How to Melt Chocolate (2024)

Whether you’re a seasoned home cook or just starting out, melting chocolate can seem daunting at first. After all, it’s easy to end up with burnt or lumpy chocolate. But with the right tools and techniques, melting chocolate is actually much simpler than you might think.

In this article, I’ll show you step-by-step how to Melt Chocolate in the microwave and on the stovetop. I’ll also share when it’s best to use each method, and how to avoid common mistakes. In no time, you’ll be confidently be making delicious chocolate treats worth bringing to your holiday cookie exchanges.

Why Learn How to Melt Chocolate?

Melted chocolate is a key ingredient in many recipes, from cakes and cookies to sauces and truffles. Learning how to melt chocolate correctly will help you create smooth, delicious desserts and other treats.

Understanding how to work with chocolate is also essential to avoiding waste. It’s so easy to accidentally burn chocolate, no matter how to melt it. So understanding when to use the right method is critical.

A Few Things to Remember:

• Chocolate is finicky. If it’s heated too hot or too quickly it can seize up and become very difficult to work with.
• White chocolate is more difficult to work with than semi sweet or dark chocolate. It’s best to heat white chocolate slowly to avoid scorching.
• A double boiler is a kitchen tool that uses one pot nested inside another with space at the bottom for water to heat up. This provides an indirect way to heat foods that burn easily. While you can purchase a double boiler, I’ll show you below how to create a makeshift double boiler using a pot and a shallow, heat safe bowl.
• It’s best to make sure your chocolate iscut into even pieces before starting. This also help to prevent overheating and scorching.
• Think of water as chocolate’s mortal enemy. If you add water to melting chocolate (even steam, or water based food coloring), you can quickly end up with thick, unusable chocolate. I’ll share some tips to help recover if this happens, but I can’t guarantee that they’ll work every time.
• Don’t leave your chocolate on the heat source too long once it’s heated. Burnt or scorched chocolate usually can’t be fixed. It’s better to gently melt it back down if it starts to harden instead of risking ruined chocolate.

How to Melt Chocolate Chips in a Double Boiler

1. Add an inch or so of water to the bottom of a small saucepan.
2. Place a heat-safe mixing bowl over the top of the saucepan. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
3. Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl and heat the saucepan over medium heat until the water begins to simmer.
4. Reduce the heat to low and stir frequently until the chocolate is smooth and melted.
5. If the chocolate starts to get thick or seize, you can stir in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream to smooth it back out again.

Tips:

• Only use a heat safe bowl-either metal or tempered glass.
• Your bowl should be shallow enough to leave at least an inch between the top of the water and the bottom of the bowl.
• Be sure to use low heat. You don’t want the water to boil, just simmer.
• Don’t walk away and forget to stir the chocolate. They must be stirred frequently to ensure that they melt evenly.

Pros of Using a Double Boiler:

• You can use it for advanced melting techniques, like tempering chocolate, which means heating and cooling it to specific temperatures to create a shiny, smooth coating that won’t melt as easily at lower temperatures.
• Indirect heat means there’s less risk of scorching or burning the chocolate.
• The bowl will hold a larger quantity of chocolate than melting it in a microwave.

Cons of Using a Double Boiler:

• More dishes to wash. Boo!!!
• It takes longer to melt chocolate on the stovetop than in the microwave
• If any steam escapes from bottom pan, it can come into contact with the chocolate and cause it to seize.

How to Melt Chocolate Chips in a Microwave

1. Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir with a fork.
2. Put the chocolate back into the microwave and heat at 10-15 second intervals, stirring between each blast.
3. Stop microwaving when there are a few small solid pieces in the chocolate, and stir until the remaining solids melt.
4. As with the double boiling method, if the chocolate starts to get too thick or seize, you can stir in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream to smooth it back out again.

Tips:

• Only use a microwave safe bowl, either glass or microwave safe plastic.
• It’s better to heat the chocolate in shorter bursts and stir often, rather than risk overheating it.
• If you’re melting chocolate to dip something large, like pretzel rods, use a taller, narrower container like a mason jar. This will also help the chocolate to maintain its temperature longer.

Pros of Melting Chocolate in the Microwave:

• It’s quick and easy.
• You can melt smaller quantities.
• You can melt chocolate right before you need it, which is great for last minute projects.

Cons of Melting Chocolate in the Microwave:

• No two microwaves are the same, so you need to be extra careful to avoid overheating the chocolate, which would cause it to scorch.
• It doesn’t keep the chocolate melted, so it’s harder for dipping a large quantity of small items like truffles or buckeyes.
• Microwaves don’t heat food evenly, which means it’s important to stir your chocolate frequently, and it’s more difficult to melt larger quantities of chocolate.

Which method to Melt Chocolate is best?

As with most things in life, the answer to this question is…it depends. I frequently go back and forth between methods based on what I’m making, how much time I have, and how many chocolate chips I’m melting. Here’s my

When to Use a Double Boiler:

• Recipes that use a large quantity of chocolate (for example, a full bag of chocolate)
• Dipping small items like buckeyes, or truffles
• Recipes that need the chocolate to stay warm

When to Use the Microwave:

• If you need to use a tall container, like a mason jar for dipping long items like pretzel rods, or wooden spoons.
• Recipes that don’t require the chocolate to stay warm for an extended time.
• If you’re only using small quantities of chocolate chips – for example 1 cup or less.

What to do if your chocolate seizes

When chocolate seizes, it becomes think and difficult to stir. It may also harden and become lumpy like the white chocolate you see above (from my alien marshmallow pops).

If this happens to you, it’s important to first figure out why your chocolate seized:

• Did any water get into the chocolate? This often happens when the water in a double boiler is too hot, and steam escapes between the top and bottom bowls. It can also happen if you add water based food coloring or flavored extracts directly to the chocolate.
• Did the chocolate get too hot? If the heat is too high or you don’t stir frequently enough, your chocolate can burn, which also makes it seize.

It’s not always possible to fix chocolate that has seized, but sometimes you can make it work.

To fix your chocolate, add a tiny bit of oil or shortening to your chocolate (about 1/8 teaspoon) at a time, and continue to stir. Continue adding oil in small amounts until the chocolate is smooth.

Tip: If you’re using milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips, you can sometimes use heavy cream to smooth out chocolate if you catch it right before it starts to seize.

Recipes that Use Melted Chocolate

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Shots – Melted chocolate is painted inside the cups
• Perfect Buckeyes (Peanut Butter Balls) – Dipped peanut butter balls
• Birds Nest Cookies – Melted chocolate with chow mein noodles
• Candy Cane Hearts with Chocolate – Candy canes with a melted chocolate center – so cute!
• Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles with a Kick
• Chewy Coconut Macaroons – With melted chocolate drizzled on top

So there you have it – everything you need to know about melting chocolate.

Now that you know all there is to know about melting chocolate, it’s time to put your skills to the test! Start off with easy recipes like holiday bark and work your way up to making dipped pumpkin pie truffles.

Don’t forget to also download our free ebook with 10 easy party recipes that take only 20 minutes of your time. They’re guaranteed to be a hit with your friends and family.

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