Making your own homemade low carb chocolate is easy, quick and much cheaper than buying ready-made sugar free chocolate. A delicious Keto snack or dessert when your chocolate craving strikes!
Hands up who else loves chocolate? I ALWAYS have chocolate in my fridge. To me, it’s one of the best desserts ever invented. It’s instant pleasure!
Science has proven that chocolate has a whole host of proven health benefits. It’s a powerful source of antioxidants, can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, to name a few. Read more about the positive effects the nutrients in chocolate can have here!
Of course, not all chocolate is good for you. Shop-bought milk chocolate generally contains over 50% sugar and is therefore not a healthy choice AT ALL. (My homemade Keto milk chocolate is a much better option!)
Is there carb free chocolate?
In my recipes, I use either unsweetened chocolate such as Montezuma (8g of carbs for an entire bar of 100g/3.5 oz) or dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 90% such as Lindt. A whole bar of this chocolate (100g) contains only 7 grams of sugar. To put this into perspective, 4 grams of sugar are equal to 1 teaspoon. The Lindt chocolate has 10 squares, which means it’s 0.7 grams of sugar/1.4g carbs per portion.
Then there is the option to buy Keto chocolate. (By the way, stay away from chocolate sweetened with maltitol – this sugar alcohol raises blood sugar almost as much as regular sugar and is definitely not Keto (source). It’s also a diuretic.)
I have tried several brands that make low carb chocolate bars. Nicks is a good choice in the UK, my personal favourite is the Kexbar. In the US, there is stevia-sweetened sugar free chocolate such as Lily’s, which I have also sampled. Lily’s sells chocolate bars as well as chocolate chips. The only issue is that low carb chocolate brands are EXPENSIVE!
I decided I needed to make my own sugar free chocolate to nurture my chocolate addiction whilst staying low carb and not go broke.
There are various recipes online that make Keto chocolate using coconut oil and/or butter. The problem with these ingredients is that neither stay firm at room temperature. If you use unsweetened chocolate you run the risk of the chocolate seizing once you add the erythritol.
To make proper low carb chocolate that has all the health benefits we want you need to use cocoa butter and combine it with cocoa powder and powdered erythritol.
How to make homemade low carb chocolate – step by step:
1.) Melt the caca0 butter in a pan.
2.) Take off the heat and add the cocoa powder and powdered erythritol.
Recipe Tip: If you only have granulated erythritol, blitz it in a food processor or in the attachment of your stick blender until it is powdered. It’s important to use a powdered sweetener as erythritol does not melt like sugar does and tends to re-crystallise when it cools down. The granules will sink to the bottom and won’t be evenly distributed in your chocolate.
3.) Stir until dissolved!
4.) Pour into silicone chocolate moulds and cool in the freezer or fridge until set.
Tip: Make sure you place your moulds on a firm surface such a tray so you’re able to carry them once you’ve poured in the low carb chocolate mix. 
5.) Aaaaand… chocolate time!!
There are many ways to customise your low carb chocolate.
- 1 tsp orange zest (which is absolutely delicious)
- cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom for a wintery vibe
- pinch of chilli for a fiery kick
- sprinkle of sea salt
- vanilla scraped from a vanilla pod (I tried vanilla extract, but did not like it – you can taste the alcohol)
- a handful of low carb granola or peanut butter granola or…
- any nuts and seeds you like!
It’s also not necessary to own a chocolate bar mold to make homemade chocolate. I want to show you 2 easy ways how you can make sugar free chocolate without it.
4a.) Add any chopped nuts and seeds or 1/3 cup homemade granola to the molten low carb chocolate mix. I used my grain free peanut butter granola.
5a.) Spread the mix on a firm surface lined with parchment paper. Cool in the fridge or freezer until set….
6a.) ……and you’ve got yourself some chocolate bark.
If you’re after something a bit more showy, you could also go for this option:
5b.) Using a spoon, drop little blobs of the low carb chocolate mix onto parchment paper, freeze or refrigerate until set…
6b.) …and in just a few minutes you could be munching on one (or two) of these gorgeous low carb chocolate clusters!
