Nothing compares to homemade hot cocoa, and this recipe is so easy to make with unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, milk, and a pinch of salt.

Homemade Hot Cocoa

cocoa powder

sugar

water

salt

milk (dairy

vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, sugar, water, and salt over medium heat.

Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and bring to a simmer.

Reduce heat, and stir in the milk, do not boil.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into mugs and serve immediately.

With the cooler temps moving in, I was craving a good hot cocoa recipe. This one hit the spot. I truly appreciate it. The only small tweak I made was I reducing the sugar to 1/3 of a cup, instead of the 1/2 of a cup, that the recipe calls for. I use organic cane sugar, which I find to be sweeter then refined white sugar.  This recipe is also a favorite of my two little granddaughters when visiting mamaw's house.  Thank you so much, and God bless  you and yours in the new year of 2020.

Finally a recipe that isn’t Dutch like strong chocolate but more milky creamy hot cocoa. I lowered the sugar to 1/3 cup as well and used less water. Thank you!!

I was craving hot chocolate, but had no mix. I went searching online and found many different recipes.  This one turned out to be one of the best! Even better than Martha Stewarts! I love the way it came out! Hands down better than mix! From now on when my family and I want hot chocolate, we will be using your recipe! Thanks a million for sharing it!

Thank you! The whole family love it. My girls are already planning to make this for Santa. I used organic cane sugar instead.

As others have said, wanted hot chocolate and didn't have mix. This was perfect!! And much more reasonable than the Food Network ones made with heavy cream. 

Thanks!

I made this tonight with my nephew, it was so easy and absolutely delicious!!

I add cream of wheats to this add enough for 5 cups comes out great cocoa wheats. Since they have stopped selling cocoa wheats due to the cost of making it is much higher. Enjoy

Me and the kiddos decided to try this.  I must say it’s a little sweet, but we have a dentist appt. at 4 pm on Monday, so we’re all good to go.  Little Roger really enjoyed the sweetness, while my precious twins, Sofia and Kimmy enjoyed the bitter chocolate I chopped and sprinkled on top.  I even gave some to the hubby after a long Black Friday.  He’s so sweet for giving me a foot massage after the long hours at the mall.  My little cutie Jedidiah asked where we were and we told him we were meeting with Santa over some AWESOME momables hot cocoa!!!  LOL love the recipe!  Def sharing it with the fam on xmas!!!

I love this  recipe! It taists so good! I dont think the store bought brand will ever taist the same :)
let alone ever be my favorite!

OMG, this was so quick and easy, I don't think I will ever purchase Swiss Miss again.  The kids loved it, and I even had little marshmallows to put on top!  I made the recipe exactly as is, and it gets 5 stars from this momma!

My mom never bought hot cocoa mix from the store. From an early age we were taught to make our own. Single serving 1 spoon unsweetened baking cocoa, 2 spoons sugar, dash of salt, splash of vanilla. Mix together and add hot water from the tea kettle. Add milk or half and half to make it creamy and help cool it down.

As always with your recipes, a great success!!! Delicious! I'm so glad I can use almond milk!

I have those same exact mugs. LOL! I make hot chocolate similar to this but with maple syrup instead of sugar, may sound odd, but it's really awesome. Always love your great ideas and beautiful photos! :)

As with others here, we didn't have any hot chocolate mix in the house. My wife was out shopping and the kids and I wanted hot chocolate. I never cook anything so I just searched for this recipe and thought to try yours. I used 1/8 cup regular baking cocoa and 1/8 Hershey's Dark baking cocoa. I also used 4 cups whole milk. Turned out really well. I tried adding a couple drops of peppermint extract but can't really tell it's in there so more might be needed to get the desired effect.  Thanks!

Delicious! I cut the recipe in half and added 2 drops of peppermint essential oil. It was amazing!

I loved it I have no vanilla so I used orange but it was so so so so so good

I was hesitating as to whether I should try this recipe or not, as my first attempt at re-creating this delicious recipe was horrendous. I've got to say - this was delicious! Exactly the way I was craving. 5 stars for sure! ♥

This hot cocoa recipe is delicious.  It is exactly how you expect hot chocolate to taste when reading The Polar Express ~ Chris Van Allsburg.  Creamy, sweet, deep chocolate flavor - any thicker it may be like melted chocolate before poured into a mold.  I used coconut milk and Dagoba organic unsweetened cocoa powder.  Thanks!  It has been snowing for days over here and i needed an alternative from the boxed bags.  Love it!

