It's quick and easy to make creamy keto milk chocolate at home! All you need for this simple sugar free chocolate recipe are 4 ingredients and a silicone chocolate mould.
Since going sugar free a few years ago, I've been opting for dark and darker chocolate. Chocolate with 90% cocoa solids contains only 7 grams of sugar for a whole 100g/3.5 oz bar - perfectly fine for a low carb diet.
I then started to make my own, TOTALLY sugar free dark chocolate (sweetened it with powdered erythritol) and posted my recipe for low carb chocolate on the blog. Check it out - it's delicious and the post includes plenty of recipe variations!
But. Sometimes it's just got to be milk chocolate, right?
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Can you have milk chocolate on keto?
Shop-bought milk chocolate contains around 50% sugar. Not a good idea for anyone, basically. And all the shop-bought sugar free milk chocolate bars I have tried so far have been more or less disappointing. Firstly, they are expensive, And secondly, they may be sweetened with stevia or erythritol, but the taste.... meh.
So. Here's my homemade version. Simple, rich and super-milky!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
- Cacao butter - do not substitute this with coconut oil or regular butter. It has to be cacao butter.
- Thick heavy cream or double cream - can be subbed with coconut cream for dairy-free chocolate.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Powdered sweetener - I used powdered erythritol, but for a completely smooth chocolate use powdered allulose. With erythritol based sweeteners there is always a residual graininess as it re-crystallises as it cools.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
1.) Heat double cream / heavy cream in a frying pan until it stats to bubble, thicken and reduce.
2.) Keep stirring with a spatula so the cream does not burn. I used ¼ cup / 60g of cream. After a few minutes, my cream had reduced by half and I was left with 2 tablespoon / 30 grams. Can you see how thick it has become?
3.) While the cream cools in a bowl, melt your cacao butter.
4.) Add in the powdered sweetener and cacao powder and stir until combined.
5.) Here's a CRUCIAL step. You have to wait for the cacao butter / cocoa mass to COOL DOWN. You want the reduced cream and the cacao butter to be of a SIMILAR TEMPERATURE. Stir and combine them...
6.) .... and pour the mixture into a silicone chocolate mould. Chill in the fridge or freezer until set.
Tips and tricks
The key ingredient in regular milk chocolate is whole milk powder. There are Keto chocolate recipes out there that use heavy cream powder, which has less carbohydrates. Cream powder is a specialist ingredient and not cheap. And I did not want to buy a huge pot of milk powder that I KNOW I will NEVER use again.
Therefore, I settled on using REAL double / heavy cream in this recipe and simply reduced the liquid by half. It does make the chocolate softer. I don't recommend keeping it at room temperature - it turns into the consistency of a creamy praline. Store it in the fridge or freezer!
I've mentioned above how important it is that the chocolate mix and the cream need to have a similar temperature when mixed. This is ESSENTIAL! I have made the mistake for you here, guys. If the temperature difference is too great, THE CHOCOLATE WILL SEIZE AND SEPARATE!!!!! You don't need fancy equipment - just test with your finger and combine the two when the time is right.
The amounts given will make you only 1 chocolate bar. Which is not a lot, but I thought it's better for you to try first before making a larger batch. Double or triple the recipe as you wish.
You can use either cacao powder or cocoa powder in this recipe. Cacao has the added benefit that it contains more antioxidants and nutrients as it is not roasted.
If you wish, you can add vanilla to the recipe. As it's a no-bake recipe, I'd go for quality here. Regular vanilla extract contains alcohol, which you would be able to taste. Go for a vanilla powder instead, or even splash out on a vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
A chocolate bar mold is great for this recipe, but not essential. Just put parchment paper on a plate and pour in your chocolate. Freeze, then break into pieces. Voila - keto milk chocolate bark. Alternatively, make pralines with a silicone ice cube tray!
Reader Tip
Update October 2023: A reader who used allulose shared this tip, which is useful for anyone who has experienced issues with chocolate seizing.
Instead of adding the allulose to the warm cacao butter, he dissolves the allulose in a little bit of water. He then stirs the allulose solution into the completed chocolate mixture as the last step. This way, he does not experience any coagulating which he did on his first try.
This is not necessary with erythritol or other sweeteners, but will work well with allulose since it dissolves easily. I'll try it next time and report back here!
Storage
Store this chocolate in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If you store it in the freezer, you'll get a great snap.
More Sugar Free Chocolate Recipes
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Recipe
Creamy Keto Milk Chocolate Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz cacao butter 40g
- ¼ cup thick double cream / heavy cream 60g
- 1 ½ tablespoon cacao powder unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon allulose powdered (use an additional ½ tablespoon if you like your chocolate sweet), or use powdered erythritol
Instructions
- Heat the cream in a pan until it bubbles. Lower the heat and stir regularly so the cream does not burn. Cook it until it has reduced by half and has become thick and slightly yellow in colour. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.
- Melt the cacao butter in a pan until just melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cacao powder and the powdered sweetener **see notes.
- Once the cream and the cacao mix have the same (lukewarm!!) temperature, combine them and stir. Pour into a chocolate bar mould and place in the freezer or fridge until set.
Colin
Can you use this as a replacement for chocolate in other recipes such as the bownies?