Whichever recipe variation you decide to go for, homemade keto chocolate is a life-saver when the need for a sweet treat strikes.
It keeps forever in the fridge if you store it in an airtight container or simply have it on the kitchen countertop. Personally, I prefer to have my sweets slightly out of sight. They’re just too tempting.
Have you seen my post about sugar free chocolate chips? I have an ingenious hack how to make them.
Love chocolate as much as I do? Try these sugar free chocolate dessert recipes:
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Low Carb Chocolate
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz / 100g cacao butter
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened (48g)
- 4 tbsp powdered erythritol (32g)
Instructions
- Melt the cacao butter in a pan, stirring continuously.
- Add the cocoa powder and powdered erythritol and stir until combined.
- Add any optional extra (1 tsp orange zest/pinch cinnamon/pinch of sea salt/pinch of chili/1/3 cup (50g) low carb granola/handful of nuts and seeds and stir
- Fill into a silicone chocolate mould to make chocolate bars. Or pour onto parchment paper to make chocolate bark/clusters.
- Freeze 5 minutes until set.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Chari says
Wow! Just finished making 3 different types of chocolates, one deliciously plain, one with toasted coconut and lastly one with a few chopped sugar free candied pecans. Used mini silicon ice cube trays. Worked amazingly. So inexpensive but taste like a million dollars or pounds( what ever fits)
Katrin Nürnberger says
So glad you like it!!!!
Joanne says
Can I use this to substitute for 100% unsweetened baking bars in baking recipes? As they don’t sell that in my country.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, I think that should work (though I have not tried it yet!!). You may also want to experiment using half cacao butter and half cacao mass. I have not used cacao mass in this recipe. I’ve only just ordered some and want to experiment with it. I think it will result in a thicker chocolate mix when it’s melted.
Craig says
Did you ever try this with the cacao mass?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Not yet, but I have just bought some. I think using half cacao mass and half cacao butter would work well.
Rob says
This looks awesome. Have you ever tried adding peppermint flavor to this? If so would you have any recommendations for flavoring it? Excited to try this recipe! Thank you
Katrin Nürnberger says
I’ve had a reader writing in and telling me she did exactly that! I have tried the recipe with orange zest and also with cardamom, cinnamon and nuts.
Jordan P Dennany says
Is that total carbs or net carbs?
Katrin Nürnberger says
The nutrition panel always states the total carbs. To get the net carbs, simply deduct the fibre from the total carbs.
Nathan says
I found that the stevia i used was gritty. Still not a bad taste though. I then used liquid stevia and it came out great. Had to adjust the measurement accordingly. Could i use a sugar free syrup like caramel to sweeten as well?
Katrin Nürnberger says
Yes, that would work too. Depending on how much you use it MAY make the end result a little softer, so you may HAVE to store in the fridge. I’ve also just started working with a sweetener called allulose which does not re-crystallise. If you can get hold of it, give it a try!
Kerry says
How much liquid stevia did you use? Thank you
nathan says
3 tea spoons…will try again and let you know. I also store at all time in freezer. I like chocolate that way anyway as the M&M people lied to us. Chocolate always melts in the hands.
Renee says
i make this and it makes 4 bars for me in the molds
how do i determine how many carbs per mold
i am using the 3.5oz cocoa butter 4 tb cocoa powder the 4 tb swerve with 1/4 cup pb
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Renee, with your ingredients you’re creating a new recipe. I’ve done the nutrition calc on Keto diet app for you and 1 bar has 3.2g net carbs, 5.1g protein, 33.8g fat and 330 calories.
Renee says
thank you- i just saw your reply
i dont like dark choc so i reduced the cocoa powder and
added the natural pb. my recipe makes 4 bars
but was having a hard time figuring out carb count per bar
Sarah Hasna says
Now how can we make this in milk chocolate do we add powdered milk?
Katrin Nürnberger says
I have a recipe for that! Check out my post keto milk chocolate
Marius Kruger says
Thanx for this easy recipe!
