Making sugar-free chocolate chips is surprisingly easy and takes only simple 5 ingredients. Make these homemade chocolate chips for a great low carb and dairy-free option! Great in all your keto cookies, cakes, and sweet treats. Instructional video included.
If you think you might have seen these before, you have. I’ve done homemade sugar-free chocolate chips before, but this version is better and holds up to all of your low carb baking. They hold their shape perfectly and they have a deep rich semi-sweet chocolate flavor. And they honestly take only a few minutes to whip up.
While there are several good brands of sugar-free chocolate chips on the market, they can be prohibitively expensive. I love Lily’s chocolate chips but I find myself balking at $7.49 a bag. They also aren’t dairy-free and they contain a little soy, which many people don’t like. As a reader recently asked me about whether I had a decent homemade alternative, I decided I had to take matters into my own hands. I can honestly say that I have made vast strides in low carb cooking and baking in the past few years and very often my experiments lead me to new discoveries about how certain ingredients behave. I find myself storing up these little tidbits in my brain for future use. And when the time is right, a whole new idea takes shape in my brain and I can hardly wait to test it out.
How to Make Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
The last time I made chocolate chips, I made them with butter. They were good, to be sure, but definitely a little on the soft side and they needed to be stored in the fridge and then added to the recipe just prior to baking. And although delicious, they didn’t quite live up to that true chocolate-chip flavour I had in my mind. Still, they were a good approximation and I was satisfied. But since that time, I have been playing around with other ingredients in some recipes, including cocoa butter. Unlike butter or coconut oil, cocoa butter stays solid at room temperature and it takes a fair bit of work to make it melt. For a bar of chocolate or a chocolate chip, this is an excellent quality indeed.
I also made sure to thoroughly sift both the powdered Swerve and cocoa powder before adding it to the melted chocolate mixture. This made a significant difference to the end result and the chips were much less grainy. To really sift out all the lumps, simply set a bowl below a fine mesh sieve. Measure your sweetener or cocoa powder into the bowl and use a spoon to stir it around and scrape it through the holes in the sieve.
And now that someone has come along and invented chocolate chip molds, we can even make them chocolate chip shaped! Wooohooo! Heretofore, I had always simply poured the chocolate mixture into chocolate bar molds and then chopped them, making them into low carb chocolate chunks rather than chips. I have also use these honeycomb silicon trivets, which work well and give them a very distinct shape. You can even simply pour the whole mixture into a parchment lined pan and chop them up from there. But obviously the chip mold is fun to have and they look just like the real thing.
Any way you make them, these sugar-free chocolate chips were a huge success. They blew my original attempts out of the water. First, they firmed up perfectly and I found that they didn’t need to be refrigerated after the initial chilling to stay firm. Secondly, they tasted like REAL chocolate. And why shouldn’t they? REAL chocolate is made with cocoa butter and is part of what gives it the deep, intense chocolate flavour. I had a hard time saving any of my first batch for baking with, because I just kept eating a little handful here and a little handful there as I passed through the kitchen.
And these homemade sugar free chocolate chips bake well too, I am pleased to say. I added them to some brownies, and I also baked them up in my Keto Double Chocolate Muffins. They held their shape nicely and didn’t totally liquify and run all over the pan, as I feared they might. They certainly held up about as well as any bar of chopped dark chocolate I’ve ever used.
The low carb chocolate chips melt perfectly into sugar free desserts like my keto chocolate chip cookies and Chocolate Chip Cloud Cookies, and I bet they would be delicious in Kalyn’s flourless low sugar peanut butter chocolate cookies too.
Tips for homemade chocolate chips
- Melt the cocoa butter and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler. If they are over direct heat, they are more likely to seize.
- Use quality unsweetened chocolate such as Ghirardelli or Scharffenberger. Cheap bakers chocolate tends to seize more and will have a grittier texture.
- Sift your powdered sweetener and your cocoa powder to get out all the lumps.
- Use chocolate chip molds, silicone trivets, or any chocolate mold to shape your chocolate. Be sure to refrigerate until completely firm. After that, they won’t need to stay in the freezer or the fridge.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 3 oz cocoa butter
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped
- ½ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener sifted
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the cocoa butter and chocolate together until smooth.
- Stir in the sifted powdered erythritol, then stir in the cocoa powder, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Pour into chocolate molds or spread in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper.
