You Won’t Believe How Simple This One-Ingredient Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse Is to Make

Chocolate mousse is one of those ubiquitous desserts that’s equally at home in a French fine dining restaurant or a fast food joint. The ingredients and process of making it are simple, which gives it this versatility, but getting it right can be difficult. An authentic chocolate mousse uses cream, butter, eggs, and a good amount of effort and finesse to get just right. Which is all the more reason why a dairy-free one-ingredient version of the fluffy, decadent dessert sounds almost too good to be true. However, some good quality dairy-free chocolate mixed with water and air — the air is crucial — can result in mousse that checks all the right boxes: Fluffy, creamy, and intensely chocolatey. Those squeamish about raw eggs in the traditional recipe can rest easy, too.

The simplest version requires 1 cup of chocolate chips and 2 cups of water. Simply blend at high speed for two minutes till it forms a homogenous mixture, transfer to single-serve ramekins, and chill overnight in the fridge. While chocolate and water shoudn’t mix when you’re melting chocolate, blending them together forms a frothy mixture that, when solidified, is an intensely flavored mousse. Make sure the mixture is bubbly when it’s put in the fridge, since that signifies there is air mixed in, which is crucial for a light texture. Use high-quality chocolate, too, since its higher proportion of cocoa and cocoa butter results in a better mousse while chocolate with more fillers doesn’t give you the same rich texture and flavor.

One-ingredient chocolate mousse is a marvel of gastronomic science, using all the components in high-quality chocolate to do the job that otherwise requires separated egg whites and yolks, cream, and butter. Chocolate contains cocoa butter for richness and emulsification agents that help bind the water and fats in the chocolate into a smooth, homogenous mixture. While using a blender and chilling the chocolate-water mixture in the fridge is easier, the way to get this one-ingredient chocolate mousse perfect every time is to use the hand-whisking method employed by Hervé This, the culinary scientist behind the technique for one-ingredient mousse.

Start with about 12.5 ounces of 70% cocoa chocolate melted into 9.5 ounces of boiling water. While water may cause chocolate to turn lumpy, boiling water is the easiest way to fix seized chocolate and make it smooth again. Whisk the boiling water and chocolate together till the chocolate has completely melted, then place the bowl over an ice bath and continue whisking. As the mixture cools and starts to solidify, the air being whisked gets trapped, forming a fluffy, mousse-like consistency. If the mixture seems too runny, it may require more chocolate; reheat the mixture and melt some more chocolate into it before whisking over the ice bath. Conversely, it may seem too dense to whip and incorporate air; add a few drops of water and continue whisking if so. The mousse is best eaten as soon as it’s made, especially considering how quickly it comes together. However, you can also refrigerate it for up to three days, but it loses some of its texture over time. 

Since all the flavor in one-ingredient mousse comes from the chocolate, the recommended 70% cacao variety might be too intense or bitter for some to enjoy. Fortunately, there are several ways to counter this. The simplest is to use a chocolate bar with a lower cocoa percentage, say, 60%. However, less cocoa often means less cocoa butter, and the latter is crucial for the chocolate mousse’s rich consistency. This is also why using a high-quality chocolate bar is essential. 

Another option is to use simple additions to temper the cocoa’s bitterness to suit various palates. Try pairing the mousse with sweetened whipped cream, caramelized nuts, or sponge cake, essentially anything sweet to counter the chocolate’s intensity. Interestingly, salt also counters bitterness, so a sprinkle of sea salt could also do the trick. Alternatively, to infuse sweetness, you can add sugar to the water before melting the chocolate. Of course, sweetness isn’t the only flavor modification, and a little bit of coffee or even some rum, bourbon, or boozy-flavored liqueurs are great mix-ins.