I put expresso coffee beans in mine.
Wow, tastes like heaven
Katrin Nürnberger says
Ooooh, I must try adding coffee beans when I make it next time. Great idea!!
Xotomi says
I am so happy you shared this. I used to make my own chocolate with just three ingredients before I quit sugar and have been looking for a recipe that already picked and measured out the sugar substitute for me. Thank you for working from scratch! No buying chocolate bars and melting them down! I used only cocoa powder, butter, and sugar before my keto days, and I used this to make Peppermint Patties, and in my Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream which my husband has been asking for me to make for him again. Figuring out the measurement of sugar substitutes and even buying the right one is confusing to me. So many cakes bomb out, or I end up drying them out because they just cook differently than their evil originals.
Katrin Nürnberger says
You’re welcome! Write me a comment and let me know how you like the recipe 🙂
Debra Ferguson-Widders says
I love your recipe! Very smooth and satisfying. I used powdered monkfruit, (pure, no fillers), and it rose to the top of the chocolate, but tasted fine. Next batch, I am going to try cooling it in the freezer instead of the refrigerator to see if it can be prevented.
Katrin says
Good to hear it works with pure monkfruit! I’ve never tried it this way and really want to. To prevent the sinking, you could also try to wait with pouring the chocolate into the moulds until it is lukewarm and not hot. That way it will be thicker. Then place it in the freezer so it sets quickly.
David O Blackman says
Hi Katrina,
I use Hersey’s cocoa 100% cacao unsweetened, SoNourished powdered Monk fruit/Erythritol blend and cacao butter that I purchased in bulk and it is solid at room temp. It makes a very good chocolate, just not hard at room temp. I have read about tempering chocolates and found that there are two ways to temper chocolate. The first is seeding the chocolate with well tempered chocolate (very solid at room temp) like unsweetened Baker’s chocolate bar and seed it to the new chocolate when it cools to 86-90 degrees F. The second way is to let the chocolate cool down to 86 to 90 degrees F, and then place a small amount of chocolate on a marble surface working it with a metal scraper until it cools and thickens, then adding more of the warm chocolate to it and continuing this process until it is all tempered. Then spread it out on parchment paper and let it cool and it will harden. I did this and had about a half inch thick chocolate bar that was hard to break at room temp! I have been having fun learning about chocolate and how and why it pulls together and crystalizes at this temperature. Milk and white chocolate have different temperatures that the chocolate crystalizes at.
Katrin says
Hi David, that is so interesting! Thank you so much for your comment.
David O Blackman says
Do you need to temper the chocolate? I have made this chocolate and it is soft at room temp. You said yours is hard at room temp, but I have to keep mine in the freezer to have a nice snap to it! What do you think I might be doing wrong?
Katrin says
It should be firm. What Type of cacao butter are you using? Did it look like the one I used? Because essentially this recipe is just cacao butter with two extra dry ingredients, and as long as the cacao butter is firm at room temperature, so should be your chocolate.
Sel says
Hi, I powedered the ethritol extremely finely and put it on the heat for just a min or less and continued to stir but it was extremely crystalised still. Any tips? I have pure stevia powder (You only need the tiniest amount), do you think this would be an OK substitude, or honey?
Katrin says
Hm, not sure why that happened. Was it pure erythritol? There are some brand which add fillers. I have never tried stevia powder, but stevia would definitely work too. Drops may be easier to measure. Honey should be fine as well, or a sugar free syrup – although the chocolate may be less firm at room temperature because you’re adding more liquid. .
Rachel Tuck says
I find that sugar alcohols make me unwell regardless of the amount I have. I’m trying to go sugar/sugar replacement free. Do you think that this would taste good enough without the erythritol in it?
Katrin says
Yes, it is possible. I think you’ll have to add some kind of flavour though. I would try vanilla bean, for example, or cardamom/cinnamon – both slightly sweet. I have also tried 100% unsweetened chocolate with almonds and orange peel in it which tastes very good.