13 Celebrity Chefs And Their All-Time Favorite Chocolate

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It is hard to get a list of over a dozen celebrities to agree on anything at all. Our compilation of famous chefs and their preferences in chocolate is definitely not unanimous. What we found, though, are some interesting threads to follow. Buckle in to read a lot of love for dark chocolate from some of the most recognizable faces in the food scene. Concentration of cocoa is important for those who are very particular with just how strong they want their chocolate to taste, and dark chocolate has between 50% to 90% cocoa solids. Manufacturer brands are among the other parameters that a number of your favorite celeb chefs use to define their favorite chocolate treats. Some are so insistent on this angle that you will hear them talk about running taste trials to compare various chocolate brands.

Given the considerable heights of success that most of these celebrity chefs have scaled, don't be too surprised to see the conviction in their personal choices for their all-time favorite chocolate. You will notice with some, for instance, that they would never bake with a type of chocolate that they would not eat as a bar. For some here, it seems chocolate is not just a dessert but a way of life.

You know you might be onto something special when one the world's most famous chefs and harshest food critics is waxing lyrical about a particular recipe. Most of us know Gordon Ramsay as the screaming and cursing celebrity chef in one of a multitude of viral-quality TV shows. Those closer to him claim there is a calmer, more mentoring side to the man we recognize from telly. Perhaps a peek into that can be seen in his description of his choicest recipe of all time. "Whenever I'm asked for my favorite recipe, this is the one," the "Master Chef" judge wrote in his "Ramsay's Best Menus" book (via Red magazine). Wait until you hear how he described the actual dish: "It has a divine melting texture and the liquid center is sublime."

To no one's surprise, then, chocolate fondant made it into an episode of Ramsay's TV series "The F Word." A YouTube clip from that installment depicts the celebrity chef demonstrating how to make the recipe. "This is my favorite dessert, chocolate fondant," he said, encouraging his underlings to seek out the best-quality chocolate for a better outcome, noting, "The better the chocolate, okay? The better the fondant."

Rachael Ray's love affair with dark chocolate is so iconic that one of her cameos on Craig Ferguson's "The Late Late Show" is mostly remembered by her fearless declaration: "You put dark chocolate on anything, I guess I'd try it." She was not just saying that, either. The context of the conversation was a revelation on her part that she had actually eaten various bugs in the past, including chocolate-covered grasshoppers, which she described as "just kinda crunchy." This was back in her years working in the gourmet and food markets of New York.

That love has remained alive and strong in the popular TV personality. On her daytime talk show, the "Rachael Ray Show," she reiterated her chocolate preferences when celebrity doctor Ian Smith appeared in a 2014 episode. "I love dark chocolate!" Ray said. "I don't care for milk chocolate, it's too sweet." Dr. Smith concurred, before also adding on potential benefits that dark chocolate apparently has on the skin. He explained that, with at least 70% cacao content, you get antioxidants that may help the body to naturally resist sunlight damage. The pair did clarify that dark chocolate should only be used as a supplementary measure for skin protection, not as a replacement for sunscreen.

One thing you'll already be noticing with these crème de la crème names in the culinary world, and their specific picks of chocolatey delights, is that they do not seem to be in any doubt. Bobby Flay does not mince his words, either. 

While talking up the merits of gifting food items to loved ones during the holidays in an episode of Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," Flay explained of his own experience, "Every Christmas week, my assistant puts a box of Coconut Gold Bars from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle, Washington on my desk, because she knows that I find them to be just irresistible." Flay has also been known to describe these Coconut Gold Bars as "dangerously addictive," per Food Network. 

So, if you think the Coconut Gold Bars landing on his desk when the festivities kick off are to spread the holiday cheer among colleagues, however, you are seriously mistaken. "I eat the whole box over a couple of days," Flay said, before going on to quip, "But it's the holidays! Who cares?" We couldn't agree more. 

You didn't think we were going to do a chocolate list and omit Mr. Chocolate himself, did you? Another thread clearly emerging from among these giant chefs is a preference for dark chocolate. Celebrated New York chocolatier Jacques Torres is no exception. 

The French-born chef has a very clear memory of his exact thoughts when he began working with chocolate as a 14-year-old at a local pastry shop in his home country, recalling on the "Special Sauce" podcast in 2017, "Oh my god, that sweet sticky stuff, I want to do that for the rest of my life." That childhood obsession has, of course, since been harnessed into world-class expertise, which he presents to the world today in the form of his signature 60% dark chocolate discs — used in his iconic hot chocolate. 

Oh, and don't assume that there should be a difference between the chocolate you use to bake and that which you eat on its own. Not according to Torres, anyway. Though he did once admit to Parade that he'll enjoy Peanut M&Ms every once in a while, it's no wonder that he swears by his 60% dark chocolate discs. Like his fellow hotshot chefs, he knows exactly what he wants when it comes to chocolate. "I like my chocolate between 62% and 75% cacao," Puck once told Bake from Scratch. "... For a stronger chocolate flavor, I would go between 72% and 75%. I like to bake with 60% to 62%."

