Ranking 8 Brands of Chocolate-Covered Almonds

The grocery store candy aisle is seemingly endless. Not only do you have an impressive selection of popular chocolate bars, gummy candies, and sour treats galore to choose from, but you also have more sophisticated and high-end options worth considering. I’m talking about the treats that don’t get handed out on Halloween, like Brookside chocolates, fancy-schmancy artisanal selections, and one of my personal favorites: chocolate-covered almonds. 

Chocolate-covered almonds are not meant to be engorged in like a bag of M&M’s. They’re meant to be enjoyed tastefully as an after-dinner snack or as a sweet addition when you’re trying to build a better charcuterie board. And, considering they’re priced a little more than your trusty bag of Hershey’s Kisses, you’re going to want to know whether or not those chocolates are actually going to taste good before you buy them. Lucky for you, I decided to sample my way through several different chocolate-covered almond offerings to see which brands were worth their weight (and their price tag). I considered the freshness of the nuts, quality of the chocolate, and overall enjoyability of each brand before I ranked them from worst to best. 

I am a big, big fan of Aldi — and I am more than familiar with its candy selection. I hadn’t tried its dark chocolate-covered almonds before, though, simply because there are so many other more exciting candies. After all, why ever would you buy boring almonds when you could pick up a stupendous chocolate bar flavor, studded with cranberries, toffee, or pretzels? 

But, dark chocolate-covered almonds are meant to be a reliable selection, so I figured these were worth giving a shot. The Choceur brand carries both dark and milk chocolate almonds, but in order to stay as consistent as possible for this ranking, I opted for the dark selection. These candies were certainly plump and sizable compared to the others that I sampled. The exterior coating was perfectly glossy and made them look more like shiny, perfectly buffed rocks than edible chocolate candies.

As I expected, based on their size, these candies had a high ratio of chocolate to almond. But I can’t say that Aldi’s chocolate was the top of the line. While it was sweet, as a good candy should be, the chocolate lacked that decadent mouthfeel that I’ve come to expect with the best high-quality dark chocolate based on rankings. The coating itself was gritty, and the nuts tasted papery in my mouth. The almonds lacked that delectable, roasted snap that some of the other brands on this list offered. There are simply so many other better snacks at Aldi that are worth buying. If you’re after a tasty and well-developed chocolate, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

I wanted to sample dark chocolate across the board for this ranking, but alas, Walmart was out of stock of the bettergoods dark chocolate almonds that I wanted to try. So, I had to settle for the ruby coverture almonds instead. 

These nuts are adorned with an attractive, pink chocolate coating. If you were to try to guess what they were on a charcuterie board, I think your mind would go more toward yogurt-covered almonds than anything. But the color may also clue you into the raspberry flavor they offer. “Couverture” is used to describe chocolate that has a certain percentage of cocoa butter in it. It’s also ground more finely than standard chocolate. These attributes make couverture chocolate a superior option for dipping when creating chocolate-covered strawberries or drizzling onto something — like almonds — because it has a glossier appearance than non-couverture chocolate. 

The chocolate coating on these bettergoods nuts doesn’t have the fun snap that I look forward to most when eating chocolate-covered almonds — and the nuts themselves lack that same snappiness, too. The whole bite melds together in a goopy, candy melt-esque texture that is not pleasing to the senses nor to the palate. While the little bit of raspberry flavor on the backend is nice and refreshing, especially considering how many plain chocolate-covered almonds I had to eat for this ranking, it still comes off as tasting cheap and almost like an afterthought. Though the chocolate quality was better than Aldi’s offering, it still wasn’t good enough to win it a spot any higher in this ranking. 

I purposefully excluded cocoa almonds from this ranking since their flavor and mouthfeel are not really in line with chocolate-covered almonds. But this offering from Skinny Dipped boasts a one-two punch: a dark chocolate coating and a coating of cocoa powder. 

