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This easy recipe for healthy homemade chocolate bars makes delicious dark chocolate that melts in your mouth. Only three ingredients! It’s perfect to use as a Paleo-friendly or refined sugar-free alternative in any recipes calling for chocolate chips or chunks. You can also use this recipe for homemade vegan chocolate bars!
I’m super excited to be sharing this post with you today, because it’s such an easy recipe that creates the most delicious, melt in your mouth chocolate. You can snack on it when you need to fix a chocolate craving, and it’s also perfect to use in place of traditional sweetened chocolate chunks for baked goods.
I’ve used these paleo chocolate chunks in my Paleo Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread and my Paleo Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread, and they stay melty and delicious.
You could also use it in my Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies or Paleo Chocolate Chunk Blondies…you see, I use these chunks in a whole lot of delicious ways, and they couldn’t be easier to make.
Ingredients for homemade chocolate
You only need three ingredients to make this recipe, with two optional additions!
- Cacao Butter or Coconut Oil: whichever of these you choose is the base of the chocolate. See below for more details about the differences, but if you go with coconut oil, make sure to use refined for no coconut flavor.
- Maple Syrup: for sweetness! You can also use honey or another liquid sweetener if you prefer. I recommend sticking with liquid sweeteners here, because granulated sweeteners can be gritty.
- Cacao or Cocoa Powder: either will work – cacao is just a raw version of cocoa.
- Vanilla Extract: this adds a little extra flavor, but it will still be delicious if you don’t add it.
- Salt: I love a little salt in everything, but skip it if you don’t!
Cacao Butter vs. Coconut Oil
Cacao butter, or cocoa butter (cacao is just the raw version of cocoa), is made from the cacao tree and is the traditional base of chocolate. Coconut oil comes from the coconut plant, and tastes coconutty unless you get the refined version. I prefer cacao butter for this recipe but it can be more expensive and harder to find.
- Cacao butter (or cocoa butter) will result in a firmer, more shelf-stable chocolate, whereas coconut oil will need to be stored in the fridge and will melt more easily.
- If using coconut oil, make sure to use refined coconut oil to avoid any coconut flavors (unless that’s what you want!).
- Cacao butter chocolate will bake into treats a bit better, and stay firmer, though both will work.
How to make healthy homemade chocolate
This homemade chocolate could not be easier to make!
- Melt the coconut oil or cacao butter in the microwave or over the stove. If you’re using cacao butter and choose to melt over the stove, I recommend using a double boiler to prevent the cacao butter from burning.
- Once melted, add good quality cocoa or cacao powder, maple syrup, if you’d like a sprinkle of salt and/or a splash of vanilla extract, and whisk it together.
- Pour into a pan or chocolate bar mold and add any toppings if using.
- Place the chocolate in the fridge to set. If using for a recipe, chop into chunks to use and enjoy as you’d like!
Want to make homemade chocolate bars? Use a chocolate bar mold and chill until solid. You can (and should) add any of your favorite mix-ins to this, like nuts, seeds, dried fruit, coconut, or a nut butter swirl. The limits are endless!
Where to store this homemade chocolate
I recommend you keep this homemade chocolate in fridge, especially if you used the coconut oil base, because in a hot kitchen they’ll melt into chocolate flavored coconut oil, which isn’t what we’re after! It will be more shelf-stable if you use the cacao butter, but still avoid keeping it in a warm spot, the way you would with any chocolate.
This seriously tastes like delicious dark chocolate, but there’s the benefit of knowing exactly what went into it. You can adjust the honey or cocoa amounts to make it darker or sweeter to suit your tastes.
Now you don’t have to guess whether your chocolate is dairy-free, or refined sugar-free, or vegan, or Paleo-friendly. You know that it is! Try it out – I think you’ll be impressed with how easy it is to make chocolate yourself. Enjoy!
Use your homemade chocolate in these recipes…
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies (with a Vegan Option)
This recipe for Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies is my go-to cookie recipe! My taste testers had no idea these cookies were gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, and refined sugar-free! This is one of my most popular recipes. You can easily make the cookies vegan.
Fudgy Vegan Gluten-Free Brownies
These Vegan Gluten-Free Fudge Brownies have a 10 minute prep time and are better than a box mix! They are naturally sweetened, dairy-free, super-rich, fudgy, and satisfying.
