Creamy and decadent Hot Chocolate made easy in a slow cooker with a secret ingredient to make this the BEST hot chocolate!

Forget the boxed or powdered store bought stuff when you can make can an incredible hot cocoa in a slow cooker! Combining cocoa powder and chocolate chips with milk, evaporated milk or heavy cream and marshmallows makes the most decadent, mouthwatering hot chocolate!

It does not get any easier than this!

HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE

There’s nothing better on a cold and miserable day to warm the cockles of your heart with a steaming cup of hot cocoa. Throw the ingredients in a slow cooker and let it work its magic for you!

Rich, decadent and perfectly creamy…make it for yourself, your family, OR to entertain a crowd.

SERVING IDEAS

Leave your slow cooker on warm setting, set a table up with mugs ready for your guests to serve themselves. Provide a buffet table with bowls full of optional toppings like chocolate morsels, hot fudge sauce, crushed candy canes, crushed pretzels or chocolate chip cookies, more marshmallows or chocolate flakes and please everyone at your party.

All you need 5 minutes to throw it all into your slow cooker bowl and hot chocolate is yours!

HOW TO MAKE HOT CHOCOLATE IN A SLOW COOKER

For an incredibly creamy hot chocolate, use full fat milk and regular evaporated milk (or heavy cream). To save some calories, you can use 2% milk, low fat evaporated milk and a natural granulated sweetener.

You can use all milk if you wish and skip the evaporated milk or heavy creamy, but the addition of one of those makes your hot cocoa so creamy with a rich, velvety texture and flavour.

For the ultimate chocolate experience, you’re going to use a combination of semisweet chocolate chips and unsweetened cocoa powder. I love using Hershey’s unsweetened, but you can use a dutch process cocoa powder or any kind you have on hand. This is a very versatile and forgiving recipe to make it your own!

Throw a handful of marshmallows in right at the end, wait for them to melt, stir them through and get ready to go back to your slow cooker for seconds and thirds! The marshmallows make it even creamier with a frothy top.

WILL THE MILK CURDLE IN THE SLOW COOKER?

Not at all. With the slow cooker set to low, the ingredients heat up together slowly so the milk doesn’t “cook” or get a chance to boil.

WHY USE CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND NOT JUST COCOA POWDER?

The decadent chocolate flavour and texture provided from chocolate chips is incredible and a huge upgrade from regular hot chocolate. You can leave them out if you wish, but you won’t get the richness!

Need more hot chocolate recipes to warm up these holidays? Try these!

Classic Hot Chocolate
Nutella Hot Chocolate
Peanut Butter Nutella Hot Chocolate

Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate

Creamy and decadent hot chocolate made easy in a slow cooker with a secret ingredient to make this the BEST hot chocolate! Forget store bought stuff when you can make can an incredible hot cocoa from scratch!

PRINT SAVE go to your favorites

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 3 hrs

Total: 3 hrs 5 mins

Serves: 8 - 10 people

Ingredients

• 1.5 quarts (litres) milk, (full cream or 2%)
• 24 oz (750 ml) evaporated milk, (or 2 cups heavy cream)
• 6 oz (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
• pinch of coarse salt (optional)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup marshmallows (optional)

Instructions

• Combine all of the ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker bowl. 
• Whisk vigorously until cocoa powder has dissolved and ingredients are well combined (about 5 minutes).
• Cook for 2-3 hours on low setting while whisking occasionally to prevent the chocolate from burning on the bottom.
• When hot chocolate is ready, add marshmallows into the hot chocolate and let melt little before serving.

  Additional toppings: finely chopped (or flaked) chocolate), chocolate fudge sauce, chocolate chips, smashed candy canes.
  

Notes

Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated on the stove or in the microwave.

Nutrition

Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 151mg | Potassium: 598mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 420IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 391mg | Iron: 1.9mg