Looking for vegan hot chocolate mix brands or wondering whether hot chocolate is vegan? We’re glad you’re here!
In this article, we’ll explore…
- Is Hot Chocolate Vegan?
- Delicious vegan hot cocoa brands you can find online and in stores.
- Which ingredients you should beware of.
Let’s get started!
Don’t have time to read? Here’s a quick summary of the products we recommend.
Is Hot Chocolate Vegan?
From our research, we found that many hot chocolate brands aren’t vegan, but there are also plenty that are!
So the answer is it depends.
But you should always omit the marshmallows unless, of course, you were going to get some vegan ones!
See vegan marshmallow brands here.
Vegan Hot Chocolate Mix Brands
Here are the best vegan hot chocolate brands we could find.
We haven’t included any straight cocoa or cacao powders in this list, both because they are almost always vegan and because they aren’t a true hot cocoa mix.
The only exception is the Ghirardelli cocoa powder because it’s massively popular as a hot cocoa mix, and we felt it shouldn’t be left off the list.
1. Moonstruck Classic Hot Chocolate
Moonstruck is a popular brand that makes simple, tasty hot chocolate mixes. Their packaging is cute, and they also do a range of chocolate blocks. They have three mixes, all of which are vegan: Classic, Mayan (which is flavored with almond and cinnamon), and Dark.
2. Starbucks Hot Cocoa Double Chocolate
Starbucks has a couple of hot cocoa mixes that are accidentally vegan. Because they’re accidentally vegan, you’ll need to make sure that the ingredients haven’t changed when you buy these products. The Mocha Powder and the Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa are their two vegan options.
3. Four Sigmatic Hot Cacao Mix
Check out this vegan starter kit
For healthy options, there’s Four Sigmatic. The products from this company are less indulgent hot cocoas than healthy, before-bed drinks that are made with mushrooms (yes, mushrooms) to help reduce stress, prevent headaches, and relax you. They’re labeled vegan, so if you’re looking for a way to de-stress and you love chocolate, give the Mushroom Hot Cacao Mix – either with Reishi or with Cordyceps – ago.
4. Lakanto Drinking Chocolate
Lakanto is another brand that offers a healthier alternative to hot cocoa. Their Drinking Chocolate is vegan, probiotic, zero-calorie, sugar-free, and made with monk fruit as a sweetener instead of stevia. So if you don’t like the taste of stevia, this is a great alternative.
5. Suchard Kakao Express
German brand Suchard offers Kakao Express, which is a classic cacao mix that is listed as vegan.
6. Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa
As mentioned, this list has one pure cocoa powder: Ghirardelli, which makes chocolate blocks and high-quality cocoa powders. The Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa Powder is one of these powders, a popular favorite. It’s described as being rich and full of chocolate flavor but not sweet; when making your hot cocoa, you can add sweetener if you would like.
Which Can You Find in Stores?
There are a couple of brands to look out for in stores. Most are accidentally vegan, so make sure you check the ingredients every time you buy – they can change. Use any of the store locators below to see if you can find them near you!
Ghirardelli is the obvious choice. Their numerous accidentally vegan options can be found at many stores, including Walmart and Target.
If you’re on the west coast, look out for Cacoco, which has an assortment of hot cocoa mixes that are often vegan. Cacoco is found in natural health stores and in Whole Foods.
NibMor does a range of hot cocoa mixes, almost all vegan. They can be found at various stores across the country.
There are undoubtedly plenty more accidentally vegan options – read the back of some labels, and you’re sure to find something you love. You can pick up some plain cocoa powder or chocolate bar and melt them into some plant milk if all else fails!
What Ingredients to Look Out For?
There is only one main ingredient that you need to look out for, which is common in many cocoa mixes: milk. This can be found under Myriad of different names, including ‘whey’, ‘milk powder’, and the vague ‘dairy ingredients’. Most countries require allergens to be listed at the bottom of the ingredients list, so it’s quick to look here to see if there’s any milk present. However, you should always look over the ingredients to be sure.
Other additives may not be vegan. Niacin, listed in many hot cocoa mixes, can be sourced from non-vegan products. However, given that there’s only a slim possibility that it is non-vegan and such a small component of most mixes, we recommend that you don’t worry too much about it. It’s better to be 99.9% vegan than 0% vegan, after all – don’t sweat the small stuff like sugar either.
Do You One to Add?
If you know of a vegan hot chocolate brand that should be on this list, then please let us know in the comments!
We love discovering new vegan products and letting others know about them.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
Want to take all of the guess-work around going vegan?
Click here to check out the Vegan Starter Kit.
