Just 2 ingredients to make The BEST Dark Chocolate Covered Peanuts Clusters, with only 5 minutes of actual cooking. Perfect for healthier Christmas holiday treats and handmade gifts!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- You can whip these up in just 5 minutes! ⏲️🙌
- Healthier Indulgence: Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants; the peanuts add protein and healthy fats. 🍫🥜
- They’re 100% vegan! 💚🌱
- You can either make individual peanut bites or larger, more satisfying chocolate chunks. 🍬
- Perfect as homemade gifts🎁
- You can also use other ‘fancier’ nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, or pecans! 🌰
Are chocolate covered peanuts a healthy snack?
Peanuts help lower cholesterol levels and thus help in preventing heart disease. This WebMD article also explains that peanuts are also a low-GI food and is a good source to reduce inflammation. Moreover, a good news is that peanuts aren’t inferior to the more expensive nuts in terms of health benefits, as outlined in this post by Harvard Health Publishing.
When it comes to dark chocolate, high-quality dark chocolate (with at least 70% pure cocoa content) has health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease, lowering blood pressure and a powerhouse of antioxidants, as explained in this Healthline article. Be sure to still eat dark chocolate mindfully though, since they are high in calories and it’s easy to overeat when you’re not eating mindfully!
Ingredients
Two ingredients are all you need to make this Chocolate Covered Peanuts recipe!
- 🥜 Peanuts: Packs a punch of crunch, nuttiness, and plant-based protein!
- 🍫 Dark Chocolate Chips: The other star ingredient, this dairy-free chocolate brings a deep, bittersweet cocoa flavor to your chocolate-covered peanuts, creating a velvety, luxurious coating that we all love!
- Speaking of chocolate chips, check out my 5-Minute Chocolate Chip Baked Oats for a healthy ‘cake’ recipe!
- 🧂 Sea Salt or Flake Salt (Optional): A final touch to give this recipe that bit of fancy artisanal flair, making it perfect for the holidays!
Step-by-step Instructions
Step 1: Melt That Chocolate
Add your dark chocolate chips to a microwave-safe bowl. Start by microwaving for 45 seconds using 50% of the power capacity (for me, it’s 400 Watts). Then repeat microwaving in 15 to 30-second intervals. Stir in between the microwave rounds.
Always start lower with the microwave power since you don’t want to burn your chocolate. You can increase the power/microwave longer bit by bit until the chocolate is fully melted.
Step 2: Time to Mix
Once your chocolate is all velvety smooth, toss in those peanuts. Then stir until all the peanuts are coated in chocolatey goodness.
Step 3: Scoop ‘Em Up
Using a spoon, scoop out 1 Tablespoon of the chocolate-covered peanuts onto a lined baking sheet. Make them as big or small as you like, it’s your call!
You can also choose to make individual chocolate-covered peanuts. In that case, use 2 spoons (or chopsticks) to help you transfer each individual peanut to a lined baking sheet.
Step 4: Sprinkle!
Garnish with some sea salt or flake sea salt. If you only have table salt, you can skip this step.
Feel free to also garnish with chopped dried fruits such as cranberries, raisins, currants, etc. Some finely chopped nuts also work really well here!
Step 5: Set & Forget
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until the chocolate is firm. And tada, your dark chocolate covered peanuts clusters are ready!🎉
Top Tips
- Use roasted and salted peanuts for the best flavor. Roasted peanuts add an extra layer, whereas a bit of salt in a sweet recipe makes for a great combo! 🥜🧂
- Do NOT skip lining your baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil. If you skip it, you’ll most likely have a hard time getting the peanut chocolate clusters out!
- To make this recipe even simpler, you can make a Chocolate Covered Peanut Brittle instead.
- Simply pour the chocolate and peanut mixture onto a lined baking sheet (without scooping it individually), and let it firm up in the fridge.
Jazzing It Up
If you’re a fan of vanilla, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the melted chocolate for that sweet, vanilla flavor.
Drizzle Varieties
Drizzle with some melted peanut butter or caramel sauce! Simply microwave your peanut butter for 15-30 seconds until it’s runny before it’s drizzle time! 🥜
Garnish Varieties
Decorate the chocolate by adding some sprinkles or chopped dried fruits/chopped nuts! Think of some cranberries, raisins, currants, or even dried mango, papaya, or even goji berries for an unusual but delicious twist!
