This massive batch of homemade hot chocolate mix will be perfect to make for gifts or enjoy all winter long in the comforts of your own home. Just add hot liquid, toppings, and sip!
Winter is the best time for comfort food and for surprising your loved ones with their favorite sweet flavors. There’s nothing quite like prepping a big serving of hot treats—like cookies or cupcakes—to hand over as a little treat when the kids get home from a cold day playing outside! But if you’re like me, you don’t always have the time to whip up a whole batch of baked goods. Especially as it gets darker so much earlier in the day, and it’s hard to avoid sleepy afternoons under a blanket…
Thankfully, you have fast, simple recipes like this homemade hot cocoa mix on your side. It only uses a few ingredients and takes no longer than about ten minutes to whip up. Let’s make winter a little more fun, shall we?
Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipe: Table of Contents
Homemade Hot Chocolate: Ingredients & Tools
About the ingredients:
- Dutch Process Cocoa Powder: Ensure it’s unsweetened, because you’ll also use…
- Confectioners Sugar to your preferred sweetness.
- Salt: You won’t taste the pinch you put in, yet, as odd as it sounds, you’ll notice when it’s not there. Trust me on this one!
- Powdered Milk: This ingredient also adds to the creamy, milky flavor.
- Chocolate Chips and Mini Marshmallows: These are your (optional) toppings, which you’ll keep right in with the mix for storage.
About the tools you’ll need:
- Sifter & bowl: to combine the mix together, of course!
- Mason jars: the best way to store this mix, in my opinion.
Directions For Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Throwing together this mix is easy, which means it’s a very useful treat for busy families on busy schedules (or those who just feel more fatigued in the winter!).
To make the hot chocolate mix itself:
- In a large bowl mix together the cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar, powdered milk, and salt until smooth and well incorporated.
To store the dry hot cocoa mix:
Store in one large airtight vessel or divide between small airtight jars. Keep the containers in a dry spot for up to 3 months.
To make small jars, fill until ¾ of the way to the top. Then top each jar with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.
To turn the mix into delicious hot chocolate:
- Add 2 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix to a cup. Stir in 8 oz. hot water or steamed milk (for a richer cocoa). Top with chocolate chips, marshmallows and even a little whipped cream. Enjoy!
Recipe for Hot Chocolate Mix: FAQs
Here I’ve compiled a few questions I’ve gotten when sharing this recipe. Take a look.
Yes, it is. Drink it up without stress, gluten-free moms! As always, double-check all your ingredients, but as far as I know, there shouldn’t (naturally) be any gluten allergens in the mix.
Generally, about 80kcal, give or take. I am not a nutrition expert, however, so take that with a grain of salt (no pun intended).
All in all, it should make about 40 mugs of hot chocolate after liquid is added to the mix. (The mix itself won’t take up 40 jars. Or it shouldn’t anyway!)
Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe: Tips & Tricks
You and your family deserve the best hot chocolate mix this winter! Here’s a few tricks to ensure it’s perfect.
- Lumps: To avoid lumps in your mix, sift the powders prior to combining.
- Creamier cocoa: For creamier hot chocolate, use milk instead of water.
- Sweeter cocoa: For sweeter hot chocolate, use 2 cups of powdered sugar instead of 1 cup.
- Toppings: Once you turn the mix into a drink, you can add a wide variety of toppings for extra flavor.
- Syrups: Strawberry, Oreo, chocolate, and caramel syrups all taste amazing in this recipe.
- Peppermint: Add ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract to the hot chocolate drink. Top with marshmallows, whipped cream, and crushed candy cane. You’ll have a stellar holiday treat!
- White Chocolate Mocha: Add a tablespoon of white chocolate chips and a teaspoon of espresso powder for a white chocolate mocha hot chocolate.
- S’mores: Add crushed graham cracker over top of the whipped cream for a fun twist on s’mores!
If you liked this hot cocoa mix recipe, you’ll love my other recipes!
I’ve shared my favorite hot chocolate recipes before, like:
- Instant Pot Hot Chocolate
- Bourbon Caramel Instant Pot Hot Chocolate
- Slow Cooker Boozy Peppermint Hot Cocoa
I’ve also shared a few other sweet treats, such as:
I originally created this Hot Chocolate Mix recipe to fill inside the ever so popular hot chocolate bombs that made their appearance all over the internet and most TikTok in winter of 2020/2021. So if you are not only looking for a tasty drink to sip on but a more cost effective way to fill the chocolate shells that are turned into cocoa bombs you’ll love my recipe.
If you make this hot cocoa mix recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
Don’t forget to FOLLOW ME on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, and subscribe to my email list! This recipe is available as a Google Web Story.
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Equipment
- Sifter
- Bowl
- Mason Jars
Ingredients
- 2 cups Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 1 cups Confectioners Sugar
- 2 cups Powdered Milk
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips divided
- 1 cup Mini Marshmallows divided
Instructions
To Make Hot Chocolate Mix:
- In a large bowl mix together the cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, powdered milk, and salt until smooth and well incorporated.
To Store Hot Chocolate Mix:
- Store in one large vessel or divide between small jars. To make small jars fill until ¾ of the way to the top. Then top each jar with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Store in an airtight container in a dry spot for up to 3 months.
To Make Hot Chocolate Mix:
- Add 2 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix to a cup. Stir in 8 oz. hot water or steamed milk (for a richer cocoa). Top with chocolate chips, marshmallows and even a little whipped cream. Enjoy!
Notes
- Lumps – To avoid lumps, sift the powders prior to mixing.
- Creamy – For creamier hot chocolate use milk instead of water.
- Sweeter – For sweeter hot chocolate use 2 cups of powdered sugar instead of 1 cup.
- Dairy Free – I have recently had readers ask about dairy free options. I have not tested dairy free options but there are powdered almond, oat, and coconut milks out on the market. If you need this recipe to be dairy free you can try substituting with one of those alternatives. Just note, I have not tested this option and the taste will obviously change.
- Toppings – You can add a wide variety of toppings. From additional syrups like strawberry, oreo, chocolate, and caramel.
- Peppermint– Add ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract to the hot chocolate drink. Top with marshmallows, whipped cream, and crushed candy cane.
- White Chocolate Mocha – Add a tablespoon of white chocolate chips and a teaspoon of espresso powder for a white chocolate mocha hot chocolate.
- S’mores – Add crushed graham cracker over top of the whipped cream for a fun twist on s’mores!
Nutrition
Disclosure: There are affiliate links present in this post. That means if you click on a link and purchase something. I will receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your continuous support of Katie’s Cucina!
Janet
My daughter is lactose-intolerant. What can i use instead of powdered milk? Does almond milk come in powdered form?
Katie
Hi Janet, just from doing a quick search on the internet it looks like their are a wide-variety of dairy free powdered milks; oat, almond, and coconut were a few that I found!I have never tested with any of these alternatives, but I’m sure they would work fine (just flavor would be a little different).