Have you ever wondered how to make chocolate chips at home? Homemade chocolate chips (or even better, chocolate chunks) are easy to make! You have complete control over the ingredients — no funky additives or refined sugar needed!
How To Make Chocolate Chips From Cocoa Powder
Some homemade chocolate chip recipes call for unsweetened baking chocolate. Many times these bars contain ingredients we may want to avoid.
Other recipes call for cocoa butter, which can be hard to find. So, is there an alternative?
Yes, there sure is! You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry right now, too… like cocoa powder.
It’s extremely easy to make chocolate chips from cocoa powder. You need cocoa powder, a natural sweetener such as honey, vanilla extract, and any other extracts you desire, such as almond or peppermint. Learn how to make your own herbal extracts for flavoring in this post!
In addition, these chips are also dairy-free and gluten-free! If food allergies or sensitivities keep you or loved ones keep you from enjoying the simple joy of chocolate chips, this recipe is a game-changer.
It’s also very easy to make sugar-free chocolate chips using cocoa powder. I’ll show you how to do both, so keep reading.
Whether you make little chocolate chips or bigger chunks makes no difference, the recipes are the same. Both recipes are not overly sweetened so adjust to suit your tastes as needed.
Making Chocolate Chips From Scratch (Naturally Sweetened)
Wardee has a great method for making naturally sweetened homemade chocolate chunks.
First prepare a mold (small baking dish, mini loaf pan, etc.) by greasing with coconut oil. To make the chocolate slab even easier to remove, consider lining the mold with parchment paper.
Since we’re using honey, we need to cook it a bit longer than just melting your coconut oil.
Melt coconut oil, add the honey and vanilla (and any other extracts), then bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth.
Then pour and press into a mold. The mixture will be very thick so make sure you have your mold already prepared.
Finally, refrigerate until hardened, then chop into chunks. This easily takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
The result? Healthy, naturally sweetened chocolate chips or chunks to use in baking recipes, smoothies, desserts, or anywhere a recipe calls for chocolate chips. I have lots of recipe ideas for you below!
These honey-sweetened chocolate chips have an absolutely intoxicating aroma. Something about the combination of honey, coconut, and chocolate is just out of this world.
And… they taste amazing, too!
Making Sugar-Free Chocolate Chunks (Stevia Sweetened)
This is how I make stevia-sweetened chocolate chunks.
Feel free to use any healthy non-glycemic sweetener. I prefer using pure stevia extract powder as it does not leave a gritty texture like erythritol or xylitol. (Powder erythritol or xylitol first to avoid a gritty texture.) Also, a little goes a very long way!
You can skip the boiling step for these sugar-free chocolate chips. Simply melt the coconut oil and whisk in your other ingredients until smooth.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate, then chop into chunks.
How To Store Homemade Chocolate Chips
The honey-sweetened chips hold up better at room temperature than the stevia-sweetened chips. However, they will soften at room temperature so it’s best to keep them refrigerated.
You definitely want to store the stevia version in the refrigerator as they melt very easily due to being solely coconut-oil based. This is especially true in the warmer months when our coconut oil is fabulously liquidy and easy to pour!
These homemade chocolate chips are also great for the freezer. Make several batches and freeze to be well-prepared for the baking season!
Of course, this is assuming you’ll actually have some to store! They’re so delicious, they may get gobbled up right away.
Homemade Chocolate Chips (Naturally Sweetened Or Sugar-Free!)
Homemade chocolate chips (or even better, chocolate chunks) are easy to make! You have complete control over the ingredients -- no funky additives or refined sugar needed!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup coconut oil + additional 1 teaspoon
- 2/3 cup honey or 1/8 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder, or other sugar-free sweetener of choice (see notes, below)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract or mint extract (optional)
- 1 cup cocoa powder sifted
Instructions
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Grease a mold — such as a mini loaf pan, a loaf pan, or a square baking pan — with coconut oil.
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Melt coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat.
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Once melted, add honey and vanilla.
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Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
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Let boil for 2 minutes, while stirring constantly. Remove from heat promptly.
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Stir in cocoa powder until smooth.
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Transfer to mold. Press down, using clean fingers or the back of a spoon. Smooth top.
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Let cool in either refrigerator or freezer.
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Cut into chunks or shave.
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Enjoy in cookies, ice cream, brownies, cakes, etc. Or eat as-is!
Recipe Notes
This recipe yields 2 cups of the honey-sweetened chocolate chips, or about 3/4 cup stevia-sweetened chocolate chips.
To make this recipe sugar-free: Use pure stevia extract powder (or other sugar-free sweetener of choice) instead of honey. Proceed with the recipe as written, except omit the boiling step. The chocolate will take about 5-10 minutes to chill in the refrigerator or freezer.
Best Ways To Use Homemade Chocolate Chips
Chocolate chips are perfect in so many recipes. Here are a few ideas:
- Breads, such as zucchini, pumpkin, or banana
- Pancakes
- Mix into or sprinkle on your favorite ice cream
- Blend into smoothies and shakes (use stevia-sweetened chips for Keto and THM:S; add last and pulse a few times to avoid completely blending them in)
- Granola and trail mixes/hiking foods (the honey-sweetened variety works best unless you keep the granola or trail mix refrigerated)
- Cookies
- Candy
- Cakes
- Muffins
- Protein or snack bars
- Yogurt parfaits
Now you know how easy it is to make chocolate chips from cocoa powder! Making chocolate chips from scratch in your own kitchen is also a wonderful way to make sure the treats you make contain pure, healthy ingredients.
