How to Choose the Right Chocolate for Cooking and Baking

There's a Willy Wonka's worth of chocolate out there vying for your baking, cooking, and eating dollars. Here’s how to pick the right chocolate for the right job.

By
Vanessa Greaves
Vanessa Greaves
Vanessa Greaves

Vanessa Greaves is a Senior Editor at Allrecipes with nearly two decades of experience helping home cooks gain confidence in the kitchen. A self-taught cook who grew up reading cookbooks for fun, Vanessa lives and breathes the challenges faced by busy everyday cooks to get dinner on the table.

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Updated on November 11, 2021
Dark and white chocolate for cooking and baking
Photo: Meredith

Quick Overview of Chocolate

Chocolate comes from the seeds, or nibs, of the cacao tree. They're roasted and ground to produce a liquid or paste called chocolate liquor, which can then be separated into cocoa butter and cocoa powder. Tweaking ratios of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sugar, and other ingredients produces the different types of chocolate on the market. To keep everything legit, the FDA maintains industry standards for labeling chocolate.

Choose the Right Chocolate for Your Recipe

Use this simple chart to see which kind of chocolate works best for melting and molding, cooking, baking, eating, or drinking.

chart showing what kind of chocolate to choose for various cooking and baking uses
Allrecipes

Types of Chocolate and How to Use Them

Baking chocolate. Also called bitter or unsweetened chocolate. This solid chocolate liquor contains 50 to 58% cocoa butter and no added sugar. Best for cooking and baking.

Bittersweet chocolate. Darkest of all eating chocolates. Has the strongest chocolate flavor and contains at least 35% chocolate liquor. Some premium brands contain 70% or more cocoa butter and cocoa solids. Best for cooking, baking, and eating.

Semisweet chocolate. Often used in place of bittersweet, but has more added sugar. Contains at least 35% chocolate liquor. Best for cooking, baking, and eating.

Sweet chocolate. Has more added sugar than semisweet, and contains at least 15% chocolate liquor. Best for cooking, baking, and eating.

Milk chocolate. Contains at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% milk solids to give it a sweet and creamy taste. Best for eating.

White chocolate. Not really a "true" chocolate because it does not contain chocolate solids. Contains at least 20% cocoa butter. Foodie Fact: When the cocoa butter is replaced with other, less expensive fats, it can no longer be labeled as white chocolate; it's sold as almond bark or confectioners' coating. Best for cooking, baking, and eating.

Cocoa powder. Can be sweet or bitter. Made by drying and grinding chocolate liquor and removing most of the cocoa butter, but must still retain 10 to 22% cocoa butter. "Dutched" or Dutch-process cocoa is treated with an alkalizing agent to make it darker, less bitter, and more soluble in liquids. Best for baking and drinking.

Couverture. Favored by candy-making pros. Contains at least 32% cocoa butter, which makes it very glossy and allows it to flow more easily when it's melted and tempered. Comes in bars or coins called pistoles. Best for melting and baking.

Cocoa nibs. Made by roasting and breaking up cacao beans. These unsweetened bits add crunch to cookies and dessert garnishes. Best for baking.

Now go forth and face the wide array of chocolates armed with the knowledge you need to get the right chocolate for the job.

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