Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Love that sweet and salty combination? This Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is for you! With its tasty mix of hot chocolate, creamy caramel, and sea salt, a warm mug full is just perfect for cool-weather sipping. Prepare this recipe on the stove top or in the slow cooker for serving ease.
Salted caramel is such a wonderful mix of the sweet-salty flavor we all love. It pops up in so many sweet treats, from salted caramel cupcakes, to cookies, to brownies, fudge, and even salted caramel krispie treats.
So hey, why not enjoy it in hot chocolate too?
Why not indeed. Because the salted caramel flavor of this Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is divine. It's a fabulous mix of that sweet-salty combination we love.
Love that sweet and salty combination? This Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is for you!
This recipe came about when my daughter and I were playing around with hot chocolate recipes one Saturday afternoon. We had tons of fun testing multiple variations of hot chocolate from scratch to figure out the absolute best hot chocolate recipe, and then pitting that final result up against our homemade hot chocolate mix.
After that, we turned to trying out caramel hot chocolate combinations -- which led to our slow cooker caramel hot chocolate recipe.
Naturally, the next question was how would salted caramel hot chocolate be?
So we set out doing some tests to answer that exact question. -- And discovered that Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is indeed a delicious thing.
In working through our tests to figure out our Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate recipe, we started by simply sprinkling a little sea salt on top of a mug of our slow cooker caramel hot chocolate. It was good, which led us to experimenting with mixing salt into the actual hot chocolate itself.
With mixing salt into the batch of hot chocolate? -- the result was even better.
We used our made-from-scratch BEST hot chocolate recipe as the base of our Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. Then added in a little caramel ice cream topping for the caramel flavor, and a touch of sea salt for the salty part.
It doesn't take a lot of salt to achieve the desired sweet-and-salty flavor combination -- just 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon sea salt for a full batch of hot chocolate does the trick.
We found it doesn't take a lot of salt to achieve the desired sweet-and-salty flavor combination -- just 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon sea salt for a full batch of hot chocolate does the trick. Adjust the exact amount to suit your personal taste.
Do be careful with the salt, starting on the low range of the amount first. Stir it in, taste, and adjust up bit by bit if desired. The mixture can go to the "too salty" side fairly quickly if you're not careful, thus missing the mark on that beloved sweet-salty flavor altogether.
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate can be made on the stove top or in the slow cooker. Both ways are super easy!
To whip up a batch on the stove top, place a combination of milk and 1/2 & 1/2 in a saucepan or Dutch oven. Then heat the mixture over medium heat until its just beginning to simmer.
Remove the pot from the heat and add in milk chocolate chips, some caramel ice cream topping, a bit of vanilla extract, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt.
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate can be made on the stove top or in the slow cooker. Both ways are super easy!
It's important to use sea salt -- not regular table salt -- in this recipe. If you don't have sea salt, use kosher salt instead. But don't use regular table salt, as it's more intensely salty than sea salt and kosher salts and will make the finished hot chocolate too over-the-top salty.
Once the chocolate chips, caramel, and salt have been added, return the pot to low heat on the stove top and whisk until the chocolate is fully melted. That's it! Super easy.
To make a batch of Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate in the slow cooker, place all the ingredients in a crock pot. Then cook on the LOW setting for about 2 - 3 hours until the mixture is creamy and all the chocolate chips have melted. Stir the mixture about every 30 minutes or so while its cooking.
Once the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate mixture is ready, spoon it into mugs, top each mug with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel ice cream topping, and serve it up.
It's a warm mug full of sweet-salty deliciousness that's just perfect for cool-weather sipping!
It's a warm mug full of sweet-salty deliciousness that's just perfect for cool-weather sipping!
Check out these other tasty hot chocolate recipes:
- Slow Cooker Caramel Hot Chocolate
- The BEST Hot Chocolate (Slow Cooker or Stove Top)
- Peppermint Patty Hot Chocolate
- Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
- Hot Chocolate Martini
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Yield: about 7 cups
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Love that sweet and salty combination? This Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is for you! With its tasty mix of hot chocolate, creamy caramel, and sea salt, a warm mug full is just perfect for cool-weather sipping. Prepare this recipe on the stove top or in the slow cooker for serving ease.
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 10 Mtotal time: 20 M
ingredients:
- 4 c. whole milk
- 2 c. 1/2 & 1/2
- 12 oz. (2 c.) milk chocolate chips
- 1/3 c. + 1 T. caramel ice cream topping
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. sea salt, to taste
- whipped cream, additional caramel ice cream topping & a tiny sprinkling of sea salt, for garnish
instructions:
How to make Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Stove Top Directions:
- Place milk and 1/2 & 1/2 in a saucepan or Dutch oven. Heat over medium heat until simmering.
- Remove pot from the heat and add the milk chocolate chips, caramel ice cream topping, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt.
- Reduce heat to low, return pot to the heat, and whisk until the chocolate is fully melted.
- Taste. Add up to 1/8 teaspoon more sea salt, to taste.
- Spoon into mugs and top each mug with whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel ice cream topping, and a tiny sprinkling of sea salt, as desired.
Slow Cooker Directions:
- Place milk, 1/2 & 1/2, milk chocolate chips, caramel ice cream topping, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt in a slow cooker. Cook on LOW setting for 2 - 3 hours until creamy and all chocolate chips are melted, stirring about every 30 minutes.
- Taste. Add up to 1/8 teaspoon more sea salt, to taste.
- Spoon into mugs and top each mug with whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel ice cream topping, and a tiny sprinkling of sea salt, as desired.
- Keep warm for several hours with the slow cooker on the WARM or LOW setting.
TRACEY'S NOTES:
- If you'd like a more dark chocolate taste, use 1 1/2 c. milk chocolate chips + 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips. While you can certainly make this with semi-sweet chocolate chips alone if you'd like, we like it much better with all milk chocolate or a mix of the two.
- Use sea salt or kosher salt in this recipe instead of regular table salt. -- Sea salt and kosher salt have a less intense salty flavor than regular salt.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated later on the stove top or in the microwave.
You might also like these other delicious drinks:
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