Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
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These sugar free chocolate chips are a homemade low carb and keto alternative to chocolate baking chips! Made with just 5 ingredients, they are perfect to use in all your favorite keto desserts! 2 grams net carbs per serving.
Table of Contents
Yes, you can make homemade sugar free chocolate chips
If you’ve ever been disappointed by store-bought sugar free chocolate chips that seize when melted or leave a strange aftertaste, you’re not alone. After testing multiple sugar free sweeteners and fat ratios, I developed a homemade version that melts smoothly, bakes reliably, and most importantly, tastes like chocolate.
My recipe uses cocoa butter for structure and powdered allulose to prevent graininess and recrystallization (common with store-bought brands). I’ve tested these in cookies, muffins, and other desserts to ensure they:
- Melt evenly without clumping (like in keto brownies)
- Hold their shape at standard baking temperatures (like in keto chocolate chip cookies)
- Don’t taste artificial or leave a cooling effect afterward
Key Ingredients
Here’s what goes into keto chocolate chips, along with my kitchen notes. Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Cocoa butter– Also known as cacao butter, this is the key ingredient to give your favorite chocolate its creaminess and richness. It’s a pale yellow color and predominantly fat-based. Even though it contains butter in its name, it is 100% dairy-free!
- Unsweetened chocolate– 100% unsweetened chocolate bars (I like the Baker brand). Be sure to chop the bar finely, so it melts easily into the other ingredients.
- Sugar free powdered sugar– I used my homemade keto powdered sugar because it’s easy to make (it’s just blended down allulose) and doesn’t leave any aftertaste. I don’t recommend monk fruit or erythritol, as they can be quite grainy.
- Flavor boosters. Vanilla extract and salt.
How to make sugar free chocolate chips
In a double boiler or microwave-safe bowl, combine the cocoa butter and unsweetened chocolate. Heat or microwave until melted. Moving quickly, whisk in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and remove from the heat.
Now, transfer the melted chocolate into a chocolate chip mold. Refrigerate the filled mold for at least an hour to firm up. Once firm, carefully remove the chocolate chips from the mold and store them away or use them in your favorite keto recipes!
Arman’s recipe tips
- If possible, use a double-boiler to melt your ingredients. I find that it not only melts them together much better, but also yields a smoother, creamier final result.
- No chocolate chip mold? No problem. Before buying one, I used to pour the chocolate mixture into a ziploc bag, snip off one corner, and drop small chips onto a baking sheet until firm. It takes a few extra minutes, but the chips set just as well once chilled.
- Adjust the sweetness. These are naturally semi-sweet and closer to dark chocolate. If you’d like to tone down the darkness, you can reduce the unsweetened chocolate by half. If you prefer something sweeter and cocoa-free, try my sugar free white chocolate instead.
Storage instructions
Like store-bought chocolate chips, chocolate chips can be kept at room temperature in a ziploc bag or a sealed container. They will keep fresh for at least 2 months.
You can also freeze them for up to 6 months.
Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter 115g, chopped
- 1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate 45g, chopped
- 3/4 cup sugar free powdered sugar 100g
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a double boiler or microwave safe bowl, combine your chopped cacao butter and chocolate. Heat up until melted and whisk together. Moving quickly, add the rest of your ingredients until combined and smooth.
- Transfer the melted chocolate into a chocolate chip mold (or lined loaf or square pan). Refrigerate for at least an hour to firm up.
- Break the chocolate chips out of the mold and transfer to a sealable container until ready to use.
Notes
- Serving size: This makes four servings, with one serving being 6 tablespoons of chocolate chips.
Nutrition
More sugar free chocolate recipes
- Keto chocolate (crunch bar copycat)
- Keto chocolate mousse
- Keto chocolate cake
- Keto hot chocolate
This is great, Arman! Have you tried making milk chocolate? I wonder if we could use your basic recipe and add an amount of dry heavy cream?
Hi Barbara- I can’t say I have with this recipe but I did a chocolate module in culinary school, so it’s an easy tweak. Reduce the chocolate to 2 tablespoons and add 1/4 cup full fat whole milk powder or heavy cream powder 🙂 Let me know how you go!
Hi again!
I made the tweaks you suggested and the milk chocolate turned out perfectly. Thanks so much! I had tried a recipe from another blogger that had me stirring and testing the temp for over an hour and adding liquid sunflower lecithin. And still it didn’t turn out well. Your recipe is great, Arman!
