🥤 DRINK
Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate)
A block of dark cooking chocolate melted in hot water, then stretched with milk and brought to the boil, served in mugs under a heap of whipped cream.
Icelandic · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~428 cal · 8g protein · 30g carbs · 30g fat · 2g fiber · 26g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Heitt súkkulaði is Iceland's winter comfort in a cup, the hot chocolate poured at Christmas gatherings and on cold, dark afternoons, always with a generous spoonful of whipped cream on top.
What makes it Icelandic is the method. Rather than stirring cocoa powder into milk, cooks melt a bar of dark cooking chocolate, suðusúkkulaði, in a little hot water first, then add the milk and bring the pot up to the boil. The classic chocolate for it comes from Nói Síríus, the Reykjavík confectioner that has been making chocolate for Icelanders for a century, and its own recipe is exactly that: chocolate, water, milk and a pinch of salt.
It is rich and not too sweet, and families adjust it with a little sugar, vanilla or a knob of butter. It is served in mugs with cakes or Christmas cookies on the side, and in recent years with a festive touch such as crushed peppermint candy over the cream.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 200 g dark cooking chocolate (suðusúkkulaði), chopped, Síríus in Iceland; any semi-sweet chocolate of about 50% cocoa works
- 1 cup water
- 1 l whole milk
- a pinch salt
- to taste sugar (optional)
- 250 ml whipping cream, to serve
Instructions
- 1Bring the water to the boil in a heavy saucepan, turn the heat down low and add the chopped chocolate.
- 2Stir until the chocolate has melted into a smooth, glossy liquid with the water.✎ Chef’s noteMelting the chocolate in water first, before any milk goes in, is the Icelandic way. It stops the chocolate seizing and gives a silky drink.
- 3Pour in the milk a little at a time, stirring, then add the salt and heat until the hot chocolate just comes to the boil, stirring so it does not catch on the bottom.
- 4Taste and stir in a little sugar if you like it sweeter.
- 5Whip the cream to soft peaks.
- 6Pour the hot chocolate into mugs and top each one with a big spoonful of whipped cream. Serve with cakes or Christmas cookies.
Icelandic Christmas and winter tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Reykjavík. The rye bread is baked by geology. Hverabraud is a dark, sweet, dense loaf sealed into a container and buried near a hot spring, where ground heat cooks it slowly for the best part of a day. The lamb comes off the same landscape, grazing loose on wild herbs through the short summer.
🗺️
Iceland. The old preservation methods are still visible. Hardfiskur is wind-dried fish torn into strips and eaten with butter; hakarl is Greenland shark, cured for months because it cannot be eaten fresh; and rugbraud is baked as hverabraud, buried in the ground near a hot spring and left overnight to steam itself dark and sweet. Plokkfiskur, by contrast, uses fresh boiled fish.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Iceland
PlokkfiskurIceland’s "plucked fish": cod and potatoes folded into a warm, oniony white sauce, served with dark rye and butter.
Hafragrautur (Icelandic Oat Porridge)Creamy stovetop oat porridge simmered with a pinch of salt, served the Icelandic way with a spoon of skyr, brown sugar, and butter.
PylsurIceland's lamb-based hot dog with crispy and raw onions, remoulade, and a sweet-brown mustard, a Reykjavik institution.
Browse all Iceland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate)?
A block of dark cooking chocolate melted in hot water, then stretched with milk and brought to the boil, served in mugs under a heap of whipped cream.
Where does Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) come from?
Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) is an Icelandic dish from Reykjavík, Iceland.
Can Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Heitt Súkkulaði (Icelandic Hot Chocolate) take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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