Healthy Everyday Hot Chocolate

I am a warm-weather sandals-and-sundress kind of girl. Living in New England though, I’ve grown accustomed to all of the seasons and find beauty in all of them. My relationship with winter is in a good place, I’m okay with tolerating winter.

Pro’s of winter:

The winter season has a magical way of warming us up in it’s own way. We light fires, drink red wines and burn more candles. We cuddle with our loved ones, buy more blanks and sip hot chocolate. And, BOY! There is definitely something to that feeling when you’ve spent A LONG time out in the cold, to finally head back inside to warm up. Maybe, relief? HA!

One way I like to cozy up on a cold winter day with with a cup (or 2) of hot chocolate! The packets were no longer cutting it for me once I held them to my health standard. When you know better, you do better! I have good memories with Slim Jim’s too.. I found this recipe from Well Plated, I highly recommend giving her site a visit.

Good news! I bet you have everything you need to make this simple hot chocolate recipe in your kitchen pantry right now. I don’t even buy the packets any more, because it’s so easy to make from scratch.

You can make this healthy hot chocolate recipe with almond milk to keep it naturally vegan and gluten free. There are also options to make it richer. Since this recipe is meant to be an everyday/all-the-time hot chocolate (versus a special occasion hot chocolate), you can certainly add things to it as you like!

The Ingredients

Milk of Choice

Use almond milk if you’d like to make your healthy hot chocolate vegan, as low calorie as possible, and dairy free. The richer the milk you choose, however, the richer the hot chocolate!

I like 2% milk in my healthy hot chocolate; the taste/calorie trade off is worth it to me. For a vegan/dairy free option that is richer, I recommend splashing in some full-fat coconut milk. You can also use soy milk (which is thicker than almond milk), but I don’t love the taste of soy in my hot chocolate. It truly is personal preference. Play around until you find your perfect cup.Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. The taste of chocolate doesn’t get any more full-on than this pantry ingredient. You can also make the healthy hot chocolate with cacao, though you’ll want to adjust the maple syrup to taste. Cacao may be a little more bitter.

Maple Syrup

I suggest starting with a small amount, then increasing a teaspoon at a time, until you hit your perfect level of sweetness. Again, this is your cup!

Pure Vanilla Extract

An excellent way to deepen the flavor of chocolate and make this healthy hot chocolate taste richer than it actually is.

Kosher Salt

It sounds odd, but it is so needed. Even in dessert recipes, salt helps other flavors pop, without making them salty.

Chocolate Chips or Chopped Dark Chocolate

You’ll find plenty of healthy hot chocolate recipes online that leave these out for the sake of saving calories, but I really do prefer my hot cocoa with some chocolate melted in. It makes it taste more real and less sad. You can always taste the healthy hot chocolate without it first, see if you are satisfied, and then add the melted chocolate if you are not.