This hot chocolate recipe couldn’t be any easier. Made in your slow cooker or Instant Pot, this chocolatey beverage will have your kitchen smelling amazing. Instructions on how to tailor the recipe to make it vegan or low-carb/keto are included below.
PIN FOR LATER
What Is Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is a beverage consisting of cocoa powder or some sort of chocolate that’s heated with milk (or water) and a sugary sweetener. Hot chocolate is served all over the world and there are many variations. What you see here is my slow cooker or pressure cooker (Instant Pot) version. I’m sure this can be adapted to be made on the stove-top as well but I have not tried yet.
before (slow cooker)
Double Chocolate, Milk & Cream
My hot chocolate uses both cocoa powder AND chocolate chips. Yes both. I’ll admit…this is chocolatey. If you think that this might be too much chocolate for you, lower the amount of chocolate chips to 1/2 cup. This hot chocolate also uses both milk and cream. 7 cups of milk of your choice (I used almond milk) and 1 cup of cream (I used whipping cream). Like a lot of my recipes you have some leeway with the ingredients. For the cream you can use whipping cream, heavy cream, half & half, or use more milk. For the milk I used almond milk but you can use whatever milk you want to use. Because this is cooked on the low setting for a relatively short amount of time, you do not have to worry about the milk starting to curdle.
after (slow cooker)
What Type Of Sweetener to Use
The short answer is one that fits your dietary needs. If you’re not worried about that, you can use your preferred sweetener whether it be honey, maple syrup, a zero-sugar sweetener (like Stevia), or regular granulated sugar. I used monk fruit sugar because I happened to have in my pantry.
topped with whipped cream
Make this Low-Carb/Keto
Did you know that cocoa powder is keto friendly? It is. Which means you can make this recipe low-carb & keto friendly by using ingredients that fit the dietary restrictions. To make this low-carb/keto, follow the guidelines below:
Milk use a nut milk like almond milk or a milk with a high fat content like whole milk
Cream use whipping cream, half & half, or more milk (see above)
Chocolate Chips use sugar-free chocolate chips
Sweetener use a zero-sugar sweetener
Cocoa powder make sure cocoa powder is the only ingredient
Vanilla n/a
topped with marshmallows
Make This Vegan
That’s right vegan. This hot chocolate can also easily be made vegan. To make this vegan, follow the guidelines below:
Milk use a nut milk like almond milk or cashew milk
Cream omit the cream & use more nut milk OR use coconut cream or coconut milk
Chocolate Chips use dairy-free chocolate chips
Sweetener use sugar, zero-sugar sweetener, or maple syrup
Cocoa powder make sure cocoa powder is the only ingredient
Vanilla n/a
Other hot beverage recipes you might enjoy:
Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Hot Apple Cider
Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Spiked Mulled Cider
Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Pumpkin Spice Latte
How To Serve Hot Chocolate
Jazz up this hot chocolate with your favorite toppings! To be honest, I usually drink it plain without anything on top. But when I do add garnish, it’s usually whipped topping or marshmallows.
I used a 3.5-quart slow cooker but you can double this recipe to feed a larger crowd.
Print
{VIDEO} Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Hot Chocolate
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 7 cups milk of your choice
- 1 cup cream of your choice
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup sweetener of your choice
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Whisk to mix well.
- Cook LOW 2-3 hours. Whisk halfway through cooking & be sure to whisk the chocolate from the bottom.
- Keep on warm setting while serving.
- Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Pour in milk, cream, cocoa powder, sweetener, and vanilla. Stir to mix well and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, stir in the chocolate chips and cook until they’re melted.
- Keep on warm setting while serving.
Notes
I used almond milk, whipping cream, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and monk fruit sweetener.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive money if you make a purchase using one of the links. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.
This looks so much tastier than hot water and a packet of powder! Yum!
★★★★★