A quick recipe for rich, creamy, and slightly spicy Mexican hot chocolate. One sip and you’ll never go back to those packets again.

*This post was originally published on 12/8/2011. The pictures and recipe have been updated. This recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate might take a few minutes longer than a pre-made hot chocolate mix but it’s worth every second. A rich, creamy, perfectly spicy and fragrant mug will warm you up even on the coldest winter day. Don’t forget the marshmallows or whipped cream topping!

Last year I was in New York City meeting a friend for lunch in Chelsea market. After stuffing our faces, we were walking around trying our best to resist the urge to buy all the amazing gourmet items from cheeses to every kind of olive oil you can imagine to spices and salts when we came face to face with a little shop selling hot chocolate.

I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place but it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they had Mexican hot chocolate on their menu and I was sold in about .3 seconds.

It was thick, dark, smooth and just slightly spicy.

In other words, perfection.

Lately, on nights when tea doesn’t cut it, hot chocolate has been my go to treat.

Sometimes I like sipping on this tart cherry hot chocolate, other times I like this easy pumpkin hazelnut hot chocolate but when I’m in the mood for a bit of spice, nothing beats Mexican hot chocolate.

So, I took a stab at recreating that amazing chocolaty goodness since Chelsea market is a bit too far of a hike when the craving strikes.

How To Make Mexican Hot Chocolate

Just like regular hot chocolate the main ingredients in Mexican hot chocolate are:

• any sort of milk (or non-dairy alternative)
• chocolate 
• spice

What makes it “Mexican” is that third ingredient, the addition of spice! Let’s talk about all three ingredients though because when the ingredient list is short, the quality matters a little more than usual.

Milk

The milk I use depends on my mood. If I want an indulgent, creamy and thicker Mexican hot chocolate, I use whole milk or at minimum, 2% milk.

If I want to keep things a little lighter, I’ll usually choose a non-dairy alternative milk like an unsweetened almond/coconut milk. I always choose unsweetened when I use non-dairy milks because I prefer to control the sweetness level myself by adding the sweetener of my choosing and the amounts I like.

Chocolate

I love using dark chocolate in Mexican hot chocolate. The slight bitterness goes really well with the spice in a way that milk chocolate just can’t replicate. 

I suggest using 70%-75% dark chocolate or 80% if you really love dark chocolate!

Spice

Ah, the fun part – spice!

Some recipes for Mexican hot chocolate will just use ground spices like cayenne pepper but what I think makes this Mexican hot chocolate recipe special is the addition of a dried chile pepper to the simmering hot chocolate.

The spice permeates the milk and chocolate as it simmers on the stove-top and imparts the perfect level of heat throughout. You can of course adjust the heat to your preference by adding more dried chiles or using a small one, or using just the dried chile and not adding the cayenne pepper as the recipe instructs.

A cinnamon stick, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt are also used to help balance out the spiciness of this drink.

So put down the instant Swiss Miss packets away (do people seriously still buy that stuff these days?!) and get the saucepan out.

When you can have a mug of this Mexican hot chocolate in under 20 minutes you’ll never even consider a packet hot chocolate again!

Don’t miss this coconut chai hot toddy  or this apple cinnamon tea latte either, they’re great cozy warm winter drinks too!