Easy Keto Hot Chocolate

Keto hot chocolate in a glass mug topped with whipped cream and grated chocolate
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Introduction

Whenever it rains or snows, I find myself craving hot chocolate. There’s something about the warmth of a rich chocolatey beverage that pairs perfectly with the cold weather, don’t you think? It’s incredibly comforting, which is probably why hot chocolate is a staple during the Christmas season.

Growing up, bringing out the hot chocolate was one of the things I looked forward to most about the holidays. I just can’t drink that version anymore — it’s mostly sugar.

This keto hot chocolate recipe starts with a full cup of heavy cream and a cup of water, and the chocolate comes from two places: unsweetened cocoa powder whisked into the hot cream, which on its own would give you a keto hot cocoa, and sugar-free chocolate chips — melted separately with a tablespoon of coconut oil — poured in at the end. In our opinion, the best hot chocolate is made with actual chocolate, not just cocoa powder.

Making It Richer Or Lighter

The recipe uses one cup of heavy cream to one cup of water, and you can move that either way depending on how rich you want it — more cream for a thicker cup, more water for a lighter one. Worth deciding before you start rather than after.

For a dairy-free version, use full-fat coconut milk in place of the heavy cream — it has the fat to carry the chocolate, and it brings some coconut flavor with it. Unsweetened almond milk will make the drink, but it has a fraction of the fat, so what you get is thinner than what this recipe is built around. No adjusted amounts for either are given here.

What To Watch For

The order matters more than the ingredient list lets on. Cream and water go in the pot first and come up to heat, then the cocoa, then the sweetener and vanilla, and the melted chocolate goes in last.

Melt the chips on their own with the coconut oil, in a dry bowl, in 30-second bursts. Keep water out of that bowl: a few drops of water into melting chocolate will seize it into a grainy paste. Stirred smooth first and then whisked into a potful of hot cream, it goes in without a lump — which is the whole reason for the separate bowl. It is not that chocolate and liquid cannot meet; a hot chocolate is chocolate in liquid.

Add the cocoa gradually while you whisk instead of tipping it all in at once, and it’s far less likely to clump. If it’s lumpy in the tin to begin with, sift it first.

Keep the heat at medium and stir often. Left alone on higher heat, the cream can scorch or curdle. What you’re looking for is the cocoa worked in with no dry specks left on the surface or the whisk — it disperses through the cream rather than dissolving into it, so smooth is the test, not clear — then the melted chocolate whisked in until the pot is smooth again, and the whole thing up to a low boil before it goes into mugs.

Easy Keto Hot Chocolate

5 net carbs
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Total Time
15 minutes
Yield
3 servings
Course
Drink
Cuisine
American

Ingredients

Nutrition Facts

3 servings per recipe
Trans Fat 0g 0% 0g 0%
Allulose 0g 0% 0g 0%

About these numbers: We are home cooks, not certified nutritionists. Nutrition is shared as a courtesy. We pick a representative product for each ingredient, and our recipe system works out the totals from the amounts in this recipe, so please treat them as a helpful estimate rather than a guarantee. The brands you buy, any swaps you make, and how generously you portion the recipe will all move these numbers.

Directions

  1. In a pot over medium heat on the stove, whisk together the heavy whipping cream and water.

    Pour a cup of heavy cream and a cup of water into a pot or saucepan. Heat the pot or saucepan over medium heat, and whisk the heavy cream and water until homogenous.

  2. Melt the sugar-free chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl.

    Heat your chocolate chips in the microwave at 30-second intervals until completely melted and smooth. To avoid seizing, make sure that your chocolate chips don't come into contact with water while melting.

  3. Once the heavy cream mixture is hot, whisk in unsweetened cocoa powder into the pot.

    Add the cocoa a little at a time, whisking as it goes in, until no dry specks are left on the surface or the whisk. Cocoa powder disperses through the cream rather than dissolving into it, so a smooth surface is the test.

  5. Add the vanilla extract and Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener to the cocoa mixture.

    Stir the pot until the sweetener is fully dissolved. Adjust the amount of sweetener you add according to your preference.

  6. Pour the melted chocolate chips into the cocoa mixture.

    Whisk until the melted chocolate has thoroughly combined with the cocoa mixture. You should end up with a smooth mixture. Continue to heat the mixture until it comes to a low boil.

  7. Once heated enough, remove the pot from the heat and transfer your hot chocolate into mugs.

    Garnish your low-carb hot chocolate with whipped cream and shaved chocolate chips.

