The Best Dark Chocolate Bars In 2023

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Back in the early days of chocolate, you had your choice between dark, darker, and gnawing on a cacao pod. Well, it's funny how everything old becomes new again, isn't it? Milk chocolate, first created as a beverage in the 17th century, got a huge boost around the turn of the 20th century when Milton Hershey established his sweet, sweet empire based on those brown-wrapped bars that still bear his name. Even today, milk remains the most popular kind of chocolate candy with the majority of Americans (via YouGov). Still, dark chocolate staged a strong comeback starting in the 1980s when it was first declared to be healthy. Once superfood status was achieved, trendiness was soon to follow. Some might even call dark chocolate overrated, but we think its popularity is well-earned.

Here in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, dark chocolate's popularity means that we now have a plethora of dark chocolate candy bars available to us. Some are filled, some are flavored, and some barely contain anything besides pure, bitter cacao. The thing to keep in mind when choosing your chocolate is that it's meant to be a treat, not a medicine, so the very best kind of dark chocolate is whatever kind you personally prefer.

Cacao percentage alone is not the sole factor that determines how healthy a chocolate bar may be. The provenance of the cacao beans also has something to do with it, and a study in the journal "Antioxidants" found that cacao from Colombia contains the highest amount of antioxidants. Fruition Chocolate Works, an artisanal chocolatier located in upstate New York, makes a bar out of pure Colombian chocolate that is quite high in cacao (85%) but doesn't taste like something that you'd eat just because it's good for you.

 For such a high percentage chocolate, it's remarkably smooth with a taste that's sweet and somewhat reminiscent of berries rather than being unpleasantly bitter. For that reason, it gets our pick as the bar with the most palatable polyphenols available to purchase. Sometimes you don't have to choose between health and indulgence.

Purchase one bar of Fruition Chocolate Works Colombia Tumaco Dark from Amazon for $16.99 as of April 2023.

While many single-variety bean bars are just plain chocolate, we love the fact that these bars, all of which are made out of cacao beans sourced from Uganda, are available in three different flavors. Each chocolate bar comes in at 73% cacao, which puts them all well within the healthy range, but none of these candies really taste super-dark. 

What's more, they have more of that rich chocolaty taste that we love rather than that bitter, gritty feel that some single-origin high cacao bars tend to have. Of the three flavors, the orange zest may well be our favorite, but the salted caramel is also delicious. The crispy rice is pretty fun, too, as it's kind of a gourmet version of a Nestle Crunch bar, only with much better (and darker) chocolate.

Purchase Beyond Good Variety Pack Uganda Chocolate from Amazon for $32.99 for six bars as of April 2023.

Marzipan, which is a delicious paste made of almonds, egg whites, and sugar, makes for a candy bar filling that is both nutty and creamy. As sweet as it is, marzipan tends to work best with dark chocolate and no one does this combo better than the German chocolatier Ritter. The chocolate used for these bars is of the semi-sweet variety, so it's not too bitter, but is just dark enough to make for a perfect contrast with the delicate almond-flavored filling. Each one of these break-apart bars can make for two or perhaps even three servings since this candy is so rich that even a small amount can satisfy your chocolate craving. 

Should you be wondering why these are called "Sport" bars, it's not because they are a traditional refreshment for German sporting events. Instead, Ritter's founders wanted to make a candy bar that would fit into the pocket of a sports jacket circa the 1930s. This explains not only the name, but the compact shape of these bars as well as the rest of the Ritter Sport line.

Purchase Ritter Sport Bars Dark Chocolate With Marzipan from Amazon for $14.49 for five bars as of April 2023.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Even if you're not in a nutty mood, you'll still go coo-coo over this coconut cream-filled candy bar. The Lindt Excellence Dark Coconut Bar uses the same delicious dark chocolate and coconut combo as the familiar Mounds bar, but the high-quality Lindt dark chocolate makes for a more luxurious, high-end experience. 

The bar is also pretty sizable, too, so it can make for two or three servings. The filled chocolate is soft enough that the bar breaks apart easily into bite-sized squares, so you can even DIY your own "fun size" candies. Another fun idea for using these candy bars comes from one Amazon reviewer. While they enjoyed the chocolate on its own, they also said they'd used them to make s'mores. Their verdict: "That was incredible."

Purchase Lindt Excellence Dark Coconut from Amazon for $24.83 for 12 bars as of April 2023.

Chocolate and peppermint are a favorite holiday flavor combo, but you don't need to wait for wintertime to enjoy them together. Chocolove, the Boulder-based purveyor of chunky chocolate bars, produces a peppermint/dark chocolate bar that manages to get the balance between these two flavors just right. This chocolate bar is not too strong, not too sweet, and not overwhelmingly minty, but the filling provides the perfect amount of flavor to complement the semi-sweet (55%) chocolate coating. 

