Stovetop Hot Chocolate
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It takes just six minutes and three ingredients to make this rich and creamy homemade stovetop hot chocolate recipe.
I’ll never forget the first time I had homemade, real, hot chocolate, made on the stove and not with a mix. Although we made our own mix from scratch (and it was delicious) there was just something about that extra chocolaty decadence of classic hot chocolate, with that little extra bit of cocoa lingering for the last sip that had me hooked.
A while back the folks from Domino Sugar contacted me to ask if I’d like to feature Domino Sugar on Southern Plate. They asked if I’d use one of their recipes on their handy dandy recipe site as well. I had planned on bringing y’all homemade hot cocoa for a while now but I usually make it without a recipe and had yet to take the time to measure everything out. Lo and behold, Domino did that for me so why mess with perfection? After you make this a time or two with their best hot chocolate recipe, you’ll likely settle into just eyeballing it as I do.
Either way you go, though, you just can’t beat a cup of this easy homemade hot chocolate! When I say easy, I mean it. All you need is cocoa powder, whole milk, white sugar, and vanilla as an optional extra. 5 minutes of stovetop cooking later and you’ll be topping your hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and taking a sip. It’s that quick and easy.
Special thanks to Domino for sending me a gift card to gather up all of the supplies I’d need for this post, including some Domino Sugar in their new little canister! Be sure to check out their recipe website for plenty of yummy holiday recipes, including mixes and printable tags.
If you loved this Hot Chocolate make sure you try some of my other hot drink recipes like Snowman Soup With Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix, Red Velvet Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Spiced Coffee, Mocha Coffee Floats, and Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Latte at Home
Recipe Ingredients
- Cocoa powder
- Whole milk
- Sugar
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Vanilla extract and a mini marshmallow topping are optional but don’t try telling that to my kids!
How to Make Stovetop Hot Chocolate
First, add the sugar to the saucepot.
Then add your cocoa powder.
Pour in 1/2 cup of whole milk.
Stirry, stirry!
It will look kinda like a paste.
Stirring constantly, bring it to a boil.
Remove the saucepot from the heat and pour in the remaining milk.
Stir that up well and then place to saucepot back on the stovetop, set to medium heat.
Pour in a little vanilla extract if you’d like.
Continue stirring over medium heat until heated through.
Be careful and ensure it doesn’t come to a boil again.
Once it is heated through, pour it into cups.
Now you can keep things plain and simple…
Or you can add mini marshmallows…
And a peppermint candy cane stir stick.
Enjoy!
Storage
It’s best to serve the hot chocolate immediately. But just adjust the measurements to match the number of servings you wish to make. However, if you do have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container (like a mason jar) for up to 3 days and reheat them on the stovetop until heated through.
Recipe Notes
- To enhance the chocolate flavor, feel free to add a pinch of salt to your .
- Garnish your creamy homemade hot chocolate however you like:
- Homemade whipped cream
- Caramel sauce (check out my delicious dulce de leche recipe)
- Crushed peppermint candies
- Chocolate shavings
- A dollop of peanut butter
- You can use any milk in this recipe including dairy-free varieties like almond milk and coconut milk.
- Here are some fun stovetop hot chocolate variations. When you add the vanilla extract, also add:
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (then serve with a cinnamon stick).
- 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract to make peppermint hot chocolate (serve with a peppermint candy cane over the holidays).
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of powdered instant coffee.
- 1/16 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper.
Here are more delicious drinks to make for your family soon:
Snowman Soup With Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Latte at Home
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4.5 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, and 1/2 cup of milk.1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 4.5 cups whole milk
- Stir constantly over medium heat until the hot chocolate mixture comes to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the remaining milk. Then return to medium heat and stir in vanilla if desired. Stir until heated through.1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional), 4.5 cups whole milk
- Serve hot with mini marshmallows.
Nutrition
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Whenever my high school youth group in Atlanta went Christmas caroling, we always had hot chocolate. We continued the tradition here when we moved to northeast Pennsylvania. This looks delish. ~waves to your new best friend and babysitter~ Welcome.
Hi Christy – Hot Chocolate in NC….love the photos of your new BFF!
She’s a cutie!…love this website..have recommended it to my cooking friends around the world….especially Sylvia in Scotland!
Once again Christy, you bring us a great post!!
First of all, Hi Kayleigh!!! Thank you for taking some time to help out our Mom!! Granted, yer likely getting paid but thanks nevertheless.
This does sound fairly easy and yummy! I’ve always done mine with a packet of Swiss Miss and just doubled their recipe. lol What can I say? I’m a man! :o) This recipe though DOES sound like something I could do fairly well and not totally screw it up. hehe
Thanks so much Christy!!!!
When I’m in a hurry I just double up on the instant packets, too. It’s yummy!
We had “cocoa” every morning in the winter and I did not like it . My mom made it and it was sort of lukewarm and not very appealing in color. I dawdled over it every morning and definitely didn’t enjoy it. When I was in the sixth grade I made a new friend and began staying overnight occasionlly at her house and her mom made “hot chocolate’ and I loved it. I never could see why hers was so good and ours was so bad. When I got older and began to cook I knew then that my mom had a very small grocery budget and seven mouths to feed so she was very scant with her cocoa. She also used powdered dry milk in a very thin dilution. I know now that it was probably the best she could do but I still think of cocoa as yukky and hot chocolate as good.My mom is gone now and I would love to treat he rto some delicious hot chocolate and a plate of real butter cookies.
For all you Dark Chocolate lovers out there, substitute Hershey’s Dark Cocoa for the Milk Chocolate Cocoa. It is to die for. Or even split it half and half of each cocoa. It makes people ask, “What makes this so good? It is different.”
Love the recipes, keep them coming.
Elizabeth Lee
Monrovia (Huntsville), Alabama
I LOVE subbing the dark cocoa for the reg cocoa…..better for you too!
When I was growing up we made ours a cupful at a time. We would put
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tsp cocoa
stir this real good then add
canned (evaporated milk) slowly. till you get about 1/3 cup of mix.
Then finish filling cut with boiling water.
This is real good. You can always add marshmallows etc.
We also would take just the sugar and cocoa mix and put it in our lower lip and dip it as snuff. lol
This is the recipe I make:
One cup of Cocoa
1-2 T cocoa powder
2 T sugar
pinch of salt
1 c milk
touch of vanilla
Stir the cocoa,sugar and salt in a microwave safe cup and add a little of the milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and vanilla. I put it in the microwave until it bubbles up to the top. It should be hot enough to drink!!! :):)