Notes

Preparation

  • When adding your dry ingredients to the mixture, it’s recommended that you do so gradually while whisking constantly. This will help prevent clumps from forming in the mixture, ensuring a smooth consistency in your hot chocolate. It will also help ensure even distribution.
  • To prevent your mixture from scorching or curdling, keep the heat at medium and make sure to stir frequently.
  • Taste your keto hot chocolate before adding the sweetener. Then, add your sweetener gradually until you achieve your desired sweetness. This recipe calls for adding a tablespoon of Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener, but you can add more if you want your hot chocolate to be sweeter.
  • The cream-to-water ratio is the dial for thickness: more cream for a thicker cup, more water for a lighter one. For a dairy-free version, full-fat coconut milk replaces the heavy cream and brings some coconut flavor of its own; unsweetened almond milk has a fraction of the fat and gives a much thinner drink than this recipe is built around. No adjusted amounts for either are given here.
  • Getting tired of just the plain ol’ chocolate flavor? Spice up your keto hot chocolate by adding a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or a dash of peppermint extract for different flavor variations. Or if you like to intensify the chocolate flavor, you can add a pinch of salt.

Storage

  • This is a drink to make and pour, not to keep. If you do have some left over, get it into the refrigerator rather than leaving it on the stove to cool — the USDA’s guidance for perishable food is no more than two hours at room temperature, and this is a pot of cream. Transfer it to an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid, keep it cold, and reheat it gently over medium heat, whisking, because it separates as it stands. No keeping window is given here.

Serving Suggestions

  • Before pouring your keto hot chocolate into your mugs, you can pre-warm them by rinsing them with hot water. This will help hot chocolate maintain its temperature for longer.
  • If you have any melted chocolate or cocoa powder left, you can rim your mugs with it for a more appealing presentation. You can dip the rim of each mug into melted chocolate, then allow the chocolate to cool and harden.
  • Whipped cream and grated sugar-free chocolate is the garnish in the photos. A dash of cinnamon or nutmeg on top is the other one worth doing — it carries in the steam, which is half of what you get out of a hot drink.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does this keto hot chocolate recipe have chocolate chips when it already has cocoa powder?

Because they do different jobs. Cocoa powder is where the chocolate flavor comes from; the melted chips bring the cocoa butter with them, and that is what makes the drink feel like chocolate in the mouth rather than cocoa stirred into cream.

The recipe is written with ChocZero’s dark chocolate chips. Their white chocolate melts the same way and would give you a much sweeter, paler drink — a different one, and no adjusted amount for it is given here.

Can I use almond milk or other non-dairy milk instead of water?

Yes — and note that this means the water, not the heavy cream. The cream stays, so the drink stays rich; swapping the water for unsweetened almond, cashew or coconut milk just gives that half of the liquid a little more body and flavor than plain water has. Use the unsweetened kind to keep the carb count where it should be — the sweetened versions carry sugar the recipe is not accounting for. The milks differ from each other in fat and flavor, so this is a swap worth trying rather than a second version of the recipe; no amounts are adjusted for it here.

Can I make this keto hot chocolate dairy-free?

Yes, with one swap and one check. Replace the heavy cream with unsweetened full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream, which will bring some coconut flavor along with it. Then check the label on your chocolate chips, since plenty of sugar-free chips still contain milk.
The rest of the ingredients — cocoa powder, coconut oil, vanilla, sweetener and water — are already plant-based, so those two changes make the hot chocolate vegan-friendly too. Coconut milk has less fat than heavy cream and a flavor of its own, so expect a slightly different drink rather than an identical one; no adjusted amount for it is given here.

Can I add a shot of espresso or coffee to make a mocha version?

Yes. A shot of espresso stirred into a finished mug turns it into a mocha, and because it is an ounce or so going into a cup it does not thin the drink noticeably. Brewed coffee in any quantity will — it is mostly water, so it loosens the cream the recipe is built on. If coffee is what you have, use it in place of some of the water at the start rather than adding it at the end.

Wrap Up

Hot chocolate tastes better with company, so share it around.

Have you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog? Please rate it below and let us know what you think in the comments! We love hearing from you!

You can also share it on Instagram and use the hashtag #buttertogetherkitchen and we may feature you on our page.

From other keto kitchens: Chocolate Chip Keto Biscotti and Sour Cream Vanilla Cupcakes.

Correction — October 5, 2026: Cocoa never fully dissolves, so the step now tells you what it should look like once it's mixed in. The chips are melted on their own so they go smooth, and leftovers go straight in the fridge.