Wolfgang Puck's love for high-concentration dark chocolate has seen him go to some incredible lengths, including stocking up a refrigerator full of the delights in the bedroom. He is not embarrassed about this obsession, either, as he one told Town & Country that chocolate was his "big vice." Puck does not just want any dark chocolate, either. 

"It has to be really dark — not too sweet, at least 70% dark — and then I can eat it all the time," Puck said. Like Jacques Torres, this celebrity chef also insisted that the chocolate he eats is also the exact same that you will find at his restaurants: "I have no interest in the milk version; that's why we don't make it in my restaurants."

To make sure you don't doubt where he really stands, the Austrian-born chef later doubled down on his stance in a Harper's Bazaar YouTube interview. "For me, there is only one chocolate — dark chocolate," Puck insisted, though he seemed to have relaxed his rule a tiny bit, noting that it has to be at least 65% cocoa. He also went on to reveal that this golden rule of chocolate that he lives by had trickled down into his young son's sensibilities. "Even my son, Oliver, he used to come with me to Spago — and we have all these different kinds of chocolate there," Puck recalled. "And he asked Della, the pastry chef always, and said, 'Della, is that 65% [cocoa]?'"

Robert Irvine might not be quite as experienced on matters of chocolate in the same way Jacques Torres is, for instance. In fact, you probably know this celebrity chef better from FitCrunch, his protein bar line, and Food Network shows like "Restaurant: Impossible" and "Worst Cooks in America." Even so, Irvine knows exactly which fancy chocolate brand he would swear by. This question was put to him by Parade magazine in February 2025, and he chose Lindt as his favorite. His love for this particular variety of chocolate, however, has a lot more to do with the process behind its creation than with its actual taste. 

"Years ago, I visited the Lindt chocolate museum in Switzerland, and frankly, it made a huge impression on me," Irvine explained. "They have such love and reverence for the art and craft of chocolate-making [that] you can't help but love it, too." He's not alone in enjoying the Swiss outfit's products: The Lindt & Sprüngli Group has been steadily growing its presence around the world over the years, with a total of 568 retail outlets globally by the close of 2024.

If you still need even further proof on the merits of Lindt chocolate, Ina Garten has also endorsed the brand. In fact, in addition to Callebaut and Valrhona, Lindt is one of three brands that the host of "Barefoot Contessa" consistently describes as "good chocolate." When the New York-based celebrity chef spoke with Katie Couric over Instagram Live around the holidays in 2020, she began to respond to a question picked from the comments section about her go-to baking chocolate option. "Well, I use different kinds of chocolate," Garten shared. "There's unsweetened chocolate. But mostly I use bittersweet. I like the combination of, like, the sweet and bitter chocolate." Specifically, she highlighted Lindt's bittersweet variety as her longstanding favorite.

Garten even added that, not too long before that interview, she decided to compare various bittersweet chocolate brands. "I thought, 'You know, I've been using [Lindt] for so long, I should really make sure that that's still the one that I like best,'" she explained. "So, we went to the store, and we bought every kind of chocolate you could find in bittersweet, and we had a blind taste test here, and we all agreed we still liked the Lindt best."

Did you hear that the man who brought you the Xbox is now actually growing chocolate in the lab? If you hadn't, it is in fact Seamus Blackley's newfound interest, as detailed by the Los Angeles Times in March 2025, and his pal, José Andrés, appears to think it is the coolest thing ever. The celebrity chef must have sampled a really exceptional taste, given how he responded on social media a year prior. Taking to his X account, Andrés wrote, "People of the World! Seamus has made the best Chocolate I've [ever] tasted in my life! Closest thing to total perfection! A true X experience chocolate."

He went on to tag Blackley and state that he's "like the King of Chocolate in my book," while quote-tweeting what we assume must have been a post about the heavenly delight he had tasted. The video game designer is now a tree-to-bar cocoa/chocolate enthusiast, but appears to have since deactivated his profile on X. Unfortunately, this precludes us from accessing that original post, but it definitely doesn't stop us from knowing exactly how multi-restaurant owner Andrés felt about the chocolate that was contained in it.

Like Robert Irvine, Marc Murphy was also enlisted for that same Parade feature which explored famous chefs and their unique chocolate preferences. While his compatriot chose a more global brand, Murphy went with an option that is much closer to home — close friend Joan Coukos' Chocolat Moderne. While the celeb chef praised the chocolatier's "one-of-a-kind" chocolates, noting that she has "consistently exceptional results" with her innovative techniques and unique flavors, Murphy specifically noted a collaboration that features his own olive oil. "One of the most mind-blowing creations Joan has ever done was incorporating Umbrian gold olive oil — it was unimaginably delicious," he declared, referring to their joint creation.

