Need a low-carb sugar free chocolate syrup recipe to use for making keto chocolate milk and ice cream sundaes? There's no need to buy one. It’s super easy to make your own!
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Lately, I’ve been craving a lot of chocolate. In particular, a chocolaty alternative to almond milk. Then it dawned on me that I just need to make a sugar-free chocolate sauce to add to a cold glass of milk.
When I first went low-carb, I used to buy sugar free chocolate syrup. The brand I used was Walden Farms zero carb chocolate syrup. These days, there are better sugarless options like Lakanto sugar-free chocolate syrup. and Hershey's sugar free syrup.
Eventually, I stopped buying commercially prepared products that contain artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately, Walden Farms uses sucralose as the added sweetener in their syrup which isn't natural like monk fruit extract.
Hershey's sugar free syrup also adds sucralose as well as artificial flavor and some other questionable ingredients like sodium acid sulfate, potassium sorbate, acesulfame potassium, zinc sulfate, and sodium benzoate. That's why I came up with this sugar-free recipe!
Recipe Ingredients
You only need a few ingredients to get the iconic flavor of Hershey without those artificial ingredients. Here's what you need to make your own homemade chocolate syrup.
Cocoa powder
Regular unsweetened cocoa powder is what I use to provide a natural flavor. If you need a more rich and genuine chocolate flavor, you can melt in a little low-carb dark chocolate or stevia sweetened chocolate.
If you don't want to follow my dark chocolate recipe, you can always buy it from Good Chocolate instead.
Sweetener
Although you only need one keto-friendly sweetener, I often use concentrated vanilla stevia liquid and mix it with a powdered erythritol or allulose sweetener. What you use to sweeten the syrup is really up to your own personal taste and preference. If you don't use a vanilla liquid sweetener, you should add in a half teaspoon or so of vanilla extract.
Salt
Just a pinch of salt goes a long way in enhancing the chocolate flavor so don't leave it out!
Note: The full list of ingredients and all the exact amounts used to make this homemade sugar free syrup are available in the printable recipe card at the bottom.
Recipe Quick Tips
- Add a thickener. You can thicken up the syrup by adding in a little xanthan gum or guar gum. However, cooking the mixture with some melted chocolate will thicken it without having to add any low-carb thickener.
- Check the carb count on the cocoa. Some unsweetened cocoa powders have less carbs than others. Be sure to check the labels before buying to make sure you choose one with the lowest carb count.
- Use a whisk. I find that a whisk helps blend the cocoa powder into the liquid best. I also like to use a mix of sweeteners.
Recipe Instructions
You should be able to whip this chocolate syrup up within 10 or 15 minutes. Once you gather all your ingredients it’s just dumping it into a saucepan, whisking it up, and cooking it up a bit.
1. Combine the ingredients
Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small pot until they are well combined.
2. Cook it
Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce the heat and simmer on low for about five to ten minutes.
Once the mixture has thickened, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla liquid sweetener or a little vanilla extract.
Serving Suggestions
The delicious taste of chocolate syrup can be used in so many ways! Add a chocolate drizzle to your midday coffee for a little sweetness and classic mocha flavor.
It blends well with unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk for a keto chocolate milk or hot cocoa. It's also a great way to add a little chocolate flavor to all your favorite drinks.
Use it as a tasty topping for low carb ice cream to make a chocolate sundae. I had some low-carb strawberry ice cream in the freezer that I made several weeks ago and it went perfect over that too.
It's great for adding extra goodness to keto treats. Just pour a chocolate drizzle of the syrup over the top of your favorite desserts.
I also use this sugar free chocolate sauce in my no bake banana split cake cheesecake.
Common Recipe FAQs
Before getting to the full recipe and instructions, I wanted to answer a few of the questions I often get asked about the recipe.
Not all sugarless syrups are keto-friendly. Stay away from ones with sugar alcohols and hard to pronounce ingredients. Since Hershey's syrup uses preservatives and artificial ingredients, it's not the best choice for a keto diet.
My homemade syrup has just one gram of net carb for a one tablespoon serving. It's almost impossible to to find a true chocolate syrup without carbs because cocoa and chocolate are not carb-free.
If you don't want to make your own syrup, my top choice is Lakanto chocolate syrup because it has zero net carbs and is made with quality ingredients like erythritol and monk fruit extract.
Yes! Pure stevia has zero carbs and no calories! You can read more about it in my post about this common question: Is stevia keto friendly?
