Healthy Hot Cocoa Recipe (2024)

Make this healthy hot cocoa recipe with just a few simple nourishing ingredients. It only takes a few minutes to mix together and heat up.

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Homemade Hot Cocoa Is So Easy to Make

Growing up, we always bought the packets or the syrup from the store to make our hot cocoa.

I started making this hot cocoa when my first daughter was about 3. Once I realized how easy it was to make it from scratch, I have never once purchased the packets from the store.

I love that I know exactly what is in the hot cocoa I’m serving my family. Also, I can add a few extra ingredients to make it even more nutritious for them.

Is Hot Cocoa Healthy?

Can hot cocoa really be healthy? I believe when hot cocoa is made with good simple ingredients that it is actually healthy.

My children recently discovered, when visiting family, that “store bought cocoa” is way too sweet for them. They came home asking if I’d make them homemade hot cocoa instead.

This is what happens when you start eating from scratch, you can’t go back because now you know what you were missing all along.

What’s In Those Store Packets Anyway?

If you have never done so, I’d encourage you to read the ingredient labels of the hot cocoa packages or chocolate syrup from the store. It is surprising how much sugar and “other” ingredients are is actually in these packets.

Here is a list of ingredients I saw while scanning the back of a common hot cocoa brand found at grocery stores: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Whey (processed with alkali), Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Nonfat Milk, Salt, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono- and Diglyceries, Natural Flavor.

Hummm… yeah, I think I’ll continue making homemade hot cocoa from scratch right in my kitchen.

Healthy Hot Cocoa Recipe

Using simple whole ingredients is always the best way to nourish your body and this recipe uses just that.

Ingredients

4 Cups – Whole Milk (preferably organic, grass fed and fresh from the farm if possible)

1/4 Cup – Cocoa Powder or Cacao Powder (the raw form of cocoa)

2-3 Tablespoon – Raw Honey (from local farm if possible)

1 Tablespoon – Blackstrap Molasses (we call it our secret ingredient) – this can be omitted

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1/8 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Optional ingredients for more nourishing benefits:

2 Tablespoons Collagen Powder

2-4 Raw Egg Yolks

Homemade Whipped Cream or homemade marshmallows

Instructions

Slowly heat milk, cocoa powder, honey, blackstrap molasses, vanilla and salt gently whisking the ingredients together.

Remove from heat once you’ve reach between 120-130 degrees or warm to the touch.

Then whisk in optional raw egg yolks and collagen powder.

Serve immediately with a dollop of homemade whipped cream or homemade marshmallows.

Tip: While piping hot cocoa is super yummy, I do try keep this hot cocoa right below 130 degrees as I want to keep my milk, honey, and optional egg yolks as raw as possible. Plus, then the kids don’t have to burn their tongues while waiting for it to cool down.

Print Recipe for Healthy Hot Cocoa

More About the Ingredients

I’ve included this section if you are interested in learning more about the ingredients you are using to make this hot cocoa and what makes them healthy.

I am not a doctor and am not telling you what your should or shouldn’t eat. I’m just sharing what I’ve learn over the years and found to be helpful. Please do your own research!

Milk

Milk has gotten a bad rap over the years, especially whole milk. But here’s the thing, people have been drinking milk for thousands of years and it was considered healthy and nutritious.

It only become problematic when they took the cows and fed them grain and who knows what else, stuffed them inside a barn or paddock without access to grass, took all the fat out of the milk and cooked it to death before bottling up and putting it on the shelves of the grocery store with a nice label on it and called it healthy.

Real healthy milk is farm fresh (yes, that means raw) from cows that roam free in the fields eating grass (or hay in winter). If you thinking drinking raw milk is crazy, I’d encourage you to look into the history of why suddenly everyone was getting so sick off raw milk that they had to start pasteurizing it.

Here’s a hint, it was because the living conditions of these animals and the handling of the milk was so poor.

Helpful Articles:

Raw Milk History

Is Raw Milk Safe

Milk: It Does a Body Good?

Honey

Honey is known to be rich in antioxidants and better at keep blood sugar levels regulated than other types of sugar. It also contains vitamins and minerals as well as some amino acids.

Blackstrap Molasses

Blackstrap molasses is a by product of making sugar. It is naturally high in antioxidants, vitamin B6 and minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus.

Helpful Article:

Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses

Collagen

Collagen is know to help make bones denser as well as slow aging. It also help the elasticity in skin as well as strengthens hair and nails.

Our family consumes collagen mostly from homemade bone broths but I will occasionally add collagen powder to other like smoothies and hot cocoa for a little extra nutrient boost.

Find a good source of collagen powder from pastured raised animals.

Source:

Perfect Supplements Hydrolyzed Collagen Powder

Raw Egg Yolks

This is almost a controversial as drinking raw milk, but statistically you still have a really low chance of getting sick from eating them. If they are sourced from good clean farms than the statistics improve even more. More people get sick from eating raw salads from the store than raw milk or raw eggs.

Egg yolks contain vitamins A, K, E, D B12, B2, folate and more. They also contain the 8 essential amino acids as well as essential minerals and good cholesterol (yes good!).

Helpful Articles:

Eating Raw Egg Yolks

Eat Your Eggs and Have Your Chickens Too

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