Vegan chocolate has come a long way in the last few years. When I was 19 (13 years ago!) I stopped eating dairy and there weren’t many replacements for chocolate, the only one I can remember finding in my local healthfood shop was carob which although I liked, it didn’t even compare to proper chocolate.
Since I became vegan a few months ago I’ve been trying out lots of different vegan chocolates, as well as vegan chocolate cakes, chocolate spreads and chocolate milkshakes. There are just some things in life you need to survive and for me, chocolate is one of them. Especially at certain times of the month when I crave it really badly.
I thought I would put together a list of my favourite vegan chocolate products, this is only a small selection and you can find no end dairy free chocolate out there these days, most supermarkets even stock it these days in their free from sections.
Before I became vegan my favourite type of chocolate was the really milky kind and I used to hate dark chocolate but nowadays my tastes have changed a lot. I can finally appreciate the darker variety, obviously this is a good thing because generally vegan chocolate tends to have more of a dark chocolate taste to it but that’s not to say that you can’t find products to enjoy if you are more of a milk chocolate fan.
If I had to pick one favourite from this selection then I would choose Vego, it has whole hazelnuts in it and the chocolate surrounding it is so good. Mr C also loves it. It’s surprisingly creamy and is much closer to milk chocolate than dark chocolate.
My 2nd favourite is the Ombar Centres Coconut and Vanilla, the chocolate around the outside is dark but the centre is really creamy so the overall taste is delicious.
Mr C also loves the Organica bars. I like the coconut one but am not a big fan of the hazelnut nougat one, I’m not really sure why. I don’t hate it and if I was desperate then I would eat it but it wouldn’t be my 1st choice.
I tried the Ethicoco chocolate at Bournemouth Vegan Fair and really liked it so bought a few bars. It’s one of just a few bean to bar chocolate brands in the UK and it was really interesting to listen to the guy who makes it talk about the process. You can read more on their website. It comes in a variety of flavours too.
I recently found these mini packs of Booja Booja chocolates in my local healthfood shop and bought them to try. I tried a Booja Booja chocolate years ago when I used to hate dark chocolate and found them absolutely vile but I wanted to give them a 2nd go now I’m a bit more used to it. They are coated in cocoa powder which is really bitter and definitely an acquired taste making these better suited to hardcore dark chocolate fans. I personally found the champagne and hazelnut flavour inedible still but I did love the salted caramel ones.
The Raw Pie bars are also an acquired taste due to the fact they contain carob powder but I personally love them. They come in loads of different flavours and types too.
Then finally is the iChoc. I love this brand because they have white chocolate substitutes, both a plain white and a white nougat crisp which is pictured above. The only downside to it is that it’s pretty sweet, almost too sweet, but it is delicious all the same. And if you want to make white chocolate cookies then it’s perfect for using in baking.
So this is my first vegan chocolate round-up, I will no doubt be doing another one at some point as there are so many products I haven’t included in this list.
Let me know if you have any to add!
