This Easy Crock Pot Hot Chocolate is delightfully rich and creamy! Everyone will love this simple recipe that is simple to make with just 8 ingredients. Perfect for warming up on a chilly day, serving at holiday gatherings, and sipping throughout the season.
You’ll also love Crockpot Mulled Wine, Instant Pot Infused Water and Instant Pot Eggnog.
Suitable for vegetarian and gluten free diets.
This Easy Crock Pot Hot Chocolate is so rich, decadent, and creamy, you’ll never want to use the powder packets or the boxed hot chocolate mix again! And with a delectable hint of pumpkin spice, I am confident that this hot chocolate will be your favorite drink all fall and winter long.
On cold, shivering days, is there really anything better than stripping off those scarves, coats, and mittens and warming up with a cup of fresh, steaming Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate?! Especially with such a super easy and quick homemade recipe like this one.
Crockpot Hot Chocolate is the perfect drink for serving at all sorts of fall and winter holiday gatherings too. Your guests will love to fill their mugs with this warm and cozy beverage and then top it off exactly as the like it. And you’ll love how easy it is to make! Think Halloween festivities, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas, and New Year’s parties. #easyentertaining
What Is Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate is also known as hot cocoa, drinking chocolate or chocolate tea. It’s usually topped with marshmallows or whipped cream. Typically homemade hot chocolate is made with cocoa powder, hot water or milk, and some type of sweetener.
Why You’ll ♡ This
- Warms you up on a cold day.
- Super easy to put together and fuss-free.
- Perfect beverage for Chocolate Lovers.
- Set it and forget it. Easy to tend to other dishes and recipes while this cooks.
Tools Needed
- An awesome slow cooker.
- Measuring cups and spoons.
- A mixing spatula.
Soooo, let’s gather up these ingredients and I will show you….
How To Make Crock Pot Hot Chocolate
Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.
- Add all your ingredients to the slow cooker.
- Cover with lid and cook on LOW for 2- 2 1/2 hours. Stir a couple of times while cooking.
- Leave on the warm setting until you’re ready to enjoy it.
Expert Recipe Tips
- It may help to heat the milk and mix with cocoa powder first before combining it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Make sure you continue to stir the mixture as it stays on the warm setting.
- I recommend sifting the cocoa before adding it into the Slow Cooker to eliminate lumps
- If adding in alcohol, wait to spike your drink until serving.
- Need to extend the batch a bit? Add some milk to thin it out a bit and increase the number of servings.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces so it melts quicker.
Delicious Variations
While classic Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate is fantastic just the way it is, here are a few other options to make it even more amaaaaazing.
- Add toppings: Try chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, crushed candy canes, crushed graham crackers, crushed pretzels, sugar strands or melted peanut butter, etc.
- Make it even more decadent: You can add an extra cup of cream and reduce milk by the same amount to keep the proper ratio. For even more indulgence, use evaporated milk.
- Add in flavors: Try peppermint extract, brownie batter extract, some caramel sauce with sea salt, or peanut butter powder.
- Trade out or mix-up chips: Use some semi-sweet or sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate, mint chocolate, salted caramel, or butterscotch chips depending on your preference.
- Vary spices: use individual spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, or nutmeg.
- Spike it: If only adults are enjoying, you can add in a little Rum, Kahlua, or Peppermint Schnapps.
Pro Tip: Make this dairy free by swapping out the milk for coconut or almond milk. You may need to adjust your toppings of choice as well.
Prep Ahead, Store And Reheat
Crockpot Hot Chocolate is great to make and have cooking while you’re out looking at holiday lights, playing in the snow, or just relaxing during a rainy day.
- Prep Ahead – Not much to prep ahead with this, as it truly is a dump n start, set it and forget it type of recipe.
- Store – Make ahead and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Reheat – Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated on the stove or in the microwave for a few minutes at a time.
FAQs
Nope, guys you don’t have to worry about that with this velvety Hot Chocolate. Since you make this on a low setting, the milk doesn’t get hot enough to curdle.
Yeap, it is super easy to whip up some Crock Pot Creamy Hot Chocolate for a crowd. Great for fall, winter or Christmas Drinks gatherings.
Simply triple or quadruple the recipe and cook away as normal. Just make sure you’re using a big enough slow cooker.
Knowing there’s a difference, I still interchange both Hot Cocoa and Hot Chocolate, just as most other people do.
Guys, it turns out there there is actually a difference between the two. Hot cocoa is normally a mixture of milk (or water), cocoa powder and sugar, along with optional flavorings like vanilla, peppermint and spices like cinnamon.
Whilst, hot chocolate is usually a thicker, more decadent drink. It involves real chocolate melted into some milk. The better the quality of the chocolate you use, the more luxurious and decadent the drink.
Serving Suggestions
More Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Whole Chicken.
- Crockpot Christmas Candy.
- Crockpot Mashed Potatoes.
- Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas.
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs.
- Crockpot Breakfast Casserole.
- Slow Cooker Grape Jelly Meatballs.
- Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken Pasta.
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti.
- Crockpot Tomato Soup.
- Crockpot Sweet Potato Mash.
- Crockpot Mashed Butternut Squash.
- Crockpot Mulled Wine.
Thank you for reading my Crock pot Hot Chocolate recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue to slice, dice and dream up affordable Air Fryer recipes, Instant Pot Recipes, Southern Recipes and more. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, food blog.
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Easy Crockpot Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- 7 cups (1.75 L) milk
- 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
- ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder dairy-free
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup or more, optional
- 4 ounces (120g) dark chocolate chips
- 2-3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt flakes
- Optional toppings: whipped cream, melted chocolate, marshmallows
Instructions
- Add all your ingredients to the slow cooker.
- Cover with lid and cook on LOW for 2- 2 1/2 hours. Stir a couple of times while cooking.
- Leave on the warm setting until you’re ready to enjoy it.
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Notes
- It may help to heat the milk and mix with cocoa powder first before combining with the rest of the ingredients.
- Make sure you continue to stir the mixture as it stays on the warm setting.
- If adding in alcohol, wait to spike your drink until serving.
- If you need to extend the servings a bit as it’s being served, you can add some milk to thin it out a bit and increase the number of servings.
- Sieve the cocoa before adding it into the Slow Cooker to reduce the chance of lumps.
- Do break the chocolate into small pieces so that they melt quicker.
I love this healthier version of hot chocolate with maple syrup. Sounds so delicious, creamy, and flavorful. Can’t wait to give your recipe a try.
Hot chocolate is the best this time of year! Love your crockpot version too, looks delicious!