Mexican Chocolate substitute

Best substitute

Semisweet or dark chocolate plus sugar and cinnamon

Use one 3 oz tablet for every 2 oz chocolate + 2 tbsp sugar + ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Best for mole

Different texture

Mexican chocolate is doing four jobs: cocoa flavour, a great deal of sweetness, a strong cinnamon aroma, and a slightly sandy body that thickens a drink. This swap covers the first three.

Other mexican chocolate substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cocoa powder plus sugar, cinnamon and a fat
Close match
Use one tablet for every 3 tbsp cocoa + 3 tbsp sugar + ½ tsp cinnamon + 1 tbsp butter or neutral oil
The all-pantry version.
What changes
Cocoa powder plus sugar plus fat rebuilds what a chocolate tablet is made of, and the cinnamon does the rest.
Best for
hot chocolate, champurrado, mole, cakes, sauces, puddings
Actually closer in texture than a smooth chocolate bar for drinks, because cocoa powder gives a faint grain of its own. It does not set, so skip the fat if the recipe is a liquid anyway, and skip this option entirely if you need the chocolate to firm up. Whisk the cocoa into a paste with a little hot liquid or it will clump.
3Unsweetened chocolate plus sugar and cinnamon
Close match
Use one tablet for every 1 ½ oz unsweetened chocolate + ¼ cup sugar + ½ tsp cinnamon
Mexican chocolate tablets are low in cocoa and high in sugar, so starting from 100% chocolate and adding a generous amount of sugar lands close to the real ratio.
What changes
Best for
mole, hot chocolate, sauces, baking
The most accurate option if you want control, since you are choosing exactly how sweet it is. Because the sugar goes in as crystals rather than pre-ground into the chocolate, a drink made this way can hold a little of the authentic grain if you do not whisk it to death.
4Piloncillo plus cocoa powder and cinnamon
Close match
Use one tablet for every 1 ½ oz grated piloncillo + 3 tbsp cocoa + ½ tsp cinnamon
Piloncillo is unrefined Mexican cane sugar with a molasses depth to it, and it is the traditional sweetener alongside chocolate in champurrado and atole.
What changes
Best for
champurrado, atole, hot chocolate, dessert sauces, flan
The best choice for drinks specifically, because the molasses note is exactly the flavour people are chasing in champurrado. The drink comes out slightly darker and more caramel-forward than one made with a tablet. Grate or chop the piloncillo first; a whole cone takes a long time to dissolve.
5Hot cocoa mix plus cinnamon
Taste and texture differ
Use ⅓ cup mix + ½ tsp cinnamon for every tablet, for drinks only
Mix is already cocoa plus sugar, so cinnamon gets you most of the way for a mug of hot chocolate.
What changes
Best for
quick Mexican hot chocolate, kids' drinks
Only for drinks. It is milkier, sweeter and much less intense than real table chocolate, and the milk powder in it makes it taste like a cocoa packet with cinnamon rather than like chocolate de mesa. Do not use it in mole, where the extra sugar and milk solids would be wrong in a savoury sauce.
6There is no substitute for it: the grain of a real tablet in champurrado
Different texture
The defining texture of Mexican chocolate comes from sugar and cocoa ground coarsely and never conched, which leaves crystals that you feel on your tongue.
What changes
No smooth chocolate can imitate that, and everything that makes European chocolate good is the opposite of it.
Best for
knowing what you are giving up
The least-bad approach is to use the unsweetened chocolate plus sugar version and stir the sugar in at the very end over low heat, so some of it stays undissolved. Grating a little raw piloncillo over the top helps too. It will still be smoother than the real thing, and it will still taste good.

What is Mexican Chocolate?

Mexican Chocolate is coarsely ground chocolate blended with a lot of sugar and cinnamon and left deliberately grainy rather than conched smooth, sold as chocolate de mesa or table chocolate in round tablets and discs, and its job is to sweeten and spice a drink or a mole at the same time, which is why it is never a straight swap for plain baking chocolate.

Cooking tips

Use Ceylon cinnamon, sold in Mexican groceries as canela, if you can find it. It is the cinnamon that goes into real chocolate de mesa, and it is softer, more floral and less hot than the cassia sold as ordinary supermarket cinnamon. Cassia works, but use slightly less or it dominates.
A typical Ibarra or Abuelita-style tablet weighs about 3 ounces, or 90 grams, and is scored into wedges so you can use part of one. Weigh yours rather than assuming, since brands and sizes differ, and every conversion here is per 3-ounce tablet.
In mole, the chocolate is not there to make the sauce taste of chocolate. It is there for bitterness, body and a rounding of the chile heat, which is why a small amount of plain dark chocolate plus a pinch of cinnamon substitutes so successfully.
For Mexican hot chocolate, froth the drink hard with a molinillo or an immersion blender. That foam is as much a part of the drink as the chocolate, and it partly disguises the fact that a substitute is smoother than a real tablet.
Mexican chocolate is much sweeter than a baking bar, roughly half sugar. If you swap plain dark chocolate into a dessert recipe written for a tablet without adding sugar, the result will taste flat and bitter rather than simply less sweet.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use regular chocolate instead of Mexican chocolate?

Yes, with two additions. Use 2 ounces of semisweet or dark chocolate plus 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon for each 3-ounce tablet. Without the sugar and cinnamon it tastes like a different recipe, because both are defining parts of chocolate de mesa.

Can I just leave the Mexican chocolate out of mole?

You can, and the sauce will still be good, but it will taste sharper and thinner. The chocolate contributes bitterness and body that soften the chiles. If you have no chocolate at all, a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a teaspoon of sugar per batch does most of the same work.

Why is Mexican chocolate gritty?

Because it is deliberately made that way. European chocolate is conched for hours to grind the sugar and cocoa to an imperceptible size; table chocolate is not, so you feel the crystals. That texture is part of what champurrado and Mexican hot chocolate are supposed to feel like.

Is Mexican chocolate the same as cocoa powder with cinnamon?

Not quite, but close enough for most recipes. Real tablets contain cocoa butter as well as cocoa solids, plus a lot of sugar. Cocoa powder with sugar, cinnamon and a tablespoon of butter or oil covers all of that and works in almost anything liquid.

What can I use in champurrado if I have no Mexican chocolate?

Grated piloncillo with cocoa powder and canela is the best answer, because the molasses depth of piloncillo is central to how champurrado tastes. Brown sugar substitutes for piloncillo at a slight loss of complexity.

Related substitutes

More baking substitutes

Mexican Chocolate substitute

Other mexican chocolate substitutes

2Cocoa powder plus sugar, cinnamon and a fat

3Unsweetened chocolate plus sugar and cinnamon

4Piloncillo plus cocoa powder and cinnamon

5Hot cocoa mix plus cinnamon

6There is no substitute for it: the grain of a real tablet in champurrado