Last month, my mom, my brother, and I met up with my aunt and two cousins in Anaheim for the weekend. As our first mini-reunion in ten years with all six of us present, we planned an incredibly fun and jam-packed three days split between Disneyland and California Adventure.
In between dashing from ride to ride and while standing in lines waiting for our turn, I learned that my two cousins love desserts just as much as I do. Nearly every time we stopped for a snack, a meal, or souvenir shopping, my youngest cousin and I scoured the sweet treats options. She made an unofficial mission out of finding every Disney-themed macaron and caramel apple, with which I excitedly helped.
It’s somewhat rare to find anyone who wants to seek out fun, over-the-top treats as much as I do!
We found all different colors and flavors of macarons between the two theme parks and Downtown Disney… But the cutest ones were the bright green alien-themed macarons from Toy Story at the pizza restaurant outside of Space Mountain and ones shaped in the classic Mickey Mouse silhouette on Main Street!
However, we spotted many more varieties of caramel apples, ranging from the classic Mickey Mouse (dipped in caramel, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and rolled in bright red sparkle sugar to make his shorts), steamboat Mickey (dipped in caramel and chocolate, then topped with a steamboat hat made from a jumbo marshmallow and white chocolate), Pooh Bear’s honey pot (dipped in both caramel and milk chocolate with “hunny” scripted across it), and even Bing Bong from “Inside Out” (dipped in caramel, pink-dyed white chocolate, dark chocolate, and finished with his purple top hat and polka dot bow tie). We even watched a few ladies making the two Mickey Mouse varieties at one of the sweets shops!
While browsing a dessert place in California Adventure, my cousin spotted oversized chocolate covered strawberries, which stood out after seeing all of the caramel apples. When we walked closer to the display case, we nearly gasped…
A single chocolate dipped strawberry cost $14, and it wasn’t even Disney themed! Just plain dark chocolate with a little white chocolate drizzled on top… And a few looked rather sloppy and haphazardly decorated.
Needless to say, we skipped those overpriced strawberries… But when I arrived back at home after our incredible Disneyland weekend, I made my own batch with this recipe for Absolutely Perfect Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries!
They look just as fancy as those ones in the sweets shop, but these are much cheaper—and they’re actually really easy to make! You just need 2 ingredients and no heavy cream, butter, oil, or added sugar. They’re just 29 calories too!
Plus I’m sharing my 12 tips for making the perfect, best ever chocolate covered strawberries! These tricks ensure your chocolate covered strawberries turn out beautiful, delicious, and as gourmet as ones that are sold in fancy dessert shops.
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES
Let’s go over how to make the ultimate healthy, best ever chocolate covered strawberries!
Tip #1: Best Strawberries for Dipping
From my experience, the absolute best strawberries for chocolate covered strawberries are long-stemmed strawberries. That longer stem makes the process so much easier! It’s a built-in handle, which means you’re not trying to hold onto those itty bitty green leaves at the top of the strawberry… Which may or may not rip out quite easily, making your strawberry fall into the bowl of melted chocolate… And creating a big mess.
(Can you tell I’m speaking from experience?? ????)
Long-stemmed strawberries do cost a bit more than regular ones, but that long stem makes a big difference!
Bonus Tip: If you can’t find long-stemmed strawberries, then stick a toothpick or wooden skewer into the top of your regular strawberries before dipping. This imitates the “handle” created by the longer stems, which will make the dipping process much easier!
Tip #2: Strawberry Temperature
For the best chocolate covered strawberries, you actually want to use room temperature strawberries. Definitely not chilled!
Why are room temperature strawberries best for chocolate covered strawberries, you might ask?
Well… Because you’re dipping them in warm melted chocolate! If you used chilled strawberries that came straight from your refrigerator, their cold temperature would cool off the melted chocolate as soon as the fruit came in contact with it.
