14 Absolute Best Cheese And Chocolate Pairings

Chocolate has a devoted following — after all, who doesn't like chocolate? A popular partner is peanut butter, which is undoubtedly a classic combination. But we're here to tell you what you're missing if you've never paired chocolate with cheese.

This lesser-known duo may strike you as odd but combining these two loved foods creates an elite-level delicacy that makes your taste buds explode. Chocolate and cheese complement each other with rich, creamy, smooth textures and flavors. But the real magic lies in the contrast between the two: sweet and savory, creamy and salty, and rich and tangy.

We love this combination so much that we reached out to chocolate and cheese experts to get an in-depth look at why this pairing works so well. We talked with Gemma Whitaker, marketing director at Whitakers Chocolates, Adrianna Pachelli, Caputo's senior manager and director of education, and Sarah Pastula, cheese experience guide, and Taryn Ruf, certified cheese professional and cheese monger, both from Cabot Creamery.

Combining chocolate with cheese is similar to pairing wine and cheese, Pachelli explained. Just like grapes take on flavors from the region they grow, so do cacao beans. Just as it changes the end result of wine, the growing environment changes chocolate. Sourcing the finest chocolate may be difficult (Pachelli told us less than 5% of the market features craft chocolate) but gathering the best chocolate and cheese pairings was easy — a number of combinations will delight your senses.

According to Whitaker, one of the best ways to introduce yourself to the glorious pairing of chocolate and cheese is with a familiar milk chocolate and less intense cheese, such as a creamy, buttery Monterey Jack or light, mild cheddar. Milk chocolate's sweetness matches well with a mild cheese because there isn't much contrast to confuse the taste buds. This is a safer pairing for those who aren't quite as daring. A fun suggestion from Whitaker is to create a chocolate fondue with cubes of cheese.

Pastula and Ruf like mild cheddar as a classic pairing for milk chocolate. Nuts and caramel are an added bonus. "The smoothness of both with the added salty crunch from the nuts and sweetness from the caramel is just perfection. It's basically like turtle cheesecake," they explained. And if the thought of turtle cheesecake doesn't make you sit up, consider making cheddar s'mores (traditional s'mores with cheese) at your next campfire.

Gouda features a mild, slightly sweet taste that blends perfectly with milk chocolate. Contributing buttery and nutty notes to the pairing, gouda highlights the sweetness of milk chocolate. A firmer cheese, gouda also has a creamy texture that goes well with the creaminess of milk chocolate. It's another good choice to start your chocolate-cheese adventure since the combined flavor profile is less complex than a more pronounced combination such as dark chocolate and blue cheese.

Whitaker considers gouda and chocolate a classic pairing, whether it's milk chocolate and young or aged gouda or dark chocolate and aged or smoked gouda. "The bitterness of the chocolate harmonizes with the creaminess and depth of the cheese," Whitaker relayed.

Dark chocolate, with its deep nature, and smoked gouda, with its savory, sweet, and salty hit, offer you an intoxicating bite that will make your senses sing. If you want to try this duo, Pastula and Ruf suggest letting your chocolate and cheese come to room temperature to appreciate the full potential of flavors.

Hard Italian cheeses hold rich, tangy notes that pierce through dark chocolate's depth. Parmesan, with its salty earthiness, coupled with the deep richness of dark chocolate creates a decadent mouthful. A big fan of this pairing, Whitaker shared, "Parmesan's salty, umami flavor pairs intriguingly well with the bitterness of dark chocolate, offering a savory-sweet experience."

Pairing dark chocolate with sharp, hard cheeses like Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago is a classic example of combining like for like while highlighting contrasts at the same time. Matching each other sharp bite for sharp bite, the contrasting creaminess of dark chocolate complements the drier nature of Parmesan. Which, according to Pachelli, is exactly what we're looking for in a stellar chocolate and cheese pairing: "Opposing elements that highlight specific elements" of the other.

In unanimous agreement, the chocolate and cheese experts we talked to suggested putting together your own charcuterie board to experiment with different varieties and combinations. We can absolutely get behind the idea of a grazing board, complete with Italian deli meats, soft and hard cheeses, and a range of chocolates.

