Rich and Creamy Vegan Hot Chocolate
A rich and creamy Vegan Hot Chocolate that uses velvety chocolate melted along with cocoa powder, soft medjool dates and cashew butter for a luxurious non-dairy beverage.
I think having a good creamy hot chocolate recipe on hand especially during the colder months is absolutely essential. But this isn’t any ordinary hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was designed to be creamy, perfectly sweet (and easy to adjust to your preference of sweet), and completely non-dairy.
A lot of commercially prepared hot chocolates or ones you might order out might contain dairy. But I’m not going to leave your out of this one, so here’s my favorite hot chocolate recipe with all the topping suggestions. And if you want to give this a peppermint twist, definitely check out my Peppermint Hot Chocolate.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Plant Based Milk: To make sure our hot chocolate is creamy I recommend using unsweetened almond milk, soy milk, oat milk or cashew milk to make this hot chocolate as they have all lead to very creamy results.
- Cocoa Powder: Go for an unsweetened variety. I would recommend going for any options that clearly say 100% cocoa, which usually means that it is not mixed with any other ingredients.
- Cashew Butter: I love adding a little nut butter to my hot chocolate because this truly gives you that nice rich and creamy consistency without being too strong in flavor. You can absolutely replace this with almond butter, tahini or sunflower butter depending on allergens.
- Sweetener: You can use a couple of options. I used a few medjool dates to sweeten this beverage (gives us a little extra fiber and since we blend them it also again helps make this more creamy). However, you can also use 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup or regular granulated sugar. Using the other options will allow you to also skip the blending step.
- Cinnamon: Helps to enhance some of the sweetness in our hot chocolate.
- Chocolate Squares: Optional, but gives some extra rich chocolate flavor. Make sure you use a vegan chocolate bar or chocolate chips for this. Check to make sure there is no dairy listed in the ingredients.
How to Make Vegan Hot Chocolate
Add all of your ingredients to a sauce pan and bring to a medium low heat to warm everything through and melt your chocolate.
Once hot, remove from the stove. If you used dates as your sweetener, pour everything into a blender and blend on high until completely smooth. Before serving, taste and adjust the sweetness of your hot chocolate until satisfied. Then pour the liquid into some serving mugs and top as desired.
Tips for the Perfect Creamy Hot Chocolate
- Do not boil your hot chocolate. You just want to warm it enough on the stove top to melt the chocolate. I would suggest warming your hot chocolate over a medium low heat for best results.
- Adjust sweetness to your preference. This hot chocolate is lightly sweetened with the medjool dates, but can be adjusted by either adding more dates or using some maple syrup or sugar to add more sweetness based on your preference.
- Enjoy the hot chocolate immediately after making it. This is best when it’s warm. Do not wait till it gets cool as it will thicken. If it gets too thick, thin it out with additional milk as desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
A lot of hot chocolate recipes and products tend to contain milk. Making a homemade version allows you to control the ingredients used to make sure it ends up being non-dairy.
To make this recipe nut-free, replace the almond milk with oat milk or soy milk. For the cashew butter, you can replace it with creamy tahini or sunflower butter. This will ensure that your hot chocolate is still very luxurious and creamy.
These days, finding a good vegan whip cream isn’t too difficult. You can use options like So Delicious Whip Cream, Reddi-Wip has both coconut and almond based canned options, and Truwhip also now makes their own vegan whip cream as well. If you’d prefer to make your own, Nora Cooks has a really great recipe for a coconut-free whip cream.
Regular marshmallows contain gelatin, which is not vegan. To avoid gelatin in your marshmallows, I recommend using Dandies, the newly launched Yummallo, or the Trader Joe’s branded marshmallows. Please note, ingredients for products can change, please make sure to always read the ingredients to make sure no gelatin is listed.
I do recommend enjoying this hot chocolate at the time of making. If you’d like to make a bigger batch to enjoy later, store the cooled hot chocolate in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. When ready to enjoy again, place in a mug and dilute as needed with some extra plant based milk or water to thin to your preference. Then, warm it up on the stove top or in the microwave until warm again.
How to Serve
This creamy hot chocolate is perfect to serve as is, but is even better with a few vegan marshmallows and whip cream on top. I also like to dust just a tiny bit more cinnamon on top to help enhance the sweetness even more.
If you truly want to indulge, you can also enjoy these mugs of hot cocoa with some tasty cookies or baked treats.
- Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Almond Butter Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
More Cozy Vegan Recipes to Try
Rich and Creamy Vegan Hot Chocolate
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Beverages
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A rich and creamy Vegan Hot Chocolate that uses velvety chocolate melted along with cocoa powder, soft medjool dates and cashew butter for a luxurious non-dairy beverage.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups unsweetened almond, soy or oat milk
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 soft medjool dates or 1–2 tbsp maple syrup or sugar
- 1 oz square of vegan dark chocolate or 2 tbsp vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt, optional
Instructions
- Place a sauce pan over low medium heat and add in all of your ingredients and allow to warm through and melt the chocolate completely.
- If using dates, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Adjust the sweetness based on your preference and then serve.
Notes
Do not boil your hot chocolate. You just want to warm it enough on the stove top to melt the chocolate. I would suggest warming your sauce pan to a medium low heat when heating your hot chocolate.
Adjust sweetness to your preference. This hot chocolate is lightly sweetened with the medjool dates, but can be adjusted by either adding more dates or using some maple syrup or sugar to add more sweetness based on your preference.
Enjoy the hot chocolate immediately after making it. This is best when it’s warm. Do not wait till it gets cool as it will thicken. If it gets too thick, thin it out with additional milk as desired.
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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