Keto drinking chocolate is a delicious sugar free hot chocolate recipe that’s thicker and more rich than standard hot chocolate. It’s almost like drinking warm low carb chocolate pudding! A true treat for keto chocolate lovers.

An updated version of my delicious keto drinking chocolate, now with even fewer carbs but the same rich chocolate flavor!

I first created this recipe in honour of a blogger friend, Joan of Chocolate, Chocolate, and More. She died of a sudden heart attack, and it was a great loss to the food blogging community. Many of us banded together and created delicious chocolate recipes in her memory.

And this insanely rich and creamy keto hot chocolate recipe was my contribution to the cause. Joan was not keto or low carb, but I know she would have loved it.

What is drinking chocolate?

Many of us refer to any hot drink with chocolatey flavor as “hot chocolate”. Some, including my husband, call it hot cocoa, but I’ve always called it hot chocolate. Doesn’t matter if it it’s made with real chocolate or with cocoa powder.

Because the reality is that cocoa IS chocolate. If I make a keto chocolate cake and I only use cocoa powder, do I now call it cocoa cake? If I make delicious chewy keto brownies with cocoa powder only, do I call them cocoa brownies?

I sure don’t, do you?

So I will always call my hot drinks made with cocoa powder hot chocolate and I know I am not alone.

But drinking chocolate is truly chocolate with a capital C. It really is like taking a large piece of chocolate and liquifying it, and then sipping at it. And let me tell you, that’s not a bad thing. Not bad at all!

A keto friendly sipping chocolate recipe

My first version of this recipe was amazing but it was a bit high carb for my taste, clocking in at almost 10g total carbs. Almost half of that was fiber, but I still felt it wasn’t truly keto friendly.

It was also very high in calories, coming in close to 500, and was over-the-top rich. I am a diehard chocoholic but I couldn’t finish a single serving. It was just too much.

So I decided to take another crack at the recipe and lighten it up, while still keeping that velvety richness. Fewer calories, fewer carbs, less fat, while keeping the creaminess and the deep chocolate flavor.

Yep, I did it!

How to make Keto Drinking Chocolate

So what did I change? Well, less heavy cream and more non-dairy milk, a little less unsweetened chocolate, and some collagen to help thicken the mixture. And then I divided the recipe into three servings. Not, my friend, to cheat you out of anything but to be much more realistic about how much of this rich hot drink one can easily consume. Because it really is more like dessert than typical hot chocolate.

A few tips for getting the best drinking chocolate experience:

Use unsweetened chocolate: This is not the same as sugar-free or no-sugar-added. This is a recipe designed around completely UNSWEETENED chocolate so that you can add more sweetener to taste. If you use pre-sweetened chocolate, your mixture may be too thin and will likely be higher in carbs.

Chop your chocolate finely: This allows it to melt more quickly and evenly when added to the hot cream mixture.

Use a powdered or liquid sweetener: Any granular sweetener will leave a gritty feel to the keto drinking chocolate. I like to use powdered Swerve here as it also helps thicken the mixture.

Use collagen peptides, not gelatin! Don’t mix these things up or you may end up with a chocolate Jello rather than a proper drinking chocolate. If you really don’t want to use collagen, that’s fine but your drinking chocolate will be on the thinner side. You can simmer it longer if you want to try to thicken it up more. I like to use the Perfect Keto unflavoured collagen.

Add a touch of spice for flavor: I really like a bit of cinnamon or cardamom.

Bring back to a simmer: Waiting for the chocolate to melt in the hot cream means it will cool down quite a bit. Bringing it back to a simmer not only re-heats the mixture but thickens it as well.

Ready to make some deliciously rich keto drinking chocolate?

More keto hot drinks to try