Orange hot chocolate recipe – this vegan orange hot chocolate made from almond milk with cacao powder is guaranteed to warm you up on a cold winters day.
During the winter months I simply cannot get enough of soups, stews and hot drinks. With that being said, I just had to share one of my favourite combinations – orange and chocolate. Both come together quite harmoniously in this simple vegan orange hot chocolate drink. It’s suitable for any dietary requirements, tasty and comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Before I started to focus my life around plant based milk I used to consume regular hot chocolate, cocoa. While the two aren’t the same thing for the sake of this post I’m going to refer to both terms interchangeably so stick with me.
Anyway, here the UK there’s a brand called ” Options” which was a ready made hot chocolate powdered mix. My mother used to drink all the time and she subsequently got me addicted to namely the mint and orange flavoured drinks.
As a food blogger I wanted to make my own version that was solely plant based making it suitable for those who are afflicted with lactose intolerance or vegans. I’m pleased to say I have just that, made my very own veganised orange hot chocolate from scratch.
Ingredients you will need
- Cacao powder
- Almond milk
- Agave nectar
- Orange
- Vanilla
How to make vegan hot chocolate
- Pour the almond milk into a medium sized saucepan on medium heat.
- Add the cacao powder, agave nectar, vanilla, half the juice from the orange (reserve the rest) and use a whisk to evenly combined everything together.
- Toss the peel of the orange into the saucepan and bring the saucepan to the boil while stirring.
- Once boiled reduce the saucepan to a low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove and pour the remaining orange juice into the saucepan (do a taste test to determine how much additional orange you want to any if any), stir and allow the hot chocolate to steep for 5 minutes
- Remove the peel with a slotted spoon or strain the contents in a sieve
- Serve in heatproof glasses
Notes and tips for making vegan orange hot chocolate
- I prefer to use a more neutral tasting plant based milk for this recipe. However, you are more than welcome to use cashew or hazelnut which is creamier. I wouldn’t suggest using coconut or pistachio because they will inhibit the taste and counteract the orange flavour.
- Double up by slicing the orange in half and extracting as much juice as possible. Then cut around the halves (into a spiral if you can) and this will serve as your peel.
- You can add fresh orange juice instead about 1/4 cup in two stages (during simmering and when steeping) instead if you wish. This is optional as the orange juice will make the flavour very strong.
- The longer the orange is left to seep the more intense the flavour becomes. I personally only remove the peel before I’m serving. It’s okay to leave the peel in for several hours or overnight if you want to.
- If you don’t care for a strong orange flavour only use the peel and omit the juice. This will yield a very mild taste of orange.
- You can make this recipe in a blender such as a vitamix but do make sure to pour out the hot chocolate before steeping with the rind.
Toppings
- Learn how to make your own vegan whipped cream
- Sprinkling of cacao powder
- Cacao nibs
- Orange zest
Nut milks you can use for this recipe
Raw almond milk
More chocolate drink recipes
Vegan pumpkin spice hot chocolate
Vegan Orange Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- 3 cups of almond milk 600ml
- 2 tbsp cacao
- 1/4 cup agave nectar 60ml
- 1 tsp vanilla
- The juice of an orange squeezed (see notes and tips, the amount added is optional)
- The rind/peel of a whole orange
Instructions
- Pour the almond milk into a medium sized saucepan on medium heat.
- Add the cacao powder, agave nectar, vanilla, half the juice from the orange (reserve the rest) and use a whisk to evenly combined everything together.
- Toss the peel of the orange into the saucepan and bring the saucepan to the boil while stirring.
- Once boiled reduce the saucepan to a low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove and pour the remaining orange juice into the saucepan (do a taste test to determine how much additional orange you want to any if any), stir and allow the hot chocolate to steep for 5 minutes
- Remove the peel with a slotted spoon or strain the contents in a sieve
- Serve in heatproof glasses
Notes
- I prefer to use a more neutral tasting plant based milk for this recipe. However, you are more than welcome to use cashew or hazelnut which is creamier. I wouldn't suggest using coconut or pistachio because they will inhibit the taste and counteract the orange flavour.
- Double up by removing the peel from an orange, cut it in half then extract the juice and add it to your drink.
- You can add fresh orange juice instead about 1/4 cup in two stages (during simmering and when steeping) instead if you wish. This is optional as the orange juice will make the flavour very strong.
- The longer the orange is left to seep the more intense the flavour becomes. I personally only remove the peel before I'm serving. It's okay to leave the peel in for several hours or overnight if you want to.
- If you don't care for a strong orange flavour only use the peel and omit the juice. This will yield a very mild taste of orange.
- You can make this recipe in a blender such as a vitamix but do make sure to pour out the hot chocolate before steeping with the rind.
Nutrition
I am going dairy free with my husband for weight loss purposes. I LOVE hot cocoa and dreaded having to give it up. Now I don’t have to! This one is delicious. I may have given it 5 stars had I topped it with coconut cream.
Dana, no worries! Try the coconut cream next time!! So glad to hear that you like it.
Looks delicious, another one I’m going to put on my list to try out! What have you topped it with in your pictures, some kind of vegan cream?
Let me know your thoughts on this one. This one seems to be a hint with others especially with the cold snap. The topping is whipped coconut milk, I’m going to introduce the device I used to achieve the above in a separate post.