Make Your Own Chocolate Milk Mix

Published on Thursday, October 6, 2011, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

Most kids (and many adults) have tried to make chocolate milk by dumping Hershey's dry cocoa and sugar into milk, only to be stymied by intractable clumps. Nesquik and other chocolate-milk powders exist for this express purpose, to make the cocoa dissolve in the milk. How do they do it?

"Easy," says author and nutritionist Marion Nestle. "It’s powdered very fine." In addition, Nestle adds, Nesquik contains soy lecithin, an emulsifier that helps the cocoa liquefy more easily. "But mostly it's particle size."

My problem as a chocolate-milk fan? Nesquik tastes God-awful. It's about as chocolaty as a brown crayon. "I'm sure they could use a darker chocolate and engineer it to [dissolve in milk]," says Nestle. "There must not be a market for it. Note that sugar is ingredient number one. This is mostly sugar with a little chocolate added."

Melanie Auxer, director of food science and technology for Auntie Anne's Pretzels, pins Nesquik's dissolving qualities on soy lecithin, not particle size. This made me wonder: Could I go get some of the soy lecithin granules sold in health food stores, powder them and the other ingredients finely, and make my own, better-tasting Nesquik?

Many, many batches of greasy, clumpy milk later, the definitive answer is "no." Whatever it is we get in health food stores, it's not the same soy lecithin that Nestlé (the company, not the nutritionist) uses to make Nesquik. It wouldn't dissolve with the cocoa any way I tried it: straight from the package, whirred in the food processor, crushed in a mortar and pestle.

The answer turned out to be in the method, not the ingredients. To make a cup of chocolate milk, mix 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Add in 1 tablespoon of milk and stir hard until the cocoa, sugar, and milk form a slurry. Add 8 ounces of milk, stir again, and drink. Skim milk works best for this recipe.

Or, if you have children or others who want chocolate milk without having to basically make a roux in the glass, try this: Mix 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons nonfat milk. Add the mixture to 8 ounces cold water and stir. Chocotastic! You can make this mix in bulk by mixing a cup each of nonfat milk and cocoa powder with 3/4 cup sugar. Store in a jar or lidded container; add 5 tablespoons of mix for each cup of water and stir.

Image source: Jakub Pavlinec/Shutterstock

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POST A COMMENT |7 Comments

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  • You can make a very good chocolate milk by adding a small amount of boiling water to 1 tbsp of cocoa powder, mixing it up and then adding the milk afterwards. It may not be (as cold) as it otherwise would be, but the cocoa is well-mixed in. I would not be surprised if the soy lecithin would work with this method as well, requiring the heated water to dissolve it properly, thereby giving you the...+READ

    You can make a very good chocolate milk by adding a small amount of boiling water to 1 tbsp of cocoa powder, mixing it up and then adding the milk afterwards. It may not be (as cold) as it otherwise would be, but the cocoa is well-mixed in. I would not be surprised if the soy lecithin would work with this method as well, requiring the heated water to dissolve it properly, thereby giving you the benefit of the emulsion so that you don't need to constantly restir it as you drink it to avoid the cocoa falling to the bottom of the glass and turning into a thick sludge.-COLLAPSE

  • Hi there, Just tried this. For us 2 T of Cocoa Powder was too much. We went with 1 T Cocoa and 1 1/2+ T sugar. Added 2 T milk to the sugar/ cocoa mixture and stirred vigorously. It does make good 'chocolatey' milk. You get all the antioxidants and none of the less desirable artificial ingredients. If you play around with the Sugar/ Cocoa ratio you'll be sure to find something that works for you!...+READ

    Hi there, Just tried this. For us 2 T of Cocoa Powder was too much. We went with 1 T Cocoa and 1 1/2+ T sugar. Added 2 T milk to the sugar/ cocoa mixture and stirred vigorously. It does make good 'chocolatey' milk. You get all the antioxidants and none of the less desirable artificial ingredients. If you play around with the Sugar/ Cocoa ratio you'll be sure to find something that works for you! Thanks for the info.-COLLAPSE

  • I assume this mix: (Mix 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons nonfat milk. Add the mixture to 8 ounces cold water and stir) is made with nonfat milk powder?

  • was she so anti-quik when she was 5 ?

  • I discovered that slurry method a few weeks ago and its completely revolutionaized my hot cocoa recipes. Good strong baking cocoa mixed with some spices, milk, and agave and I have an amazing hot cocoa rather than a mug full of chunky bits.

  • Ovaltine tastes just as bad. Brown crayon! I like the malt mix, becuase I like the taste of malt, but you could close your eyes and you wouldn't know chocolate was anywhere in the vicinity.

  • I think i'll just stick with ovaltine....