It’s such a fun recipe that you could give them as gifts too. Maybe adding some red and green sprinkles for a Christmas treat, or try gifting my Chocolate Covered Grapes or Vegan Nutella!
Storage, Make Ahead, and Freezing Instructions
Storage: Refrigerate the dark chocolate peanut clusters in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Check that the peanut clusters are completely firm before stacking them so that they won’t stick to one another.
Meal Prep: These dark chocolate-covered peanuts are excellent to make ahead! Make a batch in advance and just grab a couple of clusters for your midday snack or a sweet dessert throughout the week.
Freezing: Freeze in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
To thaw, just put them back in the fridge overnight. Always keep them in the fridge to prevent melting, especially in the warmer months/climates.
FAQ
Looking for more Holiday/Dessert Recipes?
If you’re a fan of peanuts, try my 3-ingredient Peanut Butter Rice or my Peanut Avocado Sushi which tastes unexpectedly good!
For three fancy Christmas appetizers that do not require any cooking and are done in under 15 minutes each, check out either: 15-Minute Beetroot Tartare, 10-Minute Tomato Carpaccio with Cheesy Hummus, or 15-Minute Pineapple Carpaccio Dessert (with Coconut Chips!) Or make my easy Christmas tree sushi for a twist this holiday season!
Or for some dessert with a Japanese twist, check out my Nutella Mochi, or my Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream 🍡🍵 This Weetabix Cake is also a great healthy option to serve something indulgent but still healthy.
5-Minute Dark Chocolate Covered Peanuts (Healthy-ish!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (146 grams) dark chocolate chips (see notes for substitutions)
- 1 cup (146 grams) peanuts, roasted and salted (can be substituted with unroasted and/or unsalted depending on preference)
- sea salt or flake salt for garnish
Instructions
- Add the dark chocolate chips to a large microwavable bowl.
- Start by microwaving at 50% of your microwave capacity (for me, this is 400 Watt) for 45 seconds. Stir the melted chocolate using a spatula. Then repeat microwaving in 15 to 30 seconds increments until the chocolate chips are melted.
- Tips; You might need to do step 2 above for 3-5 times, since you want to be extra careful to not burn your chocolate. Therefore, always start low in the microwave power, and only increase bit by bit.– If your chocolate chips are not melting quickly enough, you can increasing the percentage of your microwave power to 75% instead of 50%.– Similarly, decrease the power percentage to 25% if your chocolate chips melt too fast. This is important to do because you do not want to burn your chocolate.
- Now stir in the peanuts and fold with a spatula until all the peanuts are evenly coated.
- Option 1: Making peanut clustersUsing a spoon, transfer a scoop of the peanut and chocolate mixture to a lined baking sheet. Repeat until your baking sheet is full.Option 2: Making individual chocolate covered peanutsIf you can use chopsticks, use chopsticks to transfer each individual chocolate covered peanut to a lined baking sheet. Otherwise, use 2 spoons to help you do this.
- Sprinkle some sea salt or flake sea salt as garnish.Also feel free to sprinkle some finely chopped dried fruits (such as cranberries), and nuts for garnish.
- Refrigerate until serving, for at least 30 minutes.
Notes
- Feel free to substitute the dark chocolate chips with semi-sweet chocolate chips, or use a high-quality dark chocolate bar (at least 70% pure cacao).
- With a chocolate bar, make sure you chop/shave it up into smaller pieces first to make sure that they melt evenly.
- I highly recommend using roasted and salted peanuts for the best flavor. Roasted peanuts add an extra layer to this recipe whereas a bit of salt in a sweet recipe makes for a great combo!
- Do NOT skip lining your baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil.
- If you don’t line it, you’ll most likely have a hard time getting the peanut chocolate clusters out!
- Make sure that your peanuts are at room temperature, and that it wasn’t sitting outside in the cold winter/didn’t just come out from the fridge. I know, we don’t usually store peanuts in the fridge, but you know, I just have to say it just in case.
- If the peanuts are cold, there’s a chance that your melted chocolate chips will harden again such that they will just form large clumps that you do not want.
Love this, so easy to make but it’s so good! Easily adaptable with other types of chocolates too.
I gifted this to some friends for Christmas and they all like it!
I’m impressed 🙂 Low effort but the end results taste so good and is healthier than store-bought ones!