Chocolate Macarons Recipe

3.97 from 58 votes

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure.

Ultimate chocolate macarons recipe with deep dive into various cocoa powders, specific tips to consider for making chocolate macarons and more!

Pin this now to find it later

Pin It

Are you new to making macarons?

Have you mastered basic macarons and are up for a challenge?

If you thought plain macarons are a pain, just wait to try making chocolate version. I’m not saying this to discourage you, but I also want to give you a fair warning and set you up for success.

Here’s the thing…

If you haven’t mastered the basic macaron techniques, like making a stable meringue, understanding a proper macaronage, or figured out the sweet spot of your oven, your macaron journey may turn out harder than it needs to be.

Why?

Because an addition of cocoa powder throws a curveball to the whole process. But don’t worry, I’ll share ALL THE TIPS I learned over the years right here!

Chocolate macarons filled with chocolate filling in a white serving platter.

Why you’ll love this chocolate macarons recipe:

These chocolate macarons are beyond indulgent. So rich, yet addicting, you won’t be able to stop at just one! Even the failed ones are supremely good!!

There is literally no foolproof macaron recipe, and this chocolate macaron recipe is no exception. And the only way you can perfect your macarons is through experimentation.

And my goal here is to equip you with all the tips and tricks to consider when making these decadent treats.

Key Ingredient Notes

  • Egg whites – Take good care to separate egg whites from yolks without contaminating the whites with yolks. Room temperature egg whites whip faster and reach better volume.
  • Almond flour – Choose super-fine almond flour to with light beige color and fluffy texture.
  • Powdered sugar is essential for making macarons.
  • Granulated sugar – Use fine granulated sugar, aka caster sugar or baker’s sugar, as it dissolves faster in the egg whites.
  • Cream of tartar is optional and can be omitted. However, it helps to stabilize egg whites and create sturdier meringue. It’s just an extra insurance!
  • Cocoa powder – You can use either unsweetened natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Not all cocoa powders made same. Read more details below.

What cocoa powder should you use for macarons?

Does type of cocoa powder matter in making chocolate macarons? Yes, no and maybe! 🙂

I’ve tested 6 different cocoa powders with the same recipe.

Cacao Barry Extra Brut cocoa powder

I loved how these macarons were dark and rich colored. They were slightly on the soft side, meaning the shells were a little fragile on the top.

But baking these macarons a little longer solved the problem. After filling and maturing, they were perfect!

Valrhona cocoa powder

Valrhona cocoa powder is pretty dark in color, which produced richer colored macarons with great chocolate flavor.

However, some of the macarons had slightly wavy tops (not completely wrinkly), and I suspect it’s due to higher fat amount of the cocoa powder.

Guittard Rich Dutched cocoa powder

These chocolate macs were also perfect: nice shells with crisp outer layer, full inside and great chocolate flavor.

They had slightly darker shade of brown than macarons made with Hershey’s natural cocoa powder.

Ghirardelli Natural and Dutched cocoa powders

I was quite surprised how similar the macarons with Ghirardelli natural and Dutched cocoa powders were.

Although cocoa powders have different shades, the macarons were practically the same color. But nonetheless, they were perfect macarons with nice smooth tops and full inside.

Hershey’s Natural cocoa powder

Macarons with Hershey’s natural cocoa powder came out perfect every time! Crisp outer skin, full meaty inside, smooth tops and chocolatey flavor!

The only downside is they are light brown colors, which is no big deal in my opinion. And if you want richer brown color, add a small amount of brown gel food coloring.

Cocoa powder conclusion

The high end cocoa powders tend to have higher percentage of fat which is not ideal for macarons.

The most commonly available Hershey’s Natural and Ghirardelli cocoa powders work perfectly for making macarons!

How to make chocolate macarons:

Now that we sorted everything with cocoa powders, let’s make these beautiful macarons.

1. Make meringue and sift dry ingredients

  • Make meringue: Combine egg whites, granulated sugar, salt and cream of tartar, if using, in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites on a consistent medium speed until stiff peaks form. You want to see those nice sharp ribs and pointy ends when you lift the whisk. (On KitchenAid stand mixer, I beat the meringue on speed 4. This process may take up to 40 minutes. Don’t rush it.)
  • Sift dry ingredients: twice. Yes, two times. Not only are we combining the almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder, we’re also aerating the dry ingredients to get that beautiful full interior.
Side by side images of stiff meringue and sifted dry ingredients.

2. Mix the macaron batter

  • Sift in almond flour mixture into the meringue. 
  • Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue with a large silicone spatula. Then fold the batter until lava-like consistency, which means the batter is thick, yet runny enough to slowly flow off the spatula.

