This Chai Spiced Hot Chocolate is rich, creamy and aromatic! It’s made with whole spices, real chocolate and your choice of milk (dairy or non dairy)! Simply toast, simmer and mix into the perfect cozy drink to enjoy on cold days during the long winter months.
🍫☕Chai Spiced Hot Chocolate🍫☕
A few things to love about this recipe:
- Whole Spices: You can absolutely make chai hot chocolate using a pre-mixed Masala Chai Spice blend, but whole spices are a better choice for infusing flavor without leaving behind a gritty spice residue at the bottom of your mug.
- Melted Chocolate: Finely chop, then mix and melt towards the end of preparation. Melted chocolate adds a creamy texture and richer, chocolatey flavor using cocoa powder alone.
- Vegan Option: Choose a dairy free chocolate and your preferred milk! Coconut milk, almond milk, oat milk, soy – your choice!
Key Ingredients
- Chai Spices: Cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves and ginger. Toast the whole spice first to unlock their full flavor potential then strain out at the end. Use fresh ginger over ground.
- Cocoa Powder + Chocolate: Both cocoa powder and melted chocolate are required to make this hot chocolate drink.
- Milk: Use whatever milk type here you’d like, a dairy-based one or your preferred dairy-free milk substitute.
- Vanilla: Add a small amount for a touch of flavor.
- Sweetener (Optional): Add sweetener as you see fit. Amounts needed will vary depending on personal preference based on how strong your sweet tooth is and what type of chocolate you use.
FYI: What is Masala Chai?
Masala roughly translates to ‘spice mixture’ and the word chai means ‘tea’. Put it together and it means ‘spiced tea’. It’s a popular Indian tea typically made with black tea, milk and a blend of warm spices.
Because of how vast and varied the Indian subcontinent is, there is no one fixed recipe for Masala Chai. Ingredients and general preparation vary from region to region and family to family.
Simple Steps
- Toast Spices: Warm over a medium heat in a clean pan until it becomes aromatic.
- Simmer: Add all of the remaining ingredients except the chocolate and sweetener (if using). Mix heat to a gentle simmer (not a boil!).
- Add Chocolate: Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. If you chopped it fine enough, the chocolate should easily melt into the milk.
- Taste & Sweeten (if needed): If needed, add a little sweetener as you see fit. How much sweetener you need will vary depending on the type of chocolate and your own personal preference.
Quick Questions Before You Begin
Why toast the spices?
- For flavor! Toasted spices not only taste better, but they really do taste different when heated up. This is because the volatile flavor compounds found in whole spices change shape and reconfigure to create newer, more complex flavors and aromas.
What type of chocolate should I use?
- I recommend a dark or semi-sweet chocolate, but it’s really up to you. You can use chocolate chips, but I still recommend you chop them up into smaller pieces so the chocolate melts faster/easier.
- Use a dairy free or vegan chocolate along with dairy free milk to keep this recipe dairy free!
Does this contain tea or caffeine?
- No. This recipe is spiced like a chai tea, but doesn’t contain any black tea. You can easily make your own hot chocolate + chai tea latte by adding a chai tea bag to the milk while simmering. Strain it out with the whole spices when you’re ready and that’s it.
Can I add chai concentrate?
- Sure! Whether you’re using a homemade chai tea concentrate or a store-bought version, treat it like sweetener and add a small amount towards the end. Taste and add more if needed.
More Warming Winter Drinks:
More hot drinks to cozy up with on a cold winter night:
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Spiced Chia Hot Chocolate recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Recipe
Spiced Chai Hot Chocolate
Yield:
2 mugs
Prep Time:
5 minutes
Cook Time:
10 minutes
Total Time:
15 minutes
Made with whole spices, real chocolate and your choice of milk (dairy or non dairy)!
Ingredients
- 2 cinnamon sticks, 3-4 inch long or 1 cinnamon stick, 6 inches long
- 6 cardamom pods, smashed
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 whole star anise
- 1½ cups milk (360ml), dairy free or non dairy
- 1/2 cup water (120 ml)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (14g)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
- 50 g chocolate, chopped - dairy free if needed (about 1/4 cup, chopped)
- 1 tbsp sweetener - optional (see notes)
Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.
Instructions
- Add cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and star anise to a small saucepan and warm over a medium-high heat for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the chocolate and sweetener. Warm milk and bring to a gentle simmer (not a boil). Once simmering, turn off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has fully melted.
- Taste and add sweetener if you think it needs it. Strain out the whole spices and divide between two mugs. Top with your favorite hot chocolate toppings like whipped cream, chocolate shavings and or a sprinkle of cinnamon on top and enjoy.
Notes
- Make it Vegan: Use dairy free/vegan milk and chocolate.
- Chocolate Type: Milk chocolate, semi-sweet and dark chocolate all work - use what you like. Just keep in mind that the type of chocolate you use may impact that amount of additional sweetener you need to add at the end.
- Sweetener: Use honey, maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar, brown sugar white sugar or your preferred sweetener. If you use a granulated sugar/sweetener, make sure to stir it into the milk mixture until fully dissolved.
- Chocolate Shavings (Optional): Use a potato peeler to make chocolate curls. I found that milk chocolate shaved into more visually appealing curls than dark chocolate, but results may vary depending on your chocolate type/brand.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 2
Serving Size:
1 mug Calories: 277Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 74gCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 5gSugar: 29gProtein: 9gNutrition calculated on MyFitnessPal using semi-sweet chocolate chips, maple syrup and semi-skim milk. Amounts will vary for you depending on what ingredients you choose to use.
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Enjoy!
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