Vegan Hot Chocolate – Just Like Starbucks!

This rich, creamy homemade vegan hot chocolate recipe is the perfect drink to warm you up from the cold of winter!

The best vegan hot chocolate

With no dairy and just five ingredients, this may just be the thickest, smoothest, creamiest hot chocolate you ever try.

The recipe is absolutely delicious and super easy to make.

It packs in more chocolate per serving than traditional hot cocoa recipes, resulting in an extra rich and chocolatey flavor.

And you might already have everything in your kitchen pantry needed to whip up a mug at home.

It is the perfect vegan hot cocoa for Christmas morning, Valentine’s Day, chilly snow days, or any time a hot chocolate craving hits.

You may also like these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

How to make hot chocolate like Starbucks

The biggest advantage to making your own hot chocolate at home is that you get to be in control of all the ingredients. It also saves time and money.

To recreate the Starbucks hot cocoa, I first looked at their ingredients.

Almondmilk [Filtered Water, Almonds, Sugar, Tricalcium Phosphate, Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol)], Mocha Sauce [Water, Sugar, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Vanillin].

So basically theirs calls for milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and cocoa processed with alkali. That last ingredient just means they use Dutch cocoa powder.

It sounded pretty easy to recreate at home.

And Starbucks hot chocolate can actually already be vegan when ordered with oat milk or soy milk. This information is good to know if you are ever out running errands and find yourself wishing for a mug of hot chocolate.

Instead of combining water, sugar, and cocoa to make a sauce for my homemade dairy free hot chocolate recipe, I decided to streamline the process. I omitted the water, both for simplicity and to not dilute the flavor of the final product.

All you need to do is whisk all ingredients except the vanilla in a saucepan or microwave safe mug. Slowly bring to a boil or microwave in 30 second increments

Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and whisk to finish dissolving the cocoa. Serve hot, or refrigerate and enjoy cold with ice.

Also try this Healthy Chocolate Cake

Vegan hot chocolate recipe video

Above – watch the step by step video

Easy vegan hot cocoa health benefits

At just 60 calories per large serving, this DIY nondairy hot chocolate recipe can also be gluten free, soy free, nut free, sugar free, egg free, paleo, and keto friendly.

Depending on the milk you choose, it packs in an incredible 36% of the daily value for calcium. And it gives over 20% of the DV for iron, magnesium and potassium.

Antioxidant rich cocoa powder contributes to the healthy hot chocolate recipe’s stellar six grams of fiber and close to five grams of protein in just one cup.

Even if you use full fat coconut milk, the hot chocolate is still under 200 calories.

Serve it hot or cold, for breakfast, snack, or dessert!

Hot Chocolate Flavors

Peppermint Hot Chocolate: Add 1/8 teaspoon pure peppermint extract when you add the vanilla. Or spike it with some peppermint schnapps.

Mocha Hot Chocolate: Instead of using brewed espresso, which could water down the cocoa drink, simply stir in 1/2 teaspoon of regular or decaf instant coffee.

Orange Hot Cocoa: Add the zest from one orange and a tablespoon of the juice.

Nutella Hot Chocolate: Stir in a spoonful of your favorite plant based chocolate hazelnut spread or this vegan Homemade Nutella Recipe.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate: Stir in a tablespoon or two of peanut butter before heating the hot chocolate beverage. Or try almond butter or cashew butter.

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa: Use blackstrap or regular molasses to sweeten. And add a pinch each of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

Top your hot cocoa with mini vegan marshmallows or Coconut Whipped Cream.

Crock pot hot cocoa variation

If you want a large size slow cooker hot chocolate recipe to feed a crowd or dinner guests, try the following scaled up version instead of the single serving recipe further down in this post.

4 cups milk of choice, 2 cups full fat canned coconut milk or cashew cream, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup regular or unrefined sugar, pure maple syrup, or agave, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Add everything except the vanilla to the crockpot, and cook on low for 1 1/2 hours. Stir in the vanilla extract and any other extracts or flavors you wish.

Garnish each mug with mini marshmallows or whipped cream.

Ingredients and tips for success

Cocoa powder – Starbucks uses Dutch cocoa, which has a milder and more chocolatey taste than regular unsweetened cocoa powder. The recipe will still taste perfectly delicious with regular cocoa, just not as much like the one from Starbucks.

Milk of choice – I tried numerous different milks in this recipe and found that my favorite was a combination of coconut and almond milk.

If you do not need a low fat recipe, I highly recommend trying it with the coconut milk. The added fat makes the recipe ultra creamy. If you are allergic to coconut, subbing cashew cream or stirring in 2 tablespoons of raw cashew butter works just as well.

Vanilla extract – If you want the best hot chocolate taste, be sure to use pure vanilla extract, not artificial imitation vanilla flavoring.

Sugar – Feel free to go with pure maple syrup, cane sugar, unrefined coconut sugar, or stevia or monk fruit for hot chocolate with no sugar added. The sweetener amount will depend on whether you are using sweetened or unsweetened milk as well as your own personal tastes.

Pinch of salt – Do not forget a pinch of salt. It might be small, but just a little salt heightens the chocolate flavor and adds depth to the recipe. Leaving it out will completely change the results.

More Vegan Chocolate Recipes

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Black Bean Brownies

Chocolate Mug Cake

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Brownie Cheesecake