- Refrigerate until set, then remove from the molds or chop into small chunks.
Video
Melinda says
Can the chocolate chips be used as an almond bark too? (in candy recipes)
Carolyn says
Yup. Don’t even need to make them as chips first, just spread it out on a pan mixed with almonds. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/07/dark-chocolate-sea-salt-almond-bark-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html
CECILIA ALEGRIA says
Can someone please give me some advice? I have tried to follow this recipe with a different brand of coconut butter and although the flavor is amazing, the texture is so grainy! Is this all coconut butter?
Carolyn says
Coconut butter? Or COCOA butter? This recipe require cocoa butter.
Janet says
HI Carolyn,
I’ve been looking for a homemade chocolate chip recipe and lo and behold yours popped up into my Pinterest feed! YAY! I’ve found some recipes where they use heavy whipping cream to make milk chocolate, but after reading some of the comments I’m assuming it would cause the chocolate to seize?
On a personal note, I started Keto in January and find that your recipes are always among my top favorites. Thank you for developing wonderful low carb, price conscious recipes!
P.S. Now I have use of the cocoa butter I bought, chocolate chips and bars are soon to be in my future.
Carolyn says
Thanks so much, Janet. Adding cream can make chocolate seize easily. You’d be better off trying a milk or cream powder.
Jean L says
Thank you for this recipe! I used a mixture of half Swerve and half Stevia Glycerite. I also added in a very small amount of maple extract because I wanted that flavor, too. Very tasty! I have no idea if it would hold up in baking or not because I’m eating it plain ?!
Tara R. says
Thanks so much for sharing all of your hard work with the world! My son recently started the Modified Atkins Diet for seizures. We’ve been told to keep his net carbs (total carbs minus fiber but not minus sugar alcohols) around 20-25/day, and he’s having a hard time giving up all of his beloved carbs, including chocolate. I was so excited to find this recipe! 1.8 net carbs is the perfect splurge! The first batch is in the fridge, but now I’m afraid to give it to him. From our count, it looks like each serving has almost 10 net grams of carbs, mostly from the Swerve (2 from unsweetened chocolate + 120 from Swerve + 11 from unsweetened cocoa = 133 net carbs, divided by 14). Please tell me I’m missing something … my son is salivating, and I’d love to let him have a treat! I’m new to all of this, so maybe there’s a reason I don’t have to worry. (I’ve seen Swerve in another recipe for patients on a related diet, the ketogenic diet, but I just don’t see how it’s safe if we can’t subtract sugar alcohols.) Thank you!
Carolyn says
Hi Tara. You are not missing anything, as I subtract erythritol. I don’t subtract all sugar alcohols because some do affect blood sugar. But erythritol is well studied and found typically not to. Most people do subtract erythritol because of this but since your son has such a specific issue, I honestly cannot give you advice with this, it’s too serious. That said, I do have another reader who’s sone suffers seizures and they do follow the keto diet and I know she makes him things with erythritol (Swerve). From the sounds of it, you ARE already following a keto diet if he’s that low in carbs. But again, I do not feel comfortable giving you any advice with regards to this except perhaps to say that you should investigate the reasoning behind NOT subtracting the erythritol on the diet your son is on. good luck and I am so sorry. I wish I could help more.
Carolyn says
Hi again, Tara. I thought I would ask my reader-friend who has a son with a seizure disorder. This is what she said:
Thats what Eric does too, modified atkins, its just a variation of classic keto.
Some dieticians allow for sugar alcohol subtraction, others don’t, so we can’t really argue with that unfortunately. They base that advice on experience with other patients because some do lose seizure control when they use sugar alcohol. With that said though, erythritol is better tolerated than xylitol maltitol and others so they could ask for a trial with swerve specifically.
She also suggested a Facebook group for you to join to get more info, advice and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/272414502912000/
Paul Otto says
How would you make this bittersweet?
Carolyn says
It already is bittersweet, pretty much.
Nikki says
I’ve tried many variations with these ingredients. Most ended in disappointment. Your recipe performed amazingly well. It was just the thing I needed. Thanks!
Emily says
Should the end result, before pouring into a pan, be thick like a batter that needs to be spread or pourable?
patti says
These were good, and it is a good learning experience for a cook who knows little or nothing about candy making, “seizing”,, etc. Just learning about and find food grade coconut butter wasa big stretch! This recipe definitely meets a need in our SF household.
