4 Ways To Add Chocolate To Savory Dishes So You Can Indulge All Day Long

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It’s hard to find people on this planet who don’t love chocolate (and if we do find them, it’s hard to trust them). If it were up to us, we’d eat chocolate chip cookies and chocolate-frosted cake for every meal, but society and our bodies sadly frown upon that nutrition choice. However, there are ways to incorporate more chocolate into savory dishes so that the ultimate chocolate-lover can indulge in the food at all times of the day. Here are four savory dishes that are proud to list chocolate as one of their main ingredients. Whether you’re a cooking pro or someone who wants to spend minimal time in the kitchen, you’ll find something on this list that fits your schedule and fills that chocolate void.

 1. Pair chocolate with cheese.

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Chocolate and cheese are two of our favorite foods, so why not pair them together? This might sound strange to the less experimental crowd, but you can pair these two foods beautifully if you take care in picking appropriate cheese-and-chocolate combos. When pairing chocolate with cheese, take the acidity of each food into consideration. Chocolate that’s more acidic, like the dark variety, pairs well with sweeter, creamier cheese types like washed rind cheeses or blue cheese. By contrast, sweeter chocolates like milk chocolate pair well with higher-acidic cheeses like Gruyère or aged Gouda.

2. Slather your baked veggies with dark chocolate glaze.

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The earthiness and subtle sweetness of veggies pair perfectly with the bold taste of dark chocolate. That’s why we find the idea of covering baked veggies with chocolate glaze appealing not appalling. The key here is to use dark, unsweetened chocolate when making the glaze so that your veggies don’t end up tasting like straight up sugar. The dark chocolate glaze will pair better with sweeter veggies like sweet potatoes, beets and carrots — so steer clear of the broccoli here. In this Roasted Chocolate Balsamic Glazed Vegetable recipe from Sugar Spice And Glitter, the chocolate glaze is made with balsamic vinegar and dark, unsweetened drinking chocolate mix. The glaze is then added to already-baked veggies. If you’re looking to trick yourself into eating more vegetables without getting bored, this is the way to do it.

3. Experiment with chocolate pasta dough.

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Did you know that there’s such a thing as chocolate pasta dough? (And we thought that the popular Italian carb couldn’t get any more indulgent…) If you’re looking to taste this magical food but you don’t have the time (or patience) to make it at home, a quick google search will reveal that there are plenty of store-bought chocolate pasta varieties. These store-bought pastas are typically made with semolina, cocoa powder, wheat germ and sugar.

A cream-based sauce will complement the chocolatey-ness of the pasta dough deliciously. Heads up: This isn’t the time to experiment with meat-based sauces. If you’re looking for guidance on how to pair your chocolate pasta with the perfect sauce, this Tagliatelle al Ciocolato recipe from Food52 has you covered. It teaches you how to make your own pasta dough from scratch using flour, cocoa powder, eggs, salt, olive oil and water and pairs it with a creamy mushroom sauce. The sauce in question is made with heavy cream, wild mushrooms, butter and white wine.

4. Try chocolate-covered potato chips.

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We might not recommend this snack from a health perspective, but we do have to admit that it sounds wickedly delicious. Totally worth the occasional indulgence. All you have to do to prepare these bad boys is to dip your favorite potato chip variety into high-quality melted chocolate and let it sit at room temperature until it sets. When it comes to picking the right potato chips to dip into chocolate, we recommend sticking with the plain, sea-salt variety — please steer clear of the BBQ kind. For a step-by-step guide on how to make this indulgent snack, check out this Chocolate-Covered Potatoe Chips recipe from the Food Network. The whole recipe requires only 15 minutes of prep time and two ingredients: potato chips and melted chocolate.

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