Crushed roasted cacao beans with intense, bitter chocolate flavor and crunchy texture. Adds texture without melting when baked.
Substitutes
Dark Chocolate Chips — 1:1. Dark chocolate chips melt into smooth, sweet pockets in cookies and muffins; they lack cacao nibs' bitter crunch but add crowd-pleasing chocolate sweetness.
Chocolate Chips — 1:1 (reduce sugar in recipe slightly). Chocolate chips are pre-sweetened and designed to melt smoothly, unlike cacao nibs' intense bitter crunch. Chips lack nibs' raw cacao complexity but provide familiar chocolate flavor. Reduce recipe sugar slightly to compensate for chips' added sweetness when substituting.
Cocoa Powder — 2 tbsp cocoa powder per 3 tbsp cacao nibs. Cocoa powder provides similar chocolate flavor without the crunch. Adjust fat and sugar separately.