This results in a less even chocolate coating, and it also means you’re using 3 or 4 times as much chocolate per strawberry because the chocolate immediately hardens and won’t drip off the way it does when you use room temperature strawberries. (Although that last bit might not be such a bad thing…)
So plan ahead and set out your strawberries at least 4 hours in advance—or longer, if they’re really big! (I typically set out my strawberries first thing in the morning or even the night before.)
Tip #3: Strawberry Texture and Appearance
Make sure you’re using fully ripe strawberries fort the best chocolate covered strawberries! You want ones that are bright red with no green or white bits, especially near the tip. If possible, you also want no white spots near the stem as well.
Fully ripe strawberries are sweeter, juicier, and just taste better when dipped in chocolate!
However, be careful of any mushy, overripe, or moldy strawberries. They don’t taste as delicious or hold up as well while dipping, so avoid those!
Tip #4: Wash and Dry
Before beginning, wash and thoroughly dry your strawberries for the best chocolate covered strawberries! If any water is left on your strawberries when you dip them in the melted chocolate, that water can cause your melted chocolate to seize.
I thoroughly dry each individual strawberry with a paper towel. Don’t forget to dry the strawberry stem and leaves too! You don’t want any water on those green bits accidentally dripping off into your melted chocolate either.
Tip #5: A Baking Sheet
Another thing to do before you begin? Line a large metal baking sheet with wax paper! Make sure it’s large enough to hold all of your strawberries with at least 2” of space in between them. That amount of space makes it easier to set down the strawberries after dipping them in chocolate without disturbing the ones you’ve already dipped!
You want to put the wax paper on a baking sheet, rather than your kitchen counter, so that you can easily pick up and place your perfect chocolate covered strawberries in the refrigerator after dipping—but more on that in a moment!
In the meantime, just remember to get that baking sheet ready. ????
Bonus Tip: Parchment paper works just as well as wax paper!
Tip #6: Refrigerator
Yet another thing to do before you begin… Clear enough space in your refrigerator for your baking sheet! And make sure that there’s enough room between the refrigerator shelf you’ve cleared and the shelf above it.
Speaking from experience… If you clear off a shelf with just 1½” of room between it and its neighbor above, and you’ve dipped the world’s most gigantic strawberries… They might not easily slide into that small amount of space. And you might end up frantically clearing off another shelf in your refrigerator after nearly ruining an entire tray of perfect chocolate covered strawberries.
Oops.
By refrigerating your perfect dark chocolate covered strawberries right after you finish making them, you can quickly harden the melted chocolate so your strawberries are ready to eat and share much sooner!
Bonus Tip: Rapidly chilling your strawberries seems to make the chocolate coating look smoother and slightly glossier, without any freckles or speckles. And I always love it when my homemade chocolate covered strawberries look just as pretty as the gourmet ones sold in stores!
Tip #7: Chocolate Bars
For the best ever, absolutely perfect chocolate covered strawberries, you must use bars of chocolate—never chocolate chips! Chocolate chips contain a stabilizer that prevents them from melting properly.
The brand of chocolate bar also matters! I’ve found that high quality brands like Ghirardelli and Lindt create the best coating for chocolate covered strawberries. When melted, they’re silky smooth and perfectly liquidy.
Other “less dark” brands like Hershey’s special dark and Cadbury dark chocolate are much thicker and goopy when melted, which makes it much harder to get a smooth, even coating on your dark chocolate covered strawberries.
Fun fact: I’ve also used bars of 100% dark chocolate for some friends who prefer exceptionally dark chocolate, and those work just as well!
Tip #8: Bowl
When you melt your dark chocolate for your perfect chocolate covered strawberries, use a bowl that’s moderately shallow. You don’t want a bowl that’s too shallow, like a small pie plate… And you don’t want a bowl that’s too deep, like a water glass!
To make the process as easy as possible, you want a bowl where you can comfortably hold each strawberry sideways in order to coat its sides with chocolate — but also one that’s deep enough so the melted chocolate isn’t in a super thin monolayer.