Did you ever wonder why you crave chocolate after eating an Italian pasta dish or pizza? Maybe you thought it was the acidic tomatoes, spicy garlic, or starchy noodles or crust. But maybe it was the salty cheese. No matter what it is, the sweetness of chocolate pairs well with mild, salty cheese, like mozzarella.

Whitaker recommended milk chocolate infused with raspberry or strawberry to pair with mozzarella. Fruit-infused chocolate, whether it's milk or dark chocolate, brings out the best of soft, mild, salty mozzarella. The sweet tang of fruit married to the rich creaminess of chocolate and then paired with creamy, salty cheese hits just about every taste bud in your mouth.

If you're not a fan of fruit, Pastula and Ruf told us they prefer to match a "sweet and milky" mozzarella with 38% milk chocolate. "The combination will be really creamy, still taste chocolatey and not bitter," they explained.

There's a bit of room to play with these flavors, though. Pachelli confessed that with mozzarella, the choice would be "a very tart and fruity Madagascar dark chocolate." Pachelli even took it a step further. "While it would be better to have mozz's sexier little sister, burrata, on hand, I'd still happily pair something like Solstice's Madagascar bar with any mozz in town."

"Adding a little spice to the equation is always fun," Pastula and Ruf said when asked about a more unusual chocolate and cheese pairing. "Whether it's anything chai spice with a sweet and creamy cheddar or a milk chocolate with a pepper jack or habanero flavored cheese, the cheese will balance out the spice without diminishing it completely."

One of our favorite combinations, jalapeños, cheese, and chocolate just scream "eat me." What better way to sashay into the chocolate and cheese world than with a creamy, milk chocolate and a mild cheese, with a little bit of spicy jalapeño? Subtle, yet decadent, with a kick.

This is also a perfect opportunity for a charcuterie board by having milk and dark chocolate at the ready with mild to spicy cheese, in order to ease your taste buds into more complex flavor profiles. Pachelli reminded us that this "comes after the entree and before the desserts, it's almost like the bridge from savory to sweet."

And Pachelli's pro tip? "Cut out part of the bar's package to place the broken pieces on to help remember which pairings you liked best. You can easily stop there, but I'll add some candied nuts, panforte, confections, or other treats I might have lying around to complete the visual intrigue."

One of the best chocolate and cheese pairings is an unusual, daring, and intriguing one. Smoked chocolate combined with a nutty Alpine cheese is a knock-out suggestion from Whitaker. Because really, we were on board at the mention of smoked chocolate. Offering "a unique blend of flavors and textures," smoked chocolate contributes a deep, smoky, rich taste to Alpine cheese. But what is Alpine cheese?

Alpine cheese is a class of cheese that's crafted in the Alps. Alpine cheese could be French, Italian, Swiss, or Austrian. Since Alpine cheese can range in taste and even texture depending on the type of specific cheese it is, we would suggest trying an Alpine cheddar first to match with any type of chocolate, though smoked chocolate is the prime choice. But whether it's milk or dark chocolate, Alpine cheddar adds more sweetness to the mix. It's relatively mild for cheddar with a crystallized texture.

Some chocolate lovers may argue that white chocolate is not actually real chocolate at all. But it's chocolate enough to pair with cheese and certainly earns its spot on this list. White chocolate lacks cocoa solids, the fat from the cacao bean, unlike all other types of chocolate. White chocolate features at least 20% cocoa butter, however, and is known for its creamy texture. Much sweeter than milk or dark chocolate, white chocolate borders on a vanilla flavor, giving it a slightly neutral background for other ingredients.

An inspiring choice, white chocolate and feta cheese are not a combination that might come to mind first. But Whitaker explained, "The salty, crumbly texture of feta provides a delightful contrast to the sweet, creamy white chocolate, making for an unexpected yet delicious pairing."

If you're looking to defy the normal salty-to-sweet logic of chocolate and cheese pairings, Whitaker recommended trying white chocolate with a tangy goat cheese, which offers "a creamy and slightly acidic contrast."