Vegan hot chocolate

  

There's just something magical about a cozy hot chocolate and cream on a cold winter's night. But that's not something you have to give up to go vegan! Now more than ever there are vegan alternatives to your favourite hot chocolate ingredients that can make you a super comforting drink. 

In this post I've listed my personal favs for making a hot chocolate, but also a few other vegan-friendly options so you can choose what you fancy!

The milk

Personal fav: Oatly Barista

I absolutely LOVE this milk. It froths so nicely in a milk frother, and gives the drink a really cream taste and texture. It's just as good warmed up in the microwave, so don't worry if you don't have a frother to hand. You can find this in the long-life milk section of most supermarkets, usually for around £1.80.

Alternatives: Oat milk (e.g. Alpro, Oatly, supermarket own brand, Innocent, Minor Figures), coconut milk (e.g. Alpro, Koko, supermarket own brand, Lucy Bee, Innocent), almond milk (e.g. Alpro, Almond Breeze, Innocent), rice milk (e.g. Rice Dream, Alpro), soya milk (e.g. Alpro, supermarket own brand, Grower's Harvest), hemp (e.g. Good Hemp), cashew (e.g. Alpro) or hazelnut milk (e.g. Alpro, Innocent). There's so many vegan milk choices these days!

The cocoa powder

Personal fav: Cadbury's Hot Chocolate Cocoa Powder

This is the hot chocolate powder I used even before I went vegan. It's not ever so great made just with hot water but I find if you add a tiny bit of hot water to the powder, mix it in, and then add the hot milk then it works fabulously. Just be sure to make sure it's not an instant one that's meant to be made just with hot water - chances are it'll have milk in!

Alternatives: Cadbury's Bournville Hot Chocolate Cocoa Powder, Whittard's Luxury Hot Chocolate (some of their fancy flavours are vegan too!), Hotel Chocolat Classic Hot Chocolate 70%, Galaxy VEGAN Instant Silky and Smooth Drink.

The Whipped Cream

Personal Fav: Food Heaven Heavenly Whipped

I found this in the dairy free chilled section of my local Tesco. It's soya free and incredibly creamy! It comes in a traditional spray cream can and melts just like the real thing.

Alternatives: Sadly there's not many out there, the only other one I have come across is the Soyatoo Soy Whip 

The Marshmallows

Personal Fav: M&S Plant Kitchen

I didn't have any to hand when making the drink in this post but M&S Plant Kitchen do wonderful vegan marshmallows, found in their regular sweet section. They're a little on the large side but they really do add to a fancy hot chocolate. 

Just be careful as most marshmallows contain gelatine unless they're specifically labelled as vegan.

Alternatives: Dandie's Marshmallows, Freedom Mallows, De Bron Vegan Marshmallows