We don’t get much snow since we moved (or any!) but back in the day the kids loved to play outside for hours when it snowed. It’s pretty much a sacred tradition of every childhood to have a cup of steaming hot chocolate to warm up when you come inside, so I was eager to find a substitute for the conventional hot cocoa mix packets.
Thanks to this healthier hot chocolate recipe, I am happy to oblige when my children ask for hot cocoa after coming in from many hours of playing in the snow.
The Best Hot Chocolate Recipe (Option for Dairy Free)
This healthy homemade hot chocolate combines natural ingredients like cocoa powder, turmeric, gelatin, coconut oil or butter, and optional raw honey or maple syrup and cinnamon. I’ve also included options for making it dairy, coconut, or nut free.
I whipped this up in the blender in under two minutes and it was easy to make by the glass or by the blender full. The recipe lists ingredients per cup, but you can easily double, triple, or multiply the recipe as needed to make more than one serving.
TIP: I don’t recommend making this at night as the chocolate may keep kids (and adults) awake!
This can be easily customized to your preferences and I’d love to hear your variations in the comments. Some of my favorites are to add a dash of cayenne for a spicy version or a few frozen raspberries for a berry variation. This hazelnut hot chocolate recipe is also a family favorite.
Hot Chocolate With (Healthy) Marshmallows
We think of marshmallows as junk food, but when made homemade with grass-fed gelatin, they can actually have health benefits. It also is a fun process that makes for a great snow day activity! See the full recipe here.
No time make from scratch?
This Organifi superfood chocolate powder makes a healthy and delicious hot chocolate! I’ve also used these better-for-you marshmallows in a pinch.
Healthy Hot Chocolate Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces water (hot, or coconut milk, whole milk, or almond milk)
- 2 TBSP cocoa powder
- 1 TBSP gelatin powder
- 1 TBSP butter (or coconut oil)
- 1 tsp maca powder (optional)
- ½ tsp ground turmeric (optional)
- ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
- 1 tsp maple syrup (or honey or stevia drops to taste, optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- pinch salt (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in blender and blend to combine.
- Warm over medium heat in a small saucepan while stirring.
- Top with marshmallows if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Double or multiply recipe as needed.
- For thicker hot chocolate, add more butter or coconut oil. This must be done in a blender, since with the added coconut oil or butter, just stirring will not make a smooth mixture.
Nutrition
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What is your favorite warm drink on snowy days?
Looks divine! How much gelatin should we add in? It wasn’t listed, but stated in the intro. Thank you for the recipes; keep them coming! 🙂
OMG! This looks soo good! I’m about to try it right now. Thank for sharing.
My kids love it when I make them a healthy hot chocolate. We call it a ‘bulletproof hot choc’ and add raw cacao powder, hot water, coconut oil and butter, hydrolysate gelatine powder, a dash of maple syrup and sometimes I add a drop of grapefruit essential oil or mint to give it a special flavour. It’s perfect for warming them up and satisfying that ‘peckish’ feeling in between meals.
I’ll definitely be trying your ‘extras’ Katie! Thanks for the great blog.
Mine is similar to yours in that I use raw cacao powder (to me tastes better than cocoa) and I put in a little bit of orange oil (tastes like a chocolate orange) but you gave me the idea to use mint as my favorite hot chocolate used to be the William Sonoma pepperment hot chocolate. I’ve never used coconut oil in my hot drinks, I think I’m going to try that today. Thanks
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve been wanting a healthier way to make hot chocolate.
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This does sound pretty tasty. I want to ask, though: I noticed above the recipe you mentioned gelatin as one of the natural ingredients, but not in the recipe itself. How much gelatin would you add (I haven’t played around with the gelatin much yet) and do you prefer it with or without? Thank ya!
I use 1 tablespoon of gelatin per serving, but I’d work up slowly if you aren’t used to it.
Is there any reason why u recommended a different brand of maca now?
I have several brands and use them for different things. I take Mighty Maca as a greens powder, especially when I travel. I get capsules from the maca team, and use the powdered one for this since the green powder doesn’t taste as good in chocolate.
This is good to know – thanks for answering her question! Funny thing – I drink the Mighty Maca green drink (thanks to your recommendation in another post) – and I love it. A few days ago, I got to looking at the ingredients and I noticed “Natural Flavors” as one…I couldn’t remember if you are funny about natural flavors as an ingredient, but I actually JUST sat down and opened your website up to this page to ask. On this recipe, I saw you use a different maca and wondered if you had changed brands – glad I read the comments to find the answer to my question already there! 😉 I do wonder how you feel about “natural flavors,” if you get a sec to give me your thoughts. I’m not swayed too much one way or the other, but really respect your thoughts on just about everything! 🙂
From what I’ve read natural flavors are not good for you. They make you crave more of the food they are in and can come from an array of weird things including beaver anus juice. No joke, look it up. It’s used to flavor strawberry flavored things.
Castoreum comes from the beaver’s castor gland, not the anus. Some sources say it’s no longer commonly used to flavor items because it’s more cumbersome and expensive than newer methods of natural flavoring. Some people may still wish to avoid natural flavors though for various reasons.
Is Maca safe while nursing?
It looks delitiose. Can you take maca when you take thyroid meds like eltroxin?
Can you taste the tumeric? I mean, does it alter the flavor? And is the maca what might keep people awake? Looks inspiringly healthy!!! Can’t wait to try!!!
You mentioned gelatin in the description but not in the ingredients list. How much would you add and would you use gelatin or collagen? Thanks!
1 tablespoon
Hi Katie thank you for all your wonderful recipes and time researching. I wish I knew how you did it all. My questions is are you blending in the liquids or are you adding those in the pot? It sounds like it all go in the blender and then to warm in the pot. Also if you put this in a jar in stockings do you still blend the oil or butter in it?
It all goes in the blender, then it’s warmed in the pot. If you’re making this as a mix, just use the dry ingredients in the jar and then add the butter/oil, water, and maple syrup right before drinking.
In the recipe it says 1TBS of gelatine and has a link for the brand she uses.