Shop
My
Custom
Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowI’ve always had a weak spot for white chocolate. I even have fond childhood memories of picking through the (wrapped) candy bowl in search of the white Lindor truffles that may be buried in there. I’m not a white chocolate snob though – I’ll totally eat a plain white chocolate bar just as happily. And now, thanks to my new recipe, that can be low carb sugar-free white chocolate.
Purists might complain that white chocolate is not “real” chocolate since it doesn’t include cocoa powder, but I’d have to respectfully disagree. It’s still made with cocoa butter, so I say that totally counts.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find a good sugar-free white chocolate bar on the market. I wish I could buy them ready-to-eat, the way I do my beloved milk chocolate bars at Trader Joe’s, but they don’t make a white chocolate version.
That could only mean one thing – it was time to make my own!
When I first set out to make my own sugar-free white chocolate, I pored through ingredient lists for white chocolate bars I liked to find the common ground. I figured that would point me in the right direction of how to make my sugar-free white chocolate.
Of course, they were all made with sugar, cocoa butter, milk, vanilla (or unfortunately synthetic vanilla flavor called vanillin), and often lecithin as a stabilizer. This list was far from ideal, but I had to start somewhere.
It was time to make some ingredient replacements. I’d previously heard somewhere (wish I remembered where!) that the milk listed on chocolate bars was actually milk powder to avoid introducing excess liquid, so I knew that was what I had to use.
Originally I made this sugar-free white chocolate recipe with whole milk powder. After a reader suggested heavy cream powder, I changed it to that instead to lower carbs more. And, it tastes better.
Otherwise, I made the natural swaps of erythritol for sugar and real vanilla extract for vanillin. Make sure to use powdered Besti, so that your sugar-free white chocolate is not grainy.
I skipped the stabilizer in my original recipe. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a mistake. The low carb white chocolate recipe ended up causing problems for people. Sure enough, when I tried to make it again, the chocolate didn’t emulsify properly.
As a result, I modified the steps to include sunflower lecithin. I figured that would help since most commercial chocolate bars contain soy lecithin. I opted for the sunflower kind to avoid soy. Just a teeny-tiny bit worked wonders!
I threw in a pinch of sea salt for depth, but you can skip it if you’d like.
Once I had the ingredient list figured out, it was simply a matter of testing out different ingredient ratios, primarily the relationship between cocoa butter and heavy cream powder. Both contribute to the unique flavor we know and love in white chocolate.
I settled at a ratio of one tablespoon of powder per ounce of cocoa butter – a wonderful combination of smoothness and white-chocolatiness. In addition, my revised sugar-free white chocolate recipe includes a tablespoon of coconut oil. I found that this helped to make it creamier.
So, are you ready to make your own sugar-free white chocolate bars? With the holidays coming up, having a sugar-free, healthier option for white chocolate is much-needed. I’ll bet these keto white chocolates and keto chocolate bars would be so cute wrapped up as little gifts, too.
Tools To Make Sugar-free White Chocolate
Tap the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.
- Double boiler – For melting the cocoa butter and coconut oil. Highly, highly recommend this, otherwise there’s a good chance the chocolate will burn or separate.
- Chocolate bar molds – I like this pack because it’s 4 for one low price. And, the chocolates pop out effortless because they are food-grade silicone.
- Chocolate chip molds – If you want white chocolate chips, this mold makes the same shape as real store-bought ones!
- Sunflower lecithin – Many people aren’t sure where to get this, so I wanted to point it out here. This is the one I use. It’s a must to stabilize the sugar-free white chocolate and help keep it smooth.
- Heavy cream powder – This is harder to find in stores. I buy it here online for making low carb white chocolate. Plus, you can reconstitute it with water to use as actual heavy cream in recipes.
Sugar Free White Chocolate
By
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
-
Cut the cocoa butter into small pieces, no larger than 1/2 in (1.3 cm) in any direction. This important to prevent overheating the outside when melting.
-
Place the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and sunflower lecithin into a small saucepan. Melt on the stove over VERY low heat. Do not allow it to simmer or boil. (Even better, use a double boiler if you can.) Remove from heat once melted.
-
Stir in Besti, until dissolved. Stir in the cream powder, vanilla extract, and sea salt, until smooth.
-
Pour into chocolate molds (or onto a small parchment lined pan). Refrigerate until hardened. Keep refrigerated for best results.
Did you make it? Leave a review or tag me @wholesomeyum on Instagram!
Maya's Recipe Notes
- Makes 2 chocolate bars of typical size. A serving is 1/4 of a bar.
