This Dairy Free Hot Chocolate Mix can be mixed into your favorite plant-based milk for a delicious vegan hot chocolate that’s dairy free.
We love hot chocolate! From white hot chocolate to making fun little marshmallow snowmen for hot cocoa, we enjoy our fair share of this warm beverage when it’s cold outside.
Suffering from any allergy isn’t fun, but when you can make a recipe that makes you completely forget you have that allergy, that is where the fun just begins. Our daughter suffered from FPIES, and now our son is extremely sensitive to dairy.
It wasn’t until he came home from the NICU that I finally saw just how bad he couldn’t tolerate milk products as they upped his fortifiers. Long story short, he gained beautifully on just breastmilk alone. His issues were not just acid reflux. Thankfully I’ve been eating dairy-free for quite some time, so naturally, I was already consuming a dairy-free diet for breastfeeding.
I’ve always made homemade hot chocolate. For me making a dairy free hot chocolate mix makes it so much easier to enjoy a warm cup of hot chocolate anytime there’s a craving. This vegan hot chocolate mix is also great for gift giving, filling our snowman hot chocolate bombs, and adding to your hot chocolate charcuterie board.
Hot Chocolate Mix ingredients and notes:
- Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips – We love our hot cocoa to be chocolately so we use a combo of cocoa and chocolate chips. Enjoy life foods makes the best allergy friendly chocolate.
- Unsweetend Cocoa Powder – For this, we are using unsweetened cocoa powder. You can also use dark unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Powdered Sugar – To add sweetness, we use sugar and we use confectioners’ sugar as it melts quickly into the hot chocolate when you add milk.
- Salt – This is to balance the flavors and sweetness.
Step by step instructions:
For the full ingredient amount and full instructions on how to make dairy free hot chocolate mix see the recipe card below.
In a food processor or blender, you’ll combine all ingredients until the chocolate chips are mostly ground.
Pour the cocoa mix into a glass jar with a lid and store for up to 2 months.
How to use hot chocolate mix
Warm some plant-based milk on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Add 2 or 3 tablespoons (more or less depending on how chocolatey you like your hot chocolate) to warm plant-based milk and stir to combine.
Top with your favorite toppings if desired.
Our family loves to make marshmallow snowman hot chocolate toppers for hot chocolate so that’s a quick and easy idea for serving.
Recipe Tips:
- This recipe isn’t just for those who are dairy free. You can still enjoy it with regular milk.
- When it comes to plant-based milk options, there are quite a few now these days. Our favorite is oat milk for hot chocolate as it is thicker milk and thickens when warmed.
- For thicker hot cocoa, you can add a bit of cornstarch to the mix. Go with about 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon for the batch.
- If you like white chocolate, you can use white chocolate instead of regular, enjoy life also makes white chocolate now.
- Add more flavor options like a bit of cinnamon or even peppermint.
- We do not recommend using a plastic container due to chocolate absorbing odors and flavors. Glass or stainless steel is highly recommended.
How to store
- Store any leftovers in an glass container at room temperature for up to 2 months.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely, just place everything doubled into your food processor or blender.
We highly recommend using a cocoa powder you love. We use Hershey’s or Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder.
Yes! We use this in our snowman hot chocolate bombs and every other chocolate bomb recipe we’ve made.
This recipe does not have milk powder so for the best flavor you would need to add to your preferred plant-based milk or regular milk if you do not have any issues with dairy. To make it with water we suggest adding 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk powder. We prefer the taste of oat milk though.
Yes! We buy these mini dehydrated marshmallow bits from amazon. Certain stores also carry the same version under the Jet Puffed Brand, just make sure they’re dairy free.
more hot chocolate recipes
Dairy Free Hot Chocolate Mix
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step by step recipe video
Ingredients
- 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- pinch salt
Instructions
Dairy Free Hot Chocolate Mix
- In a food processor or high-speed blender, combine the ingredients until the chocolate chips are mostly ground.
- Store in a sealed glass mason jar for up to 2 months.
To make dairy free hot chocolate
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of the hot cocoa mix to 1 cup of warm plant-based milk. Warm the milk on the stove in a pot or use the microwave. Gently stir the hot chocolate mix into the milk with a spoon and stir until combined, serve warm.
Tried this recipe?
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Nutrition
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
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Such a great idea to blend up the dairy free chocolate chip! Thanks, I’m going to try this!
We hope you love it too! 😀
Delicious!! The best dairy free version we’ve tried 🙂
Ahh, thank you! This makes our day, and thank you for trying our recipe! 🙂
Hello, this looks delicious. If I wanted to also make a white chocolate version what would you use in place of the cocoa powder?
White chocolate is tough, we tend to make that one fresh. Also, there’s not a great dairy free white chocolate on the market that we recommend. We did recommend Walmart’s brand, but they discontinued it. 🙁
Silly question but will this work in hot water too?
Not a silly question at all! Due to use not using something like nonfat milk powder or a dairy free version of it in the mix, it’s best mixed into a warmed plant based milk. 🙂
Can you use granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar?
Yes, you can use granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar! Just keep in mind that granulated sugar is denser, so the measurements will change slightly. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of powdered sugar, use about 3/4 cup of granulated sugar instead. It might take a little longer to dissolve, but it will still taste great! 😊 Alternatively, you can blitz the sugar in the blender to make powdered sugar.
Delicious and satisfying!
We’re so glad you enjoyed!! 😀
For the chocolate chips, do you recommend dark or semisweet? Those are the two Enjoy Life options I found at my local grocery store.
Hi Katie! Happy you received my email so I could get a response to you promptly! We hope you enjoy your dairy free hot cocoa! 🙂 For those also wondering, we recommend using semi-sweet over dark chocolate.