Baking Chocolate substitute

Best substitute

Cocoa powder plus fat (for unsweetened baking chocolate)

Use 1 oz baking chocolate for every 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 tbsp butter, neutral oil or shortening

Best for brownies

Different texture

Unsweetened baking chocolate is roughly half cocoa solids and half cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is that same chocolate with most of the fat pressed out, so adding a fat back rebuilds it. This is the standard conversion and it is dependable.

Other baking chocolate substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Semisweet chocolate with the recipe's sugar reduced
Close match
Use 1 ½ oz semisweet chocolate for every 1 oz unsweetened, minus 1 ½ tbsp of the recipe's sugar
Semisweet is roughly half chocolate and half sugar, so you need more of it to deliver the same amount of actual chocolate, and you take the sugar it brings out of the recipe.
What changes
Best for
brownies, cake batter, frosting, melted chocolate glazes
Keeps the cocoa butter, so unlike the cocoa-plus-oil route this one still sets properly and can be used for glazes. The flavour is a shade less punchy than true unsweetened, because you are diluting cocoa solids with sugar. Do not stack this with any other sugar adjustment or the bake will be flat and dry.
3Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder plus melted butter
Different texture
Use 1 oz for every 3 tbsp cocoa + 1 tbsp melted butter
The same swap as above, but worth calling out separately because which cocoa you grab affects the rise.
What changes
Natural cocoa is acidic and reacts with baking soda; Dutch-process cocoa has been alkalized and does not.
Best for
cakes, brownies, quick breads, cookies
If your recipe uses baking soda as the only leavener and you reach for Dutch-process cocoa, there is nothing acidic left for the soda to react with and the bake can come out squat and slightly soapy. Use natural cocoa in soda-leavened recipes, or add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar per 3 tablespoons of Dutch cocoa.
4Semisweet or dark chocolate chips (for a sweetened baking bar)
Close match
Use the same amount by weight; 6 oz is about 1 cup
If your baking chocolate bar is labelled semisweet or bittersweet rather than unsweetened, chips are the same product in a different shape and swap straight across.
What changes
Best for
cookies, brownies, melting into batter, bars
Melted chips are stiffer and less glossy than a melted bar because they contain slightly less cocoa butter plus a stabiliser. For anything poured or drizzled, thin them with 1 teaspoon of neutral oil per half cup.
5Unsweetened cocoa powder alone, with no added fat
Different texture
Use 3 tbsp cocoa for every 1 oz, only in recipes with plenty of other fat
The last-resort version.
What changes
It supplies all the chocolate flavour and none of the fat, so the recipe loses roughly a tablespoon of fat per ounce of chocolate.
Best for
rich brownies, batters already high in butter or oil, hot drinks
In a very buttery brownie you may not notice. In a leaner cake you will: the crumb comes out drier, tighter and a little chalky, because cocoa powder is starchy and absorbs liquid. Add a tablespoon of extra milk or oil per ounce if the batter looks stiff.
6There is no substitute for it: cacao nibs and cocoa butter
Taste and texture differ
People reach for these because the labels look related.
What changes
Cacao nibs are crushed roasted beans that never melt smoothly and stay crunchy, and cocoa butter is pure fat with no chocolate flavour at all.
Best for
knowing what not to grab
Nibs will give you gritty brown flecks rather than melted chocolate. Cocoa butter plus cocoa powder together, at roughly 1 tablespoon cocoa butter to 3 tablespoons cocoa per ounce, genuinely does reconstruct baking chocolate and will even set firm, so if you happen to have both, use them.

What is Baking Chocolate?

Baking Chocolate is Baking chocolate is chocolate sold in a scored bar or block for melting into recipes rather than for eating, and unless the label says otherwise it means unsweetened 100% chocolate, which is pure cocoa solids and cocoa butter with no sugar at all.

Cooking tips

Weigh your baking chocolate rather than counting squares. Old recipes were written when a box of Baker's chocolate was scored into 1-ounce squares, and modern bars are scored differently, so counting squares is how people accidentally double or halve the chocolate. Every conversion here is per ounce.
Read the wrapper before you substitute anything. A bar labelled unsweetened, 100% cacao or baking chocolate has no sugar; a bar labelled semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate is about half sugar. Choosing the wrong conversion is the single most common way a chocolate recipe goes wrong.
Unsweetened baking chocolate tastes harsh and chalky on its own, which is normal and not a sign it has gone off. It only makes sense once the recipe's sugar and fat are in.
When you substitute cocoa powder for a bar, whisk the cocoa into the dry ingredients rather than the wet. Cocoa powder is starchy and clumps stubbornly in liquid, and those clumps do not break up in the oven.
Baking chocolate keeps for a year or more in a cool, dry cupboard because it has no dairy. Grey streaks are bloom, meaning cocoa butter has migrated to the surface, and it melts away with no effect on the recipe.

Frequently asked questions

Does baking chocolate mean unsweetened chocolate?

Usually yes. In American recipes, baking chocolate and Baker's chocolate almost always mean the unsweetened 100% bar. But sweetened semisweet and bittersweet bars are also sold as baking chocolate, so check the wrapper before you convert anything.

How much cocoa powder equals one square of baking chocolate?

Three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon of butter or oil replaces 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, and one traditional square was 1 ounce. Weigh your bar to be sure, since modern bars are not always scored into ounces.

Can I use chocolate chips instead of baking chocolate?

Only if your recipe wants sweetened chocolate. Chips are semisweet, so replacing unsweetened baking chocolate with chips 1:1 adds a large amount of sugar and gives you a cloying bake. Use 1 1/2 ounces of chips per ounce of unsweetened and take 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar out of the recipe.

Can I just leave baking chocolate out?

No. In a chocolate recipe it is the flavour, a good part of the fat, and often part of the structure once it sets. Leaving it out gives you a plain cake with a strange fat balance rather than a slightly less chocolatey one.

Is baking chocolate the same as couverture or eating chocolate?

No. Couverture has extra cocoa butter so it flows thinly for coating, and eating bars are sweetened and often contain milk. Any of them can be melted into a batter, but you have to account for the sugar and, in the case of milk bars, the milk solids.

Related substitutes

More baking substitutes

Baking Chocolate substitute

Other baking chocolate substitutes

2Semisweet chocolate with the recipe's sugar reduced

3Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder plus melted butter

4Semisweet or dark chocolate chips (for a sweetened baking bar)

5Unsweetened cocoa powder alone, with no added fat

6There is no substitute for it: cacao nibs and cocoa butter