Thanks again!
Hi Arman! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I haven’t been able to find a mold that gives the traditional shape of chips like the ones in the recipe picture. What’s your secret?
Hi Karen! I found the molds on Amazon- if you can’t find them, you can do what I do- put the chocolate mixture in a ziplock bag, cut a tiny bit off the edge, and drop little chips on a baking sheet. I often do this when I’m not fussed about the visuals of them in cookies or brownies etc. 🙂
Perfect thank you so very much for your recipes
You’re very welcome, Sue! So glad you liked this recipe.
What is the weight of the chocolate?
I was wondering the same a package of cacao butter is 8 oz so do I use half the package in this recipe?
Hi Laura, half a cup of chopped cacoa butter is about 2 oz, so you’d only need 1/4 of the 8 oz stick. Hope this helps too 🙂
1/4 cup of chopped chocolate is about 1.5 oz (or 45 grams). Hope this helps!
I made this recipe and for some reason the chips melt after an hour in the fridge.
Hi – as soon as I added sweetener, salt and vanilla to the melted chocolate and cocoa butter, it appeared to split. Tried as beat as I could to combine, but assume I attempted to pour into molds, it was almost like the cocoa butterbwas completely separate from the chocolate. Not sure if my ingredient proportions were off or something else I did wrong? Any suggestions please? I did double boiler method. Thanks.
Hi Lee! We’ve recently updated the recipe after reader feedback mentioned discrepancies with the sweetener used. So I recommend allulose, which dissolves like sugar.
I’m not sure why it split- did you use a specific brand of cocoa butter? I’ll double check for you.
When I make chocolate chips, I used a silicone hot pad/trivet. I ordered one from Thermoworks.com. I use it only for chocolate chips. It works well. They pop right out. Just an idea.
Love that idea, Susan! This is super helpful for others who want to try that.
I want to try this and it looks like a great recipe. But, can I use powdered cocoa instead of baker’s chocolate?
Hi Ann! No that won’t work at all, sorry. It needs to be actual unsweetened chocolate bars to be able to form a smooth chocolate mixture which will set properly.
Can you use monk fruit as a sweetener in these? Erythritol tears my stomach up.
I was wondering the same.
You can definitely give it a try! As long as it’s finely powdered you should end up with a smooth result but I would blend with allulose to be safe 🙂
I live in Southern Philippines where Cocoa is abundant. Tablea and cocao butter are sourced easily. I made this tonight….Outstanding but used allulose as my sweetner. Thank you for a great option without compromise of taste or quality
I’ve got all my ingredients and the silicone chip molds. Now all I wish is that you would have the recipe in grams! So much easier to measure and more accurate.
The best homemade sugar free chocolate chips ever!
Hi Arman,
I made the sugar free chocolate chips using powdered Erythritol from my Vitamix. The chocolate melted fine. When I added the Erythritol, the mixture thickened and was very grainy. I continued to stir using the double boiler for about five months. Liquids separated from the solids, and the solids were still grainy. It cooled down into a solid, but remained grainy. Wondering if I did something wrong, or if was supposed to be that way. It never became smooth like chocolate.
Thanks,
Jeff
Hi Jeff- Appreciate this comment. It’s what inspired me to retest the entire recipe. I tested a newer sweetener, allulose, and it worked so, so much better. The problem with erythritol and monk fruit is that all the brands differ from one another, so its not consistent. I highly recommend allulose and you won’t have this issue 🙂
Made these to go in your Keto blondies recipe and they are fantastic. We love them by themselves and inside our delicious blondies. Thank you for your fantastic recipes and site!! These are my first keto recipes and Baking keto can be so delicious. I’m so excited to try more of your recipes!! 🙏🫶😋
Aw, Laila- this is such a lovely and warming comment. I love that you used it for my keto blondies, it’s one of the first recipes I tested these chips in. I’m so grateful to have you here and for making my recipes!
Would I use Tablea Pure Cocoa for the chocolate? It is abundant here in my area.
Hi George- sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you, I wanted to test it out myself before giving the feedback. Yes, it did work for me, but unsweetened bakers chocolate still had the best texture 🙂
I’m new to finding you. I like that you like to make your pantry ingredients from scratch. For this recipe you should show your chip mold with a link for it. And, as asked, I’d like to you have the option of metric weighed ingredients. After trying all the sugar substitutes my preference is Allulose – both for taste and our body’s like it best. Have you used it?
