Can You Put Chocolate Chips in a Blender

There are a few different ways you can make a chocolate smoothie. This article isn’t about that. If you’re looking for info about chocolate smoothies, or even want to learn about chocolate, then I have other articles for you to review.

What I want to do here is discuss a very specific issue: chocolate chips and whether or not you can blend them.

As always, I like to give everyone a fast answer first in case you’re not interested in reading a large article.

So, can you put chocolate chips in a blender? Sure.

Now that I’ve answered that question, let’s dig a bit deeper into the question.

Table of Contents

Why Use Chocolate Chips In A Blender?

The first question worth asking is why exactly would you use chocolate chips in a blender?

Honestly, it’s a reasonable question and one that I want to answer first.

Most people would likely think of chocolate chips as something you would use in baking. And that’s what I tend to do as well.

As a rule, chocolate chips are used for making:

cookies
chocolate frostings
ganache
sometimes hot chocolate
Mexican Mole (a chocolate sauce)

It’s less common to see people want to make chocolate smoothies or other blended dishes with them.

If you are looking to make a chocolate smoothie, then I would advise against using chocolate chips and instead use organic cocoa powder. There’s a lot of reasons why (I have a whole article about the best chocolate for smoothies) but basically, you want the cacao and not the solids.

Chocolate chips for smoothies aren’t ideal. They are too hard to blend up and the benefits are easier to get in pure cacao powder.

But, if you’re making a dessert? Something like a ice cream milkshake with chocolate chunks like you’d find at Dairy Queen or some other classic milkshake stand? Then yes, you can add them.

Summary

Only use chocolate chips in a blender if you’re making an at home version of a Blizzard or some sort of dessert where you want the texture of the chocolate.

If you want the flavor only, and you’re looking to make something healthy, then use pure cacao powder.

Would You Use Chocolate Chips For A Chocolate Smoothie?

You wouldn’t.

Even if you had some chocolate chips lying around, they are not good for using to make a chocolate smoothie.

The reason being that chocolate chips have milk fat solids and sugar (unless you are buying the 100% bakers chocolate).

I would highly advise against it. Chocolate chips are manufactured for baking and cooking, not health. There are ones that are better than others (the dark chocolate) but you are going to get an inferior smoothie when using them.

Instead, make sure you use a cacao powder. I have a list at the bottom which ranks the most popular cacao powders for smoothies.

Chocolate chips are designed for melting, cooking, and other culinary tasks. They are not meant to be blended into a smoothie.

The chocolate chip will not get that smooth texture you desire. For that, you’re going to have to get something such as a raw or organic cacao powder.

Can You Blend Chocolate Chips in a Smoothie?

Ok, so now that you’ve read my pitch about chocolate chips and smoothies, let’s look at the basics.

Can you blend chocolate chips in a smoothie?

Yes, but it won’t be smooth and it won’t be something that I’d suggest making.

Again, what you are likely to end up with is something that is more like a Blizzard (remember, them!) and less like a chocolate flavored smoothie.

This is because chocolate chips are hard! The blender can break them into smaller bits…but it will still be hard.

The only way to make the chocolate chips soft is by heating them. Which is the last thing you want when you are making a smoothie. Remember, heat kills nutrients and is also gross.

What Type of Chocolate Chips Can You Put in a Blender?

I am going to advise you to only use raw or organic cacao powder.

Use chocolate chips in your blender only if you’re going for the Milkshake effect.

Want something that you’d find at Rita’s or Dairy Queen? Then use chocolate chips.

Want a healthy chocolate flavored smoothie, then opt for the cacao powder.

This is both easier to blend and also has the positives without having the negatives.

There are a lot of reasons to blend cacao in your smoothie (including the brain enhancing properties) but the chocolate chips are not the way to achieve this.

In summary, you can blend chocolate chips in a blender, but it’s not something you would want to do if you are making a chocolate smoothie.

It is something to do if you want to make a dessert like milkshake.

A Healthy Blizzard: The Single Reason to Blend Chocolate Chips

So here we come to the single reason I think it’s appropriate to use chocolate chips. A blizzard clone.

However, the original is not something that vegans, or some health conscious people might want to make.

So what I want to do here is make up a mock milkshake.

Here’s what I would do:

Almond Milk
Coconut Ice Cream
Chocolate Chips
Dried Cherries
Coconut Cashew Gluten Free Cookie

Add them all to the blender and then pulse. Don’t blend too much otherwise you risk overheating the milkshake.

If you want to make a healthy alternative to a traditional milkshake that has chocolate chips in it, then what I suggest is adding organic chocolate chips right at the end.

You can buy them online from reputable sources (most local stores and even places like Whole Foods are going to sell the more popular sugar heavy chocolate chips that are used in cooking).

This is only to add that crunchy texture that you get with a real chocolate chip. Remember, for smoothies and other blended drinks where you want a chocolate flavor, I don’t think that chocolate chips is the way to go.