I just made this and OMGSH it is soooooo good! I added a drop of orange extract to my cup and it tastes even better. Thank you for sharing!!!!!

Yum. This was delicious. Made it with coconut milk. Good with coffee tequila!

This got rave reviews from all my friends! Making it again tonight for our christmas party! Thanks!!

I tried this and accidentally dranknthe entire batch. It was amazing. I only made half of the batch and added about three drops of peppermint. I have tried a lot of different types of hot cocoa and this is by far the best.

This is by far the best hot cocoa recipe I've ever had. I used Ghirardelli Sweet Cocoa and doubled the amount of cocoa and cut the amount of sugar in half and it was seriously the best hot cocoa I've ever drank. This is definitely my new go-to cocoa recipe. Its perfectly sweet, creamy and chocolatey without being too sweet or too bitter. Some cocoa recipes are bitter or sickening, but this one I can just drink easily. Thanks so much!

Excellent recipe, but I found it to be too sweet. I use half the sugar and it's perfect! Even with skim milk it turns out great.

I made this and I love it, Only thing is I put in 1/2 Tbs and about 50 ml of cinnamon and it was just amazing

This is a good base recipe. It emulsifies the cocoa and sugar much better than other recipes I have tried. You still have to stir a bit when distributing. I found that it was too strong (sweet) so I added more milk. I also found that there was way too much vanilla called for in the recipe. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon would do nicely?

My favourite recipe. 
I increased the cocoa - reduced the sugar and added a bit of mint extract. I had this last winter (2014) and fell in love, then I went lactose intolerant. I was upset. Now I discovered lactose free milk and i am thrilled to bits my favourite hot chocolate can be enjoyed again.

It worked really well! It's also really easy to make, cause I'm just 11!

Just made this for my boys for an after school treat and they loved it!

Thank you so much, we will make this again for sure!

This recipe is AWSOME it works really well !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    :)   This calls for five STARS

I loved this recipe! :) I made it for my family and they loved it, it was really easy to make and im 11 years old! Thanks!

I have it with my family every year it is awesome

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp hot water
Few grains of salt salt
1 cup milk (I use soymilk)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

:)

I made this for visiting company and they raved about it.  Made me make it every night for a week...

I made this last year. 10/15 and it's been a rainy cold day. I lost where I had written it down, but luckily was able to find your site again this year. Great easy recipe that makes a super rich chocolatey hot cocoa. Made 9/16.  Gonna write it down again :) thank you.

I made this for my brother and I  We LOVE it I am going to always make this and try out more recipes ..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love this recipe.  Can you help me modify it for my weekly usage.  I need it to be easy as pouring 1/3 of the prepared cocoa syrup into a cup and adding my nutmilk.   Lets say  2 cups water. How much sugar, &amp; cocoa? I use less salt and add a little vanilla extract for balance.  I do not warm the milk in the pot.  I put the cocoa syrup into the cup and blend in nutmilk as i prefer it not hot nor cold.  I had  been experimenting with cocoa syrups  and keep it in a glass jar(an old french press pot coffee pot that lost its lids...lol)  &gt;_&gt;.  It keeps very well and pours nicely. Just a matter of blending in the milk at the moment of usage.  It is my tranquility!   Hope this is a time saver for you as well!  Thank .you for sharing your great food adventures. I look forward to the newsletter.

I just wanted to ask if I could substitute granulated sugar with brown sugar? Should I increase the amount of brown sugar to put into the cocoa mixture?

I threw a handful of chocolate chips in when i was melting the sugar and the cocoa together.... turned out good

Absolutely delicious! I used a little less sugar and dark chocolate cocoa because I like dark chocolate. Love this.

we just made this and my kids said it's the best hot chocolate in the world!

Yammy!

First snow here made me wish for a warm chocolate!
Delicious!
Thank you for the recipe!

Me and my family loved it I used a little bite more on vanilla extract and sugar we all loved it. I kinda went and did some things my own way I put some mini marshmallow's. I hope you can keep making theses delicious recipes this was my first recipes I made of your's &amp; me and my family went crazy for it. My brother is still drinking it. lol this is so good   I was going to put candy cane's in them but were out  but I will shirley do it next time.