Katrin
I guess you could! Keep in mind that the milk chocolate is already sweetened, so don’t overdo it with the sweetener
Andrea
Hi,
I tried it with the powered elytritol. When I combine the cocoa powder, butter and sweetener, it leaves a big mass of granules. It takes away about half of the chocolate. What an I doing wrong??!!
Katrin
Assuming that you used cacao butter, I can only imagine that it has something to do with the powdered erythritol you are using - Does it maybe contain fillers? Check your pack 🙂 I have had a disastrous clumping experience once when I tried the recipe with inulin.
Andrea
Hi,
I did use the cacao butter. I used the So Nurished 100% Elytritol.
Katrin
I have used the so nourished brand before, it is very good quality. The only thing I can imagine then is that maybe it had something to do with temperature. If you want to try again, make sure your cacao butter is not too hot when you stir in the cocoa powder and sweetener. I have made low-carb dark chocolate many times, which is basically those three ingredients. I normally wait until the cocoa butter buttons have just dissolved, then I take the pan off the heat and stir in the sweetener and cocoa. I hope we have gotten to the bottom of it now 🙂
Susan LaRiccia
Is this stable outside of refrigeration in an air-conditioned home?
Katrin
It won't melt, but it'll be a bit sad and limp. I'd recommend to store it in the fridge, unless you use milk/cream powder in place of the cream.
crazybell
I don’t have cacoa butter. Can I substitute? Regular butter? Or coconut oil ? Please help
Katrin
Neither would work well because they are not firm at room temperature. You'd have to keep your chocolate in the freezer - if you wanted to give it a go, I'd use both, fill it into ice cube trays and make fat bombs instead. I do have a couple of fat bomb recipes on the blog - check out , for example
Leighton Willett
Hey! I love your recipes, thank you for all of the work you put in!
Do have a question- no matter what I do my chocolate comes out slightly grainy. I’ve tempered, I've ensured the cream is the same temperature as the cocoa butter. I’ve tried them both warm, both at room temp, at least four different times. Any tips or tricks with this? Perhaps I should cook more moisture out of the heavy cream?
Katrin
Hi Leighton, that's the erythritol. If it really bothers you and you want totally smooth chocolate, you'd have to use either stevia drops (but then you'll get that slightly metallic aftertaste) or you could experiment using a sugar free syrup such as the Sukrin Fiber Syrup.
Kimberly
I’m wondering if cacao butter is the same as Shea butter? What amount of lakanto monk fruit would you recommend? Thanks for R recipes I love them.
Katrin
Hi Kimberly, it's not the same. Shea butter is used mostly in skincare. It is safe to eat, but apparently does not taste too good 🙂 I have never used the pure monk fruit by Lakanto, only the erythritol/monkfruit mix. The erythritol/monk fruit mix can be used 1:1, the powdered version is a 2:1 sugar replacement, so use half (and check if you like the sweetness, adding more if you prefer). If you have the pure monk fruit, check what sweetness ratio it is to sugar and adjust the recipe accordingly. I hope this helps 🙂
Kay
Out of countless low-carb/keto recipes that I have been doing, this is the first time I have left a comment. This chocolate bar is FANTASTIC!!! I have been spending so much money on expensive chocolate bars that were low-carb (but somehow still seemed to have an aftertaste and a tad too many carbs). I made this at home in about five minutes. I ended up adding more milk because I like a creamy Swiss chocolate type of candy bar. I also decided to add salt and pecans to half of the candy bar before freezing. Worked like a charm! This was the missing link in the puzzle for me. It allows me to be able to continue this diet into the future without missing out on one of my favorite foods (chocolate). Thank you so much for this great recipe!!
Katrin
AWESOME!!! So glad you're giving the recipe the thumbs up 🙂
Shayna
I happen to have tubs of the powdered milk and powdered heavy cream. Would you use 2 Tbsp of the powder? Would you add it to the cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and sweetener mixture right after they've dissolved? Or would you want the mixture to cool a little first still? Thanks!
Katrin
Hi Shayna, I'd try 2 tbsp and and add it in together with the sweetener to dissolve. I think people add milk powder directly to hot beverages (I know my mother-in-law does!) so there should be no problem regarding the temperature. The great thing about milk/cream powder is that your chocolate will be firm at room temperature!
Jules
I wonder if using clotted cream instead of reducing double cream, would work as well?
Katrin
Yes. I found that the reduced double cream had almost the same consistency as clotted cream. I tried one batch with clotted cream actually, but found that reducing clotted cream to half the amount did not work - it got too yellow, almost like butter. It might be worth trying a batch with clotted cream without reducing it.
Jennifer
Made this in a triple batch (it’s the exact amount of cocoa butter I had left in my bag) and it turned out tasting pretty good. However, I didn’t have the Erythritol , so I used my powdered Monkfruit Sweetener. It was a tiny bit grainy and the end product is a bit more dark chocolate than milk- but I’m a chocolate lover!!
Overall- very tasty sugar-free chocolate recipe. Very easy to make as well! Thanks!
Katrin
SO glad you liked it!! If you can, simply blitz your granulated sweetener in a food processor or in the attachment of a stick blender until you have a powder. That way it's not so grainy 🙂