It’s sort of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears… Not too shallow, not too deep, but just right—like Baby Bear’s bowl!
(Okay, so… That’s not how the original story goes… But bear with me! [No pun intended!])
Tip #9: Keep Your Chocolate Warm
Along with room temperature strawberries, this is the most important tip for perfect chocolate covered strawberries! Keep your chocolate warm throughout the dipping process.
This tip achieves a few things. First, it ensures that all of your strawberries have the same nice, smooth, even chocolate coating. There’s nothing more frustrating than running out of chocolate before you run out of strawberries because the chocolate cooled off and stuck to some of your strawberries in too thick of layers!
Second, it means you don’t have to reheat your chocolate during the dipping process. If your melted chocolate starts to cool off and turns thicker, and you reheat it to make it silky smooth and liquidy again, this causes your chocolate to have freckles and speckles. It doesn’t look nearly as pretty as the smooth even coating you see on these perfect dark chocolate covered strawberries!
Third, it puts less pressure on you to work quickly… And less stress and pressure is always a good thing to me, especially when desserts are involved!
So here’s what I do to keep my chocolate warm…
I use my panini press! (It’s no longer sold in stores, but this one is similar!)
I turn on my panini press and place a folded washcloth on its top metal lid. Then I put my glass bowl of melted chocolate on top of the washcloth. The heat from the panini press keeps the chocolate warm throughout the dipping process, which results in the most beautiful and delicious dark chocolate covered strawberries!
Bonus Tip: An electric pancake griddle should also work, if you don’t have a panini press!
Tip #10: Strawberry Leaves
Before dipping your long-stemmed strawberries in melted chocolate, fold the little green leaves up, and hold them along with the long stem. This prevents melted chocolate from getting on the leaves, which (a) makes your perfect chocolate covered strawberries prettier and (b) means you don’t waste any chocolate!
Once you’re done, you can fluff the green leaves so they’re not sticking straight up with the stem, if you’re super strawberry-conscious about how they look. ????
Tip #11: Dipping
We’re finally to the dipping step! Now that you’re holding your long-stemmed strawberry, gently place it top-side down in your bowl of melted chocolate. Gently roll it a little to one side, then a little to the other side. Pick it up, and place it back-side down in the bowl of melted chocolate to finish coating all of the sides.
Then carefully raise it out of the bowl, and gently wiggle it back and forth to let the excess chocolate drip off. I usually end up holding and wiggling my perfect chocolate dipped strawberry above the bowl of melted chocolate for at least 20-30 seconds. This creates an even coat of melted chocolate on all sides of every strawberry that you dip!
Finally, carefully set it back-side down on your prepared baking sheet.
Bonus Tip: I call the prettiest side of the strawberry the “top side” and the not-so-pretty (or flatter!) side the “bottom side.” If you use the flatter side as the bottom, then your chocolate dipped strawberry shouldn’t roll around once you’ve placed it on your baking sheet!
Bonus Tip #2: If you want to roll your perfect chocolate covered strawberries in anything like nuts, sprinkles, or chocolate chips, now would be the time to do so! Just put your toppings in another shallow bowl, and gently roll around your strawberry right after gently shaking off the excess melted chocolate.
Tip #12: Serving
Like I mentioned earlier, put your baking sheet full of perfect chocolate covered strawberries in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to quickly harden the chocolate coating. However, don’t leave them in the refrigerator!
Your perfect dark chocolate covered strawberries are best when served at room temperature and the same day you’ve made them!
If you serve them cold, then the chocolate coating is hard and brittle, and it cracks and falls of when you bite into the strawberries. The chocolate coating will also develop little water droplets of condensation if you chill them for too long!
But if you serve your perfect chocolate covered strawberries at room temperature…
Then the chocolate absolutely melts in your mouth when you bite into one. So perfect, so decadent, so irresistible!