Leanna says
Carolyn,
Well I remelted my chocolate and tweeked it a bit and I was happy with the results. Yesterday I made a batch of your chocolate chip cookies and I have to say they were so good, even my husband who would rather have dental work done over eating my low carb experiments said they were good. Thanks for all you do in making low carbing easier for us all.
Carolyn says
Wait….he’d rather have dental work than eat your low carb experiments? So supportive! 😉 But yay if we won him over!
Leanna says
Carolyn, I made this tonight I couldn’t find powdered swerve so I use the granulated version that I ran through my food processor. My first attempt was a glob of goo that was very gritty and unbelievably bitter. I decided to add more cocoa butter and melt the batch I made it came out very smooth and creamy but still really bitter. My question to you could I take my second batch and melt it in a double boiler and add additional sweeteners of some sort maybe stevia to come up with a less bitter chocolate?
Carolyn says
It’s always dicey having to melt it again but it’s certainly worth a try if you want to make it edible for yourself.
Teresa says
I veganized by using powdered coconut milk. I melted over the pilot light of my stove overnight. Turned out great! Thank you.
Shirley says
These chocolate chips look so good! Would they work well in homemade ice cream?
Carolyn says
Yes, they work great in ice cream.
Joan says
I just made this recipe, and it turned out great except… I used “Now Real Food” Erythritol, and I found the cooling effect too distracting. Any suggestions? I can’t read through all these comments… Sorry… To see if there is advice on this effect
Carolyn says
My best suggestion is to not use straight erythritol like that. Use Swerve or some blend, or do a portion of erythritol and make up the rest with stevia.
Lynn says
I found the same to be true. What worked GREAT for us was to add 2 teaspoons of monk fruit powder to 2 lbs erythritol, blend it in the blender and voila! Took the coolness away! Also is a great way to make the expensive monk fruit last?
Another bonus is since you’ve just put it all in a blender you now have powdered sugar!
Tania says
All of the homemade sugar-free chocolate recipes have coconut oil/butter in them. These, along with other tropical oils and butters are forbidden in many diets due to their high saturated fat content.
Are there any substitutions for these fats and oils that are healthier?
Carolyn says
I think you must be reading the wrong blog, then. I feel strongly that high saturated fat is good for us. Science is coming out in favour of this now and pretty much everything we were ever taught about fat was wrong. Please read The Big Fat Surprise http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451624433/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451624433&linkCode=as2&tag=aldaidrabfo05-20&linkId=R4SNHX5T3LVKQTO5
Tania says
Carolyn,
There is a lot of very bad advice about everything that touches our lives floating around the Internet. The bad advice ranges from DIY home maintenance, to auto care, to educational methods…
The bad advice about health care including fads regarding immunizations and dietary issues can be especially harmful. I won’t get into an argument here, as I lack the time.
For the last fifteen years, I’ve chosen to limit my intake of fats that have been frowned on by cardiologists. It sure won’t hurt me to err on the side of caution.
Tania
Carolyn says
Sadly, there have have been 60 years of bad dietary advice, long before the internet was ever around, and it has been to the detriment of the Western world. But I don’t dole out the advice, I direct people to the best sources of scientific evidence. Nina Teicholz book is an astonishingly well-researched look at the state of nutrition and how we got here. If you choose not to look at the other side, that’s your decision. But you may be erring on the wrong side of caution.
manga says
Brava!
janet says
How important is the sifting of the Swerve? I’m unable to do so, it just falls right thru the sifter into the bowl.
Julia Logan says
How does cocoa butter taste? I realize it’s not sweetened….but is it bitter like unsweetened chocolate? Can you use it alone as “white chocolate chips” if you add plan approved sweetener?
Carolyn says
It’s not bitter at all and you can make white chocolate with it. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2012/07/white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-scones-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html
tiffany says
I am the best at seizing up and ruining chocolate so I’ll ask before I ruin more expensive ingredients; is there a way to make these more like milk chocolate? I’m guessing add in heavy cream, but when and how much, etc?
Carolyn says
I really don’t know. I’ve found milk chocolate to be exceedingly elusive and so I just buy Lily’s brand.
cheryl says
Any way to make this without store bought chocolate. . Only using cocoa powder
cheryl says
Is there any way too make this without using store bought chocolate. . With just cocoa powder?
Carolyn says
Not really. It wouldn’t harden up enough and you’d end up with pretty goopy chips.