It wasn't the first time that Murphy was shouting out the collection, either. In April 2024, he took to Instagram to share six new bonbon flavors introduced as part of their novel Umbrian Gold Chocolate Collection. He wrote, "From lemon and espresso-infused ganaches to hazelnut praliné, each bonbon features a luscious layer of olive oil pâte de fruit and rich chocolate fillings. Treat yourself or someone special!"

We already warned you about the dark chocolate obsession among top-tier chefs. Meet Giada De Laurentiis, who will even out-chocolate Mr. Chocolate himself. If you thought Jacques Torres takes it too far with 75% cocoa content, we're not sure how you'll sit with De Laurentiis being comfortable with 80%, as she once explained to Bon Appétit. In fact, the exact words from this self-described "chocoholic" were, "I live for 65% to 80%." 

Intriguingly, however, this celebrity chef seemingly isn't as repulsed by other forms of chocolate as some of her peers on this list. "I don't like milk chocolate," De Laurentiis admitted. "But I do like white chocolate from time to time. If it's really good, it's delicious. If it's bad, it's inedible and tastes like plastic." 

De Laurentiis, much like Torres, is also living out a career borne out of childhood obsession. In her 2013 cookbook "Giada's Feel Good Food," she gave the world an intimate look at the significant place that chocolate took among her most favorite foods. "When I was younger, I was completely addicted to chocolate and sugar," De Laurentiis wrote. "... In fact, I would eat less 'regular' food in order to leave room for dessert! If it was coated in chocolate, it was for me." As she shared on Instagram in December 2024, De Laurentiis also still enjoys one of her childhood creations, pasta with melted chocolate, on occasion.

Chocolate Tower French Toast. That's the kind of dish you could see getting the gears turning for Carla Hall. The former "Top Chef" contestant was, after all, once voted Fan Favorite on the Bravo reality cooking show for her personality in the kitchen and her "cooking with love" philosophy. 

That same bubbly temperament that endeared her to fans when she first appeared on TV in 2008 was evident when she started talking about The Bongo Room's chocolatey dish in an episode of "All-Star Best Thing I Ever Ate." "Chocolate in the form of a tower? The tower in the form of a French toast? I'm so happy right now talking about this," Hall said with a chuckle. "... It is oh-so good." The Chicago restaurant's special treat is made up of bread filled with bittersweet chocolate chunks, creamy maple mascarpone, banana crème brûlée sauce, and fresh banana slices. All this is topped with shaved white and dark chocolate. To this, Hall said, "So, anybody who needs to treat themselves, this is how you do it. Boom shakalaka!"

Rachel Khoo has a real-life love story with chocolate. Not that she is alone among her peers on this list in that regard. What is slightly unique about the British chef and cookbook author is that she's not only shared a host of her own chocolate-centric recipes, but also hosted her very own chocolate-centric show called "Chocolat" in 2021. In an interview with ZeeZest.com, Khoo expressly described herself as "a dark chocolate person," though in the past she's also expressed how she enjoys combinations like milk chocolate and sea salt. 

"What I love about chocolate is that everybody has some connection to it," the "Rachel Khoo's Chocolate" author told ZeeZest.com. "Most people I know like chocolate, and if you don't like chocolate, then you haven't tried the right chocolate." It was this universal connection between human beings and the magic of chocolate that she said inspired her to create "Chocolat" in the first place. "There are so many different types of chocolate out there and I really wanted to explore it in all its forms," Khoo noted. "I wanted to showcase not just craft chocolate makers in Europe and [the] UK, but also the work that goes into growing cocoa."

Andrew Zimmern is, of course, a master of tricks in the kitchen, with home chefs everywhere leaning on him for vital tips on how to improve their skills and experience. Among the secrets he has shared from his treasure trove is also a special life hack to make the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie (hint: using a mix of white sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup). But let's talk chocolate. In particular, if you have heard Zimmern talk about Éclat Chocolate, there is little chance you have forgotten the superlatives he used to describe his experience with it. In the event you have, here's a gentle reminder. 

Writing on Substack about a variety of food topics, he once described the chocolatier's Parallel Bars as "un-f***ing-believable." Zimmern added, "I tried the Coffee & Cardamom bar, and it blew my mind. Each chocolate was delicious but together they were amazing, in the 1+1=3 vein of things." When it was his turn to pick his favorite brand of fancy chocolate on that same Parade piece mentioned above, Zimmern unsurprisingly went with chocolatier Christopher Curtin's Éclat Chocolate. "The variety of styles and textures as well as the consistent reinvention of the line keeps me coming back year after year," the Travel Channel star explained.