This easy sugar free hot chocolate mix makes ultra rich, decadent keto hot chocolate. It takes five basic ingredients and about 2 minutes of your time to make. And check out all the delicious flavor variations!
I can’t tell you how much money I’ve wasted on keto-friendly or sugar free hot chocolate mix. I keep hoping they will be as delicious as my own homemade keto hot chocolate.
But they never are. They’re either far too sweet, or not sweet enough, or they have unnecessary additives and ingredients.
And they are usually ridiculously expensive too. I’m over it. From here on in, I am sticking with my homemade keto hot chocolate mix. It’s easy, it’s delicious, and I can make it exactly the way I want it!
It also makes a great gift for keto friends and family.
Why make your own hot chocolate mix
Stop wasting your money on the store-bought stuff, my friends. Your own homemade version is infinitely better! And you can adjust it and customize it to your tastes.
The sugar-free hot chocolate mix you see in most grocery stores is full of junk, so don’t even go there. It’s often sweetened with aspertame or sucralose, and has fillers like cornstarch to make it thicker.
The keto hot chocolate mixes you see on Amazon and the like are better options, but they often miss the mark in flavor. Many of them are unpalatably sweet or just have an odd taste.
And they can have some suspect ingredients and fillers too. The very popular Lakanto brand contains brown rice, of all things!
Homemade keto hot chocolate mix is not only easy, but allows you to control for the ingredients, the sweetness level, and the nutrition. I will never purchase a pre-made mix again.
Developing this recipe
I’ve been making my own sugar free hot chocolate pretty much from the moment I went low carb. Usually I just do it ad hoc, when I am in the mood for a cup of cocoa.
But a ready made mix makes life easy, especially when you’re on the go. So I set about testing out perfect best ratios of ingredients.
I wanted to make a mix that could just be combined with hot water, so I tested out both heavy cream powder and coconut milk powder. But it just didn’t live up to my exacting standards.
It wasn’t creamy enough and it had an unpleasant flavor. My daughter likened it to the cheesy powder you can put on popcorn! It also added too many carbs and was too expensive for my liking.
So I went back to basics and created a sugar free hot chocolate mix that can be stirred into any preferred milk or milk/cream combination. Then I tested out a number of flavor variations like mint, mocha, salted caramel, and Mexican chocolate!
Ingredients
- Keto sweetener – Whether you prefer Swerve, allulose, or BochaSweet, you can use your preferred sweetener in this recipe.
- Cocoa powder – I recommend a good Dutched cocoa powder for the best flavor. Raw cacao powder won’t dissolve as easily.
- Unsweetened chocolate – This is what makes it true hot chocolate, rather than just hot cocoa! It intensifies the chocolate flavor and makes it more thick and rich.
- Collagen – This is optional but it produces a truly rich and frothy keto hot chocolate. If you choose to skip it, I recommend adding 1/2 tsp glucomannan for a thicker drink.
- Vanilla extract – Vanilla always helps bring out the best in chocolate recipes.
- Salt – Just a little salt brings out the flavor in sweet recipes.
How to make keto sugar free hot chocolate mix
So simple and easy! Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- Use your preferred sweetener: The best part about this recipe is that you can use what you like! Just use something that will dissolve easily when mixed with a hot liquid. I use powdered Swerve but allulose and BochaSweet both work well.
- Adjust the sweetener to taste: We all have different tolerance for sweetness and we experience keto sweeteners very differently. If you aren’t sure how sweet you want it, use less and add more if necessary, after you try it out in a hot chocolate drink.
- Combine in a food processor: Using a food processor helps combine the ingredients really well, and it breaks the chocolate into tiny pieces that dissolve more easily. And yes, you can add the liquid vanilla extract right in there too. The food processor method distributes the vanilla throughout the mix.
- Stir into hot milk: Use 2 to 3 tablespoons of mix per 10 to 12 ounces of hot liquid. My favourite way to make keto hot chocolate is with 8 to 10 ounces of unsweetened hemp milk and about 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) of heavy cream.
Variations
Really, the flavour possibilities for this sugar-free hot chocolate mix are virtually endless. A few things I tested out:
Peppermint hot chocolate mix
Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract along with the vanilla and other ingredients. How much depends on how strong your extract is. I found that about 1 1/2 teaspoons was right for me, and I use Frontier peppermint extract.
