Easy homemade dark chocolate with less than a handful of ingredients!
In case anyone actually needs another reason to reach for some chocolate…..
5 Reasons to Eat More Dark Chocolate🍫
You know, for health…
- It’s basically brain food
The cocoa found in chocolate helps increase blood flow to the brain which leads to faster reaction time, better problem solving skills, and improved attention span. Not only that, but increased blood flow to the brain also improves short term memory and decreases mental decline in seniors. - It helps protect against heart disease
The flavonoids in chocolate help increase blood flow to the heart as well which helps to prevent blood clots and hardening of the arteries. Eating a small amount of dark chocolate a few times a week has been shown to lower blood pressure. - Younger looking skin
Quality dark chocolate, not the sugary kind, is full of antioxidants that have anti-aging benefits to the skin. Not only that, but the same flavonoids that increase blood flow to the heart and brain also increase blood flow to the skin giving off a healthy glow. - It’s a “joy stimulant”Cocoa boosts levels of serotonin and endorphins in the brain which leads to improved mood. So when you’re feeling down and you’re craving something sweet it’s likely the boost in serotonin that your body is really craving.
- It helps you stress less
Chocolate is a great source of magnesium which has been dubbed “the original chill pill”. Getting more magnesium through diet leads to better sleep contributing to improved resilience to stress. Another study found: when test subjects who considered themselves to be highly stressed people ate an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two week had a significant drop in stress hormones.
Keep in mind that these health benefits relate to quality dark chocolate – at least more than 70% cocoa. Conventional chocolate bars filled with lots of sugar and additives don’t have the same benefits and are likely to cause more problems than anything else.
How to make homemade chocolate with Coconut Oil
Making homemade dark chocolate is probably easier than you think. It’s made with only 5 ingredients: cocoa powder (or cacao), coconut oil, honey, and sea salt. All you need is about 5 minutes of melting and whisking plus time to set and you’re good to go.
If you follow this recipe as is you’ll end up with about 72% dark chocolate, but feel free to customise to your taste adding an extra tablespoon or so of honey. I never used to be a fan of dark chocolate but over time I learned to love it as my eating habits changed and I ate less sugar.
Spruce It Up
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the flavours to make your own special chocolate bar. A few ideas to get you started:
- ground ginger
- orange zest or orange extract
- chili flakes
- chopped nuts
If you enjoy this recipe make sure you check out my recipe for homemade chocolate with cocoa butter!
Homemade Dark Chocolate
Easy homemade dark chocolate - only five ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (105g)
- 4 tbsp honey or more for taste (85g)
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 cup unprocessed 100% cocoa powder or cacao powder (118g)
Instructions
- In a small pot over a low heat: melt the coconut oil.
- Stir in the honey, and salt.
- Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the cocoa powder and mix until it's dissolved into the chocolate mixture. You should have a smooth, lump free chocolate sauce.
- Pour the chocolate into silicone moulds or a lined baking pan. Leave out at room temperature to cool and fully set. Once they've hardened pop them out of the moulds and enjoy.
Notes
- You can also use cocoa butter in place of the coconut oil for a creamier chocolate.
- Use maple syrup or agave for a vegan friendly chocolate. Use maple syrup for low FODMAP. Just keep in mind that maple syrup contains more water than honey and could leave you slightly grainy chocolate.
- Keep chocolate stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Don't pack the cocoa powder into a measuring cup - lightly scoop it into the cup until filled.
- I no longer recommend cooling/setting in the fridge or freezer. Firming up at room temperature will take much longer, but the chocolate is much less likely to melt at room temp/in your hand this way.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size:
30 grams Calories: 143Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 9gSodium: 15mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 2gShop this Post
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Pebs says
Hello sarah.. Can i use this recipe also in making chocolate ganache?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Pebs! I’m afraid I’m not sure how well it would work in making a ganache. A safer bet would be to use this chocolate recipe that uses cocoa butter as it’s closer to traditional store bought chocolate. https://www.asaucykitchen.com/homemade-chocolate-with-cocoa-butter/
Sorry I couldn’t be more help here!
Varsha says
Hi Sarah,
i was thinking to try this today, before that, quick question, i was looking at dfferent website for chocolate recipe, and i saw 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cup cocao, and yours is double the amount of coconut oil. Not sure which would come out better. help me!
Thanks,
Varsha
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Varsha! I can’t really speak for anyone else’s recipe but I can say that at the time of writing this comment this recipe has 126 ratings with an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars which means that the majority of people were fairly happy with how the chocolate came out.
If you aren’t sure though, you can always start with 1/2 cup coconut oil and add more if think it needs it. Hope that helps!
Nashita says
Hi Sarah! I tried the recipe and I felt it was too bitter so I added a little bit of sugar powder and the chocolate started releasing oil it became kinda oily and less sticky and I guess that’s not supposed to happen. What do I do? Or what did I do wrong??
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Nashita! When the chocolate gets too hot the oil starts to separate from the cocoa – I think that might have been the problem. Next time I recommend mixing and melting on a lower heat and I think that might solve the issue. Hope that helps!
Ido Kalir says
Thank you for this great recipe – I tried it and it came out delicious!
