We’re jumping into Colombian food on The Foreign Fork, which means that we get to experience a lot of wonderfully delicious Colombian recipes! I’ve been lucky enough to try recipes for tostones, arepas, bandeja paisa, and now it’s time for dessert. May I present to you: Colombian Hot Chocolate with Cheese.
Hello Reader! I try my hardest to research recipes as best as I can before posting to ensure I am representing each culture correctly. If this recipe is from your country and I have made a mistake or you have suggestions for how to make it more authentic, I would love to hear! Please leave a comment below letting me know what should be different, and I will rework the recipe. It is always my intention to pay homage and respect to each cultural dish that I cook. Thanks for reading!
This dish is pretty interesting, because Colombians will make homemade hot chocolate and then add a soft cheese into the bottom of the cup. The cheese will melt into the hot chocolate, and then they will drink it all at once.
It sounds like a unique combo to those of us that aren’t Colombian, but…. There’s a reason they do it you guys. And that’s because it’s GOOD!
The cheese melts into the chocolate, and makes the drink extra thick and creamy. Plus, there’s a tiny bit of a salt hint to the recipe as well. Little bit salty, a whole lotta sweet? That’s the magic formula, people! I’m on board.
What Ingredients are in this Colombian Hot Chocolate with Cheese?
2% milk
High quality dark chocolate bar
Sugar
Mozzarella Cheese
For full ingredient measurements, visit the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Do I Need Special Tools to Make this Recipe?
Yes and no. In Colombia it’s common to use a chocolatera to heat the milk and the chocolate and then whisk it up with a molinillo.
Because I don’t live in Colombia, I didn’t use these tools. Instead, I simply heated the milk and chocolate in a pot on the stove and whisked everything with a whisk. If you would like to use the true Colombian tools, you can find the chocolatera and the molinillo in a package on Amazon.
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How to Make this Recipe
In a medium pot, heat the milk over the stove until warm, stirring constantly.
Add the chocolate into the milk and stir until the chocolate melts and combines with the milk. Add the sugar, then keep stirring, bringing the milk to a low boil.
Add a few cubes of mozzarella cheese into the bottom of two mugs. Pour half of the hot chocolate into each mug, and let sit for 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts.
Enjoy! Leave a comment on this post letting me know what you thought.
What Makes this Colombian Hot Chocolate Special?
This is not the Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate you remember from your childhood. This is real, true, authentic, delicious hot chocolate. You make this hot chocolate by melting a chocolate bar into milk, which turns your drink into a true treat.
Then, adding the cheese into the chocolate mix only succeeds in making this drink better. Mozzarella isn’t a strongly-flavored cheese, so the cheese taste isn’t very prominent in the drink. Instead, when the mozzarella melts, it thickens the drink and add just a tiny bit of saltiness to the bottom of the glass.
By the time you get your last few sips of hot chocolate, the salty-sweet combination of flavors is amazing!
Colombian Hot Chocolate with Cheese Tradition
Putting fresh cheese in their hot chocolate is a very common practice amongst Colombians. So common, in fact, that many Colombians don’t even realize that the rest of the world doesn’t follow the same practice! This tradition is also common with coffee.
Sometimes, after the Colombians put cheese in their drinks, they’ll then dip their bread in it as well. Okay so chocolate, cheese, AND bread? I think Colombians have it figured out.
Did you like this Colombian Hot Chocolate with Cheese? If so, post a picture to Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #TheForeignFork and tag @TheForeignFork. And if you liked recipe, you might also like these other drink recipes from around the world:
- Mango Pineapple Smoothie with Ginger and Cardamom
- Iced Coffee with Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Hibiscus Tea with Strawberry and Basil
- Butter Tea from Bhutan
Colombian Hot Chocolate and Cheese
Equipment
- Pot(s)
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 1 ½ tbsp sugar
- 2 ¼ oz of a dark chocolate bar, chopped
- 1 oz Mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes
Instructions
- In a medium pot, heat the milk over the stove until warm, stirring constantly.
- Add the chocolate into the milk and stir until the chocolate melts and combines with the milk. Add the sugar. Keep stirring, bringing the milk to a low boil.
- Add a few cubes of mozzarella cheese into the bottom of two mugs. Pour half of the hot chocolate into each mug, and let sit for 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts.
- Enjoy! Leave a comment on this post letting me know what you thought.
Nicole Padilla says
Really appreciate somebody posting the recipe!! I’m not Colombian but I am half Ecuadorian so I grew up with this tradition. I just use Ecuadorian chocolate! And my family grew up adding a stick of cinnamon while it’s being made (game changer) and we used a white queso fresco (the amount of Ecuadorian cheese saved in my freezer is unreal) and for sure gotta have that bread for dipping!!
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for the kind review!! This is one of my favorite simple recipes 🙂 I have to remember the bread for next time!
Julian says
grew up doing this every morning! We did this using a type of Colombian cheese called doble crema which is almost like a butterkase in texture, flavorwise slightly sharp and very buttery, but mozzarella also works and I used it as well. A really good cheese to use as well is Gouda!
The Foreign Fork says
It’s so fun to hear from people that grew up on this tradition! I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for Doble Crema 🙂
Connie says
I read somewhere that there is no dairy in their hot chocolate, just boiling water and chocolate. The cheese makes up for that, it what gives it the creaminess. The don’t use sugar either.
Maybe somebody can confirm if this is correct.
The Foreign Fork says
Yes I would love to know this too! The other recipes I’ve seen had milk, but definitely am open to someone letting me know if this is incorrect 🙂
@fuccpenta says
No, that’s not correct. We use milk in our hot chocolate. This recipe is great by the way! You should try it.
george says
Great Colombian milk chocolate.
The Foreign Fork says
Thank you! So glad you liked it!
Melanie Sakowski says
Ok this sounds so yum- have you heard of gjetost cheese? It’s nice with coffee; a Norwegian treat. I’m wondering what it would be like with this recipe, and using cacao paste instead of choc- more depth in the flavour.
The Foreign Fork says
I hadn’t but I just looked it up! It sounds awesome. The mozzarella is good because it doesn’t have a strong cheese taste. I’d love to hear how it is if you try it out!
Katie Jo says
This was seriously such an easy way to make hot chocolate! I was worried that the bar chunks wouldn’t melt fully and it would be grainy, but it was creamy and delicious!
I loved the mozzarella addition, but my husband wasn’t a fan of the texture of the melty cheese in his cocoa lol. He liked it until he slurped up a chunk of cheese though!!
Dan Cline says
This sounds awesomely rich. We will try it for sure Alex !!!
Gib says
Sounds delicious thank you
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
My pleasure Gib 🙂
Veronica isaacs says
Delicious…… loved it!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Aw yay! I’m so glad you loved it!!
LAHOOD ALGER says
Great recipe
Thank you
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Thank YOU!
Angela Freeman says
I love the ForeignFork recipes!!!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Aw thank you so much!! I love that you love them!