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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.
This was a great recipe! I used half cacao butter and half ghee and it was to top some coconut bars that would be in the heat, and it turned out perfect. The bars were kept in the fridge until serving time and the chocolate shell topping held up.
Sounds fabulous, so glad you enjoyed it, Cindy!
Can you use these homemade chocolate chunks for making chocolate chip cookies?
Hi Renee, you certainly can :)
Hello! I have long loved your paleo chocolate chip cookies. A real crowd pleaser!
This is the exact recipe I have been using for making chocolate trwats. Glad I found yours. I read a commenter’s question about the honey sinking to the bottom. That happened with my early batches.
I happily discovered that letting the chocolate cool to room temp before refrigerating solves the problem.
I also often pour the chocolate into mini muffin cups to make small candies. Adding coconut to the bottom of each cup is delish as well.
I found Navitas cacao and cacao butter to be delicious and cleaner from heavy metals than other brands.
Thanks for the yummy recipes!
Thanks so much for sharing this helpful tip, Lynne! So glad you’re enjoying the recipe :)
So easy! I whip this up and sprinkle nuts on it for a bark. Easiest dessert to bring to a party! I’m going to add coconut flakes next!
Yum!! So glad you’re loving it, Erica.
This recipe worked soooo well! I put the chunks into cookies and my friends LOVED it. Thank you so much for this recipe! ❤❤❤
So glad you loved it, Elizah! Thanks for the review :)
This is a Great recipe. The first day the chocolate is creamy and smooth but every day after that it gets a little more grainy. Any suggestions?
I forgot to tell you that I use cacao powder instead of Cocoa powder. Would that make a difference?
The cocoa powder vs cacao powder shouldn’t make it more grainy. How are you storing it?
I either store the chocolate in refrig or on the counter. It doesn’t seem to matter. Each batch I make seems to be different. It Has to have something to do with the ingredients or how I’m melting the butter.
I started making my own chocolate when I “went down that rabbit hole” on the internet and found out that cacao from S. America and Central America has Cadmium and Lead in it. I get my cacao from Sierra Leone. Also the cacao butter. I started getting the butter in “pellets” otherwise they were in “chunks” which is harder to measure. I’m going back to the “chunks” I think the chocolate was better then.
How do you melt the butter? I’ve done it one the stove And in the microwave. Could I be getting the butter to too high of a temp? Would that cause graininess?
Thanks for listening ;)
This is interesting! What company do you buy your cacao from?
Good but you should change the honey amount to 1/2 cup!
You can use as much as your preference is – I prefer a darker, less sweet chocolate so this amount works well for my tastes.
I’ve been making these for years!! My friend group refers to them as crack chocolate because it’s so addictive. I always mix PB or almond butter through it as well
Yess love it, sounds so good!!
Hi was just wondering can i use coconut butter for this recipe please.
Hi Helen, yes that should work just fine, you’ll just have more coconut flavor and a little coconutty texture depending on how smooth the butter is.