As one happy customer says of this candy, "One little square is the quintessential ending for a good meal," although they go on to admit "it's so good, you will want to eat the whole bar!" Another satisfied customer is even more emphatic in their enthusiasm, insisting that this candy bar offers "the kind of deliciousness that is so overpowering and all consuming that you will wonder why it isn't illegal."

Purchase one bar of Chocolove Peppermint in Dark Chocolate from Amazon for $6.15 as of April 2023.

Yet another mid-20-teens trend was baconing all the things, and even though no food fad lasts forever, some of the tastier products created in order to keep up with the trend have stayed on the market even when they're no longer the flavor of the month. One such item is Mo's Dark Bacon Bar from Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a candy bar that combines chewy bits of real bacon with smoked salt and bittersweet (62%) chocolate. 

As per one purchaser, this is "High quality chocolate with a great bacon component." Another praises this candy's "marvelous combination of flavors: bitter chocolate, crisp bacon and sea salt!" This chocolate is so good it transcends the bacon gimmick. Should you want an all-chocolate bar breakfast, you could always pair the above espresso bar with this bacon bar for a chocolatey breakfast of champions.

Purchase one Mo's Dark Bacon Bar from Amazon for $15.95 as of April 2023.

While many candy bars come in squares that are supposed to facilitate breaking them apart, in reality it's often difficult to get the bars to break cleanly along the shallow lines. What you may end up with instead is a jagged break that you feel compelled to tidy up by breaking off more chocolate. As a result, you may find yourself  eating a lot more chocolate more than you intended. For portion control purposes, there may be no better bar than a Toblerone, as it's really quite easy to detach he exact number of triangles you want from this prism-shaped bar. While Toblerone's signature product is made of Swiss milk chocolate, it also makes a dark version with the same delicious honey/almond nougat filling and that's the one we're nominating here.

Purchase Toblerone Dark with Honey and Almond Nougat from Amazon for $11.82 for three bars as of April 2023.

Dark milk chocolate is a thing? Why yes it is. It's chocolate made with milk solids that contains a cacao percentage higher than is typical for most types of milk chocolate. While it's possible to obtain dark milk chocolate up to the 65% cacao range, we're rather partial to Tony's Chocolonely 42% dark milk. Not only is the Belgian-made chocolate itself incredibly rich and tasty, but it also includes toffee chunks and pretzel bits so you get sweet, salt, and crunch all in one bite. 

One Amazon reviewer, calling this the "Most delicious chocolate bar ever," admits that they were "torn about giving them such a good review for fear others will catch on and the[re]'ll be a shortage." Well, the cat's out of the bag now, so we'd better all stock up before they sell out.

Purchase Tony's Chocolonely 42% Dark Milk Chocolate Bar with Pretzel and Toffee from Amazon for $26.20 for four bars as of April 2023.

Any candy connoisseur is familiar with Toblerone. The original bar is a creamy milk chocolate, made with nougat and honey, and formed into an iconic triangular shape reminiscent of the Swiss Alps. If you've ever found the milk chocolate bar to be a touch too sweet, give the dark chocolate Toblerone a try instead. The more intense confection, which is around 45-55% cacao, is balanced out by the honey and nutty nougat while still being a creamy and indulgent chocolate bar. If the delectable taste of Toblerone dark chocolate doesn't convince you, the nutrition stats might. According to Souper Sage, this brand's dark chocolate comes with far less sodium, over 1.5 times the amount of dietary fiber, and a 116% increase in iron compared to the average bar of chocolate. 

Unfortunately, the mountain silhouette on the package, that of the Matterhorn summit in Switzerland, is now a totem of the past. Matterhorn may still be a proud landmark of Switzerland, but Toblerone is officially no longer a purely Swiss product. Mondelez, the American food company that owns Toblerone, moved some of the manufacturing of Toblerone into the Eastern European nation of Slovakia. As a result, Switzerland legislature — the Swissness Act of 2017, specifically — forbids Toblerone's packaging from making any claims of being a Swiss-made product. That hard-to-miss triangular box will now display Toblerone as "established in Switzerland," instead of "of Switzerland."

Purchase a three-pack of dark chocolate Toblerone on Amazon for $12.29 as of April 2023.

Swiss chocolate purveyor Milkboy turns its 72% dark bark into a super-caffeinated treat by adding fresh roasted coffee to ramp up the flavor without competing with its superior quality. The inclusion of vanilla pods on the ingredient list adds a complementary touch to both the chocolate and coffee essences. The result is a rich confection that lets lovers of both dark chocolate and robust coffee enjoy their favorite flavors in a single bite. In addition to high quality, Milkboy commits to sustainable practices in its chocolate-making. Mindful aficionados will appreciate the attention to eco-friendliness this tasty bar displays.

Though milk is a hallmark of the company's creations, aside from an allergy warning on the label, this dark chocolate delight leaves the dairy in the fridge. This exclusion makes it possible for these bold bars to be labeled vegan, allowing plant-based eaters to enjoy some bittersweet magic. 

Purchase five bars of Milkboy Swiss dark chocolate with coffee from Amazon for $24.99 as of April 2023.