This homemade hot cocoa recipe is rich, creamy, and comes together in minutes with ingredients you already have in your kitchen.
Recipe by Laura Fuentes on November 1, 2019
Cook time: PT8M
Total time: PT8M
Rating
4.95 stars (296 reviews)
Keywords
holiday drinks, hot chocolate, winter drinks
Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk (any)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Categories
Drinks
Cuisine
Snacks
Steps
In a medium saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, sugar, water, and salt over medium heat. Heat this chocolate base mixture, stirring constantly, until smooth.
When it simmers, reduce the heat, pour the milk, and continue stirring as it heats up and you see steam surface. Do not let it boil; you don't want to burn the milk.
Turn off the heat, add the vanilla, and mix.
Pour the hot cocoa into mugs and top it with marshmallows or whipped cream.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 195 kcal
Carbohydrates: 40 g
Protein: 9 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 7 mg
Sodium: 176 mg
Sugar: 38 g
Unsaturated Fat: 0.34 g
Reviews
Jennie on 2024-10-23 (5 stars): Perfection in a cup! Thank you for this great recipe. No more Nestle or Swiss Miss for me!
Jessica on 2023-12-24 (5 stars): Perfect sweetness and cocoa level! Thank you!!!
Annalise on 2022-10-20 (5 stars): This is the best homemade hot cocoa ever!!! I made it for my family and everyone loved it! literally took me 5 minutes to make, so easy! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Jennifer on 2021-11-27 (5 stars): Rich and chocolatey! Rave reviews when I've served it. I used the cheap cocoa I had at home and everyone loved it. I'm sure it's even better with better quality cocoa, but it's still awesome with whatever's on sale! I quadruple the dry ingredients and keep it on hand, so all I have to do when I want a cup, is add the water & milk, and vanilla. I've made it without the vanilla accidentally and it's still delicious. I'm going to mix up a huge batch of the dry ingredients and gift it to my sister and Dad for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
Jasmine on 2021-01-06 (5 stars): This was perfect! I love rich “drinking chocolate” when I’m at a nice coffee shop, but at home, I usually want something more mellow. This was it! Still totally flavorful (and a zillion times better than store bought), but I’m glad it only calls for cocoa and not chopped chocolate. My husband and I shared some with whipped cream after our daughter went to bed and saved the leftovers for her to have tomorrow. She’ll be thrilled! This is becoming our go-to hot cocoa recipe for sure!
