This Collagen Hot Chocolate is so easy to make that it comes together with four ingredients in just 5 minutes. It's an easy hot chocolate without cocoa powder that you can customize to use milk, white, or ruby chocolate!
For other delicious hot chocolates, check out my 2-ingredient hot cocoa or list of the best hot chocolate recipes.
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✔️ Why This Recipe is Great
Why Add Collagen to Chocolate?: But why take collagen each day, and why in this form? Well, collagen is a protein found in abundance in your body, but natural production of it slows down around age 25, and drops precipitously after you turn 40. Supplemental collagen can combat that loss, however.
Powdered collagens are animal-derived, so they provide complete proteins, but they're also great for the skin because this pre-formed collagen gives your skin the material it needs to build its own. I just prefer to drink mine in this hot cocoa collagen latte because it tastes good and it's a healthy ritual to build my day around.
Protein Hot Cocoa: Did you know that most Mesoamerican cultures had and still have some sort of foaming ritual surrounding the preparation of drinking chocolate? Those charged with preparing the sacred cacao beverages would pour the mixture from one vessel to another in order to produce a thick foam on top.
This collagen hot chocolate without cocoa powder will allow you to do the same thing from the comfort of your home, and likely with even more skin-protecting benefits than those ancient botanicals offered.
Batching-Friendly: this is a very easy recipe to make the night before or up to a week ahead in a large batch. You can even make chocolate chips hot chocolate, that is, hot chocolate made from chocolate chips (with a scoop of collagen, of course!).
🍫 Ingredients
Full-Fat Milk: whatever your chosen milk, make sure it's got a bit of fat in it. I'd recommend coconut milk, if you don't tolerate dairy, though oat milk is another good pick.
Heavy Cream: a couple tablespoons of this is the secret to a rich hot chocolate, especially if you're batching the recipe.
Dark Chocolate of Choice: you can use any chocolate you'd like, but to increase the nutrition of your collagen cacao latte, I recommend using a craft chocolate with at least 70% cacao.
Collagen Peptides: these are what give that added boost to your hot chocolate collagen latte. I like Vital Proteins collagen powder for its added vitamin c and hyaluronic acid, and the general quality of the product & reputation of the brand.
❓ Substitutes and Variations
Rich Hot Chocolate: to make an even more decadant protein hot chocolate, substitute half & half or canned coconut milk for your regular milk of choice.
Thick Hot Chocolate: for a thicker hot cocoa, you can add ½ teaspoon starch to the mixture at the same time as you add the chopped chocolate.
Hot Chocolate Without Sugar: you could use any type of sugar-free chocolate chips or chocolate bars in place of the usual chocolate bar.
- Nutty Hot Chocolate - add a heavy scoop of homemade gianduja or other nutty chocolate spread when you're adding the chopped chocolate, to create a more nutty hot cocoa.
- White Hot Chocolate - just swap out the traditional dark or milk chocolate for white chocolate.
- Vanilla Hot Chocolate - use white or blonde chocolate in place of dark chocolate, and then mix in up to ⅛ teaspoon of vanilla powder at the end of the production process to create a smoother, creamier hot chocolate.
- Spiced Hot Cocoa - incorporate a small amount of cinnamon and clove when you add the chopped chocolate for a unique flavor twist.
🔪 How to Make Collagen Hot Cocoa: Step-by-Step
Step 1) Heat your 4oz. of milk of choice over medium heat until slightly bubbling (images 1 & 2).
Step 2) While the liquid heats, splinter or chop your chocolate into chocolate chip-sized pieces (images 3 & 4) and put it in a heat-proof mug. This is the secret to how to make hot chocolate without cocoa powder: using real chocolate!
Step 3) Pour your near-boiling liquid into the cup, on top of the chocolate, letting the hot liquid melt your chocolate for two full minutes (image 5).
Pro Tip
If your chocolate comes out still chunky after a couple minutes, you can microwave your whole mug for 20 seconds, then take it out and let it sit for an additional 2 minutes. This will allow the chunks to melt into the liquid so that you can then finish blending it.
Step 4) Add in your scoop of collagen and your heavy cream (images 6 & 7), and quickly blend it into the hot chocolate (images 8 & 9) and voila! All done. Adding mint oil or ginger puree or even lemon zest would be a beautiful mix-up if you plan to make this a regular part of your routine.
👨🏻🍳 Expert Notes & Tips
Use Dark Chocolate: Remember to use a high-percentage craft chocolate in your hot cocoa! Otherwise your chocolate will end up flatter-tasting rather than complex.
Whip It... Whip It Good: Whip up your drink with an extra 30 seconds on the frother; it really makes a difference!
Non-Dairy Tip: If you're going to use a non-dairy milk in your cocoa, I'd recommend using a creamier option, like macadamia or coconut milk, rather than the more common finds like oat or almond milk.
Make-Ahead: You can also prepare this protein hot chocolate ahead of time— sans milk— by chopping up the chocolate and measuring out 1-2 Tbsp. of heavy cream powder + the collagen. Just add hot milk & wait, and voila!
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
Yes it is, if you use sugar-free chocolate and a keto-approved mylk, like almond milk.
Sorry, nope! Collagen is derived from animals (bovines, in my case), so it's not a vegan-friendly supplement.
There are about 11g of protein per serving, give or take one gram depending on the cacao percentage. Additionally, if you use mammalian or soy milk, you'll be consuming a complete protein due to their tryptophan contents (chocolate is also high in tryptophan, but not enough to fully complete the protein).
This recipe derives its richness from cacao in its whole form, so I really encourage you to use dark chocolate. That said, vital proteins hot cocoa mix came out awhile back and it was very popular, so if you want to use cocoa powder then make sure you add more fat to compensate.
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Collagen Hot Chocolate Recipe
Equipment
- milk frother
Ingredients
- 4 oz milk
- 1-2 tbsp. heavy cream optional
- 1-2 oz dark chocolate 70%+ is best, and the source of the cacao is important, as some companies use beans that make a very bitter chocolate
- 1 scoop collagen powder/10g collagen in any form I like and have been using Vital Proteins brand
Instructions
- Heat your 4oz. of milk of choice over medium heat until slightly bubbling. While the liquid heats, chop your chocolate into chocolate chip-sized pieces and put it in a heat-proof mug.
- Pour your near-boiling liquid into the cup, on top of the chocolate, letting the hot liquid melt your chocolate for two full minutes.Note: if your chocolate comes out still chunky after a couple minutes, you can microwave your whole mug for 20 seconds, then take it out and let it sit for an additional 2 minutes. This will allow the chunks to melt into the liquid so that you can then finish blending it.
- Add in your scoop of collagen and your heavy cream, and quickly blend it into the hot chocolate and voila! All done. Adding a few drops of mint oil or ginger puree or even lemon zest would be a beautiful mix-up if you plan to make this a regular part of your routine.
Notes
- Remember to use a high-percentage craft chocolate in your hot cocoa! Otherwise your chocolate will end up flatter-tasting rather than complex.
- Whip up your drink with an extra 30 seconds on the frother; it really makes a difference!
- If you're going to use a non-dairy milk in your cocoa, I'd recommend using a creamier option, like macadamia or coconut milk, rather than the more common finds like oat or almond milk.
- You can also prepare this collagen hot chocolate ahead of time— sans milk— by chopping up the chocolate and measuring out 1-2 Tbsp. of heavy cream powder + the collagen. Just add milk & voila!
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