WATCH MY REAL TIME MACARONAGE VIDEO

Side by side images of dry ingredients sifted into the meringue and being mixed.

To test the consistency of the batter: Scoop the batter with the spatula and drop it back into the bowl. Then tilt the bowl slightly and count to 10. If the edges of the ribbon are dissolved back into the batter in 10 seconds, the batter is ready!

Side by side images of macaron batter at a riboon test stage.

Chocolate Macaron Batter Consistency

I learned from Phay Shing that chocolate macaron batter tends to be thicker, thus it doesn’t melt back into the batter the same as plain macaron batter. Don’t over-mix!

3. Pipe and bake

  • Transfer the batter into a piping bag, fitted with a round tip (I use Wilton 2A tip). And pipe 1.5-inch rounds on two baking sheets, lined with teflon sheets or parchment paper.
  • Rest the macaron shells for 15 minutes.
  • Bake for 18-20 at 300°F oven. Cool macaron shells completely on the baking sheets and then carefully peel them off.
Side by side images of raw and baked chocolate macaron shells on a baking sheet.

NEED HELP? Check out visual Macaron Troubleshooting Guide for tips and tricks to fix or prevent common macaron issues!

Stacks of chocolate macaron shells.

4. Assemble the macarons

  • Remove the cooled macaron shells from the baking surface. If the shells are stuck to the baking surface, the shells are either underbaked, or you need to let them cool completely.
  • Then pair the shells by size and arrange them on a baking sheet, or wire rack, placing one shell bottom side up.
  • Pipe a dollop of filling on bottom shells and place the top shell over the filling and press lightly so the filling spreads till the edges.
  • Place the filled macarons in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or preferably for 24 hours. This process is called maturing, which allows the filling to soften and flavor the shells.
A chocolate macaron shell, bottom side up, with a dollop of chocolate filling.

Chocolate Macarons Filling Ideas:

Chocolate macarons are so versatile and pair perfectly with pretty much any kind of filling.

Here are my favorite ways to fill chocolate macs:

Three filled chocolate macarons stacked on top of each other surrounded by other chocolate macarons.
3.97 from 58 votes

Chocolate Macarons

Ultimate chocolate macarons recipe with deep dive information on what cocoa powder works the best, specific tips to consider for making chocolate macarons and more!
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 20 filled macarons

Ingredients

For macarons shells:

  • 100 g finely ground almond flour Note 1
  • 65 g powdered sugar Note 2
  • 10 g cocoa powder Note 3
  • 75 g egg whites at room temperature Note 4
  • 75 g fine granulated sugar Note 5
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar Note 6
  • ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

For filling of your choice:

Instructions 

To make chocolate macaron shells:

  • Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or teflon sheet, or silicone mat. (TIP: For even air circulation, flip the baking sheets upside down.)
  • To prepare dry ingredients, sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder twice. Note: If you have up to 2 tablespoons of chunky dry ingredients left in the sifter, you don't have to replace it. Simply discard those chunky bits.
  • To make meringue, in a clean mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, combine egg whites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar and salt and beat the mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. (I set it to speed 4 on my KitchenAid stand mixer. It takes 30-40 minutes to whip the meringue, but it's well worth it for nice and full shells.)
  • Continue beating the egg whites on the same medium low speed until hard peaks form. Visual cues: Meringue should ball up inside the whisk, and when you lift the whisk, the meringue should hold a pointy end and have sharp ribs. (See pictures above or watch this meringue video for more information.)
  • To make batter, sift almond flour mixture into the meringue. Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the meringue until fully incorporated. Then continue to fold the batter until it’s runny enough to draw a figure eight. To test, take a small amount of batter and drop it into the bowl. If the small peaks dissolve into the batter on its own in about 10 seconds, the batter is ready. If not, fold couple more times and test again. Be careful not to over-fold the batter. (TIP: Making french macarons is all about the technique. This is one of the most crucial step. Let me try to describe the folding motion as best as I can: run the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half. If you’re beginner macaron-baker, I suggest to count every fold. It takes roughly about 50 folds to reach the proper consistency. After 50 folds, start testing the batter, and continue testing after every couple folds.)
  • To pipe macaron shells,transfer the batter into a pastry bag, fitted with a round tip. (I use this Wilton 2A tip.)
  • Hold the pastry bag at straight 90° angle and pipe about 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on prepared baking sheets. (TIP 2: Download my free macaron template. Simply pipe the batter to fill inner circle.)
  • Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter (or slap the bottom of the baking sheet with one of your hands) a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. You can also use a toothpick to burst some large air bubbles. This step ensures smooth tops.
  • Let the macarons rest on the counter for 15 minutes before baking.
  • To bake, bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes, one baking sheet at a time, on the middle rack. It’ll take longer for larger macarons. To test for doneness, touch a macaron lightly and try to move it. If it slides and wobbles, bake a minute or so longer. The cooked macarons should be firm to touch and the base shouldn’t move.(TIP: It’s always better to slightly over-bake macarons than under-bake them!)
  • Cool the macarons complete and then remove the shells from the baking surface. (TIP: Don't remove the shells while warm, you may risk breaking the shells, or the bottom might get stuck to the baking surface.)