Bonus Tip: If you want to drizzle your perfect dark chocolate covered strawberries with more chocolate (maybe some of the leftover dark chocolate or even white chocolate!), then do that now, once you’ve chilled your strawberries in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to make their chocolate coating harden!
Bonus Tip #2: If you need to store your chocolate covered strawberries in the refrigerator for any reason (other than those 15 minutes right after dipping them!), then separate them with paper towels in your airtight container. The paper towels will help absorb that condensation that develops on the chocolate coating.
Whew!! That was a whole lot of information… But if you’re still with me…
Then you’re now a master and know exactly how to make the most perfect, best ever chocolate covered strawberries! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ????) I’d love to see your perfect healthy dark chocolate covered strawberries!
Absolutely Perfect, Best Ever Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries | Print |
- 12 large long-stemmed strawberries, room temperature
- ¼ cup (54g) roughly chopped dark chocolate
- Line a large baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.
- Wash and thoroughly dry the strawberries, including their stems and leaves.
- Place the dark chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Stir for 1 minute. Continue to heat for 10-second intervals, stirring for 1 minute between each, until the chocolate has completely melted. (I highly recommend keeping it warm while you dip your strawberries! See the Notes below!)
- Working with one strawberry at a time, hold it by the stem. Carefully dip one side in the melted chocolate, roll it a little to the right, then roll it a little to the left. Lift the strawberry, and dip the backside in the chocolate. Lift the strawberry completely out of the melted chocolate, and let the excess drip off by gently wiggling it back and forth above the bowl. Place back onto the wax paper. Repeat with the remaining chocolate and strawberries.
- Once all 12 strawberries have been coated, place them in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened. Remove from the refrigerator and serve at room temperature.
Use regular bars of chocolate for the coating, not chocolate chips! Chocolate bars melt better and taste smoother than chocolate chips, which often contain a stabilizer to help them hold their shape. I love Ghirardelli and Lindt for this! (Other “milkier” brands like Hershey’s special dark or Cadbury are much thicker when they melt, so I haven’t had good luck with them.)
Bars of 100% dark chocolate will also work, if you’re a fan of extremely dark chocolate!
To keep your bowl of melted chocolate warm, (a) turn on an electric pancake griddle or a metal panini press {I don’t have the former, so this is what I use! mine is no longer sold in stores, but this panini press is very similar to mine!} and (b) place a washcloth that’s been folded in half in between the bottom of your bowl and the electric griddle or metal top of the panini press. If you use this set-up, your bowl of chocolate should stay warm and at the same consistent temperature, which makes coating your strawberries so much easier. (They’ll also look prettier! If you let the bowl of chocolate sit on your counter and periodically reheat it, your strawberries will look speckled.)
For all other questions, please see Tips #1-12 in my blog post above!
{gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Dark Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Strawberry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Dark Chocolate Strawberry Truffles
♡ Healthy Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones
♡ Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy strawberry recipes!
Love your photos. And thanks for the room temperature tip! I never knew. I expect an increase in the quality level of my berries now! Thanks.
Thank you so much — that means so much to me! 🙂 I’m not always patient enough to let my strawberries come to room temperature (or alert enough to remember to set them out ahead of time!), but it does make a big difference!
Amy,
If our chocolate starts to harden, do we add COCONUT OIL?????
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Linda! If your chocolate starts to harden, it’s fine to simply rewarm it briefly to make it melt and turn into a liquid again. That mainly affects its appearance, not its flavor! (I’ve talked about that more in Tip #9 in my blog post above, as well as the Notes section of the recipe. I know it can be really easy to miss though! 😉 )
I’d love to hear what you think of these chocolate covered strawberries if you end up making them!
Chocolate chips work perfect for me every time
I’d love to hear what you think of these dark chocolate covered strawberries if you decide to test out any of my tips and recipe! 🙂
These look so rich and yummy as well. Much obliged for this thought!