Made with just 4 simple ingredients, this homemade chocolate milk can be made quickly and without all the added ingredients in the storebought version!
Hi Friends!
It’s Recipe Redux time again! The theme for this month was:
DIY Kitchen Essentials
What favorite kitchen staples do you now make from scratch – but in the past you purchased? Show us your best DIY recipe for keeping cupboards, fridge or freezer stocked with healthy basics. Think homemade frozen waffles, salad dressing, broth or other kitchen essentials.
When I saw this theme I knew immediately what I was going to make. Hubby has been drinking a lot of chocolate milk lately and I’ve been looking at the ingredient lists of a lot of different brands. Turns out I’m not crazy about any of them. I knew there had to be a way I could easily make it at home so that I’d have control over the ingredients so I headed to the kitchen and got to work.
I figured the easiest way would be to just throw everything in a blender and give it a whirl.
Not so much.
I added milk, cocoa powder and some maple syrup, which I chose because I figured it would mix better with liquid milk than granulated sugar, blended it up and served it to hubby – who immediately told me it tasted too chalky. Plus the cocoa powder started to separate out almost immediately, so it was back to the drawing board.
For my second attempt I decided to make a chocolate syrup of sorts. I mixed the maple syrup with some water to dilute it a bit, boiled it and then added the cocoa powder.
Perfect! It doesn’t actually turn into a thick syrup, more of just a chocolate liquid that I then added to regular milk, gave it a stir and voila! Chocolate milk that the hubby gave a thumbs up!
Honestly, the most challenging part of creating this recipe was taking the photos 🙂
So here’s how you make it:
PrintHomemade Chocolate Milk
An easy, 4-ingredient version of chocolate milk you can make at home.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- milk of choice (cow, almond, soy, etc)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the water and maple syrup and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat, add cocoa powder and stir until well mixed.
- Let simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and store in a glass jar in the fridge.
- When you’re ready to make your chocolate milk, simply give the jar a good shake and then add some of the chocolate mixture to your glass and stir to combine.
- I would start with 1 tablespoon and add more as needed to reach your desired chocolate flavor!
The cocoa powder starts to separate out a little bit in the chocolate mixture but not nearly the way it did the first time. Just give the jar a quick shake or stir before you add some of the mixture to your milk and you should be good to go!
[Tweet “Homemade Chocolate Milk with just 4 simple ingredients from @Leangrnbeanblog!”]
Let’s chat:
Are you a chocolate milk lover? I’m not but hubby thinks it’s the bee’s knees.
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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This looks yummy! My dad would love this! He’s a chocolate and strawberry milk fanatic! 😀
I love chocolate milk after a race but I’ve never made my own. I wonder why?
Have an awesome Thursday Lindsay
So much healthier! I think I was always a strawberry milk kinda kid growing up!
Have to try this on my daughter for sure!
ooooh love the maple syrup addition – that sounds fantastic!
Thats great that this is naturally sweetened! So many kids drink chocolate ilk with hfcs and artificial ingredients and this is so darn easy to make!
This is so, so much healthier than store bought! I love this idea! Can’t wait to try it!
I’m with hubby- I drink chocolate milk a few times a week (usually as post workout fuel)… I have a hard time trying to find a syrup/powder with ingredients I’m crazy about so I definitely will need to make this… I’m guessing the syrup would keep for at least a week???
Delicious! Did you say chocolate? I’m there!
i will have to try this! my husband loves chocolate milk too. we buy the nestle’s syrup because it’s a tiny bit better than hershey’s (no HFCS) but it’s still not great. i haven’t looked at any specialty stores though…
My husband is also a chocolate milk lover! Have to try this for him!! Love that you shared the trials of making this recipe!
YUM!! Love chocolate milk after a long run!!
I love how simple this is- yum!!
The trials and tribulations of recipe testing! My poor boyfriend always says things aren’t “sweet enough”
I stopped drinking cow’s milk years ago, but never considered trying homemade chocolate almond milk. I’ve tried the store bought chocolate almond milk but most is made with too much sugar. Love your recipe full of simple ingredients. Going to give this a try.
My kids would love this!!
love this! Not so much a cold chocolate milk fan, but would love using this in a hot form at night! also..I think the hardest part for me is always the photos :p
xoxo Sarah Grace, Fresh Fit N Healthy.