The best sugar free chocolate candy shouldn’t be a bummer to eat just because it’s sugar free. Yes, you have to make peace with the flavor of alternative and artificial sweeteners. Yes, the texture is just a little bit different. But if you buy the right sugar free chocolate candy, it can be just as satisfying as the real stuff.
We’ve ranked sugar free candy in the past, but in this taste test we focused exclusively on sugar free chocolate. We tried everything from monkfruit-sweetened, sugar free chocolate bark to stevia-sweetened, sugar free peanut butter cups to find the best tasting sugar free chocolate you can hastily cram in your mouth when that urgent 3 p.m. craving hits.
- ChocZero Hazelnut Keto Bark
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ChocZero chocolate is not something anyone who can safely and freely consume sugar is going to get hooked on, but it gets a lot of help from hazelnuts in this format. That strong, roasty, nutty flavor does a good job of masking the lingering flavor of the monkfruit sweetener the brand uses in its product. But a lot of keto products are sweetened with monkfruit, and if you’re used to eating those things, the flavor might not bother you at all! The chocolate comes in thin, snappy squares that are easy to grab when you need to satiate a craving on the double. It’s not the best sugar free chocolate, but it’s a good option for hazelnut lovers.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Atkins Endulge Chocolate Peanut Candies
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Okay, I’m going to go ahead and state the obvious: These Atkins branded chocolate-covered peanut candies are not as good as Peanut M&M’s. Shocking. I know. But they taste better than other brands’ sugar-free M&M’s dupes, and we’re counting that as a win. These low-carb chocolate candies are sweetened with a sugar alcohol called maltitol—do with that info what you will. Mostly, these succeed because the candy shell is very thin and delicate and the chocolate layer that encases the peanut is relatively thin, so it doesn’t taste bad. You mostly taste peanut with a little bit of chocolatey sweetness. If you love peanuts, this is one of the best sugar free chocolate candies you can buy.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Russell Stover Sugar Free Assorted
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Russell Stover’s assortment of sugar free chocolate candies was the best sugar free candy we tried in our previous sugar free candy taste test, and sure enough, it’s hands-down the best sugar free chocolate candy, too. The mix we got this time contained Pecan Delights, Peanut Butter Cups, Toffee Squares, and Dark Chocolate Mint Patties—so, to review, you have your minty, your nutty, and your caramelly chocolate candy cravings covered. Nice. The chocolate is a little waxy, but in a way I think most people can deal with. The mint patties have a little bit of welcome bitterness. And the peanut butter cups were the best sugar free peanut butter cups we tasted by a longshot. The Pecan Delights are the real standout, though. They’re nice and chewy and don’t taste too much like artificial sweetener. (Russell Stover sugar free chocolate is sweetened with stevia, which I personally prefer to the sugar alternatives you’ll find in other sugar free candies.) If you love a diabetic, grab a bag of these chocolates!
Credit: Merc / Target
Best Hazelnut
Best M&M’s Dupe
Best of the Best
Other sugar free chocolate candy we tried: Atkins Peanut Butter Cups, Quest Mini Peanut Butter Cups, ChocZero Creamy Milk Chocolate with Almonds, Russell Stover Chocolate Candy Peanuts
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!