Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

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.

Keto Chocolate Chips

When it comes to keto baking staples, have a look in my pantry you’ll always find some condensed milk, maple syrup, and sugar free chocolate chips. 

As someone who bakes a TON of keto desserts, I am buying low carb ingredients on a weekly basis. Whether it be low carb flours (like almond and coconut), keto sweeteners (like monk fruit and erythritol), or healthy fats (like almond butter or coconut oil), I must always be fully stocked, and as such, they are part of my weekly shop. I’d also be buying my fair share of keto chocolate, especially chocolate chips. 

I was always a huge fan of Lily’s dark chocolate chips, which are stevia sweetened, and Hershey’s sugar free chocolate chips, that are sweetened with splenda. However, as someone who uses chocolate chips in MANY of my keto recipes, I couldn’t justify paying so much money for them. Furthermore, I wasn’t a huge fan of their stevia aftertaste. Luckily, it’s SO easy to make your own sugar free chocolate chips. 

Now, these chocolate chips may look incredibly fancy, but I promise you, they are so easy to make and use just 5 ingredients. They are firm and stable at room temperature but melts in your mouth. They are sweet, rich, and dark, without being bitter.

I’ve been using them in all my keto and sugar free desserts and NO ONE can tell that they are using homemade chocolate chips!

How do you make sugar free chocolate chips?

The Ingredients

• 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 has butter in its name, it is 100% dairy free! 
• Unsweetened chocolate– 100% unsweetened chocolate bars. Be sure to chop the bar finely, so it melts easily into the other ingredients. 
• Sugar free powdered sugar– I used homemade keto powdered sugar. It’s essentially erythritol blended into a powder. You can use store bought if you prefer. 
• Vanilla extract– A must for any chocolate recipe. 
• Salt– Just a touch, to bring out the sweetness and intense chocolate flavor. 

The Instructions

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, for it 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!

Will these chocolate chips hold their shape? 

Unlike commercially prepared chocolate chips, these homemade ones will not hold their shape once heated up or baked into a recipe. It doesn’t have the emulsifiers or additives needed for this to happen. 

From personal experience, unless you are using chocolate chips for aesthetic purposes, they are not as good as a chopped up chocolate bar or non-stabilized baking chips. Ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie that oozes chocolate with every mouthful? 9 times out of 10, they are using chocolate chunks or chopped chocolate, NOT chocolate chips. 

Is this dairy free? 

Yes, as the chocolate is unsweetened, these chocolate chips are also dairy free. 

Tips to make the best low carb chocolate chips

• If possible, use the double boiler method for melting your ingredients. I find that it not only melts them together so much better, but your final result will be smoother and creamier. 
• If you don’t have a chocolate chip mold,  you can use a loaf pan or square pan instead. Once the chocolate is set, you can chop it up into small chunks. 
• These are semi sweet/dark chocolate chips. If you’d like to tone down the darkness, you can reduce the bakers chocolate by half. 

How do you store chocolate chips? 

• To store: Like store bought variety, chocolate chips can keep at room temperature, in a ziplock bag or sealed container. They will keep fresh for at least 2 months. 
• To freeze: Line a ziplock bag with parchment paper and place your chocolate chips in there. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months. 

What to use keto chocolate chips with

• Cookies– Chocolate chip cookies, almond butter cookies, and peanut butter cookies.
• Brownies– Fudgy brownies, flourless brownies, and almond flour brownies. 
• Muffins and cupcakes– Chocolate muffins, almond flour muffins, and cupcakes.
• No bake desserts– Edible cookie dough, cookie dough bites
• Snacks– Rice crispy treats, protein bars, and granola bars. 
• Breakfasts– Waffles, pancakes, and crepes.