- Any powdered sweetener will work. Powdered sugar makes a regular white chocolate version, but I prefer powdered Besti for low carb and sugar-free white chocolate bars.
- The ratios in this recipe were updated in January 2018, and again in September 2018, for better results.
Serving size: 1/4 of a bar
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
Add Your Notes Your Notes
Try More Of My Recipes
© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We'd LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead.
How To Make Sugar-Free White Chocolate (Low Carb, Keto)
266 Comments
Rhonda
0Wow! Thank you for all your experimentation. I too was a big fan of white chocolate alas being keto ruined that. I’m looking fwd to trying this especially with Easter coming up. Thought I may have to just watch others enjoying their chocolate treats but now I can join the party!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Rhonda! Let me know how you like it once you try!
Jillian
0Can’t wait to make this! Unfortunately, the link I taped on took me to sour cream powder on Amazon, not powdered heavy cream. Did you use a different kind?
Kristin Warner
0Hoosier Hills makes a Heavy Cream powder (just 2-3 ingredients) which I believe is actually dehydrated vs. freeze-dried w/ added chemicals….I might be wrong about the brand, but I’m pretty sure it was on Amazon too, otherwise, it’s definitely Google-able 🙂
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Jillian, Odd, I checked the link and it takes me to heavy cream powder on Amazon.com (US). Are you in a different country? For Amazon US, you could try this link also. Not sure if other countries carry it. Any kind of milk powder should also work, but milk powder is higher in carbs.
Fiona Bullock
0I’m in the UK, does anyone know what I can use in place of the heavy cream powder, or what it might be called please? I can’t seem to find it!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Fiona, I’m in the U.S. but we unfortunately don’t have heavy cream powder in stores either. I get it on Amazon. I searched Amazon U.K. but did not find it there, however I did find whole milk powder which will also work. You can get whole milk powder on Amazon U.K. here. Hope this helps!
Mandy
0Hi Maya, I am fairly new to the ketogenic way of life and I’m no pro baker/chef. I was wondering if this recipe could be used as chips to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? Would it melt too much once mix into the cookie batter and baked or would it be fine? Wanted to get your input before trying so I might avoid wasting time and money if you know it wouldn’t work.
Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Mandy, I still haven’t gotten around to trying this chocolate in baking, but I know that if you use it from room temperature or from the fridge, it will just melt into your cookie batter when heated. What I would recommend is freezing the pieces of chocolate, and use the frozen pieces in the cookie dough. That way it might stand a chance. 🙂 Let me know how it goes for you!
Nancy C.
0Can you list the per serving by grams, please?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Nancy, sorry I don’t have that information available right now. If you make it, weigh the whole thing and divide that number by eight you’ll have the amount per serving in grams.
Emily
0I am trying to add this recipe to my lose it app recipe box thing, but I wasn’t sure how many calories from cocoa butter I used. I weighed it to 4 oz. or whatever the amount was. The package on the butter is Tbsp but they come in chips. How do I know how many chips equals a tbsp?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Emily, That would depend on the size of the chips so the only way to know for sure is to place chips into a tablespoon measuring spoon and then count them. You could also go by weight if you have a kitchen scale, since nutrition labels also list weight in grams for a serving.
Natasha
0I know this was awhile ago, but I weighed it using a kitchen scale. The whole bag was 8 oz and 4 oz in the recipe so I just calculated the nutrition for the whole bag using servings per container and divided it in half.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thanks Natasha!
Tiffany Hindman
0I can’t find whole dry milk anywhere. I have checked every whole foods type market and regular supermarket around me and all they have is nonfat. Will that work? I need to make it tonight so I can’t ship from anywhere. Help!
Emily
0I found goat milk powder at Wegmans. If not, Amazon.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tiffany, It might work but I haven’t tried it. Sorry I missed your comment earlier, but I hope it worked out for you. I did just update the recipe so you might want to try it again the new way, too.
Caryn
0Has anyone actually tried to make this? I just did and EPIC FAIL. The sweetener did not dissolve even when I put the mixture in a bullet to blend. Terribly grained and tasted like suntan lotion. I doubled the batch and wasted a ton of ingredients so very disappointed. How do you get get your sweetener not to crystalize and separate from the cocoa butter. I used pyure which is a stevia erythritol blend. I’m telling you it was horrible.