How will you use these homemade chocolate chips?
This post was originally published and written by Wardee Harmon on 1/25/08. It was updated and republished on 12/16/19.
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Going to try these today…. thank you for the recipe!
Sylvia
Do they melt at room temp? Also could this be used in chocolate moulds? I’m excited to have chocolate again since I cut out sugar from my diet.
Angelique, I am not sure if they melt or not. I think not, but it has been awhile since I’ve made them. They are on the “quirky” side, a little different than normal chocolate chunks, but we’ve enjoyed having them in baking. The more you boil the honey, the chewier the chocolate results. Play with it — and let me know how it goes!
Wardee, I’m curious as to why you don’t recommend using agave. Also, have you had any success using coconut sugar?
Mel —
Here’s a post on the agave issue:
https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2009/04/28/agave-syrup-good-or-bad/
I haven’t tried coconut sugar, so I can’t say if it would work or not. Give it a try and let me know! 🙂
I will try these tonight. Not only are we trying to avoid refined sugar, we are also gluten and casein free and I have to avoid caffeine- I am breastfeeding and my daughter is INCREDIBLY sensitive to caffeine. (No sleep for 2 days after one tiny bite of chocolate with no change in 14 months. Ugh.)
I experienced a miracle two weeks ago when I discovered WonderCocoa that is 99.7% caffeine free!!!! Only, most chocolate flavored desserts are made with (you guessed it) CHOCOLATE! (Not cocoa.) Now, I can make my own caffeine free chocolate chips!
I’m really hoping this will open up a whole bunch of recipe possibilities. Thanks!
Adrianne, I hope this recipe will help you! It is tricky; boiling the honey makes the chocolate chunks chewy. But it is the only way I found to use a liquid sweetener in this type of chocolate. I am now experimenting making chocolate chunks using Rapadura (unrefined sugar cane).
I’m so sorry for the caffeine sensitivity! I’m sure it is good all around to avoid it, though, especially for yours and your daughter’s sanity! God bless your family!
F.Y.I.
If you let the chocolate sit out at room temp to cool/dry they will not melt at room temp and possibly won’t melt in your hand! Cooling or freezing them forces stage 1 crystallization on the chocolate which prevents the chocolate from ever being able to not melt when at room temp! The warmer the temperature is when they are drying the longer it takes but that also means a higher stage of crystallization, which is ideal!
Thank you, Dave! That is very helpful information.
Hi!
I’ll definitely try these! I actually just made a recipe for homemade chocolate chunks too if you want to check out a very different approach: http://thepalatepeacemaker.com/2010/05/18/chocolate-chunks/
🙂
Thanks!
.-= Desi´s last blog post… Chocolate Chunks =-.
I’d love to check out your recipe, Desi. Thanks for sharing it!
Why is agave not recommended, please? Is it a taste issue, consistency issue or what exactly? Has anyone found a work-around whatever problem there is with agave?
Yes, please explain the agave thing.
I know all about fructose being “the worst thing for you” and all, but af ALL other natural sweeteners trigger things in my body that I don’t like – and I’m not going to eat any of the fake ones. So, being otherwise pretty well-informed, i trust my body as my own personal expert. So if that’s the reason, all due respect, I’ll forge ahead with my agave.
However, if it is some other reason, details would be nice to get pointed in the right direction to experiment. Thanks for your help.
I actually just made this and I used agave and it came out completely fine so I do recommend agave!
Thank you so much for this recipe. Nothing complicated and, my favorite part, it’s GAPS legal! 🙂 The almond extract is brilliant.
just wondered if the calculations are right on the nutrition info for 1 Tablespoon?
Carbohydrates 237g
Hi Amy,
We’re working on the nutritional information. Right now it’s not showing correctly. The nutritional information displayed is for the entire recipe not the serving size.
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi Amy! Just wanted to let you know that the nutritional information has been updated and is now correct! I hope this helps!
Can you substitute raw cacao or will the flavor be really different?
Yes you can!
Help! I followed the recipe exactly but instead of a smooth cocoa texture, I got chocolate clumps! After I stirred the cocoa powder in, it clumped into pieces and liquid sat at the bottom. Where did I go wrong? Did I wait too long stirring in the cocoa powder?
Can you sub shortening in for the coconut oil?
I’m allergic to coconut so Can I use butter instead of coconut oil?
Just wondering if maple syrup would work. And, if so, would it require boiling?
The chocolate is not hardening like it should do you know why? It’s kind of gooey and doesn’t get any harder. Makes it extremely hard to remove from molds and cut up haha..
Also tastes a bit more like honey than chocolate? Did I do something wrong?
Could I use coconut butter instead of coconut oil? I have some I need to use. Thought it might make it a little more like milk chocolate which I love but can’t have anymore. Thanks
What , who or can you fix your chocolate chips if it won’t set up ,it’s not getting hard.
Can I use butter instead of coconut oil ? Should I use more ?
I didn’t like the taste its too bitter !
Is the almond extract necessary? What a substitute?