How to Pick the Best Dark Chocolate: 9 Dietitian-Approved Tips

Dark chocolate is more than just a decadent treat—it’s also a nutritional powerhouse packed with antioxidants and mood-boosting compounds.

But with so many options out there, how do you choose the best bar?

Read on for 9 expert-backed tips to help you pick a dark chocolate that’s actually good for you—or skip ahead for the bottom line.

Simply put: The higher the cocoa percentage, the healthier the chocolate bar. More cocoa (say, at least 70%) means there’s less room for additives like sugar or other flavorings.

Higher cocoa levels also means a bar is packing more antioxidant power and more nutrients like fiber, iron, and magnesium are present.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find even a dark chocolate bar with zero grams of added sugar—but lower amounts of sugar are better.

Looking for a threshold? Aim for 8 grams of sugar or less per serving. Another option is to choose brands that use refined sugar alternatives like coconut sugar or dates.

The first thing on that list? In a quality dark chocolate bar, it should be cocoa.

Other additives—like high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, or even soy lecithin—aren’t totally necessary and will only take away from the chocolate’s nutritional value.

Some chocolate contains small amounts of cadmium and lead—and dark chocolate tends to be the bigger offender.

There’s no real way to make sure your chocolate is heavy metal-free, but there are ways to reduce your risk, like treating chocolate as a once-in-a-while treat and considering slightly lower cocoa percentages (a 70% dark chocolate bar vs. an 80% one).

Also important: Children and pregnant people should avoid dark chocolate or drastically limit how much they eat.

High-quality dark chocolate doesn’t typically contain milk, but some commercially-produced bars might.

While the research is mixed, some suggests that milk can reduce the antioxidant capacity of chocolate by as much as 30%. In other, newer research, milk had no effect on the phenolic content or antioxidant capacity of chocolate.

You heard that right: Dark chocolate can actually be a pretty good source of fiber.

Just 1 ounce of 70–85% dark chocolate contains just over 3 grams of fiber—turn that into a whole 101-gram bar, and you’re getting 11 grams of fiber.

Alkalized chocolate—also known as Dutch-processed chocolate—can give chocolate a smoother taste, but it comes at a price: It can reduce the antioxidant and flavonol content in dark chocolate.

Caramel, nougat, peanut butter—these tasty additions to your chocolate bar can really drive up its sugar content and other additives.

To keep your treat as healthy and nutritious as possible, keep it to a plain dark chocolate bar.

Cocoa is often grown in tropical regions with heavy pesticide use—but organic options can help reduce that toxic load.

Once you’ve chosen the healthiest chocolate bar for you, you’ll want to really savor it—here’s how.

• Let it melt in your mouth. This will enhance the flavor and make your treat last longer—it might even extend the release of feel-good compounds like serotonin.
• Have a few squares at a time. That’s enough to still get the delicious taste without too much caffeine and sugar and too many calories.
• Eat it mindfully. Pair a few squares with some fresh fruit, or make it into a nighttime wind-down ritual
• Use it as a quick pick-me-up. Because of its mood-boosting potential, dark chocolate may be helpful in reducing stress levels.

Picking a decadent dark chocolate that can also offer health benefits is totally doable.

• Aim for cocoa content of at least 70%
• Make sure there are only minimal added sugars
• Keep it simple—steer clear of tasty add-ins
• Limit your chocolate allowance to a few squares a day
• Don’t forget to truly enjoy it