3-Ingredient Homemade Hot Chocolate
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Did you know you can make homemade hot chocolate with only THREE ingredients? Skip the generic brand (made with highly processed, sugary ingredients) and make your own hot chocolate at home!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Parents. You know how it goes.
Snow falls from the sky. Kids pillage the home for their snow gear that has been scattered about. You spend 30 minutes helping them get suited up appropriately. Kids play outside in the snow for 5.2 minutes. Kids return to the house and wet snow gear gets piled by the door. The clamoring for hot chocolate begins.
However, what’s a parent to do if the pre-packaged hot chocolate is running low?
Fear not. We have an easy solution. You can make hot chocolate mix SO EASILY at home.
We’re excited to share our 3 ingredient recipe for delicious, all-natural homemade hot chocolate.
Why Make Homemade Hot Chocolate?
Ingredients matter. As you will find in most of our recipes, we primarily use whole-food, real ingredients. Ingredients you can pronounce. Ingredients your great grandma would recognize.
This is why when I looked at the ingredients in a generic hot chocolate mix, I was shocked.
What IS all that junk? Well, I can tell you, this is NOT real food. Not only is this mix full of highly processed, sugary ingredients, but it also contains corn syrup, artificial flavors, and preservatives.
Whenever possible, we try to make things from scratch. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to make your own things like pizza sauce, croutons, BBQ sauce, and even breadcrumbs.
Even better news is that you can make homemade hot chocolate with only THREE ingredients!
No trans fats, artificial flavors, or preservatives included. You probably have them in your pantry right now.
Ingredients
You likely have the ingredients to make hot chocolate mix RIGHT now. All you need is:
- Cocoa powder – We recommend Ghirardelli brand or you can use cacao powder if you want a healthier alternative.
- Sugar – Plain old white sugar tastes and melts best, but you can use coconut sugar for a little more nutritious alternative.
- Milk – Whatever milk you want works (even non-dairy milk like almond milk), but whole milk will make it rich and creamy.
Instructions
While our recipe below is to make just one cup of hot chocolate, you can easily scale the recipe up and have a batch of the mix on hand. The cocoa powder/sugar ratio is 1:1.
To make a batch of mix for 8 servings, put 3/4 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of cocoa powder into a mason jar and give it a good shake. You’ll use 3 tablespoons of this powder per 1 cup of hot milk.
Now you can have hot chocolate mix ready to roll whenever the first snowflake flies.
Why Use Ghirardelli Cocoa?
We like Ghirardelli because it’s one of the best-powdered cocoas you can get. It rivals specialty high-end products but is much cheaper. Its flavor is deep, rich, and velvety.
This hot chocolate recipe will totally work with any type of 100% cocoa powder but we personally love Ghirardelli. You can even buy it on Amazon! Just be sure to get the 100% unsweetened cocoa, not the hot chocolate mix.
Tasty Tip!
The Best Ever Homemade Popcorn is our favorite snack to enjoy with this hot chocolate. Have you tried it yet?
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
3-Ingredient Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipe
Avoid all the junk in store-bought hot chocolate mix by using just 3 simple ingredients to make your own. This recipe makes the best homemade hot chocolate ever!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons 100% cocoa powder (We recommend Ghirardelli brand)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup organic whole milk (sub: your favorite milk)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Pour all three ingredients into a small saucepan and heat over medium to medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until the ingredients are fully combined and the milk is hot.
- Serve immediately.
Notes/Tips
You can pull back on the sugar if you want.Â
Linda says
Easy and very delicious! I always have Ghriadelli 100% cocoa on my shelves. Don’t care for cocoa mix because of all that is in it. Thanks for sharing it.
Carla from Thriving Home says
Homemade hot chocolate is the way to go! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review Linda.
Karie MacMackin says
Great recipe! Just what I was looking for. Added peppermint mocha creamer for an extra kick!
Rachel Tiemeyer says
Great idea! I’ve added in vanilla extract before and it’s great, too.
Michele keenan says
Delicious and I need it for the low acid. Perfect
Carla from Thriving Home says
Glad you found this recipe! Thanks for the review Michele.
MAM says
Delicious! Followed recipe exactly. When it was ready I put a couple mini marshmallows in and used the electric whisk. The marshmallows melted in and it was frothy and yum! Thanks for recipe!
Carla from Thriving Home says
Thanks so much for taking time to leave a review with your mini marshmallow addition. Sounds delish!
Kimberly Thompson says
Super easy, very yummy
Carla from Thriving Home says
Yay! Glad you liked it Kimberly. I love making it for my crew. Thanks for taking time to leave a review.
Workerbee says
Made this last night for my husband and I. We liked it but both decided it needs a 4th ingredient. Vanilla
Carla from Thriving Home says
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m sure adding vanilla would appeal to a number of readers. Thanks for the tip!
MammaHutter says
Perfect balance! I recommend bakers sugar, whole or 2% milk or almond milk, and majestic cocoa (top notch)!
Carla from Thriving Home says
Thank you for the recommendations! And for leaving a review. 🙂
Claire B. says
FYI, the recipe for the 4 serving mix has 2 tbsps cocoa and 2 tbsps sugar per cup, while the single cup recipe has 1 1/2 tbsps each. Either works, depending on one’s preferences. Also, for a single cup, just combine mix in a mug, slowly stir in milk, and microwave, but don’t boil.
Carla from Thriving Home says
Hi Claire. Thanks for the tip. It is amazing how everyone’s preferences can be so different. We’re grateful to have such a wide variety of readers!
Rachel Tiemeyer says
Thanks for catching that, Claire. I just updated that in the blog post.
NG says
Perfect hot chocolate! I added a splash of vanilla and a pinch of sea salt. SO GOOD!
Carla from Thriving Home says
Oooh, yummy additions! Thanks for sharing.
Natasha says
Love it!