The age-old question remains: which is best between milk, dark, and white chocolate? Whilst some may argue that white chocolate is too sweet and sickly, we respectfully disagree.
Some white chocolate is only suitable for baking and others are designed specifically for melting. As there are so many white chocolate options available, it can be quite overwhelming to understand which is best for which purpose.
Luckily for you, we have found the 9 best white chocolate for every purpose. From baking to melting to the occasional sugar-induced snack, we’ve got you covered.
This is great for small baking ventures such as cookies and can also be melted for dipping (or eaten straight out of the bag - we won’t judge).
These mini chips contain cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cane sugar, nonfat dry milk, vanilla extract, and soy lecithin.
The ingredients list is important, as it shows the chips do not contain harmful palm oil or artificial flavorings. This means they are good for the environment as well as for baking!
Pros
Mini chips - Small size is ideal for melting quickly
High-quality ingredients - No artificial flavorings, palm oil, or wax is included in the ingredients list
Gluten-free - Suitable for those with gluten intolerances or allergies
Cons
Mini size melts - Mini chips size might melt in some baked goods
Made of 100% Belgian white chocolate, these white chocolate chunks offer a silky and exquisite flavor that not all baking chocolate offers. This means they can be used for baking, melting, and snacking purposes.
The second ingredient to sugar is cocoa butter, which is what provides the silky texture. Whilst other white chocolates contain a higher percentage of cocoa butter, this product offers little cocoa butter which is more ideal for baking purposes.
This will also help the chocolate resist from melting at oven temperatures. This is great for making white chocolate cookies, brownies, or muffins with those delicious chocolate chunks!
This product also does not contain palm oil, wax, or artificial flavorings.
Pros
High-quality - Premium ingredients including cocoa butter to provide a silky texture and delicious taste
Less cocoa butter - Less cocoa butter than other white chocolate products to resist melting in oven temperatures
No palm oil - Ingredients does not contain palm oil, wax, or artificial flavorings that are low-quality and cheap
Cons
Will melt in sun - Need to be refrigerated in summer months, otherwise, it’ll melt into a big clump
If you’re wondering how on earth you can use non-sugar chocolate chips in baked goods, these chips work great with diet-friendly (and keto-friendly) foods. This can include melting with berries, on top of a sugar-free cake, or with macadamia nuts.
Not only this, but these chips contain no palm oil and only use sustainable cocoa butter.
White chocolate bars are ideal for those who prefer to cut their own chocolate into a specific shape, melting, and can be broken into even squares easily. This Baker’s Premium White Chocolate Bar is a staple addition to any pantry.
Milk and cocoa butter are the key ingredients in this bar, allowing for a silky smooth texture and the classic white chocolate flavor.
The evenly-spaced squares can be broken easily for a variety of baking uses, such as white chocolate cookies, muffins, cakes, and especially cheesecake.
This product comes with 12 chocolate bars for a reasonable price and does not include palm oil.
Pros
Rich flavor - Creamy texture and the premium white chocolate flavor is tasty for baking and snacking
Versatile - Squares can be broken to melt the bar and chopped into a chosen size to suit a variety of baking uses - including cheesecakes, muffins, cookies, and cakes
Good value for money - Product includes 12 chocolate bars in one package so you never run out of the pantry staple
Cons
Artificial flavor - Ingredients list does contain natural and artificial flavors
Melted white chocolate is great for decorating baked goods such as cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, muffins, ice cream, and more. These Sarah’s Candy Factory Melting Wafers are ideal for decorative purposes, as the small-sized chocolate wafers allow for quick melting and drying.
All these wafers require to melt is a glass bowl and a microwave, or a glass bowl on top of boiling water in a pan on a stove. The user can then drizzle the melted chocolate in whatever way they like to decorate the food.
Whilst this product does, unfortunately, include palm oil and artificial flavors, the wafers are in a reusable jar that keeps the chocolate fresh.
