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
- Keto Gingerbread Latte
- Keto Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
- Keto White Chocolate Mocha
- Keto Apple Cider
- Keto London Fog Latte
- Keto Hot Buttered Rum
Keto Drinking Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- ⅓ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tablespoon collagen peptides, unflavored
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ginger, or cardamom (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the almond milk and whipping cream. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat.
- Add the chopped chocolate and let sit a few minutes to melt. Whisk in the sweetener, collagen, vanilla extract, and spice, if using, until smooth.
- Return the pan to heat and bring back to a simmer to warm and thicken. Divide among 3 small demitasse cups and top with lightly sweetened whipped cream, if desired.
Bonnie says
What a gift! I’ve loved drinking chocolate at places like Cacao in PDX and Kakawa Chocolate House in Santa Fe, but thought I had to kiss it goodbye on keto. Bless you, Carolyn! You are brilliant! Can’t wait to give this a try!! ????????
Carolyn says
Sadly, I think Cacao is now a victim of the pandemic and has had to shut its doors for good.
Heather K. says
I avoid recipes where the comment “not too sweet” appears as that is a sign it won’t be sweet enough for me. You said not to use sugar free like lilys because it would be too thin. Do you think half lilys and half unsweetened with the same amount of powdered sugar would work? Or, should I continue adding more powdered sugar using the unsweeted until it tastes sweet. As a note, some of your recipes have listed unsweetened chocolate and I never even buy unsweetened chocolate. I sub lilys dark choc. for everything. If it calls for cocoa (I know that won’t be sweet) so I always add extra sugar to compensate. One of my favorite snacks growing up was eating buttercream icing with a spoon out of the container. Now that we’re Keto I can’t but I still want things sweet.
Carolyn says
Add more sweetener, easily! Or try Lily’s and have a thinner drink. It’s up to you.
Christine M. says
Thanks for another recipe. We love your other hot chocolate recipe in one of your books. Can’t remember which book, because I have almost all of them. It is VERY rich, yet extremely filling.
Sarah says
Would it be okay to refrigerate the other servings for another time? Didn’t know if it would rewarm and taste as good? This sounds amazing and I will definitely be making this today.
Sandra says
Like you, I had the remainder of my (half)batch in the refrigerator for tomorrow morning but I couldn’t hold out! I just now finished it off cold…it was similar to a soft set pudding and tasted WONDERFUL! Hope you have better luck than I did!:)
Sandra says
Woke up early and discovered this recipe…reminded me a bit of your blender mousse (my favorite!) so made a quick half-batch. I’m sipping it now–YUM! (I didn’t add the optional spice but did add a generous pinch of coffee powder.)
Carolyn says
Sounds perfect to me!
Margie says
I just tried this drink this evening. I was hungry for something chocolate after a long day. I didn’t have a lot of energy so I made a half recipe it in the microwave, being careful not to burn the liquid. I whipped it in the vitamix. It was sooooo good.
Elaine Markley says
This is so wonderful. I’ve now made it three times. And the chai mixture I could drink by itself, it’s so good. I do use coconut milk, but love this with no other changes. And I do divide it into four servings. Makes a great cold dessert, as well!
janet says
Today while making the 3rd batch of this I thought of you, and tonight when I served it ,my husband declared it the best hot chocolate in the world. So I just had to let you know what a huge success it is, at least with us!
Carolyn says
Thanks so much!
Elaine Markley says
Loved this recipe! But it is so rich that the next time I make this, I will consider it to be 4 servings and have it in a small Japanese tea cup. After its refrigerated, it makes a wonderful chocolate mousse! Great job, Carolyn!
Carolyn says
I agree, it really should be 3 or 4 servings. But when I do that, people accuse me of making the serving sizes TOO small! 🙂
Barbara Schlatter says
How wonderful of you to keep Joan’s blog going. Seeing her children hugging her brought me to tears . They are much too young to be without their mother.
It is so sad indeed.
Your hot chocolate recipe is rich and delicious , sadly also very addicting !
Carolyn says
Thanks, Barbara, for checking out Joan’s blog and her story.
Karen says
Chai tea is not tea with spices and vanilla. Chai is a combination of spices (warming spices to be precise). There is no ‘tea’ as in green, black or otherwise leaves in it. It’s simply spices and water and some milk (in my case coconut milk). There are tons of recipes out there to make your own. It’s fun, economical, and you can create something unique by using more or less of different spices. I, for example, don’t do well with black pepper so I either use a pinch of white or none. (Yeah, I’ve been told that to be chai, it has to have pepper but my body is my body and it doesn’t like the black pepper…………) 🙂 This looks amazing. I will be trying it.
Lulu says
Been to India. Besties with several Indian families back home. Every family has their own recipe that is of course THE ONLY AND BEST. It’s kinda like travelling in Italy – every 50 miles or so, the cuisine changes a little. Anyway, many recipes do contain black tea.
Savvy says
Just printed this out, just visited Chocolate, Chocolate- and want to say once again what a tribute and honor you continue to your friend and her children. She left far too soon! Today I ‘spoon chai’ to her!!
Carolyn says
Thanks!
Patricia says
Carolyn…..I could not access the recipe on the Chocolate site…..only the picture and your comments, but no recipe…..can you help?
Pat
Carolyn says
I can see it just fine at this link http://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/chai-spice-drinking-chocolate/
janet says
Tried this last night and Mmmm! I used chocolate almond milk to make it even more chocolaty, cause that is what I use for hot chocolate. It turned out delightful, spicy and not to sweet!
Thanks!
Carol O. says
How sweet of you to guest post on Joan’s blog. I am definitely checking out your recipe there and exploring her site since I love chocolate!
Jo says
Wow this was good! Now that I have cut sugar out of my life I really appreciate the taste of very lightly sweetened or even unsweetened chocolate. This was like warm silk running down my throat!
I chose straight up chocolate this time, with stevia and just a dash of espresso salt (yes salt – it really rounds out the sweetness of non-sugar sweeteners)
Carolyn says
I would love to try that espresso salt!
Michele says
This makes me so happy. Ever since I saw Phil Rosenthal drink that hot chocolate in Paris on his show I’ll Have What Phil’s Having, I knew I had to have a LC version. Thank you, Carolyn!
Jackie says
Oh I must try this …I’d never heard of Chai and now I know it’s a combination of spices. Correct me if I’m wrong and google misled me 🙂
Carolyn says
Yes, you are correct. Chai tea is tea with spices and vanilla.
Holly Waterfall says
I love that you included chai spices – my favorite! I haven’t had drinking chocolate in so long – I think it’s time to make it happen again.
Holly Truitt says
Can I leave Chai out? Severely allergic to it sadly.
Sandy says
Chai is just spiced tea. And there is no tea in the recipe, only the spices.
Carolyn says
Yep, Holly and I already worked that out over Facebook as she asked the same question there. 🙂