Yes—on many cameras, the way to get a darker JPEG without the extra noise of underexposure is to expose normally (or as far right as you can without clipping highlights) and then use in-camera JPEG processing controls rather than reducing the actual exposure too much.

Key point: making the sensor receive less light increases noise relative to the signal. A darker final look is best created after capture, either in post or via the camera’s JPEG tone/rendering settings.

In general:

• Negative exposure compensation is a physical exposure change, so it can worsen noise.
• Lower ISO helps preserve quality when possible.
• Some cameras offer extended low ISO or JPEG style/tone adjustments that effectively darken the rendered JPEG after capture.
• If your camera’s in-camera processing options are limited, external post-processing gives much more control.

So the general answer is: use enough exposure for good signal-to-noise, then darken the JPEG through in-camera processing if your model supports it. If not, there’s no magic setting that avoids the tradeoff—less light on the sensor means noisier data.