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
Kara says
Hi! I haven’t made these yet because I haven’t purchased the cocoa butter. I was wondering if you think powdered erythritol will work. I feel like I’m going broke ordering all these expensive things for low carb, so I was wondering if these homemade chips are saving any money versus buying a bag of Lily’s? What do you think with your experience in baking and doing it all low carb? Thank you! 🙂
Carolyn says
They save about a dollar per bag. And yes, keto baking is expensive. Pick and choose a few recipes that you may really want to try and get the ingredients for those. Then you will find that you have enough ingredients for a few others as well and you can stretch it out a bit.
Anu says
These work a dream! No seizing, no clumping, no fuss 🙂 The only fussy bit was getting the chips out of the mould, but it’s all good fun messing around with this on a Sunday afternoon. I made some into chocolate chips (I only have 3 of those clever little silicone chip moulds) and some into bars that I chopped up after, and it made a lovely stash of dark chocolate chips (335g… I measured!) that I can’t wait to use in low carb cookies, muffins, and bars. Thank you so much for this, I’ve been wanting to make these for ages and so glad I finally got around to it 🙂
Holly Houg says
Thanks for this recipe. I have a hard time paying for a bag of Lily’s. I ordered the chocolate chip molds and they just arrived, so I’m excited to try these. I did read that if you tap the mold on the counter a few times after filling it, you can avoid having little dents/air bubbles in the top of the chocolate chips. 🙂
Dee Gee says
I use this recipe again and again! Thanks!
Jana says
Hi Carolyn! I read through most of the comments but wondered if you had any experience or understanding that would help me – I want to make something more akin to milk chocolate. I have heavy cream powder. Could I add that to your recipe and turn it into a milkier chocolate instead of dark? I really miss my milk chocolate! Also, do you know if I used a small amount of liquid stevia or monkfruit extract if that would work? How much would you suggest? I plan to trial some of these, but wondered if you had any words of wisdom that might guide! Thanks!
Britta says
Hi Carolyn, Thank you so much for all of your keto advice and ideas. Do you have any experience using cacao nibs? I saw them at Whole Foods and thought they might be a substitute for the unsweetened chocolate. Do you know? And/or do you use cacao nibs for anything else?
Thanks!
Carolyn says
Okay so cacao nibs are not a great chocolate sub. They are very crunchy. Good and a light chocolate flavour but they aren’t something you’d want to try to sub for chocolate. They are good in cakes and bars, though.
Kristin Gonzalez says
I am wondering if you ever figured out what the price differential of your home-made SF chocolate chips vs Lily’s brand is?
Carolyn says
Depending on what cocoa butter you purchase, mine is about 25% less expensive.
Linda says
Perfect recipe! Thank you Carolyn! Your always my-go-to girl for recipes (:
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Judith Browning says
Awesome chocolate chips! Just made them exactly like your recipe and they are so much better than store bought or Lily’s. THank you so much for this recipe!????
cherrytomatopie says
I’m so glad I finally tried this recipe! I like Lily’s too, but they are expensive and the prebiotic inulin in them means I have to use them sparingly or I really suffer later. I even ordered the chip mold and some bar molds from Amazon! I can’t wait to try them, they should arrive today. This morning I made a batch using an 8×8 pan and I can’t wait to have some homemade chocolate for dessert.
Diana says
After buying high quality ingredients is it really that much cheaper to make your own?
Barbara says
Love your site and everything I’ve made from it. Going to make your revised version as soon as my molds arrive. I will be using the higher grade cocoa powder. Can’t wait. Tired of looking for or ordering Lily’s.
Wish the comments were organized with newest ones first, especially since you changed and improved your recipe.
Keep up the good work. I have all your books and love them. Thanks for all you do.
Nancy says
All I can say is I have had fun making two batches already! Thanks so much! Also a nice small snack when all I want is a little bit of chocolate, I just grab a few chips and am so happy! Now I do not have to be concerned when I cannot find Lily’s locally. Matter of fact, will be making my own from now on. Add to my LC ice cream as well!!!!!!! Thank you SO much for discovering how to make things from items I already have in my pantry! P.s. Just bought your new dessert cookbook, can’t wait to see it!
Cat says
I just have one question. How many of the chocolate chip molds does it take to use the entire batch of chocolate? 9? I topped your peanut butter cups with it (24 minis) and still filled the 3 molds I bought. This recipe makes some serious chocolate chips! It tastes wonderful, a true semi sweet chocolate chip taste. They are setting up as I type this and I will definitely have to store in the fridge since I live in the hot, humid south but I can’t wait to make low carb, keto friendly chocolate chip scones and cookies with them!
Pat Ryan says
I have been making this fantastic recipe for many years. Thank you for the new tips! Hoping you will discover a white chocolate chip recipe on another one of your adventures developing something else!
Terry S says
If you have a 99 cents Only store, they have the silicone trivets very often. Square and Round.
Karen says
This recipe is worth the “excuse” to buy those chocolate chip molds. SOO cute.
Carolyn says
They really are cute! 🙂
Linda says
Back when I worked for a cooking school, I got spoiled by the super high quality chocolate that we used. It kills me to spend the amount of money for Lily’s, which is good chocolate, but not as good as the chocolate they used in the cooking school. They used Valhrona and Callebaut. I also like Godiva. Scharffenberger’s is pretty good, but not as good as it was before Hershey’s bought the company. I can’t wait to try this recipe with those super high quality chocolates. I haven’t done the math, but it likely means the chips won’t be much cheaper than Lily’s, but one thing I learned from the pro chefs is that high quality ingredients are worth the additional cost, so you should always spring for the highest quality you can afford.
Omara Blattenberger says
I was thinking the same thing about ingredient costs. To make these chips, you would spend as much or more on ingredients, as the cost of just buying the chips premade. These ingredients dare just costly, no getting around it!
Carolyn says
Actually, you wouldn’t. Because each bag of the ingredients to make the chips holds more than you need per batch so you could get several batches out of them.
KalynsKitchen says
Such a good idea; I’d love these in a low-carb cookie!
Judy says
Hi, Do you have a recipe for Homemade Sugar-Free White Chocolate??