But if the recipe contains 118 grams of cocoa powder, and to me it yielded around 265 grams of chocolate – then how does that add up to be 85% chocolate? The final product is made up of only 44% cocoa powder and the rest is coconut oil and honey…
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Ido! Sorry about taking so long to get back to you – I just found your comment stuck in my spam folder. To be honest I wrote this recipe so long ago I don’t remember what math I did to get 85%. However – this chocolate is closer to 70%
If you add up the weight of all the ingredients you should end up with 308g (105 + 118 + 85)
In normal chocolate recipe you would use cocoa butter instead of coconut oil When calculating the cocoa content you would then add the cocoa butter & cocoa powder. Since the coconut oil acts as the cocoa butter here I include it with the cocoa powder which equals 223g. If you divide 223 by 308 you end up with .724 or 72% which makes a lot more sense when describing the taste
Hope that makes sense!
Anonymous says
That doesn’t make sense to me, either. You’re saying you’re “pretending” coconut oil has the health benefits and nutritional profile of cocoa butter, so you’re calculating the % falsely by saying the coconut oil adds to the amount of cocoa? This is misleading.
Sarah Nevins says
Sorry if you feel that it’s misleading! I’m not saying that the coconut oil has the same nutritional profile as cocoa butter though I can see why it might have seemed that way because I explained it poorly before.
It doesn’t really matter that we use coconut oil instead of cocoa butter here. Generally, chocolate percentage refers to the intensity of the chocolate flavour versus the overall sweetness (how much sugar is in it). A 70% bar of chocolate basically just means that the chocolate has 30% sweetener + 70% everything else.
Lara says
Hii Sarah…
I just wanna know that can I use table salt instead of sea salt…
And sugar instead of honey…
??
Sarah Nevins says
Table salt instead of sea salt is totally fine! As for the sugar you’ll likely need to double the amount of sugar needed. Honey is much sweeter than sugar so you need less of it. Also make sure to fully dissolve the sugar in with the oil so it doesn’t end up too grainy. Hope that helps!
Jodie says
Hi Sarah!
I’m OBSESSED with anything that’s mint-dark chocolate flavored! If I wanted to substitute the vanilla extract with mint extract, would I have to change the measurements? Would I have to change anything else in the recipe? Thanks!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Jodie! That’s no problem at all! You can just swap out the vanilla for mint extract entirely – no need to change anything else. Hope you love it!
Debra Stewart says
Hi,
It’s January 28, 2020 and I have a question. If I am using the Cacao powder instead of the Cocoa powder, I read somewhere that you need to add baking powder to Cacao powder, I believe? If this is true, can you tell me how much to add to this recipe please using Cacao powder? Or if you feel it doesn’t need it , please let me know. I do wish that you had links to the exact ingredients that you purchased for this recipe. Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Debra! My understand when it comes to using cacao powder instead of cocoa powder is that it’s recommended to using baking soda instead of baking powder when you’re baking with cacao powder. That’s only relevant (at least in my understand) when you’re baking things because baking soda is better for leavening your baked goods in recipes using cacao. Since you’re not baking anything here, you don’t need to worry about adding any baking powder/soda to this recipe.
I hope that helps!
DDebra Stewart says
Yes, your reply helped very much. Thank you!!
Cheevey says
Hi Sarah
Can I substitute Margarine instead of Coconut oil for making this recipe?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi there! I’m afraid margin/butter won’t work in place of the coconut oil as it won’t solidify at room temperature
Alphy says
Is there any alternative for honey??..
Can I use sugar powder
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Alphy! You certainly can – you’ll just want to make sure to dissolve the sugar into the coconut oil fully before taking it off the heat. Icing or powdered sugar are good options because their sugar crystals are so fine they should dissolve quite easily. You’ll also probably need to double or triple the amount of sugar needed as honey is much sweeter than regular sugar. Hope that helps!
Samjhana says
I don’t have cocoa powder or cacao powder. So what can I put instead of that..!!??😅😊
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Samjhana! Without cocoa or cacao powder there’s not really any good substitute for making dark chocolate.
You could add 1 cup peanut butter/nut butter and about 1/4 cup coconut oil (instead of 1 full cup) and make a nut butter fudge. It’s not at all like chocolate and has a much different texture but it’s still very tasty! You would need to store that in the fridge for an hour or two to chill before eating it though.
Hira says
What is a substitute for coconut oil
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Hira! You can use cocoa butter like in this recipe: https://www.asaucykitchen.com/homemade-chocolate-with-cocoa-butter/
It might also work with palm oil but I haven’t tried that myself so I can’t say for sure
Inshirah says
Hello! I’m thinking about making this recipe soon but I just have one question. Can I use butter or palm oil instead of coconut oil? Thanks in advance!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Inshirah! Palm oil should work but I don’t think butter would come out quite right. Hope you love it!
Dimitrina says
I use erythritol instead of honey or sugar. The receipt is awesome! Thank you! I made it with cocoa butter.
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Dimitrina! That’s really helpful to know – so glad you enjoyed it!
Lesley Knox says
I have a new tree but allergy and most ALL chocolate has tree nuts. I tried to make my own chocolate today – unsuccessful! Saved yours to try. I feel like I am going through a chocolate detox. Love dark chocolate 75-85%.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Lesley! I hope you enjoyed this one!