Keto Hot Chocolate Recipe

This Keto Hot Chocolate recipe takes just a few minutes using four ingredients. With only 1g net carb, it is perfect for those who need a low-carb and sugar-free hot chocolate option. Enjoy this recipe on holidays like Christmas. Or, use it as a starting point to make other hot chocolate without sugar like my keto white hot chocolate and keto peppermint mocha.

Why Make Sugar-free Hot Chocolate

Here are a few reasons why chocolate lovers should make this delicious, hot cocoa recipe:

• Hot Chocolate Minus the Sugar: If you grew up drinking Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate like me, you know it’s far from sugar-free. In fact, according to Swiss Miss’ website, their milk chocolate version has 34 grams of net carbs. This recipe has all the flavor of hot chocolate but is 1g net carb.
• Quick & Easy Recipe: All you need are a few simple ingredients, including your favorite sugar substitute, and a microwave to put this drink together. That said, make this for a cold winter day or when you’re feeling nostalgic!

Ingredients in Keto Hot Chocolate Mix

• Unsweetened Almond Milk: You can use any milk or milk alternative (non-dairy milk) that you prefer. I’ve also tested this with coconut milk.
• Sugar-free Milk Chocolate Chips: I prefer to use sugar-free chocolate chips. I love the flavor of melted, real chocolate because of its rich chocolate flavor. That said, you can also make keto hot chocolate with unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Truvia: This is a stevia and erythritol blend, an all-natural sugar substitute. But, you can sweeten this drink to taste with your favorite sweetener or sugar replacement that you prefer from grocery stores.
• Unflavored MCT Oil: this is optional and great for making keto hot chocolate that is also bulletproof.

How to Make Sugar-free Hot Chocolate

Keto hot chocolate is very easy to make. It involves measuring the ingredients and heating up your preferred milk. After that, you can use a frother or a hand mixer to incorporate all the ingredients.

1. Warm the milk: Add the almond milk (and chocolate chips, if used) to a microwave safe mug. Warm for 90 seconds.
2. Add the rest of the hot chocolate mix to the warm milk.
3. Make it bulletproof if you wish by adding MCT oil to your combination of almond milk.
4. Blend: Use a hand blender or coffee frother to incorporate.

Top Cooking Tips & FAQs

• MCT Oil is optional: if you want to make your sugar free hot chocolate more keto-friendly and bulletproof, then you can add MCT oil as an easy way to increase the fat.
• Keep it dairy-free by using vegan unsweetened chocolate chips, unsweetened cocoa powder, coconut whipped cream, coconut cream, coconut milk powder, or your favorite dairy-free option as a topping.
• Make it pretty with toppings: You can add a dollop of sugar free whipped cream and sugar free chocolate syrup to make this drink more like a Starbucks copycat!
• Marshmallows (Optional): If you’re like me, a nice cup of hot chocolate tastes even better with a sweet topping. That said, you can also try adding keto marshmallows to your rich hot chocolate before drinking it.

Storage & Leftovers

If you have leftovers from this homemade hot chocolate recipe, the best way to store it is in an airtight container or a glass jar for next time (up to 5 days). 

Best Sugar-Free Sweeteners

In this recipe, I use the low-carb sweetener, Truvia, which is my favorite keto-friendly sweetener for drinks. But, you don’t necessarily have to use it.

Some other sweeteners you can use that are keto-friendly and sugar-free include:

• Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol (a monk fruit sweetener)
• Stevia
• Monk Fruit
• Xylitol

Keto Hot Chocolate Variations

If you love hot chocolate, there are several variations you can try.

• Replace 1/4 cup of the almond milk with coffee (cold, hot, or instant) as I did in my Keto Pumpkin Spice Latte
• Add peppermint extract to make peppermint mocha
• Use white chocolate for keto white hot chocolate

Is Cocoa Powder Keto-friendly?

Cocoa powder is a keto-friendly ingredient as long as you buy a product that is made of natural cocoa powder.

Regular cocoa powder products (or hot chocolate mixes) like Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate use cocoa powder in their mix, but since they add so much extra sugar, their mixes are not keto-friendly. 

You should look for cocoa powders that do not contain extra ingredients.

Can you use heavy cream?

Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) is keto-friendly and you can use it in my hot chocolate recipe to have a creamy keto, hot beverage. There are two ways I use heavy cream:

1. I use it at the end. You can finish the recipe off by adding heavy cream and using the frother to give it some extra body.
2. I use it in place of MCT oil when I make the hot chocolate bulletproof (like bulletproof coffee).

Since heavy cream has a lot of calories, I would not recommend using it as, say a substitute for the almond or coconut milk that I’m using in this hot drink recipe. A splash of heavy cream goes a long way

More Sugar-free Hot Chocolate Recipes

• Sugar-free Peppermint Mocha
• Keto White Hot Chocolate

If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!