Vegan Hot Chocolate (recipes & best brands)
Hot chocolate is a favourite drink for many, a bit daft that people take it to bed, considering it has caffeine! But hey-ho. If you like hot chocolate, there are much better ways to enjoy this historic treat. Most brands are little more than cocoa with refined sugar.
This healthy hot chocolate (PlantYou) is sweetened with dates, rich in calcium.
Avoid hot chocolate for pregnancy/nursing, due to caffeine. Keep chocolate, vanilla and spices away from pets. Read more on food safety for people and pets. For commercial brands, recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins.
For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch top opening closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
Winter gingerbread vegan hot chocolate
This gingerbread vegan hot chocolate (Rainbow Plant Life) is about as wintery a drink as you could get! Top with vegan whipped cream, and a cinnamon stick.
Vegan white hot chocolate recipe
Try this white hot chocolate (The Vegan 8). It’s made with cocoa butter, cashew butter, coconut milk and vanilla, sweetened with maple syrup.
Ingredients for creamy vegan hot chocolate
- Oat drink gives the creamiest base, also good for vegan cappuccinos.
- Cocoa powder brings deep chocolate flavour. It can taste a little sharp on its own, so pairing with natural sweetener and a pinch of sea salt. For a thicker pudding-like hot chocolate, add grated dark chocolate.
- Sweetener balances bitterness. Caster sugar dissolves quickly, but soft light brown sugar adds a gentle caramel note. Maple syrup also works, although it can make the drink taste slightly less ‘classic’.
- Vanilla extract gives that familiar hot chocolate smell (use real vanilla, the fake stuff is vile). Salt does the same job for taste, it makes chocolate taste more like chocolate.
Favourite flavour add-ins
Use these amounts for 1 mug, add at times shown:
- Peppermint: 2 to 4 drops peppermint extract, stir in at end.
- Cinnamon: 1/4 tsp, whisk in with cocoa at the start.
- Chilli: A tiny pinch, add with cocoa.
- Orange zest: A little pinch of finely grated zest, stir in off heat.
- Mocha: 1 tsp instant coffee granules, whisk in with cocoa paste.
- Nut butter (peanut or hazelnut): 1 tsp, whisk in once milk is warm.
Good vegan hot chocolate brands
Some brands that are made with quality ingredients (find them in farm shops or online) are:
Top with vegan marshmallows!
If going for a ‘luxury hot chocolate’, choose Dandies (organic vegan marshmallows). Most marshmallows are made from gelatine (animal bones), and inferior vegan versions are made with inferior ingredients!
Sweet Freedom (squeezy hot chocolate drinks)
Sweet Freedom Choc Shot drinks are sweetened naturally with apple and carob, and sold in easy-to-recycle packaging. Just squeeze into hot or warm plantmilk (you can also use in cold plantmilk to make chocolate shakes:
The raspberry hot chocolate is adored by the co-founder who uses it to make hot chocolate or a drizzle on nearly everything (but not chips!)