To assemble macarons:

  • Pair the colled macaron shells by size and arrange them on a wire rack.  Line them up so that bottom shells are upside down.
  • Pipe a dollop of desired filling on bottom shells. Place the top shell over the filling and press lightly so the filling spreads till the edges.
  • Store the filled macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 24 hours to mature, which allows the filling to soften and flavor the shells.
  • To serve, bring the macarons out about 30 minutes prior to serving.

Tips & Notes

New to macarons? Check out my basic macaron recipe for in-depth tutorial for each step/technique.
Note 1: It’s best to use super fine almond flour to ensure smooth tops. Weigh the ingredients before sifting.
Note 2: I don’t recommend making your own powdered sugar, because commercial powdered sugar has cornstarch in it. And it helps with texture of the cookies.
Note 3: I recommend Hershey’s natural cocoa powder. However, you may use any brand or type, even Dutched cocoa powder instead. In case your macarons come out wrinkly or your batter is too thick, I recommend removing 1-2 tablespoons of almond flour on your next try.
Note 4: I’ve had success with carton egg whites (Bob Evans brand, #notsponsored). You’ll need 1/3 cup of egg whites.
Note 5: It’s important to use fine granulated sugar for meringue, as it dissolves quicker. You can also use caster sugar, aka baker’s sugar.
Note 6: Cream of tartar is optional and can be omitted. However, it helps to stabilize egg whites and create sturdier meringue. It’s just an extra insurance!
Note 6: You can easily double this macaron recipe.
Got macaron trouble? Check out my visual troubleshooting guide and Macaron 101 post.

Nutrition

Servings: 1 plain shell
Calories: 29kcal
Carbohydrates: 4g
Protein: 1g
Fat: 1g
Sugar: 4g
Sodium: 18mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French

This recipe was originally published on November 21st, 2014.

Hi, I’m Shinee!

Welcome! I’m so happy you’re here! I believe anyone can cook restaurant-quality food at home! And my goal is to help you to become a confident cook with my easy-to-follow recipes with lots of tips and step-by-step photos.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Made this? Rate this recipe:




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

293 Comments

  1. This was my first time making macarons.  I would never have attempted them without your amazing directions and video.  I also referenced your excellent troubleshooting post.  

    I’m afraid mine did not look nearly as pretty as yours- they cracked on top.  I suppose I over mixed them, though I counted my strokes carefully and did the ribbon test.  I also learned that next time I need to rotate my pans once during baking because one batch lifted off the parchment easily while the other stuck a bit.  No matter, the cookies tasted great, and my husband has encouraged me to keep the recipe!

    Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into perfecting your macaroons so that you can share your wisdom with the rest of us.

    1. Hi, Jocelyn! So happy to hear you tried my recipe. You know, macarons are finicky. You might think you’ve done everything right, and still get some issues. With more practice, you’ll get hang of it. Keep baking them and you’ll get the perfect ones. And thank you for leaving such a sweet comment!

  2. Thanks for looking into it! I did try again yesterday, but I simply added 10g of cocoa powder to your Basic French Macaron recipe (I kept the vanilla, too!), and it turned out great. They went over quite well at work today.

    1. Hey Justin, just wanted to let you know that I was able to re-test the recipe yesterday and shared on Snapchat. I didn’t have that issue you’ve described. I did get quite weird result though. 1st tray came out cracked, and 2nd tray was perfect. But the recipe and measurements are correct. If you’d like, you can watch the video here.

  3. I’m also having issues with overly thick batter. I’ve tried this recipe twice (I was so disappointed in the first batch that I had to try again), and the batter is simply far too dry. Comparing with your Lemon Macaron recipe (which is consistently the best macaron recipe I’ve encountered) there seems to be about 10-20g more dry ingredients, but less (by 1-2 tsp) wet ingredients. I see some of the granulated sugar is now replaced by confectioner’s sugar, but not nearly enough to compensate for the additional chocolate powder. Another note is that 1c of powdered sugar is 125g, not 130, which could be contributing.
    Anyway, just a note, since I love your other recipes.

