To find a low-sugar chocolate spread, skip the front of the jar and read the back. Check that sugar isn't the first ingredient, then look at the Added Sugars line on the Nutrition Facts panel. Under about 5 g per serving is low for this category. If it's "sugar-free," check which sweetener replaced the sugar.
Why can't you trust the front of the jar?
Front-of-pack words like "better," "natural" or "less sugar" don't tell you how much sugar is inside.
"Less sugar" only means less than some other product, and that product might be very sweet. The ingredient list and the Nutrition Facts panel are the parts with rules behind them. That's where the real answer is.
How do you read the ingredient list?
Ingredients are listed by weight, most to least, so the first two or three tell you what the spread mostly is.
If sugar comes first, sugar is the largest single ingredient. If nuts come first, the spread is mostly nuts. Also watch for sugar showing up under several names: cane sugar, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, honey, maple syrup, agave and dextrose all count. Splitting sweeteners into several smaller entries can push each one further down the list, even when the total is high.
Dark chocolate counts too. A 70% cacao chocolate is about 30% other ingredients, usually mostly sugar. That's still far less sugar than milk chocolate, but it isn't zero.
What does the Added Sugars line tell you?
It tells you how much sugar was put in during making, separate from the sugar that's naturally in the ingredients.
The US Nutrition Facts panel lists "Total Sugars" and, under it, "Includes X g Added Sugars." Per the FDA, added sugars include table sugar, syrups, honey and concentrated fruit juice, but not the sugar naturally found in milk, fruit or vegetables. Nuts carry a little natural sugar, which is why total sugars can be slightly higher than added sugars.
The FDA's Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g. The %DV next to the number shows how much of that one serving uses. A useful rule of thumb from the FDA: 5% DV or less is low, 20% or more is high. For a 2-tablespoon serving, that puts the low end at about 2 to 3 g of added sugar.
For comparison, US Nutella lists 19 g added sugars per 2 tablespoons (37 g), or 38% DV, on its label.
Check the serving size before you compare
Compare spreads at the same weight, because serving sizes vary.
Nutella's serving is 37 g. Many nut butters use 32 g. Some brands use 1 tablespoon. A spread can look low in sugar just because its serving is small. Divide the sugar by the grams in a serving and multiply by 32 to get a fair number.
Are stevia and sugar alcohols a good trade-off?
They cut sugar, but each comes with trade-offs, so it depends on what you're after.
- Stevia (steviol glycosides) and monk fruit. These are intensely sweet, so very little is needed. The FDA notes high-purity steviol glycosides are 200 to 400 times sweeter than sugar, and monk fruit extract 100 to 250 times, and has not questioned their GRAS status (FDA). Some people notice a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste.
- Sugar alcohols (erythritol, xylitol, maltitol, sorbitol). These add bulk and sweetness with fewer calories than sugar. The FDA says they can cause gas, bloating and diarrhea in some people, and products with sorbitol or mannitol must warn that "excess consumption may have a laxative effect" (FDA). They're listed under Total Carbohydrate, not Total Sugars, when brands choose to show them.
The FDA also points out that sugar-free products can still have a lot of calories, carbohydrate and fat. That's true of chocolate spreads in particular. Taking the sugar out doesn't make a spread light.
The other route is a spread with a little real sugar and a lot of nuts. You get sweetness from a small amount of honey or chocolate, and the fat from the nuts carries the flavor. That's the route we took.
How does Asher's Nuts fit?
Our Dark Cocoa + Sea Salt has about 3 g total sugars and 2 g added sugars per 2 tablespoons (32 g).
The sweetness comes from a little raw honey and the cane sugar inside 70% dark chocolate. No stevia, no sugar alcohols. Madagascar vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon and coconut add flavor that reads as sweet without more sugar. The first ingredient is macadamias, then walnuts.
It's still calorie-dense, at about 210 calories per 2 tablespoons, like most nut spreads. If you're coming from Nutella, see our healthier Nutella alternative guide for the full comparison.
Quick facts
- Ingredients are listed by weight. You want nuts first, not sugar.
- The FDA's Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g. 5% DV or less per serving is low.
- Honey, syrups and coconut sugar all count as added sugars.
- Compare spreads at the same weight (32 g is common).
- Sugar alcohols can cause digestive upset in some people. Stevia can taste bitter to some.
FAQ
How many grams of sugar is "low" for a chocolate spread?
Around 5 g of added sugar or less per 2-tablespoon serving is low for this category. That's 10% or less of the FDA's 50 g Daily Value.
Is honey better than sugar in a spread?
On the label, honey counts as added sugar just like cane sugar. What matters most is how much is in there, not which sweetener it is.
Is a sugar-free chocolate spread low in calories?
Not necessarily. The FDA notes sugar-free foods can still be high in calories and fat. Nut-based spreads are calorie-dense either way.
Does dark chocolate have sugar?
Yes. A 70% cacao chocolate is about 30% other ingredients, usually mostly sugar. It has much less sugar than milk chocolate, but some.
Get Dark Cocoa + Sea Salt, with about 2 g added sugar per serving.