The best 8 hot chocolates to savor this winter

Have you been buying the same hot chocolate mix for years? You might want to rethink that purchase. Consumer Reports recently evaluated eight popular hot chocolate products, and we found significant differences among them when it comes to nutrition, ingredients, and price per cup.

Ingredient shockers

If you go to the grocery store and compare the Nutrition Facts panels of dry mix cocoa packets and canisters, it may seem like a serving is pretty much the same. But a closer look at the ingredients list reveals that some hot chocolate mixes include things you probably want to avoid, such as the following:

• Partially hydrogenated oils. These contain trans fats, which may increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. We found them in two Land O'Lakes products: Classics Chocolate Supreme and Classics Caramel.
• Artificial sweeteners and hidden sugars. We found artificial sweeteners in Swiss Miss Classics Milk Chocolate and Nestlé Rich Milk Chocolate mixes, even though they weren't marketed as low sugar or low calorie. We also found ingredients that don't sound like sugar, but are—including corn syrup and corn-syrup solids—in those and other brands.
• Gums and artificial flavors. Both are used to boost texture and taste.

There are some nutrition differences among hot chocolate mixes as well. Among the eight we tested, calories per serving ranged from 80 to 140 and fat per serving from 0 to 3 grams (both fat and calories increase if cocoa is made with milk containing fat vs. being made with just water). Sodium counts ranged from 0 to 270 milligrams. The bottom line: Read the labels.

Based on our tests, below, in alphabetical order, are four Smart Picks of brands with the best hot chocolate ingredients, taste, and price.

Find more reviews and Ratings in our Food & Drink Guide.  

*All nutrition info per dry mix only (no water or milk added)

**Price is for mix only; one serving. Price per serving is based on one price purchased in a grocery store in the New York area.

—Ian Landau