Emily
0I made this the other day. I used stevia the cocoa butter she linked and the lecithin she linked. I couldn’t find the milk powder but I did find goat milk powder and used that. It looked gross when I mixed and poured but after refrigerating it was delicious. I am going to make her white chocolate chip macadamia cookies using this.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Caryn, I’m sorry this happened, it definitely shouldn’t be grainy or taste like suntan lotion. Did you use the granular or powdered Pyure sweetener?
Caryn
0I used granulated but buzzed it in a nutribullet first. As soon as it hit the cocoa butter it totally crystallized. I so want white chocolate. Help.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Caryn, Sorry you had issues with it. I actually updated the recipe today to be more consistently reproducible. I hope you will give it a try – it will work much better than the old version.
Lisa
0This looks so amazing but mine went caramel coloured and flavoured 🙁
I felt the mixture separated so I used the handheld blender in the pot to mix it. It got thick and toffee like. Any suggestions?
Karla
0How much Stevia did you use ?
And what brand ?
Thank you
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Lisa, Sorry you had issues with it. If it turned to caramel and then separated, the heat was definitely too high. Both of these issues are caused by overheating.
Kelly
0This sounds amazing! Do you know or has anyone tried with THM collagen instead of the milk powder?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Kelly! That’s a great idea. I haven’t tried it yet. I’m not sure if it would affect the flavor, since milk powder contributes to the taste of white chocolate. I love THM collagen though, so let me know how it goes if you try it!
Krysten
0Thank you for this! Do you have to use the milk powder? I want to make it vegan.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Krysten, Yes, the milk powder is a main component in any white chocolate. You may be able to use powdered coconut cream powder instead, but haven’t tried that. Let me know how it goes if you do.
Sakura Sky
0Mine came out with a really weird flavor and gritty texture, and I can’t figure out why. I used Swerve Confectioner’s, that would be the right sweetener, right?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Sakura, I’ve never experienced that, but it’s hard to say what happened without being in the kitchen with you. Swerve Confectioner’s is the correct sweetener. It could be that the milk powder and sweetener didn’t dissolve well enough into the melted cocoa butter? You could try heating a little longer and/or using a blender to make sure everything mixes well.
Marijane
0The whole milk powder is so much for just one recipe! Could regular lowfat powdered milk work? It’s much more accessible.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Marijane, I haven’t tried that since it’s higher in carbs, but in theory it should work. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try!
April
0Would liquid heavy cream work? I don’t have powdered and really want to make this!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi April, Unfortunately, no. The chocolate wouldn’t set with liquid cream (it would be too liquid). Either whole milk powder or heavy cream powder would be needed. I suppose you could try a thickener, but haven’t tried that so couldn’t vouch for the results.
Melissa Elsworth
0I want to make this recipe for doing white chocolate syrup. If it would be too liquid, then maybe a 1/2 heavy cream liquid and powder would give the melty consistency you need to move on to the syrup phase. Unless someone has figured it out yet.
Ray Lester
0Very sweet. Maybe add a little sweeter at a time.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you for the feedback, Ray! Everyone’s taste buds are different so you can definitely adjust the sweetness to taste.
lynnpricewrites
0I just made these with heavy cream powder, and they came out great…along with drastically reducing the carb count. I got 2 large bars and 7 candy molds.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0That’s a great idea! I’ll try making them with heavy cream powder next time, too.
lynnpricewrites
0Thank you so much for this info!!
Niki
0Can you use goat whole milk powder?
Emily
0I used goat powder and it worked
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I haven’t tried it but don’t see why not! Let me know how it goes if you try it.
Karen
0I was excited to see cacao powder at Walmart today, opened it, and it’s chocolate, not white chocolate. How would I know the difference? I know I can use this, but I already have unsweetened chocolate.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Karen, Cacao powder is always dark chocolate, not white chocolate. For this recipe you need cacao butter, not powder. Cacao butter is always white. I’ve never seen it at Walmart, but not sure if that varies around the country. I buy it online here.
Lisa Vaas
0Avoid the milk powder carbs entirely. You can buy heavy cream in powdered form! I’ve found it on amazon in the past.
Donna
0I found the HWC powder too!! Cannot wait to try this…c’mon Amazon
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Awesome! I’ve seen some people have issues with the recipe so am going to re-test in the next couple weeks and change the recipe to use the HWC powder. 🙂
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0That’s a great idea! Yes, this recipe should work the same way with heavy cream powder.
Laurie T.
0Could butterscotch flavoring be added to this? I’m looking for a way to make low-carb butterscotch chips.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Yes, you could do that! I haven’t tried it but don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. And it sounds delicious. 🙂