Related recipes
If you liked this recipe, you should try these other sugar-free syrups as well! They are all delicious and perfectly sweet, all without the carbs.
- Keto Maple Syrup has that classic maple flavor making this a perfect substitute for your pancake breakfast!
- Sugar-Free Cinnamon Dolce Syrup is a flavorful addition to seasonal drinks, coffee, or drizzling over pancakes and waffles.
- Low Carb Blueberry Syrup is a bright and fruity syrup. It would be delicious on top of pancakes or waffles!
- Sugar-Free Caramel Sauce Recipe is sweet and rich, all without the carbs and added sugar.
- Easy Sugar-Free Hot Fudge Sauce has the classic chocolate flavor and is a rich and sweet low-carb topping for ice cream.
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Recipe
Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup allulose or powdered erthritol
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla stevia drops see note
Instructions
- Combine water, cocoa powder, sweetener, and salt in medium pot.
- Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat.
- Simmer on low for 5-10 minutes. Mixture should thicken up a bit. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla stevia.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
Notes on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Copyright
© LowCarbYum.com - Unauthorized use of this material without written permission is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes. Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
First published on October 13, 2015. Updated on December 26, 2021, with new photos and additional recipe information.
Cat
Love this chocolate sauce! After making it per the recipe a million times, I had the idea to add a square of 100% baking chocolate to thicken it up just a bit, and to make it more of a dark chocolate. I use it on keto ice cream, to make mocha lattes, mix it into yogurt, pour it on keto cheesecake, on keto pancakes with a dollop of peanut butter, mix it into keto noatmeal...basically I use it on a daily basis. 😊 Since it contains no butter or cream, it holds up in the fridge for 2+ weeks, the first serving just as good as the last. I usually wash out the last dregs with a bit of hot coffee, wash the bottle and cap, and make a fresh batch immediately. If you use Primal Kitchen salad dressings, they are the perfect size for a full recipe of this sauce. Just wash them really well (and remove the liner from the caps so there's no smell/taste transfer from the salad dressing) once they're empty.
Judy
I'm anxious to try this. I bought the Hershey sugar free and it was awful.
Raylene
Hi Lisa, I only have xylitol in my pantry (plus liquid vanilla stevia and vanilla extract). Can I substitute xylitol for the allulose please?
Lisa
I’ve made a lot of different sugar free chocolate syrups and this is the best recipe I have found! It’s really good!
Sloane
Seriously, this is one of the better recipes for choco syrup. It worked amazingly.
Karen Nennstiel
Wouldn't you need to add more sweetener if you added unsweetened chocolate?
Cristien Camp
Fantastic! Sugar free chocolate syrup is so hard to find in the store. This recipe is delicious and spot on! Thank you!
Mike
I went straight to the recipe and used your PRINT icon to print the recipe. At the bottom of that page it says not to copy anything there without permission. I must have missed something somewhere. MK
Lisa MarcAurele
When it says not to copy, it means not to copy and paste then publish again online or in a publication without permission. Printing the recipe for personal use is allowed without permission.
David P
This is really yummy chocolate syrup. It has no coconut oil fat as some others do. I added just a little more erthritol sweetener for my taste. Glad I found this one.
Tawn
Can you add heavy whipping cream to this to make it more like a milk chocolate sauce?
Lisa MarcAurele
You could try adding in a little bit.
Candace
I made the recipe following instructions exactly the first time and the taste was so bitter I threw out the whole batch.. I knew it was the addition of the vanilla stevia drops.. in my experience stevia leaves a bad aftertaste when used with chocolate. I made another batch leaving out the stevia, upping the erythritol to 1 cup, and using 1/4 t vanilla extract.. it came out to exactly what I was looking for! I use this in my iced coffee and it's what I've been missing on keto. Thank you.
Cristina
Did the erythritol crystallize after some time? I was looking at other recipes and they said erythritol crystallizes but I'm hoping it will still work because I only have erythritol and vanilla extract on hand. If it did, what did you do to fix it?
Lisa MarcAurele
The erythritol tends to crystalize in this recipe. I find using non-erythritol sweeteners give the best results. Otherwise, you have to really limit how much erythritol you use.
Cindy
Hi. I just looked at another site for chocolate syrup that called for allulose sweetener; it supposedly does not crystalize after heating. I hope that helps.
Janae Bissinger
Would powdering the erythritol (blender or food processor) or using powdered erythritol solve the crystallizing problem?
Lisa MarcAurele
It helps a little but from my own experience, I've still had the crystallization happen. It has to do with the amount used more than whether it's powdered or not.
