Recipes, guides and kitchen know-how. Mostly useful, occasionally silly.
Hot Chocolate Recipe - Proper Stuff, Not Brown Dust in Hot Milk
Proper hot chocolate from real dark chocolate and whole milk. Make a little cocoa paste first so there are no lumps, never let the milk boil, and froth it before you pour. Ten minutes, two big mugs.
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- Prep5 min
- Cook10 min
- Serves2
- Calories~480
Calories are approximate, per serving, worked out from the ingredients. Brands and portion sizes vary.
There's a jar in most British cupboards that says "hot chocolate" on the front.
Inside is a fine brown dust that's mostly sugar, a bit of milk powder and, somewhere near the back, a distant rumour of cocoa.
You stir it into hot milk, it forms a little island of lumps, and you drink it anyway because it's raining and you've already got your slippers on.
We've all been there. Some of us are there right now.
This is my hot chocolate recipe for the proper stuff. Real chocolate, real milk, ten minutes, no lumps.
I read through recipes from Spain, Italy, Paris and a fair few British kitchens, kept what they agreed on and pinched the clever bits.
There's also a cocoa-only version for when the chocolate's mysteriously vanished, a thick Italian one you can stand a biscuit in, plus white, vegan and minty versions. Something for every member of the family, including the awkward ones.
Now showing
Hands full of mugs? Here's the whole thing, start to finish, in less time than it takes the milk to boil over when you look away.
Starring Olly versus the jar, Aaron's laminated list, Eesha's detentions, Isaac on whisk duty and Erin, who has eaten the chocolate. The marshmallow tower was not harmed. Much.
Before the Spanish got hold of it
The first chocolate drinkers weren't sipping it in front of the telly.
The Maya and the Aztecs drank it, often cold, flavoured with chilli, vanilla and allspice, and frothed it by pouring it from one pot to another from a great height. The foam was the best bit.
When the Spanish arrived they weren't keen at first. One historian quoted by the California Academy of Sciences reckoned it seemed "more a drink for pigs, than a drink for humanity".
Then somebody added sugar, and everyone changed their minds. As people do.
The Spanish also came up with the molinillo, a carved wooden whisk you spin between your palms to whip up a froth. Which, if you think about it, makes a whisk the original hot chocolate gadget.
Olly the chilli would like it noted that chilli was in it first. He brings this up a lot.
What you need
For two big mugs
- 500ml whole milk. Semi-skimmed works, but whole milk is what makes it silky. This is not the day for skimmed.
- 100g dark chocolate, 50-70% cocoa, chopped small. Use a bar you'd happily eat, because you will eat some of it.
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder. A little cocoa on top of the bar gives it a deeper, darker chocolate taste.
- 1-2 tbsp light brown sugar, to taste. Start with one. You can always add, you can't take away.
- A pinch of salt. Yes, in a hot drink. It makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate. Trust me.
- ½ tsp vanilla extract, if you have it. Optional, but lovely.
Kit
- A small heavy-based saucepan
- A whisk. Our balloon whisk gets right into the corners of the pan, and the scraper on the handle gets the last of the chocolate out. Waste not.
- A handheld frother for the foam on top, if you want to show off
- A sharp knife and a board for chopping the chocolate
How to make it
Step 1 - Make a paste first
- Chop the chocolate finely. Small bits melt fast and evenly. Big chunks sulk at the bottom of the pan.
- In the cold saucepan, whisk the cocoa, sugar and salt with 3 tablespoons of the milk until you've got a smooth, glossy paste.
This is the bit everyone skips, and it's why their mug ends up with a little archipelago of dry cocoa lumps floating on top. Cocoa hates being chucked into a big pan of milk. Get it wet in a small amount first and it behaves.
Step 2 - Heat the milk gently
- Whisk in the rest of the milk and put the pan over a medium heat.
- Heat until it's steaming, with tiny bubbles round the edge. Don't let it boil. Boiled milk catches on the bottom, tastes scorched and makes a thick skin.
Step 3 - Melt in the chocolate
- Take the pan off the heat and tip in the chopped chocolate.
- Whisk until it's all melted and the milk has gone dark and glossy.
- Put it back on the lowest heat for 2-3 minutes, whisking all the time. This gives it a bit more body.
- Stir in the vanilla, taste, and add more sugar if it wants it.
Step 4 - Froth it and pour
- While it heats, warm your mugs with a splash of boiling water from the kettle. Tip it out before pouring. A cold mug steals the heat in seconds.
- For a café-style foam, whizz the pan with our USB-C handheld frother for about 20 seconds, keeping the head just under the surface.
- Pour into the mugs and serve straight away.
Chocolate makers tend to serve it at about 60-70C - properly hot, but you can drink it without needing a skin graft. If you've ever wondered how the frother copes with milk on its own, here's a whole post about getting café foam at home.
Off the heat, then back on low. Chocolate is fussy. Hit it with too much heat and it goes grainy and bitter. Melt it in hot milk with the pan off the hob, then give it just a couple of minutes on low to thicken. Treat it like a cat. Gentle, patient, and never boil it.