These are almonds I would recommend eating with chopsticks. Although that might sound weird, it makes more sense when you look down and see that your fingers are coated in a sooty black dust after you stick your hand into the bag. I don’t think that the cocoa actually does anything for the flavor here; it just seems to muddle the actual dark chocolate and make things a little more bitter. The chocolate coating itself is very minimal, and I think it would be easy to confuse these with cocoa almonds. 

The flavor of these almonds is not sweet, and it honestly leans more bitter than I expected it to. However, I didn’t rank these almonds low simply based on their bitterness — I actually think that bitter undercurrent is a great complement to the nutty almonds. I did, however, rank them low on this list because the almonds are a little too mealy for my taste. They weren’t snappy or dry-roasted, which would have distracted from the lackluster chocolate “coating” on the outside of them. If you wanted to eat almonds with an essence of chocolate, then maybe you would want to add this brand to your cart. I just don’t think it scratches the itch for something sweet. 

Sea salt, turbinado sugar, dark chocolate, and almonds are a combination I am all too familiar with. My favorite Trader Joe’s nuts tie the same four components together — though I wasn’t able to include that product in this ranking due to the fact that I live about an hour from the closest location. But I hoped that these Nature’s Promise sea salt and turbinado sugar dark chocolate almonds would satisfy the itch for my TJ’s favorite. 

I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly from Stop & Shop’s in-house organic brand over the years, so I’ve just come to associate it with being a wild card when it comes to food rankings. And, I can’t say the appearance of these almonds won them any awards. They kind of look like a cross between animal dung and coal, thanks to their craggy surface and lack of discernible salt or sugar crystals. 

The flavor of these almonds was deeply chocolatey, though it’s clear that Nature’s Promise opted to boost the sugar content of these nuts rather than invest in a high-quality, tasty chocolate. The almonds themselves are mealy; they shatter into little papery bits on your molars and leave a waxy mouthfeel in their wake. Whereas Trader Joe’s has achieved the perfect balance of salt and sugar, these Nature’s Promise almonds are about 90% sugar and 10% salt — on a good day. If there was more salt, they would be more enjoyable. But this isn’t a comparison between Trader Joe’s and Nature’s Promise. Compared to the rest of the field, Nature’s Promise made a tasty enough almond that would be good enough to satisfy a craving for sugar, but not for a chocolate-covered almond.

Vegans shouldn’t have to miss out on chocolate-covered almonds. This selection from Taza is made with 55% cacao chocolate and is 100% dairy-free and organic, making it a safe option for plant-based eaters. Taza is also different from other brands because it uses stone-ground, unrefined chocolate. And you can tell that it’s stone-ground when you take a bite of one of the nuts. 

Eating these almonds is like biting through very finely ground sand. The sensation mimics the experience of shoving a straw down into a Dunkin’ iced coffee and shamelessly vacuuming up all of the gritty sugar. The mouthfeel is consistent and detracts from the overall experience of eating the almonds, which is unfortunate considering that the rest of the candy was really tasty. The nut itself was crunchy and did not leave a waxy or papery mouthfeel on my molars, and the chocolate was creamy and rich. Though it wasn’t as high-quality as Orchard Valley Harvest’s offering, it’s still good enough to warrant a purchase — especially if you are a big dark chocolate fan. 

However, the gritty chocolate is why I’m so hung up on this dark chocolate-covered almond. There’s nothing that inherently makes unrefined chocolate better for you, so I can’t justify eating gritty chocolate just for the fun of it. Though the ingredient list is more pared-down than other brands, I still can’t say I’m sold on it. 

I found Woodstock’s organic dark chocolate almonds in the natural foods section of the grocery store. Usually I avoid this aisle because I can’t justify paying more for a product just because it’s certified organic. But these almonds were a cheap find — or should I say, they weren’t as ridiculously overpriced as everything around them. 