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
These Vegan Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars are like an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, pressed into perfectly portable chewy bars! This easy vegan dessert will become a hit, and they only take 30 minutes to make from start to finish.
Healthy Homemade Chocolate (Bars and Chunks)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cacao butter, 163g or refined coconut oil (172g),cacao butter will result in a firmer chocolate that bakes better whereas coconut oil will be softer and melt more easily
- ¾ cup 64g cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup 111g maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- ⅛ teaspoon salt, optional
Instructions
- First, melt the cacao butter or coconut oil. If using cacao butter, I recommend melting it in a double boiler over low heat. Coconut oil can be melted in a saucepan on low heat. You can also melt either in the microwave. Start by heating for about 30 seconds, stir, and heat in 15 second increments, stirring between each, until melted.
- Stir the cocoa powder, maple syrup or honey, and if using, vanilla extract and salt, into the melted cacao butter or coconut oil until completely smooth.
- Pour the mixture into a lined baking pan or sheet, or to make homemade chocolate bars, pour into a chocolate bar mold. You can add extras like nuts, dried fruit, or coconut either mixed into the chocolate or placed on top of the still-warm chocolate.
- Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. If you’ll be using the chocolate for baking, chop it into chunks. Store in the refrigerator.
Hi, when you say coconut oil, do you mean refined or unrefined? I never know which one is intended in paleo recipes because I think unrefined is the only one that is considered paleo, but it has the coconut flavor. Thanks.
Hi Amanda, either is fine! I’ve never heard that refined coconut oil isn’t paleo, but that’s what I’d use if you’re sensitive to the coconut flavor.
This recipe is amazing! I love how it turns out and how fast and easy it is to make! I have had it separate a few times so I am going to try letting it cool before I pour and refrigerate. Definitely a paleo game changer! No more $7 paleo chocolate bars for me! Home made all the way!
Yay so glad you’re enjoying them, Laura!! Thanks so much for your feedback :)
This recipe is a life saver! A family member was diagnosed with MS last November and we were advised to switch him to a paleo diet. He would have a low calorie fudge bar every night but had to stop with his small, sweet vice because they are not paleo. I made him a batch of this chocolate, and we both could not believe how great this chocolate really is. Thank you!!
So thrilled to hear that this can be a sweet treat for your family member to enjoy, and so kind of you to make it for him!
I love this recipe so much!!!! Would you recommend using it as “baking chocolate” in brownies?
It does get a little melty, but if you substitute cacao butter for the coconut oil, it holds up well in baking!
Hi Rachel, i used this chocolate to prepare pecan oat cookies but the chocolate melted in the oven making the cookie dough runny. The end result was that the cookie could not hold to itself and would fall apart .
Hi Matma, this works better when there’s not a ton of chocolate in the cookie! You can also use cacao butter instead of the coconut oil to raise the melting point so it doesn’t get so gooey.
Add chia seeds and maybe a nut of some kind to make it a treat, yes, no, maybe?
Absolutely!! Will be like a homemade chocolate bar.
Best chocolate ever I started on paleo in March and thought I couldn’t eat chocolate lol now it’s my favourite
Yay so glad you’re loving it!!
I don’t think I will ever go back to buying chocolate chips again. This is the easiest recipe and the chocolate tastes so good! Thank you, Bakerita!
Yay so glad you’re loving it!!
Hi Rachel,definitely going to try this out. Will these work in cookies and is the nutrition info for the whole 2 cups of chocolate?
Thanks
Angela
Hi Angela, I need to adjust that nutritional info since that doesn’t seem correct, but yes these will work in cookies! :) enjoy!
Thank you Rachel
Would this work with a solid sugar free sweetener like erythritol? Are the proportions of the other ingredients made with the soupiness of honey or maple syrup in mind?
Hi Karen, yes the other ingredients do account for the liquid of the maple syrup/honey. I haven’t tried it with a solid sugar-free sweetener so unfortunately, I can’t provide guidance as to how it would work. Of course, you’re welcome to try it – you could halve or quarter the recipe to experiment to not waste too many ingredients in case it doesn’t work well.