Chocolate (chopped)

One US cup of chocolate (chopped) weighs 168 grams. Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.60 cups.

Also called chopped chocolate, chopped semisweet chocolate, chopped dark chocolate, chopped milk chocolate, hand-chopped chocolate, chocolate bar chopped, chocolate broken from a bar.

Two sources agree within measurement precision. USDA FoodData Central FDC 167976 (Candies, semisweet chocolate, SR Legacy) publishes 1 cup chips at 168 g, applied here as the closest authoritative measure for chopped bar chocolate at this size range. King Arthur's Ingredient Weight Chart lists 'Chocolate (chopped)' at 1 cup = 170 g. The gap between them is 1.19 percent, well inside the 5 percent sugar tolerance, so this entry publishes USDA's figure of 168 g per cup and names both sources.

USDA does not publish a distinct cup portion for chopped chocolate as a separate product form. The chocolate-chip food record covers pre-formed teardrop chips, but chopped bar chocolate at typical baker-cut sizes (5 to 10 mm irregular pieces) sits in the same size range as standard chips and packs at essentially the same apparent density. This site therefore applies the USDA chip figure as the best available authoritative measure, with the transparency note above. King Arthur rounds chopped chocolate to the same 170 g per cup as standard chips, chocolate chunks, and other similar-size chocolate forms at the chart's home-baking precision.

In practice, chopped bar chocolate can weigh slightly more per cup than pre-formed chips because the irregular pieces from chopping include some smaller fragments and dust that fill inter-piece air gaps. Baking references sometimes cite chopped chocolate at 175 to 180 g per cup for aggressively fine-chopped bar chocolate, approaching the density of USDA's mini-chip figure of 173 g per cup. For coarsely chopped chunks the 168 to 170 g figure holds. This entry publishes the more common coarse-chop density; readers finely chopping chocolate to near-shavings should measure by weight rather than by volume for consistent baking results.

As with all chocolate forms on this site, composition does not meaningfully affect cup weight at fixed chop size. Semisweet, dark, milk, bittersweet, and white chocolate chopped from a bar publish at essentially the same density because the intrinsic material density of chocolate (1.1 to 1.3 g/mL) varies less across cocoa content than the apparent chopped-form density varies with piece size and fill technique. This entry applies to chopped bar chocolate of any composition within tolerance.

Product variants: chopped chocolate is typically made at home from a chocolate bar using a serrated knife rather than sourced pre-chopped. Commercial 'chopped chocolate' is rare; the closest commercial products are chocolate chunks (pre-formed uniform chunks, published separately on this site at 170 to 182 g per cup range) and couverture callets (professional-grade discs, similar cup weight to chunks). Chocolate shavings and grated chocolate are much finer forms with different packing behavior (approximately 0.4 to 0.5 g/mL) and would earn separate entries when a second authoritative source becomes available.

Chopped chocolate is placed in the sugar category alongside the existing chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, and chocolate chunks entries on this site. The category rule tracks physical packing behavior rather than chemistry or ingredient family: small firm particles that pack like granulated sugar sit in the sugar category, regardless of specific chocolate composition or exact particle geometry. The 5 percent sugar tolerance applies here, and the 1.19 percent observed gap between sources sits comfortably inside it.

No standards body publishes a bulk density for chopped chocolate. FDA regulations under 21 CFR 163.130 (sweet chocolate), 163.123 (milk chocolate) and 163.124 (white chocolate) specify composition requirements but not physical density. Two authoritative sources agree within tolerance, so this entry is held at medium confidence. A third independent source, such as a professional culinary reference or a producer's laboratory measurement, matching within tolerance would move it to high confidence.