Like the Aldi chocolate-covered almonds, these nuts had a beautiful chocolate coating that was shiny and attractive. They were also comparable in size to other top-ranked brands on this list, thanks to their generous chocolate coating. But it wasn’t the chocolate coating that took me by surprise. Rather, the first thing that I noticed was the freshness and crispiness of the nuts inside of that coating. The almond audibly snapped when I bit into it and exuded freshness from start to finish. The chocolate coating around it was rich and flavorful, though it was slightly too sweet — and too thick — for my liking. Although I think it’s important for these nuts to boast some sort of chocolate coating, it’s easy to get distracted by the sugar and richness of the chocolate and forget about the nut underneath — which is precisely what happened with this brand. 

I ranked Woodstock above Taza because although the two are priced the same, I didn’t have to contend with any grittiness or odd mouthfeels with the former. The overwhelming sweetness of the chocolate put Woodstock below my top-ranked brands, but I still think it is worthy of consideration, especially if you’re after fresh-tasting nuts and don’t mind eating your way through a thick chocolate coating. 

Orchard Valley Harvest was the only brand I sampled for this ranking that offered individually packaged nuts. While this format wouldn’t be ideal for adding to a charcuterie board or eating in massive quantities, it does allow you to pack the nuts in your bag or eat them as an on-the-go snack in between errands. The packaging method also keeps the nuts and the chocolate fresh, which was one area that Orchard Valley Harvest really excelled at. You could tell that these treats were fresh, which was not the case with some of the lower-ranked brands on this list. 

The chocolate coating on the outside of these nuts was also worth celebrating. It was rich and well-flavored; any dark chocolate lover would appreciate the marriage of bitterness and fatty richness. It was also very proportional compared to the sizable nuts it enveloped.

My main qualm with these dark chocolate-covered almonds, though, is that the chocolate was a little too rich. I imagine these would be a go-to snack for anyone who loves dark chocolate and wants to feel “better” about eating it. Most of the focus here is on the chocolate, and that’s the flavor that dominates its whole bite. I would have liked to see a better expression of the almond’s richness or some nutty undercurrents to tie the two together. All in all, it’s not a bad snack, and dark chocolate lovers will want to add it to their cart ASAP. But I think the top-ranked brand on this list had a better balance between the chocolate and the almond. 

Thin dipped double dark chocolate almonds: Say that five times fast. All jokes aside, these nuts from the almond giant are one of my favorites that I sampled. The name suggests these almonds are supposed to be double dark, but I was left wondering where the “double” comes into play. At first glance, these nuts are just covered in a thin layer of chocolate; I don’t see any additional chocolate flavor that would justify the “double” portion of its label.

The almonds themselves are, as I expected, top notch. They are plump, and because the chocolate coating is so minimal, it allows the nut to shine. I assumed that these nuts are roasted because they have a much snappier flavor and texture than the other brands I sampled for this ranking. The chocolate coating itself is not notable, but it boasts just enough sugar content to make it complex and a worthwhile addition to the nuts. Moreover, Blue Diamond also adds salt to its nuts, which helps enhance the flavor of the chocolate and balance out the flavor of this snack as a whole. 

What I loved about these nuts was that there was a light undercurrent of coffee intermingling with the chocolate. They are flavorful enough to eat solo, add to a snack mix, or just eat as an alternative to regular almonds. Their versatility, compounded by high quality and crunchy almond filling, makes them an ideal choice for any nut lover to keep in their pantry. 

In order to preserve their freshness, I opened and sampled each of these almonds on the same day. As I snacked, I considered each almond brand’s flavor, texture, and enjoyability. There are two components to these snacks — the chocolate and the almond — so each should be well-represented in every bite. The brands that ranked higher on this list boasted fresh, flavorful, and crisp nuts with the perfect crunch and mouthfeel — without any waxy or papery residue. They also had a creamy and flavorful chocolate that highlighted, rather than detracted, from the nut’s flavor. If the chocolate coating was too sweet, gritty, or otherwise unpleasant, it pushed the candy down in this ranking. 

I also factored in the overall approachability and versatility of each brand. You shouldn’t need a Ph.D. in chocolate to enjoy each of these snacks, and my highest-ranked selection is one that could be enjoyed by almost anyone, even if you aren’t a dark chocolate fiend like I am.