Mocha hot chocolate mix
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of espresso powder in with the other ingredients. Or if you can’t find that, use 3 or 4 Starbucks via packs.
Salted caramel hot chocolate mix
Use salted caramel collagen in place of the plain collagen, and add 1 teaspoon caramel extract along with the other ingredients. You may want to cut down on the sweetener, as flavoured collagen usually has added sweeteners.
Top with my keto caramel sauce, if desired.
Mexican hot chocolate mix
Add 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or cayenne along with the other ingredients.
How to store homemade keto hot chocolate mix
Place the prepared mix in an airtight container with a lid, such as a glass jar or tupperware. The mix will last up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the mix for up to 6 months.
Keto Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup grassfed collagen, (optional)
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Hot Chocolate Mix
- Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and process on high until well combined.
To make hot chocolate
- Heat 10 to 12 ounces of your favorite keto-friendly milk (I like 10 ounces hemp milk with 1 ounce heavy cream… divine!). Stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of mix until well dissolved.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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WOW! I made this today. Some for gifts and some for me! Super easy. Tastes great. I did add more sweetener for our taste. The only issue I had was my unsweetened chocolate didn’t want to cooperate. I have a kitchenaid food processor.
Thank you a million times over! After covid I have not been able to drink coffee. I get really sick drinking it. Today in Florida I woke to a cold rainy day. I wanted peppermint coffee! I remembered seeing your post about Hot Chocolate and thought I’d try it. WOW! It’s do good and creamy and legal. Between no coffee and hormones outtta whack you may have saved lives!
I am so glad it helped!
In what part of the grocery store would I find collagen?…
Health food.
Delicious. Being diabetic, thanks to you, we don’t have to miss out on our old favorites. I added the Perfect Keto collagen Salted Caramel as well as Chocolate since I wanted it sweeter. I also had to take out the chocolate chunks and process them separately then as back in. Thank you for all your work.
I love love this recipe and what a treat this winter as I look out at the snow. THANK YOU!!
Better than the real deal…Thanks for another amazing recipe!
In case anyone is wondering about alternative “ milk”, I used So Delicious brand coconut milk (unsweetened, in a carton) along with the suggested cream to make this hot chocolate and it tasted great. Sometimes coffee or tea just isn’t right when you need a hot drink to warm you on a cold day.
I finally made a batch of your Hot Chcoclate mix. It is taste like the regular hot chocolate. I love it .
Last year I purchased sugarfree chocolate mix it was nasty.
Hi Carolyn,
I was wondering if my Great Lakes grass fed Beef collagen will work in this. I have never used it, because I can’t figure out if the word beef, means flavoring, or some sort of collagen from a cow? LOL!
Beef just means from a cow. 🙂 But yes, it should work!
Will Powdered Vanilla work just as well as the extract in this recipe?
Yummy! Thank you for a great recipe, Carolyn. I’ve been pining for some good hot chocolate. 🙂
What food processor do you recommend? Mine is ancient and leaks powder everywhere so I need a new one. Thanks!
If I understand correctly, the vanilla and sugar free block of chocolate to be chopped will add moisture to the processed or blended mix. Yes? So the final product will be “paste like” and not a powder as a regular hot chocolate mix? Yes? Secondly, is the measured 2.5 Tblsp of mixture flat, rounded or heaping?
No, that is not correct. What you see in the photos is what the end result it… it’s a dry powder, no a paste. The chocolate gets chopped up finely, but it wouldn’t add moisture to the recipe anyway. (And it’s UNSWEETENED chocolate, not sugar-free chocolate). And the vanilla is not enough to turn it into a paste. It simply gets dispersed throughout the dry mix in the processing. And finally, I am very specific when I right my recipes. If I wanted you to add a heaping tablespoon, I would write that.
In the ingredients it say to add vanilla, do u add it to the dry ingredients.. when do u add it?
Please read the blog post. I explain everything.
How do you store this cocoa?lyn
Please read the blog post, I already discuss that. Thanks!
I wonder how grassfed chocolate protein powder would do ????
Feel free to try it.