Pros
Small size - Small and thin wafer design allows for fast melting
Versatile - Ideal for decorating cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, ice cream, pastries, drinks, and more
Reusable jar - Durable jar maintains the freshness of the wafers and can be reused
Cons
Palm oil and flavorings - Product does contain traces of palm oil and artificial flavors
When people look for melting chocolate, they are most likely to come across Merckens. Merckens is a reputable and trusted brand in the chocolate industry, which is evident in the quality of these wafers.
Small and slim, these white chocolate wafers are ideal for melting quickly. The melted chocolate can be used for decorative purposes, within baking, as a fondue, and much more. It’s even ideal for modeling chocolate!
Of course, the taste is most important in chocolate. These wafers taste exactly how white chocolate should taste - creamy, smooth, sweet, and slightly like vanilla. Great for a multitude of purposes!
Pros
Reputable brand - Merckens is a trusted and well-loved brand in the chocolate industry
Small size wafers - Small size allows the wafers to melt quickly
Versatile - Ideal for decorative and baking purposes as well as for fondue and chocolate modeling
Cons
Price - Reputable brand means high-quality products, but a higher price point
It’s no secret that Lindt is one of the best chocolate brands in the world. If you’re looking for a tasty pantry snack that is worth the money and effort of ordering, this is the product for you.
Not only do you get high-quality chocolate, but you get 12 of the same bar at the same time - no late-night drives to suit your cravings!
This Lindt bar is ideal for both snacking and baking purposes. With premium-quality ingredients, including milk and cocoa butter, this chocolate bar offers a creamy and rich flavor that will only leave you wanting more.
Whilst this chocolate bar is technically for baking recipes, that doesn’t stop you from using it as a snack to soothe your sweet tooth. It comes with even squares for measuring purposes (or for portion control, which never happens with chocolate).
Pros
Premium-quality brand - Lindt is a reputable and trusted brand that only offers the best quality chocolate
Versatile - Ideal for snacking, baking, and melting purposes
Delicious taste - Milk and cocoa butter recipe allows for a creamy, smooth tasting chocolate
If a chocolate bar isn’t enough to suit your intense chocolate cravings, why not go for white chocolate truffles instead?
The Lindt LINDOR white chocolate truffles offer the smoothest texture and irresistible taste that are ideal for celebrating events or just a regular Thursday evening.
Lindt is one of the most popular chocolate brands due to its exquisite taste and quality. Past the chocolate shell is LINDOR’s classic truffle filling, which is great for the ultimate indulgence.
The biggest bonus is that the box comes with 120 of the heavenly truffles. You won’t have to travel to the store to buy another box!
Pros
Premium quality - Irresistible taste and ingredients from Lindt LINDOR, a reputable and trusted brand
Large box - Box offers 120 truffles for ultimate indulgence and good value for money
Great for cravings - Suitable for celebrating events or for soothing chocolate cravings
Cons
Palm oil and artificial flavors - Ingredients do contain palm kernel oil and artificial flavors
If you have ever been to Europe, or you know someone who has been, nobody will ever shut up about Milka chocolate.
A German brand, Milka uses 100% Alpine chocolate that is highly popular in a range of European countries. And you can get a pack of three delivered right to your door!
Whilst this chocolate does contain artificial flavors (as most snack-worthy white chocolates do), it does not contain palm oil.
The artificial flavors, skim milk, and cocoa butter is what give Milka their distinctive white chocolate flavor that is adored by so many.
This chocolate can be used to soothe chocolate cravings or for baking and melting purposes.
Pros
Popular European Brand - Milka is one of the best chocolate brands in Europe for their distinctive chocolate flavors
Premium ingredients - No palm oil and 100% Alpine chocolate makes this a high-quality chocolate
3-pack - Bulk-buying saves money and energy on buying more chocolate
Cons
Artificial flavors - Ingredients do contain artificial flavors
Best White Chocolate for Every Purpose Buying Guide
What is White Chocolate?
A fun and lesser-known fact is that white chocolate doesn’t contain any chocolate. White chocolate is made up of cocoa butter, sugar, milk fat, milk solids, and other ingredients that enhance the flavor.
Some white chocolate will include palm oil and artificial flavors - it’s up to you whether you find this unethical or not.
However, just because white chocolate doesn’t contain chocolate in the same way that milk chocolate does, this doesn’t mean that white chocolate isn’t chocolate!
