyn
I don’t have a technical answer for this, I just felt my way through it until the chocolate came out right. Unsweetened chocolate doesn’t combine all that well with the sweetener on its own, so more cocoa butter in the mix allowed me to get things quite melted and stir in the powdered Swerve.
Hi Caryoln, I made this bark/crack last night and it is over the top delicious. I can’t begin to explain how happy I am that I can eat delicious chocolate and stay sugar free. I myself love dark chocolate but I am wondering for people who prefer a lighter chocolate could you add cream to this and maybe cut the cocoa butter a little?
I made this tonite, Carolyn, with the Truvia. It did not darken like the Swerve, but it did smoke, and it coated the almonds nicely. One thing I think I did wrong, tho – it takes less Truvia, and I neglected to reduce the amount of water equally, so that may be why it didn’t turn dark.
I also did not use powdered Truvia, but it mostly melted in the chocolate, and with the almonds, you don’t notice it. Next time, I will find a way to powder it, maybe with my coffee grinder.
I also wanted to portion this evenly, so that I could control/count my caloric intake, so I used a silicone mini loaf mold, and got 36, 1/2 oz bars out of it. I just put two almonds in each cavity, and filled them up with chocolate. I had a bunch of extra almonds, but just bagged them and stashed them in the fridge – I plan another batch tomorrow. It worked well, the portions are all the same so I can control my intake, and the bars are pretty, too! I’m taking a bunch with me to a luncheon tomorrow, and I’m betting they will be the hit of the party. You can believe I’ll be handing out your website a lot! Thanks for all your help!
Good to know about the changes with Truvia! I like what you did to have small portions, great idea.
LOL, took the whole batch with me to the luncheon today, Carolyn, and now I have to make me a batch, ’cause I came home empty handed! The ladies raved about it! Gonna try powdering the Truvia, see if that works any better.
Wonderful!
Carolyn,
A bit late to the game on this one…but I’d like to try making this. Can it be stored out of the fridge? Or must it be chilled until eaten? I’ve made myself a little snack at night by mixing cocoa powder, swerve, a little stevia, a pinch of sea salt, coconut butter and a bit of coconut oil…mixing super well, spreading out and popping it into the freezer. This stays solid for about as long as it takes to eat it 🙂 What I’d expect with coconut oil/butter.
Will yours stay solid after setting due to the cocoa butter? That was a super long winded question!
I stored mine out of the fridge. There isn’t much in it that will go rancid or bad, as long as you consume within a week or so. It will stay solid…it has the consistency of regular chocolate. The cacao butter makes a world of difference, although I do love the flavour of coconut oil and chocolate together!
I had a similar problem with truffles I make using 72% chocolate and heavy cream, so have switched to this recipe instead. But I have two questions:
Can I sub Truvia for the Stevia in this, and if so, will it still darken and smoke? I know I’ll need less Truvia, and can make that adjustment, no problem.
Other question – I’d like to make variations on this for use with dipping fruit like raspberries or apple slices, or to mix with coconut, etc. Can I just eliminate the salt and almond mix, and just use the chocolate mix? I use 3.5oz Ghirardelli 72% cocoa bars, so I would have to adjust the rest of the items accordingly and swap the Stevia for Truvia, but I think it would work, yes?
I am not sure how Truvia will behave when you try to caramelize it. I think it should be okay but it may not darken as much. For the dipping, go ahead and skip the salt and almonds etc. That should be fine.
Hi! I purchased some unsweetened Ghiardelli chocolate before checking its carb count–14 and 7 fiber for 1/3 of bar! My Baker’s chocolate is only 4 with 2 g fiber. Do you recommend any particular unsweetened? I thought the ghiardelli would be “better” but not at that carb cost :(. Thanks jane
Hi Jane…this actually comes out to almost the same thing. The tough part is what they are calling a “serving” differs. Baker’s says a serving is 1/2 a square which is 14g (also half an ounce). But Ghirardelli is calling a serving at 42 g, which almost 2 ounces! HUGE difference.
When you do the math, it comes out like this. Ghirardelli has 4.3 g of carbs per half-ounce compared to Baker’s 4 g per half ounce. And Ghirardelli has 2.1 g of fiber. So almost exactly the same.
If you want to check my math, do this… 14 g of carbs x 2.5 servings per bar (I have one right in front of me, that’s how I know the exact numbers!). Then divide that by 4 ounces. Then divide it again by 2 because Bakers says 1/2 an ounce is a serving. Voila!
I prefer Ghirardelli…it melts better, seizes less and tastes better. Just my 2 cents.
Gee thanks Carolyn. I really didn’t study the package closely enough. I missed that the Baker’s chocolate was only for 1/2 ounce. Planning to make this recipe as a stocking treat. Am also going to use the chocolate part without the almonds to make some molded chocolate pops. Got some cute Christmas lollipop molds. Plan to make the whatchamacallit recipe too. What’s a stocking with a few treats? Although since we’ve gone low carb my kids say they are really looking forward the orange and apple they usually get in their stocking. In the past apples and oranges sometimes got set aside or forgotten in the stocking–not this year! My son says an apple tastes like candy. Eating this way has readjusted our view back to a time when dessert really was a treat cause it was a bit labor intensive and the ingredients were expensive. And fruit really was a treat cause it was a rarity. We mainly have berries now so an apple is a bit of a rarity 🙂
Thanks again for figuring that out for me–I’ll be more careful in my figuring next time.
No worries at all. It’s hard when every company considers a serving size very different! I feel like an apple is candy too…I save mine to eat before a workout to help me burn the sugars.
Carolyn, I made this bark for Christmas gifts this year… I am sought after at this point! What a joy… A very ‘sweet’ benefit for me is to witness people enjoying my labor of love. Thank you… Absolutely delicious.
Each batch turned out slightly different. First batch was a mess because my heat was too high on the chocolate (even tho very low) and it wouldn’t pour. Personally the best batches were a very thin layer of bark and extra salt on the almonds during the Swerve coating phase. Also…. Is there a way to get the almonds simply glazed without too much crusted Swerve? I couldn’t figure out what was making the difference in texture….
Elaine