Healthy Homemade Chocolate Milk with Cocoa Powder

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Nothing is better than a cold glass of chocolate milk. Perfect for birthdays or holidays, special occasions or just a fun treat, this healthy homemade chocolate milk recipe is the perfect option. It comes together in just a couple of minutes and is filled with tons of extra nutrients without any junk food ingredients.

Since getting our milk cow, Thimble, homemade chocolate milk was an occasional treat that we would whip up as a special treat from time to time. But most recently in my 4^th pregnancy, fixing a glass of this healthy chocolate milk has become a daily occurrence. Every afternoon, my routine has been to sit down and enjoy a glass of this delicious homemade chocolate milk. This has meant perfecting the recipe and doing everything possible to make it as healthy and nutrient dense as possible.

Why Homemade Chocolate Milk?

The beauty of making something yourself is you are in the driver’s seat of everything that goes into it. While you can easily pick up a bottle of chocolate milk from the store, the typical ingredients contain additional gums, coloring and flavoring agents, and sugars.

Another chocolate milk alternative, the one that I grew up with, is making chocolate milk by mixing milk with chocolate syrup. But this too is processed syrup with the most common first ingredient being high fructose corn syrup.

In this homemade chocolate milk, you get to decide what kind of milk you use, what type and how much sweetener you add and whether you want to add other nutritious ingredients like collagen or egg yolks. And while the argument against homemade cooking is often the added time that it take, this chocolate milk can easily be whipped up in less than 5 minutes! Win, win!

What Type of Milk?

Any kind of dairy or non-dairy milk will work for this recipe! However, our preference is to use whole, raw dairy if at all possible.

We prefer raw milk for several reasons:

1. We know where it comes from.

Over the last several years, we’ve been either purchasing raw milk from small local farms in our area or producing it ourselves once we got our family milk cow. This is important to us because unfortunately the practices at many large-scale conventional farms are geared toward the highest production possible which often comes to the detriment of the health of the animal, consumer, or environment. 

For example, most conventional farms milk with Holstein cows, which were bred for maximum production. However, because of the properties and genetics, the milk from these cows also tends to be more difficult to digest and contains less cream and beneficial properties. We prefer milk from heritage cow breeds – we have a Jersey – which tends to be more digestible and super creamy. Whenever possible our philosophy is to source something local or do it ourselves. Either way, it’s definitely worth the extra effort to consume quality milk.

2. More nutritious.

Raw milk is a living food that contains more beneficial microorganisms, vitamins, and minerals. Back almost 100 years ago when technology wasn’t what it was today, it was nearly impossible to refrigerate and distribute milk in an efficient way. Because of this, alongside often poor hygienic conditions, raw milk was making people sick. The answer was pasteurization. This process heats the milk, killing all of these microorganisms in milk. Unfortunately, that means that it kills all the good stuff along with the bad. Heating milk has remained the standard practice, but when handled and stored properly, raw milk can both be significantly more nutritious and healthful.

3. It tastes better.

While of course this is open to interpretation, everyone we’ve interacted with has agreed that once you are used to it, the taste of raw milk is far superior.

The Rest of the Ingredients

Homemade chocolate milk has 3 essential ingredients: milk, cocoa powder (or cacao powder), and some sort of sweetener. With just those three things, you can make a delicious glass of chocolate milk. But there are a few extra things we like to add to make it even better and more nutritious!

Sweetener: To sweeten this chocolate milk we prefer to use either organic and unrefined cane sugar, honey, or maple syrup. All three work great. You can play around with how much you like to add. We prefer to make it not super sweet as in the recipe below. But you can always add a bit more to suit your tastes!

Collagen: We are always looking to add extra protein to our diet—especially in pregnancy. Adding collagen is a great option because it is completely unflavored and dissolves easily so it goes completely unnoticed. Great Lakes Wellness grassfed collagen is our favorite brand for this.

Egg Yolks: Adding raw egg yolks to chocolate milk is another way to boost the nutrition and can even help give it a smoother and creamier texture. Despite the criticism egg yolks have gotten in recent history, they are actually extremely robust in health promoting nutrients. Egg yolks contain some of the highest amounts of choline (especially important in pregnancy), fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, are rich in fatty acids DHA, AA, and CLA, carotenoids, and are a robust source of many vitamins and minerals including Calcium, Iron, Phosphorous, B6, B12, Manganese, Folate, Selenium.

Equipment Needed to Make Homemade Chocolate Milk

Another bonus of this recipe is that no special equipment is necessary. Yes, you can certainly mix it in a blender or use a hand blender. But, you can also easily mix it by hand! Simply shake vigorously in a mason jar or stir thoroughly with as whisk. The main thing is making sure everything is well mixed, dissolved, and that there are no cocoa powder or collagen clumps.

Can You Scale This Recipe?

Yes! The recipe listed below makes 2 cups of chocolate milk but you could easily scale it up, or down, as desired. We will often make it in a half gallon jar when serving to a larger crowd or, if it’s just me, one to two cups is sufficient.

Can You Make in Advance or How Long Does It Last?

Yes! When we are making it in advance, I follow all of the steps listed in the recipe below and store in a mason jar with lid. Then when ready to serve, simply give the jar a good shake so that everything is well mixed and serve. This homemade chocolate milk will easily last for a few days in the fridge.

Healthy Homemade Chocolate Milk Recipe

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk (or milk of choice)
2 tbsp cocoa powder (or cacao)
2 tsp unrefined cane sugar, honey, or maple syrup
sprinkle of salt
2 raw egg yolks (optional)
2 scoops collagen

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Directions:

Add all ingredients into a large jar. Mix thoroughly using an immersion blender or whisk. Alternatively, you can put a lid on the jar and shake or blend in a blender. Mix until everything is fully incorporated.

Serve and enjoy!

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For other recipes from our home dairy check out:

Raw Homemade Eggnog
The Best Vanilla Raw Milk Ice Cream