Brenda Gutierrez
Good afternoon, do you recommend refrigerating the prepared syrup or room temp storage?
Lisa MarcAurele
It should be kept in the refrigerator.
Lexi
YUM!!!!! Just made this for my low carb Iced Hazelnut Mochas and I am absolutely obsessed with the turn out! I am going to store in the fridge and hope that my sweetener doesn’t crystallize. I used powdered erythritol.
Margaret Freeman
Gorgeous, silky thick and rich. Thanks so much for this sauce! It will be very nice in hot cocoa and drizzled over ice cream. Love all your recipes.
Edgar Jones
Wish I knew how to copy this syrup recipe because I’m out where I can’t and afraid I won’t be able to find it later. This sounds GREAT! Thanks!
Lisa MarcAurele
You could try a screenshot and save the image.
Kevin DeLorenze
Lisa, thank you so much. This chocolate sauce is delicious, I made a double batch, lol... it's so flavorful with no added preservatives. I was just using bakers chocolate in my coffee, now I have this yummiest sauce...
Lisa MarcAurele
It's certainly a step up for your coffee! I like to drizzle it over whipped cream to top off coffee.
Jenny
Hi and thanks for the recipe! How long would this keep in the fridge?
Lisa
I've had it last for a couple weeks. Since there's no sugar or preservative, it's best to use quickly or freeze.
Patty
Question please...
I want to try making this and I only use natural sweeteners now too. My biggest issue with erythritol is I can't get used to that cooling minty flavor it gives everything. Some things it isn't as noticeable in, but others it ruins for me. Can I use stevia glycerite or powdered stevia or maybe some chocolate sweet drops to intensify the chocolate flavor in its place?
Lisa
You should be able to do that in this recipe.
Cheryl
Would this be good for coffee?
Lisa
I've never put chocolate syrup in my coffee, but this would certainly work if you like that.
Wendy Heeg
Can I use regular vanilla instead of the steviadrops ??
Lisa
If you use unflavored sweetener, you should add in vanilla extract.
mary sue spilios
I AM DIABETIC, TYPE 2 and have been taken off soda, I now am using club soda and adding flavor packs to it but could not find anything in chocolate that was sugar free. I'm going to try yours and see if it works. I love chocolate and giving the sweet candy bars and its taste is difficult. I hope it works.
Patty
If you're looking for chocolate flavoring for candy here's a really yummy sugar free chocolate sweetener you should try sometime.
SWEETLEAF STEVIA STEVIA LIQ CHOC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H4HKNA4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oFPNBbFJZKDY8
Preben
I'd take you more seriously if you kept your opinions on artificial ingredients out of it. A quick search for sucralose shows that it's been flagged as completely safe: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/2076 (2011, 6 years ago!).
"Research into sweeteners shows they are perfectly safe to eat or drink on a daily basis as part of a healthy diet."
Lisa
Sucralose has been proven safe in many studies. I know people who have been using it for over 15 years. I just try to stick to natural based ingredients.
Ravi
You can take people seriously despite them having differing opinions and despite them showing their opinions. Sucralose is bad and the world is waking up to it. If you think it’s fine, use it as you want.
Sharon
Preben, good grief, the rudeness in you! "I'd take you more seriously if you kept your opinions...out of it". Lisa is too polite and too much of a lady to say what needs to be said to you, so I will. This is Lisa's page and she's sharing HER recipes here, without charge. She can say what she wants to say, no matter what her opinions are. Artificial sweeteners, regardless of what the giant chemical industry's paid "studies" say, are garbage for the body. You can put fake things into your body and hope they will somehow be properly metabolized if you want to, but you can't come to someone's website and tell them to keep their opinions to themselves. YOU keep yours to YOURSELF. Get your own website. And learn some manners.
BTW, I give Lisa's delicious chocolate sauce 5 stars. I powdered my own erythritol and it worked out great.
Ann
Does the sweetener crystallize in the chocolate syrup once chilled in the refrigerator?
Lisa
It may if you use erythritol. You could use all liquid sweetener or reduce the erythritol amount and replace with more liquid sweetener.
Lauren
HI, can I use plain vanilla extract and Splenda? I've read a lot of recipes tonight and yours sounds best! Others use coconut oil and I avoid it due to high saturated fat content.
Lisa
Yes. Splenda and extract works too. You'll just need to adjust the amount to taste.
Kim
How much is one serving (serving size)?
Lisa
It's about 1 tablespoon.
Patty Rosen
How many ounces/tablespoons is a serving, please.