    1. Hey, Justin! Thanks for your feedback. You guys convinced me that there is a problem. I’m going to re-test this recipe again and see if I can recreate the issue. Unfortunately, I can’t find my hand-written recipe notes from testing, so I can’t double check for error. Anyway, I’ll report back as soon as I retest the recipe. Btw, I’m happy to hear you’re loving my lemon macarons though!
      And as for powdered sugar, I usually weigh my ingredients myself, so it’s possible I put a bit more powdered sugar in 1 cup, but it’s what goes into my batter. And again thank you for your comment! 🙂

  4. This was my fourth time making macarons, and I can honestly say I’ve never had this much trouble making them. I followed the recipe exactly, and the batter was VERY thick. I spent at least a good 15 minutes trying to fold the ingredients together, yet was ultimately left with a batter that refused thin out. Let’s just say my end result was definitely leaning more towards weird, chewy brownies than macarons. What happened? As I said, I’ve made macarons multiple times before with success, but this batter just would not cooperate with me.

    1. Hi, Miss M! I’m sorry to hear your macarons didn’t turn out. That’s very odd issue you had there. I’ve made several batches of these chocolate macarons in my testing and never had that issue. Did you weigh your egg whites by chance? Also did you weigh your dry ingredients, or did you use a cup for measuring? My only guess is that somehow the proportions between dry and wet ingredients were off.

  5. Thank you for sharing your recipes and your “Do” and “Don’t” from all your experience with the Macarons..

    I tried yours today and it was a success.

    1. Wow, that’s great to hear. I’m glad my tips helped, Zan! Thank you for trying my recipe and sharing your feedback.

  6. Hi there! I recently found your website and have made your pumpkin spice and pistachio macarons and my chocolate ones are in the oven now. They have all turned out beautifully and are super delicious. The only problem I’m having is for some reason I’m only getting about 20-24 shells per batch. I’m piping 1 1/2 in circles and of course following the recipe to a “T”. Is there a reason this could be happening? Also, do you think the recipe would do ok if I doubled it?
    Thank you for your time and for sharing such delicious recipes!!

    1. Hi, Crystal! First, so glad you’re loving my macaron recipes! Aren’t those pistachio ones are the bomb? Hehe
      As for the size, it’s so weird. You’re basically getting half of what I get. When you pipe the batter into rounds, do they spread beyond 1.5-inches? You might want to pipe about 1-inch rounds and let them spread into 1.5-inch circles. Hope this helps. If you feel comfortable with the folding technique now, you probably can double the recipe. But I’d suggest to half the batter when you transfer into piping bags, as the squeezing it can make the batter runnier. Does that make sense? 🙂

  7. Hi I made these macarons last night, they look good but they are hallow in the inside is this right? Did i do something wrong?

    1. Hi, Bianca! Thanks for trying out my recipe. There are a few reason why your macarons get hollow inside: 1. The macaron batter is overmixed. 2. The egg whites were beaten for too long. 3. The oven temperature was too high. I’m currently working on a comprehensive French Macaron 101 post, where I’ll be discussing all this scenarios in details. Stay tuned.

  8. Hi Shinee, so glad to find your site. Your recipes are awesome and easy to follow with your tips and instructions. Can you give me a tip on how to beat the 2 eggwhites successfully in a Kitchenaid mixer, I mean, I’m having a difficult time making it rise to the stiff stage with just that little amount. Thanks.

    1. Ela, thank you and welcome! I’m glad you like my recipes. I beat 2 egg whites in my KitchenAid mixer all the time without any problem, so I don’t think it’s due to the amount of egg whites. To beat the egg whites, follow these rules:
      1. Make sure the egg whites are completely free of egg yolk.
      2. The mixing bowl and the whisk need to be squeaky clean and absolutely free of fat.
      3. Egg whites at room temperature whip much faster and easier.

      Also, start the mixer on low speed first, then gradually increase the speed as the volume of egg whites increases.

      I had discussed these in detail in this post.

      Hope this helps. 🙂

  9. Hi! I have made macarons a few times, the last time they turned out awful. I want to try your recipe but I don’t have cream of tartar and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Will they turn out ok? Also, it seems my problem is when folding the dry ingredients, I think I overmix the batter. 

    1. Hi, Andrea! You can omit cream of tartar, if you don’t have it. It helps to stabilize the egg whites, but it’s not essential. If you think that you’re over mixing the batter, start counting each fold. You need to be careful after about 50 folds. 🙂 Also, check out my video about my folding technique I shared on my lemon french macarons. I hope it’ll help you to know what the right consistency should look like. Good luck!

    1. Leslie, that’s totally normal. As you see on the step-by-step collage photo above, the rows 2 and 3 show how the batter gets from thick to thin as you continue to fold. The trick is to not under-mix and not to over mix.So if the batter is very thick, just keep folding, and it will thin out. Thanks for reaching out.