Homemade chocolate milk for one (easily doubled!) is such a fun and easy recipe drink for kids. Many learn how to make chocolate milk with chocolate syrup, but this easy drink uses cocoa powder. We turned ours into Monster Milk with marshmallows for a little extra drink treat perfect for Halloween recipes or monster theme parties.
How To Make Homemade Chocolate Milk
For homemade chocolate milk mix, you’ll need:
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Sugar
- Whole milk
You can make homemade chocolate milk with a variety of things:
- Cocoa powder
- Chocolate powder (like Nesquick)
- Chocolate bars
- Chocolate chips
- Nutella
- & MORE!
CHECK OUT THIS FRIENDLY MONSTERS ACTIVITY PACK – A PERFECT KIDS’ PRINTABLE TO PAIR WITH THIS RECIPE!
Kid Printables Coloring Pages & MORE!
Can you make chocolate with cocoa powder?
Can you make chocolate milk with cocoa powder? YES, you can make homemade chocolate milk with cocoa powder with a bit of effort (since the cocoa powder and milk separate easily).
In fact, that’s the what’s in our Monster Milk recipe that we’ll share in just a bit! If you heat it up, you also have a hot chocolate milk recipe! (Some people also add a pinch of salt for salted chocolate milk.)
Now, let’s talk about how to dissolve chocolate in milk (which can be a challenge sometimes!).
Does cocoa powder mix with milk?
Cocoa powder and milk can be hard to stir and remain mixed. A problem with mixing cocoa powder into cold milk is that it can turn lumpy. This just means that you haven’t continued stirring it enough! One way to combat this is to put your milk and cocoa powder in a jar with a lid and shake before drinking.
How to keep cocoa powder from clumping:
The trick is to add the cocoa powder, sugar, and a little milk first, then stir. You will get a thick, sludge mixture. Just continue stirring quickly until the lumps are gone. (This is how you make your own homemade chocolate milk syrup!) Then, pour in the rest of the milk and stir until smooth.
If the milk sits for a bit, the cocoa powder may be clumpy at the bottom of the cup. Just stir again, or shake in a container with a lid, until the chocolate is dissolved.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
How To Make Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipe with Toppings
Making Monster Milk
If you want to make your homemade chocolate milk into Monster Milk (like we did for fun Halloween kids’ drinks), you’ll also need:
- Large marshmallows
- Black food gel
- Yellow decorating sugar (or sugar color of choice)
Simple Chocolate Milk Recipe
Homemade Chocolate Milk (aka: Monster Milk)
Homemade chocolate milk is so easy that you'll never need that chocolate syrup again! We added some extra fun to ours and made it Monster Milk, but you can (obviously) leave that part out if you don't want to have extra fun. You can also heat this up and it makes for a really creamy (and yummy) hot cocoa, too!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 8 ounces whole milk
- Large marshmallows, (optional, if making Monster Milk)
- Colored decorating sugar (we used yellow), (optional, if making Monster Milk)
- Black decorating gel, (optional, if making Monster Milk)
Instructions
- In a jar or container with lid, add cocoa powder and sugar. Stir or shake to mix.
- To the cocoa powder and sugar mixture, pour just enough milk into glass to cover mixture. Vigorously shake or stir mixture until all clumps have disappeared and you have a thick mixture.
- Slowly add remaining milk, stirring or shaking until as you go until all milk has been added and is completely mixed, with no clumps remaining.
- Serve immediately.
TO MAKE MONSTER MILK
- Before adding ingredients to glass, dip rim of glass into water.
- Place colored sugar in a saucer. Roll rim of wet glass in sugar until rim is covered. Set aside to dry.
- Using the decorating gel, draw faces on the marshmallows. Set aside to dry. (The gel will still have a sticky texture, even after it sits.)
- Follow the instructions above for making the homemade chocolate milk. Carefully pour into the prepared glass. Add "monster" marshmallows, face up. ENJOY!
Notes
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for more servings.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
1Serving Size:
1 servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 111mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 33gProtein: 9g
Nutrition information is estimated. Changes to the recipe and use of different brands may cause changes to the nutritional information to vary slightly from the ones provided here.
If you’re warming this up to make into hot cocoa, you’ll definitely want to add our homemade whipped cream to it!
(Just leave out the secret ingredient when using it for hot chocolate.)
Chocolate Monster Milk paired with Leonardo, the Terrible Monster Children’s Book
While learning how to make chocolate milk from scratch (Monster Drink), pair it up with Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by the fabulous Mo Willems.
Leonardo, is really a terrible monster.
I mean, really terrible.
Can you imagine how awful it would be for a no one to think you are scary as a monster?
Well, that’s what happened to poor Leonardo.
From the book:
Leonardo is truly a terrible monster-terrible at being a monster that is.
No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to frighten anyone.
Determined to succeed, Leonardo sets himself to training and research.
Finally, he finds a nervous little boy, and scares the tuna salad out of him!
But scaring people isn’t quite as satisfying as he thought it would be.
Leonardo realizes that he might be a terrible, awful monster-but he could be a really good friend.
Listed Age Range: 3-6 years
You may know Mo (heh) from some of his other popular books like:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)
ENJOY THE HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE MILK!
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Hi, for some reason, I tried this recipe multiple times, but every time, the cocoa powder and sugar never dissolve into the milk no matter how long i mix. Why is this? Thank you!
Hey Samantha,
Thanks for the feedback. I remember we did have to mix the cocoa and sugar quite a bit to get it to dissolve. I’ll make it again soon and see if I can make some updates.