Lisa
It's about a tablespoon.
Melissa
Just made this chocalate syrup and it is awesome!!! Been on the keto diet for 3 weeks now and have been craving chocolate. This syrup is a diet saver. Lol
Lisa
Glad it was able to help you stay on track and satisfy the craving!
April
Can I just use regular vanilla 1/2 tea and 1/2 tea of liquid stevia or monk fruit?
Lisa
You'd still need 1 teaspoon of stevia drops or 2 teaspoons monk fruit along with the vanilla extract. I'd use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla with 1/2 teaspoon stevia drops and 1 teaspoon monk fruit.
Paula
I suspect this might be good right off the spoon. Not that I would know. =)
Lisa
It is and I have been known to do just that!
Mary Kelly
Hi Lisa, Does the low carb chocolate sauce have to be refrigerated? Thanks Mary
Lisa
I do keep it in the refrigerator.
Christopher LaFave
Hey Lisa. I'm going to try this out pretty soon. I'm totally cool with adding the salt, especially when I'm doing keto, but it's just piqued my curiosity. Is it added just for taste, or is there more to it?
Lisa
The salt is a flavor enhancer, but it also acts as a natural preservative.
Ron
Hi again Lisa!
I've been looking and using recipes from your wonderful site dated from about six years ago (and poss. earlier), coming up to the present.
I like the Food Facts box in your newer postings. However, one very vital bit of information is missing for me as a diabetic: the sugar count.
Why? The net carbs (as I see them calculated here and on most all other websites) is not correct for diabetics according to my doctors, since it is the simple deduction of all the fiber from the total carb count with no regard to the factoring of the sugars into the mix (which is what the body does). If the sugars continue to not be counted, the spikes for diabetics can become seemingly erratic instead of relatively predictable.
So, if in the future you include the sugar values for us diabetics, we can figure out for ourselves the net diabetic carbs that apply to us (there seems no need to modify how "normals" like to figure the net carbs). For information, here is the formula given by Kaiser for figuring net carbs for diabetics:
1. Double the sugar count (if there is any value in the sugar field)
2. Subtract that doubled sugar number from the total fiber
3. If the fiber has any number left (after step 2) that is above zero, subtract that from the total carbs
4. This is the net carbs for diabetics since sugar cannot be ignored by diabetics (maybe others can, but not diabetics)
Using the above formula on some recipes around the web that give (but don't use) sugar counts to figure the net carbs sometimes raises the net diabetic carbs so high that the recipe is not really effectively low carb anymore (rats!)!
Please consider including the sugar count in future Food Facts tables so we diabetics can independently verify or "correct" the often much-too-low net carbs that is commonly favored in most low carb recipes (as they may be misleadingly low for sugar-sensitive diabetics, though certainly not intentionally).
Don't change how you figure net cabs in the classic "but hopeful" way on your site, since how diabetics are told to figure it "conservatively" still seems a newer idea and is not in common use. Just please give us the sugar values and no longer omit sugar from the chart (that always caught my attention when I saw that sugar alone seemed omitted "since" sugar is never omitted in such charts in my experience).
Lisa, you've given me such hope that my life doesn't have to be boring foodwise since I'm a diabetic; I just need new tricks and tools, and you continue to open that path of understanding and training for me. Thank you!
Lisa
If there are sugar carbs, I do enter it into the nutrition label on newer recipes. I'm in the process of converting all older recipes over, but it's taking some time.
Ron
Thank you Lisa. Even if sugar is zero, please do indicate that instead of leaving some of us diabetics wondering please. Sugar kills diabetics, but not normal folks; so please understand my (our) desire to see zero or a number instead of no information at all (it just causes worry when nothing is indicated, since we cannot afford to assume).
And thanks for sharing the Calorie Counter. I do see it does not show zero when that applies and that instead it drops the whole category (like sugar) altogether instead of displaying zero. I think it is Calorie Counter who may be under-reporting here, not you Lisa! I just depend on you more than I think I should. I am deeply grateful for your enthusiastic sharing.
Food Facts on food in stores always show zero when that applies, and if a vital category is instead missing, it should indeed provoke anxiety in those who may have a life-and-death relationship to that missing category. Thanks for understanding the need of this one fretful diabetic.
becky nicolson
How long will this keep in the fridge
Lisa
At least two weeks, possibly more.
Karen
So do you prefer liquid sucralose or the stevia and powdered erythritol? Recent posts have confused me.
Lisa
I haven't used sucralose in years. I only use natural based sweeteners now.