We recommend looking for the chocolates that contain no oil, as the cocoa butter will therefore be the key ingredient that provides the creamiest flavor.
White chocolate is fairly versatile for a range of uses, but some forms of chocolate are better for baking or melting than others.
White Baking Chocolate
The most ideal white chocolate for baking purposes is white chocolate chips or white chunks.
Everyone has heard of and (hopefully) loves white chocolate chip cookies and muffins, but keep in mind that the chips need to be able to withstand oven temperatures to maintain their chip stature. Due to their small size, chocolate chips will melt quickly in high temperatures!
Keep in mind that white chocolate doesn’t contain any chocolate, so they make up for it in sugar to mimic the chocolate-y taste. This means you may need to substitute some of the sugar in your baking recipe. If you have a sweet tooth, this is fine!
Melting White Chocolate
The best chocolate for melting is in wafer form. These are small, circular, flat pieces that can be melted quickly. The best method for melting is in a glass bowl in a microwave, or in a glass bowl over boiling water in a pan.
Melted chocolate is great for decorating baked goods and for dipping in pieces of fruit.
Remember that white chocolate melts quickly and has a habit of clumping up if it has been melted for too long!
White Snacking Chocolate
We won’t tell you what the best snacking chocolate is, because there’s no right answer. Fortunately, white chocolate is very versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes.
If you like the taste of the white chocolate chips that you use for baking, who says you can’t eat them alone as a snack?
FAQ's
Is there a healthy white chocolate?
Whilst there are sugar-free and low-carb white chocolate options available, it’s not enough to say that there is a healthy white chocolate.
Unfortunately, healthy white chocolate is still white chocolate that has been sweetened - probably artificially if there is no sugar in the ingredients!
However, if you want to bend the rules to suit your diet (we won’t tell anyone), you can consider some white chocolates as “healthy” because they have a high calcium content. This doesn’t mean it’ll be good for your teeth and bones, though, because the key ingredient in white chocolate is sugar.
Is white chocolate the same as regular chocolate?
Technically speaking, white chocolate isn’t chocolate - but it is. Sort of.
Whilst regular chocolate contains chocolate solids, white chocolate is made up of sugar, cocoa butter, milk fats and solids, vanilla, and lecithin.
It doesn’t contain chocolate, but this is made up for with the ingredients that offer the distinctive chocolate taste.
Is white chocolate toxic to dogs?
Whilst white chocolate does not contain chocolate solids as with regular chocolate (which is toxic to dogs), this doesn’t mean they should eat it. A little might be fine, but dogs are not supposed to have moderate to large amounts of dairy.
White chocolate might not be toxic to them, but it might still provide stomach issues. This is because white chocolate is high in fats, sugar, and milk - all of which can cause intestinal and digestive problems.
Why does white chocolate taste different?
White chocolate is technically chocolate, but it does not contain any chocolate solids - which is why it tastes different from regular chocolate.
White chocolate is made up of cocoa butter, sugar, milk fats, milk solids, and lecithin to mimic the distinctive “chocolate” taste. You will notice that white chocolate is creamy and can be sickly in large amounts, and this is purely because of the sugar and milk contents.
Regular chocolate is more savory in comparison to white chocolate because it contains chocolate solids and cocoa powder.
Does white chocolate make you gain weight?
Whilst you might assume that white chocolate isn’t real chocolate and therefore cannot be fattening, this is far from the truth. White chocolate is filled with sugar, fats, and dairy which contributes to weight gain if consumed in excessive amounts.
Overeating white chocolate is common due to the addictive nature of the sugar - which is beyond frustrating if you’re trying to limit yourself.
White Chocolate: 9 Of The Best White Chocolates For Every Purpose
These options are sure to be a hit. So, gather your family and friends and enjoy. Let us know your thoughts!
Cassie brings decades of experience to the Kitchen Community. She is a noted chef and avid gardener. Her new book "Healthy Eating Through the Garden" will be released shortly. When not writing or speaking about food and gardens Cassie can be found puttering around farmer's markets and greenhouses looking for the next great idea.
