Carob chips rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 7 recipes to cook with them.

What are carob chips?

Carob chips are small baking morsels made from the roasted, ground pod of the carob tree, sweetened and bound with a fat so they melt and behave like chocolate chips. They look like chocolate chips but taste milder, with a natural toffee-and-malt sweetness and none of the bitterness.

The big practical difference is caffeine. Carob has none, and no theobromine either, which is why it turns up in recipes for kids and for anyone avoiding stimulants. It is also naturally sweeter than cocoa, so carob recipes often call for less added sugar.

Read the bag before you buy. Many carob chips are bound with palm or coconut oil rather than cocoa butter, so they are not always dairy-free or low in saturated fat despite the health-food reputation.

Baking With Carob Chips

Treat them as a one-to-one swap for chocolate chips by volume in most recipes. They fold into a Carob Chip Banana Bread or Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies exactly where chocolate chips would go, and the lower bitterness means you can usually cut the sugar slightly.

Melting is where carob behaves differently. It scorches faster than chocolate and seizes more easily, so melt it low and slow over a double boiler, never straight over a flame. Pull it off the heat while a few unmelted chips remain and stir them through.

Carob also browns quickly in the oven. Near the top element it can go from set to bitter before the crumb is done, so position carob-heavy bakes on a lower rack.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Carob has a warm, raisiny depth that pairs naturally with banana and oats, peanut butter, dates, and warm cinnamon. It comes into its own in no-bake bars, the way it does in Creamy Carob Squares, where its mellow sweetness carries the whole bar without competing.

The most common mistake is expecting it to taste like chocolate. It does not, and pushing it to do so leaves people disappointed. Lean into what it is: a softer, sweeter, fudgier note that stands on its own.

The second mistake is overheating. With no cocoa solids to buffer it, a melted batch turns grainy and dull at temperatures chocolate would shrug off. Low heat and patience fix this.

Substitutes

Chocolate chips are the obvious swap in the other direction, one for one, but add a little sugar back since chocolate is more bitter. Expect caffeine and a sharper flavor.

Only have the powder? Carob powder mixed with a little melted coconut oil and a touch of sweetener can stand in. Use about three tablespoons powder to one of oil to get a pourable, chip-like coating.

Cacao nibs go the opposite way: intensely bitter and crunchy with no sweetness, so they suit recipes where you want texture and a dark edge, not the soft sweetness carob brings.

Buying and Storing

You will find carob chips in the baking or natural-foods aisle. Look for ones bound with cocoa butter if you want a cleaner melt and snap; the coconut and palm versions are softer and waxier on the tongue. Unsweetened carob chips exist too, mostly for diabetic and low-sugar baking.

Store them in an airtight container in a cool, dark cupboard, where they keep for about a year. Heat is the enemy: above roughly 75°F (24°C) the fat softens and the chips clump or develop a pale bloom.

That bloom is harmless. It is just fat that has migrated and recrystallised, and the chips bake up fine.

For long storage in a warm kitchen, the fridge or freezer keeps them firm. Let them come back to room temperature in the sealed bag so condensation does not form on the surface.

Quick facts

In Chinese

角豆芯片

British (UK) term

Carob chips

en français

copeaux de caroube

en español

chips de algarrobo

Recipes using carob chips

There are 7 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 7 recipes