I make chocolate milk by mixing vanilla sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder in the bottom of a tall glass. Then I add very hot sink water and stir to dissolve. I add ~1/3-1/2 c. heavy cream, mix thoroughly, then fill to the top with whole milk. If that sounds like a lot of heavy cream, it is. So sue me!

I also make a variation on the traditional Brooklyn egg cream by mixing the chocolate syrup as above, adding ~1/2 c. whole milk and mixing to combine. Then add anywhere from 12-16 oz. seltzer while mixing. Be careful because it creates a lot of foam. I add 16 oz. gradually, sipping the foam and then adding more seltzer until my desired level of bubbly is achieved.

This recipe for hot cocoa basically replicates my chocolate syrup method for chocolate milk but heats it all up. I don’t add salt or vanilla, since I use vanilla sugar.

I’m looking for a Mexican Hot Chocolate recipe that adds three dried chili peppers — Ancho, Chile de arbol, and Guajillo — and a whole cinnamon stick, steeps the milk, then strains out the solids. Do you knw of one?

Thank you for this recipe! And thanks to whoever suggested cutting the vanilla; at 1/4 tsp it's delicious.

Absolutely delicious!!! We used unsweetened coconut-almond milk and it was super creamy and rich.

I’ve been using this recipe for the past three years and it’s by far the best recipe for hot chocolate that I’ve found. The ingredients are really simple and easy to get, and the recipe itself isn’t complicated. It’s quick, easy, and absolutely delicious. I cannot express how much I love this recipe, it’s become a tradition in my life to make this every winter!

Excellent! Followed the recipe exactly. When done, I stopped with a dollop of cool whip! I'll never buy powered cocoa mix again! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

Delicious! I follow the recipe exactly and I am not ever going use packets ever again. Thank you for keeping it simple!

Love this recipe  I amped it up by using Hersey's special dark chocolate and half and half. Topped with marshmallows!! This will be one of my favorites for sure.

Yikes !  Out of Vanilla extract ! ?   It should be a crime. Could I get away with using almond extract ?

Good recipe.  Added cinnamon extract to mine instead of vanilla.  Wonderful chocolate flavor, not too intense, just right.  Thanks for the recipe.

So unbelievably good! Thanks for sharing this!

I made this for my sisters yesterday. It was amazing and they loved it!♥️

This was fantastic I really wanted hot cocoa but I didn’t want to go out.I made this and it was sooo much better than any store bought mix.If you love hot cocoa this is a must try.

Yummy! I will cut the sugar next time as I found it a bit too sweet for my tastes. A silly question perhaps but I'm wondering if this will keep well in the fridge for a day or two? I forgot the halve the recipe and it's too much for my daughter and I to drink at once. Thanks for the recipe!

Hello i am Ava even tho i am a tad bit young to be doing this (10) i made it and LOVED it, all you need is cinnamon, sprinkles, and honey to have an awesome hot coco would recommend

This is do easy to make, and taste better than hot chocolate packets you buy at the store. I will be using this recibe for ever know. It is the best for all ages. This recipe is not duch at all, so sweet and so good. I know Santa will love this because, we make a lot of sweet stuff to give to him and he eats ever last bit. I love this so much.

Sorry I forget to put that I am only ten and me and my family loves this. No matter your age this is for you, it is easy to cook and taste like you got it from a professional.

I used 3 cups of milk instead of 4 because I am a huge chocolate lover. This recipe is soo good!!

I couldn't warm up this cold morning so I made this. I used 3 cups of soy milk and 1 cup of heavy cream. Really delicious. Just what I needed. The powdery packets are awful; this is so easy I don't know why the packets are even "a thing."

This recipe tastes just like Swiss Miss! So glad I found the recipe while we didn't have any cocoa mix :-) I added a big spoonful of condensed milk to the batch, it tastes soooo good!  Highly recommend ;-)

I know right?! this recipe was so good. my family LOVED IT!!  I added peppermint oil and chunks, and it really made it lively.

homemade hot cocoa

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total: 8 minutes

Servings: 4

Cost: $4.52 /serving

Author : MOMables

Ingredients

Instructions

Top Similar Recipes from Across the Web

Homemade Hot Cocoa

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix (Dairy-Free)

The BEST Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot Cocoa: Reloaded

Creamy Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Rumchata Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Bombs

Cobweb Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Chaga Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Pancakes

Spiced Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa Lasagna