Keto and Low Carb Chocolate Milk?!
You can drink chocolate milk on keto! Hopefully you didn’t stop reading and run out to guzzle an entire container of chocolate milk.
The truth is store-bought chocolate milk is not even remotely low carb or keto-friendly. We check the shelves all the time and have not been able to find keto chocolate milk at stores or online.
But… that doesn’t mean you can’t make some yourself.
Let’s start by breaking down the two components of low carb chocolate milk.
Milk
All forms of dairy milk are not ideal for keto. That includes whole milk, skim milk, and lactose-free milk.
The issue lies in the amount of sugar. A glass of milk generally contains around 12g of sugar. This makes milk absolutely delicious, but also bad for keto.
There’s really no way around it. Dairy milk is out of the question.
Chocolate
The base ingredient of chocolate milk mix, cocoa, isn’t the culprit. It’s all the sugar and additives like maltodextrin that spike your insulin levels and kick you out of ketosis.
And if you try a mix that doesn’t have sugar? Added to a liquid that doesn’t contain sugar? You’re basically eating cocoa with water. No, thank you.
So what’s the solution for keto chocolate milk?
Low Carb Milk Alternatives
We have to go with non-dairy milk alternatives that are unsweetened. Normally, these are made with nuts or coconuts.
Our favorite milk for keto chocolate milk is So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage, for several reasons.
- The texture is thicker than milk, so it makes a really rich, creamy chocolate milk.
- Even though it’s called Coconut Milk, people have complained that you don’t get coconut flavor. For us, that’s great! There’s no coconut flavor that interferes with your normal chocolate milk taste.
- Coconut cream contains MCTs, which are great for keto.
We also have reviewed other milk alternatives if coconut milk isn’t your thing.
Okay, on to the chocolate!
Here you have a few choices.
The familiar classic Hershey’s chocolate syrup makes a sugar free version: Hershey’s Sugar Free Syrup. It won’t taste exactly the same as normal Hershey’s syrup but it has a similar taste profile. This is due to the erythritol content.
- 1g net carb per tablespoon
- Mostly sweetened with sugar alcohols erythritol and glycerin. There is some sucralose in there as well.
- If you’re someone who is sensitive to the taste of erythritol, you will notice the after-taste here.
- Lots of artificial flavors and additives
Another option is Nesquik’s No Sugar Added Mix. It has the uncompromised, classic Nesquik flavor.
- 4g net carbs per tablespoon— the highest of the bunch.
- There are no sugar alcohols for those of you who are sensitive.
- Maltodextrin is an ingredient which may spike your insulin.
- May want to add additional sweetener
A little extra sweetness…
If you want to add sweetness without overdoing the chocolate mix or syrup, you can add some keto-friendly sweeteners.
Our favorite is Now Foods BetterStevia. It doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste, it’s organic, and it won’t spike your blood glucose levels.
[Update 2019] We are no longer recommending ChocZero’s syrups due to the ingredient “liquid vegetable fiber” which is known to spike blood glucose levels drastically. This liquid vegetable fiber is a mix of corn and tapioca fiber syrup. Note, this ingredient is only used in ChocZero syrups and their other products do not contain it.
Our favorite option is ChocZero Honest Chocolate Syrup
ChocZero makes a ton of great keto-friendly sweets, and their chocolate syrup is no exception. Just mix some to taste into your favorite milk alternative and you’re set!
2g net carbs per tablespoonNo sugar alcohols — only sweetened with Monk Fruit ExtractNo long list of artificial ingredients
The combo of ChocZero Honest Chocolate Syrup and So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage works really well for us.
That’s it!
You’re well equipped to get out there and enjoy some keto chocolate milk! And don’t forget you can heat it up for some hot chocolate! Cheers!
You need to update this recommendation of ChocZero syrups to reflect what you discovered in your article “Tapioca Fiber or Soluble Corn Fiber: Which one is worse than sugar?” that ChocZero syrup is NOT a safe choice for keto.
Thank you so much! We missed this one but have updated the post.
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