How to make hot chocolate with cocoa powder
No chocolate in the house? Funny how that happens. Cocoa on its own still makes a very good mug, as long as you treat it right.
Per mug
- 250ml milk
- 1½ tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 heaped tbsp sugar
- A pinch of salt
- Whisk the cocoa, sugar and salt with 2-3 tablespoons of the milk in a small pan until smooth.
- Let that paste bubble gently for a minute or two, whisking. It wakes the cocoa up and brings out a much richer flavour.
- Whisk in the rest of the milk and heat until steaming. Not boiling.
- Froth, pour, sip, smile.
That really is all it takes. The bubbling paste is the secret, and it's the difference between a drink that tastes of cocoa and one that tastes of warm brown milk.
Thick hot chocolate, Italian style
In Italy, cioccolata calda is so dense you eat it with a spoon. In Spain, chocolate a la taza is made thick enough to dunk churros in. Both get there with one sneaky ingredient: cornflour.
- Make the main recipe above, up to the end of step 6.
- In a cup, mix 1 tsp cornflour with 3 tbsp cold milk until there are no lumps. Use up to 2 tsp if you want it properly spoonable.
- Whisk it into the pan and keep it on a low heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring all the time, until it coats the back of a spoon.
It thickens a bit more as it cools, so take it off just before it looks finished. Yes, this is pudding pretending to be a drink. No, we don't mind.
The Italian food site Dissapore tested the big-name versions side by side and came down firmly against shortcuts like pudding mix, which they found dull and wobbly. Cornflour, real chocolate and patience. That's the lot.
White hot chocolate (the sweet-tooth one)
This is Erin's favourite, mainly because it's basically melted sweets.
Per mug
- 200ml milk
- 100g white chocolate, chopped very finely
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of cinnamon for the top
- Put the chopped white chocolate and vanilla in a warmed mug.
- Heat the milk until it's steaming, then pour it over the chocolate.
- Stir for about 30 seconds until it's completely melted and smooth. Froth the top if you fancy.
Skip the sugar. White chocolate is sweet enough on its own. Possibly sweet enough for the whole street. And keep the heat gentle - white chocolate burns and goes lumpy faster than dark.
Vegan hot chocolate (and dairy-free)
Good news: this works beautifully without any dairy at all.
- Use oat or soy milk. They're the creamiest of the plant milks and froth the best. A splash of light coconut milk makes it even richer.
- Check your chocolate. Lots of dark chocolate is dairy-free, but not all of it. Read the label for milk, and the "may contain" line if it matters to you.
- Sweeten with maple syrup if you'd rather. It melts straight in.
- Keep the heat low. Some plant milks catch on the bottom of the pan or split if they're boiled hard.
Then just follow the main method, step for step. Nobody at the table will know, unless you tell them. Which, let's be honest, you will.
Mint hot chocolate and other ways to show off
For a proper mint hot chocolate, skip the extract and use real leaves.
- Heat the milk until it's just simmering, then add about 10 fresh mint leaves, torn.
- Put the lid on, take it off the heat and let it steep for 10-15 minutes.
- Strain out the leaves, bring the milk back up to steaming, and carry on with the main recipe.
It tastes like the posh after-dinner mints, minus the box nobody's allowed to open until Christmas.
A few more twists, all borrowed from people who know their stuff:
- Chilli. A tiny pinch of chilli powder, Aztec style. Olly's favourite. Obviously.
- Cinnamon. Drop a cinnamon stick into the milk as it heats, then fish it out.
- Star anise. Same trick as the cinnamon. Very festive.
- Mocha. Add a shot of strong coffee to each mug. Got a press? Brew a strong pot first.
Making a pan of this for a crowd after a cold walk on Christmas Eve? Here's the rest of the big day, worked out to the minute.
If it goes wrong
Lumps floating on top? The cocoa went straight into a big pan of milk.
Fix: always make the paste first. Already lumpy? Give it a good whisk, or a quick whizz with the frother, and they'll vanish.
Grainy, or tastes a bit burnt? The milk boiled, or the chocolate went in over a high heat.
Fix: steaming, not bubbling. Melt the chocolate off the heat, and only go back on low.
A wrinkly skin on top? Hot milk proteins set on the surface as it sits and steams.
Fix: keep stirring until you pour, froth the top, or pop a lid on the pan while you find the mugs.
Too thin? Not enough chocolate, or not long enough on the heat.
Fix: simmer it gently for a few minutes more, or add a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with cold milk.
Too sweet? The sugar went in before you tasted it.
Fix: stir in a few more squares of dark chocolate or a splash of milk. Next time, taste first and sweeten last.
Want to make it ahead?
Fix: it actually gets better after a few hours. Keep it covered in the fridge for up to 2 days, and reheat gently with a splash of milk, whisking as it warms.
Real chocolate, a little patience, and a stern word with anyone who reaches for the jar.
Marshmallows are optional. Erin says they aren't. Erin is outvoted. Erin is also not listening.
Now go and cook something.
