Over a decade ago, I adapted this dairy-free hot cocoa mix recipe from a Whole Foods formula. It’s a simple, time-tested blend with a quick homemade vanilla sugar plus Spice, Mocha, and Mint flavor variations. Package this mix in a decorated jar, with the directions attached, for a wonderful holiday gift. Or whip up a big batch and store it in your pantry to enjoy whenever a hot cocoa craving hits.
About Dairy-Free Milk Powder
This dairy-free hot cocoa mix recipe uses dairy-free milk powder. This ingredient is sold in supplement stores and natural food stores. However, you can also find dairy-free soy, rice, and coconut versions online. But use caution with coconut milk powder. Some brands actually contain a small amount of dairy in the form of caseinate. A couple of dairy-free coconut milk powder brands that I like include Native Forest and Opportuniteas.
The amazing Leah took the pictures of this dairy-free hot cocoa mix recipe. She used soymilk powder and said “it turned out great! It’s the perfect winter sip and an easy peasy gift idea.” She blended the mix with the boiling water to make it extra creamy and frothy.
Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free Hot Cocoa Mix
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, optionally grain-free, nut-free, optionally soy-free, peanut-free, vegan, vegetarian, and optionally top food allergy-friendly.
- 1 cup dairy-free milk powder (soy, rice, or coconut)
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup vanilla sugar (see Vanilla Sugar Recipe below)
- Pinch sea salt
- Put the dairy-free milk powder, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Store the hot cocoa mix in an airtight container.
- Put ¼ cup of the hot cocoa mix into a mug and whisk in 1 cup boiling water until smooth.
Spice Hot Cocoa Mix: Add 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg to the mix and whisk to combine.
Mocha Hot Cocoa Mix: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons instant coffee to the mix and whisk to combine.
Mint Hot Cocoa: Add 1 mint tea bag to the hot cocoa once you add the boiling water, and let it brew for 3 minutes. Squeeze the bag to extract the liquid when you remove it.
Key Pantry Ingredients: Dairy-Free Hot Cocoa Mix
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17 Comments
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I just made this and used half cane sugar and half coconut sugar. I sifted all of the ingredients together to make sure there were no lumps of anything. Tastes great, especially with the peppermint tea added!
That’s marvelous! Thanks for sharing your success with different sweeteners, and I’m so glad you tried the mint version!
Hot cocoa might be my favorite treat. I like to add a little spice with cinnamon and chili. And what a great gift idea to make these in mason jars! I meant to do this for friends this year but time got away from me. This will be a little motivation to makeit happen next year!
I know the feeling Alicia. We made strides in reaching out to people this Christmas, but next year I want to make time for more homemade gifts like this!
So excited about this recipe and perfect timing! We recently tried to make our own and let’s just say it didn’t work out so well :).
It’s a trickier combination than some might think!
I so need to make this for my kids! They would love this so much. Oh and me too. 😊
This would be great to have on hand or to give as gifts to my dairy free friends. Using a vanilla bean makes such a wonderful flavor difference instead of using an extract.
I’ve never used a dairy-free milk powder before! This is absolutely brilliant, and sounds so delicious! I have to try it.
Truly dairy-free coconut milk powder is just wonderful, and soymilk powder is very multi-purpose!
We love using Coconut Milk Powder in our hot chocolate! It’s so creamy & delicious.
I think that’s one of my favorite ingredients lately!
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I got Better then Milk Soy at Amazon & am off to make my cocoa now. Thanks for the recipe!
I’ll be using powdered vanilla:
:http://cooksvanilla.com/product/47/Pure-Vanilla-Powder-5-lb.-Jar.html
where does one find dry rice or soy milk? . . . Whole Foods didn’t even have it
Debi, that surprises me! They do in the Whole Foods here, but each region is different. There are a few brands that you an buy online. This is the brand I use (Growing Naturals): http://bit.ly/rice-milk-powder. They’ve got new Plain and Chocolate versions coming out, too, but the Creamy Vanilla works well for hot chocolate mix. Here are some more brands: http://amzn.to/X20hhq.