Dark chocolate and almonds both turn up in the same “healthy snack” conversations, though only one of them is actually a whole food.
| Nutrient | Dark Chocolate (70–85%) | Almonds |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 598 kcal | 622 kcal |
| Protein | 7.79 g | 26.2 g ✓ |
| Total Carbohydrate | 45.9 g | 16.2 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 10.9 g ✓ | 9.27 g |
| Total Sugars | 24 g | 4.4 g ✓ |
| Total Fat | 42.6 g | 50.2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 24.5 g | 3.78 g ✓ |
| Sodium | 20 mg | 0.89 mg ✓ |
Notable compounds in each
When to choose each
This isn’t really a fair fight nutritionally: almonds win decisively on protein, sugar and saturated fat, and dark chocolate is, after all, a confection with added sugar and cocoa butter, not a whole food. What dark chocolate offers that almonds don’t is concentrated flavanol content from the cocoa solids, more of it the higher the cocoa percentage, which is the entire rationale for choosing 70%+ dark chocolate over milk chocolate in the first place. Almonds are the better everyday snack for nutrition; dark chocolate, in modest amounts, is the better choice when the point is dessert.
Common questions
Is dark chocolate actually healthy? In moderation and at a high cocoa percentage (70%+), dark chocolate does offer cocoa flavanols with genuine research interest around cardiovascular markers, but it’s still a calorie-dense confection with meaningful added sugar and saturated fat, so it’s best thought of as a treat with some upsides rather than a health food to eat freely.
Why does dark chocolate have so much saturated fat? Cocoa butter, the fat naturally present in cocoa solids, is high in saturated fat, similar in that respect to coconut oil — it’s an inherent trait of chocolate, not an additive, and it’s part of what gives chocolate its characteristic melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Nutrition values are USDA FoodData Central approximations — see our editorial approach for how we source and verify data.