For those embracing the ketogenic lifestyle, satisfying a sweet craving can feel like navigating a minefield. Fortunately, the growing popularity of the keto diet has led to an explosion of low-sugar chocolate options, with some producers truly standing out. If you have New Year’s resolution to cut way back on sweets, thanks to the legions adopting the carbs-are-bad-for-you keto diet, the shelves are now heavy with goodies that are good for you. Well, at least they’re better than the high sugar chocolates.
Top Picks for Keto-Friendly Dark Chocolate
After trying a whole bunch of bars and bites, here are top picks:
Skinny Dipped: Protein-Packed and Delicious
Skinny Dipped is a woman-owned company with a bittersweet origin story - mom and daughter shocked by the tragic death of a friend vow to embrace the moment. This company is making some of the tastiest low-sugar chocolate treats currently on the market. The plant protein-packed lineup of chocolates let the supporting characters shine in starring roles. For instance, the peanut butter’s not an afterthought in those tasty cups. The Super Dark + Sea Salt Almonds have easily slipped into the top spot on greatest hits list when it comes to feel-good snacks. The ultra-rich cocoa flavor and the satisfying crunch make it a winner.
Unreal Snacks: Simple Ingredients, Satisfying Taste
Unreal’s Coconut Bars contain just 3 grams of sugar per bar, these three-ingredient gems shot straight back to the days when I’d crush on Mounds. Unreal’s creations keep it simple, skipping sugar alcohols, stevia and artificial sweeteners going into the minimalist list of ingredients. Unreal Snacks produces an extensive lineup of low-sugar treats available in retail spaces and online.
Russell Stover’s Pecan Delights: A Nostalgic Treat, Sugar-Free
That nuts and gooey caramel combo enveloped in chocolate plays out like nostalgic trip to grandma’s secret candy drawer. But guess what? There’s no sugar in the list of ingredients with stevia standing in to deliver the sweet.
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Truffettes de France Original Keto Cocoa Bites: A Delicious Discovery
These bon bon size bites deliver big time chocolate flavor with zero sugar, no carbs. Only issue? They’re so delicious, might be a challenge to eat just one or two. Discovered these at Grocery Outlet, so availability might be a little tricky as those stores are all about opportunistic stocking of the shelves. If you find a box or three, scoop them up.
Hu Kitchen Organic Chocolate and Snacks: Minimally Processed, Maximum Flavor
Hu Kitchen produces low-sugar chocolate bars using high quality ingredients. This groundbreaking company makes an extensive lineup of milk and dark chocolate bars with the hazelnut with puffed quinoa topping my all-time faves list. The company’s co-founders Jordan Brown, Jason Karp, and Jessica Karp launched this successful brand with a sharp focus on producing minimally processed chocolates that taste incredible. Mission accomplished!
Other Keto-Friendly Dark Chocolate Options
All of the chocolates below passed our taste test and our glucose/ketone test with little or no effect on our ketone and glucose levels.
Adapt Ketobar Chocolate Delight: Whey protein powder, which can have adverse effects on blood glucose and ketones, is the first ingredient, but it didn’t cause trouble in this case; the Adapt Ketobar Chocolate Delight easily passed our glucose & ketone tests.
Brooklyn Born Chocolate Lemon Coffee Dark Chocolate Keto Bar: Huge thanks to the Brooklyn Born Chocolate company for thinking up a lemon coffee dark chocolate keto bar. It seriously blew us away! The flavor is hard to describe; think lemon poppy-seed mocha.
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CHOCOperfection Dark European Chocolate Bar: Beautiful foil wrapping makes you feel like you’re opening a Willy Wonka golden ticket bar when you unwrap a CHOCOperfection Dark European Chocolate Bar. You are indeed winning in a way, because this extra-thick chocolate bar is scrumptious. Expect quintessential dark-chocolate flavor only without the usual bitterness.
Milk Chocolate Squares (brand unspecified): These decadent, bite-size milk chocolate squares are serious seducers! Ingredients: milk chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, whole milk powder), soluble corn fiber (GMO-free), sunflower lecithin, monk fruit extract, Madagascar bourbon, vanilla beans. Contains milk.
Mini Dark Chocolate Bars (brand unspecified): These mini, single-serving, melt-in-your-mouth bars feature rich, dark chocolate with just enough sweetness to satisfy.
Lakanto Dark Chocolate Bar: This sugar-free chocolate bar is creamy and perfectly sweet thanks to the inclusion of Lakanto’s trademark zero-glycemic-index monkfruit sweetener. With flavor that’s not quite dark and not quite milk chocolate, this is the Goldilocks of chocolate, with milder sweetness than most milk chocolates and no dark-chocolate bitterness.
Lily’s Creamy Milk Chocolate Bar: Lily’s is the go-to gourmet keto chocolate maker for baking chips, and their creamy milk chocolate bar is right up there with the best of the best. Impossibly sweet and creamy with zero alternate sweetener aftertaste.
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Luv Crushed Red Pepper and Sea Salt Chocolate Bar: With toppings of crushed red pepper and sea salt, the Luv Crushed Red Pepper and Sea Salt chocolate bar is extra pretty and unique. The texture of this chocolate is more like a soft fudge with an interactive twist: you have to knead the chocolate in the wrapper before you open it, then it slides up in a solid but soft and chewy form. If it seems weird, it is. But once you take your first bite, all is forgiven.
KetoManna Chocolate: KetoManna Chocolate offers a phenomenally delicious chocolate experience. (Heat it up and it’s a sipping chocolate!) The main ingredient is coconut, which you can taste along with dark chocolate, vanilla, and Himalayan salt.
The Good Chocolate’s Himalayan Salt Bar: The Good Chocolate’s Himalayan Salt bar won the “Best Chocolate Bar” gold medal at The International Chocolate Salon in New York in 2019 for one simple reason: The Good Chocolate makes good on its name, or more accurately, crafts delicious sugar-free gourmet keto chocolate.
Understanding Keto-Friendly Chocolate
When choosing dark chocolate for a keto diet, it's essential to understand what makes a chocolate "keto-friendly." The primary focus is on minimizing the net carbohydrate content. Net carbs are calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate count.
Key Considerations:
- Sugar Content: Opt for chocolates with minimal added sugar. Many keto-friendly options utilize alternative sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit, or erythritol.
- Sugar Alcohols: While sugar alcohols are often used in low-sugar products, some people experience digestive issues with certain types. Be mindful of how your body reacts to different sugar alcohols.
- Ingredients: Pay attention to the ingredient list. Look for high-quality ingredients and avoid chocolates with artificial additives or excessive fillers.
- Cocoa Percentage: While not directly related to keto-friendliness, a higher cocoa percentage generally indicates a lower sugar content and a more intense chocolate flavor.