YES! Definitely use allulose if you can find it- it’s my new favorite sweetener.
Can I ask please for some unsweetened chocolate brands to use in this recipe? The Amazon link won’t work for me! Thank you!
Hi Sarah! Bakers brand unsweetened chocolate 🙂 Let me know if you’re still having issues and I can troubleshoot for you!
I second this. Do you perhaps have an Amazon affiliate page? I’d love a link to the mold and double boiler you use.
Hi Teneko- I don’t, but if you let me know which location you are, I’ll source it for you 🙂 Feel free to shoot me an email!
I get bags of allulose from Amazon, which I will powder. BUT I’m excited cuz I just bought silicone chip molds from Amazon and will soon be making your chips! I rated the recipe, tho not made, because the ingredients are great.
My apologies – just saw your link to homemade powdered erythritol…please disregard my above question!
May I ask what sugar-free powdered sweetener you use? There are several out there that I’m familiar with, Pyure, Swerve, Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet & Monkfruit (though I’ve not seen that in powdered form, yet). As a diabetic, I’m curious about what you use…thanks!
Is there a way you could make the chocolate from dark cocoa powder?
Not that I’ve tried
I actually did with cocoa powder and turned out so good!
Thank you for all your recipes- a couple questions.
Are these the homemade chocolate chips you still recommend as I see many of your recipes updated but not this one.
Secondly- sorry if I am being a prude but I am older and I remember Home-Ec Class and learning the supposedly proper abbreviations for measurements and I see nobody use them anymore yet they would save time.
C=Cup
T=Tablespoon
t=teaspoon
Sorry for being an old prude~ <3
Yes they are my ones. That’s okay, I prefer using TBSP TSP etc and I’m fine with that 🙂
Have’nt tried the recipe but i use those ‘old style’ abreveations. Thet are clear, short and understandable. How does one make bunches of chips, with bunches of chip moulds? That seems expensive. Also, are there other ppl out there who can not tolerate or use erythritol? What do you do in stead of powdered low carb sweetner. Sorry for the misspellings.
That’s okay, Dee. I appreciate all the feedback, which is why we’ve retested the recipe and now only recommend allulose. It dissolves like white sugar and yields even creamier and smoother chocolate chips.
You don’t need to use a mold- I’m including tips for using a ziplok bag 🙂
Thank for all the expanded content Arman!
Can you use Splenda or Stevia
I haven’t tried, I’m not a fan of either of those.
When I try to look it up online, cocoa butter for stretch marks comes up. Can you share a link for one that is used for baking?
Sure thing. I’ve linked it in the recipe card!
I don’t see anything in the recipe card about where to buy the Cocoa Butter.
Hi Leeann- not sure why its not working for you- I’ve double checked. If it still isn’t showing, let me know and I’ll email you some options!
Thank you! This is the FIRST recipe out of 30+ that came out perfectly! I’ve made it several times and now I add in a TSP of peppermint extract and make peppermint and choc chip I cream!
Aw, Michelle- this means so much. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. We tested it endlessly to make sure it was perfect. You and I must have the same taste buds- I love all things mint chocolate! 🙂
Can I use cacao paste instead of the unsweetened chocolate?
I haven’t tried.
Wanting to make this tomorrow, but wondering how many chocolate chips does this make? On the nutrition I see serving is.11/4 cup. Can you clarify?
Hi Leeann- one serving is 6 tablespoons 🙂
Is there a way to add the weight of the ingredients. It makes it easier so that you don’t have to melt the ingredients(unsweetened chocolate and cocoa butter) before you measure.
Working on it for future recipes!
Can you substitute regular butter for the cocoa butter
Not for this recipe
I’ve been making chocolate chips for years. I use a toaster oven, a rectangular Pyrex dish lined with parchment, cocoa butter or baking chocolate bar, monkfruit or xylitol with a pinch of salt, and vanilla. Grind the sugars to a powder or use a confectioner sugar if you don’t like crunchy chips. Melt the chocolate first, it only takes a few minutes to melt, then mix in the other ingredients. When everything is mixed and sugar is dissolved, (you may have to put it back in the oven,) chill, then cut. Easy, fast, no mess. You won’t have those cute chocolate chip, but who cares when they melt anyway in baked goods.
Where do you find the cocoa butter? Never seen I store.
Health food stores and online 🙂