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
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp 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
Nutrition
Supplies Needed to Make your own Chocolate Chips
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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Hi.
I’m going to try the chocolate chip cookies as my first couple of recipes were not great.
I have some cacao paste in my cupboard. I wondered if I could replace the chocolate with that when making the chocolate chips?
Cheers, Val
I am not sure what that is, to be honest.
This is a great recipe, however the melted chocolate tasted bitter. I used 100% organic dark chocolate. Is that the correct chocolate to use? How can I avoid it tasting so bitter?
Sifting the chocolate powder and the powdered sweetener makes a big difference.
Thanks very much.
Anna
100% cacao chocolate is unsweetened. Don’t taste it on its own, it contains NO sweetener at all.
This is an AWESOME recipe!!! I have used this to dip strawberries in! So good. I was wondering, is there a way to make it more milk chocolate? My kids say that it’s too much like dark chocolate so they don’t like it as much.
Thanks again! Julie
Adding actual cream with its water content will make the chocolate seize, so add in coffee creamer (e.g. Coffee Mate) as a substitute. Start with half or 2/3rds of the amount of cocoa, and adjust up or down depending on how you like the creaminess of the chocolate.
The powder creamer will have carbs — it’s not like you expect milk chocolate to have fewer carbs than dark, right? 😉 — so naturally look for one with the least. Coffee Mate is 1 carb per teaspoon, so e.g. 18 carbs if you add 6 tablespoons.
If you want the chocolate sweeter as well, you can just add more sweetener.
And if you don’t want to pay the exorbitant price for cacao butter, you can do what the “chocolate candy” companies do: substitute vegetable shortening. You just need a fat that’s solid at room temp — which is why butter is problematic.
Add Whip cream powder from Anthonys. I have used 1tsp at a time to lighten up the chocolate 🍫.
Have been making this recipe for years so time to say THANK YOU!! Thought I’d share that most times (unless I am out and need them for something) I don’t bother with the chip molds. I pour the chocolate out on parchment lined baking sheets and top with walnuts, unsweetened cocoa or whatever else I’m feeling. Stick in the fridge and in an hour or so, brwK it up for worlda best sugar free chocolate bark. Thanks again. Your recipes are the best!!!
I’ve made these before & they’re great. Do you have a white chocolate chip recipe? I have been unable to source Lilly’s butterscotch chips for your magic bars & I wanted to try to make my own.
They won’t hold up in baking at all so I don’t recommend. No matter how hard I have tried, they also don’t really taste like white chocolate.
I’ve been baking Keto dessert recipes for the past three years and this is hands down the best brownie recipe I’ve tried, and believe me, I’ve tried lots. I didn’t even make a frosting for them nor did I add the chocolate chips. I just took them out of the oven at 15 minutes and let them cool. You’re right, the gelatin is certainly responsible for the great crumb. For the sweetener, I used 3/4 cup allulose and 1/4 cup Swerve by the way. Fabulous! Thank you.
Hello! I cannot get unsweetened baking chocolate anywhere, we only have sweetened. Was wondering can I use cocoa mass/ chocolate liquor instead?
There is a way to sub cocoa powder and oil (preferably cocoa butter). I think you can google that ratio. Not sure it will make the best chips, though.
If a recipe calls for melted chocolate chips, can I do that with these?
Yes but melt them with care as they can seize more easily. Double boiler style is best.
I can’t thank you enough, Carolyn! Although the Lily’s is considered vegan, the package certification says it’s dairy. See the U with a circle around it near the recipe on the back. that’s the certification of the Orthodox Union. They have a D next to it, which means dairy.
I need a dairy free, sugar free kosher chocolate chip. Which is why I was so dissappointed that I couldn’t make a chocolate chip dessert last week. I will make these chips.
We loved eating the Swerve brownies at a recent Sabbath dinner, but can’t spend $14 a mix. So I’m on the hunt for a chocolate replacement.
Still working on this. I called Baker’s unsweetened chocolate. That label says it may have milk. Definitely why the dairy certification. I called the kosher certifying agency.
I checked the Lily’s label more closely. It’s labeled dairy because it’s made on machinery that may have had dairy products made on it. I need to consider this.
Part of the reason I checked back here is because I wanted to see if I called the kosher certifying organization for Lily’s. Maybe I didn’t.
I’ve made quite an investment in cocoa butter and the molds, so I hope to make this!
Thank you for all your great recipes.
I forgot to mention in my earlier rave review of this recipe that I used good old-fashioned Baker’s chocolate and it turned out perfectly! Just remember to melt your chocolates using a double boiler. For me that means a glass bowl over pot of boiling water. So easy!
Thank you! This recipe is a game-changer! I can make almost the same amount of chocolate for less than half the price of Lily’s chocolate chips! The first time I made this I forgot to use the double boiler so my chocolate seized but it was still pretty good. Just very thick. The second time was almost perfect but I forgot to sift my powdered sweetener. The texture and taste were spot-on, just a little bit gritty due to my lack of sifting the sweetener. So incredibly creamy! The third time should literally be the charm, haha! My non-keto husband loves the recipes of yours that I make because they are indistinguishable from sugar-sweetened recipes. You truly have a gift for sugar-free baking! Thank you again!
Such a great review Elizabeth!! My first try the kids said too much like dark chocolate, so trying to figure out how to make it less ‘bitter’. Tried adding more powdered sweetener, but that didn’t work… any ideas? Thank you! Julie C.
I made a recipe of these tonight and am absolutely delighted. I don’t eat a lot of Keto treats, but I will make a recipe of chocolate chip cookie dough to freeze and bake as needed. These were easy and so much less than purchasing them from the store. I got 9 1/8 oz out of the recipe. I found the molds on sale at Amazon and will use them for years to come. Thanks!
What can I use to replace unsweetened chocolate? They don’t sell that here in my country..
I’m sorry… this recipe requires it.
Hi, I am hoping to try this recipe as I cannot get good choclate chips where I live here in Peru, much less sugar free ones! I also cannot get cocoa butter – could you tell me how you used butter instead? I can get good unsweetened 100% cacao bars to use, and cocoa powder. Thanks!
Sorry but cocoa butter is vital to this recipe because it’s solid at room temperature, whereas butter is not.
What would be the difference if I used dark chocolate cocoa instead of regular?
Can I use dark cocoa instead of regular?