Easy Golden Cacao Turmeric Latte Recipe (Vegan) | Veggiekins Blog (2024)

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A caffeine-free cacao, cinnamon-spiced, turmeric latte. Perfect for those who don’t love the taste of turmeric but love the health benefits!

What is a Turmeric Latte?

A turmeric latte, also known as a golden milk latte, is a warm drink made with turmeric, milk (or a plant-based alternative), sweetener, and warming spice like cinnamon and ground or fresh ginger. Turmeric has a distinctive golden hue and flavor– hence the name “golden latte.”

The drink is known for its potential health benefits due to curcumin, a compound in turmeric with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Some companies offer a turmeric latte mix, but it’s sooooo much better made at home!

What are the Health Benefits of a Turmeric Latte?

To summarize, turmeric’s main active ingredient, curcumin, has great anti-inflammatory properties. This makes it an especially beneficial ingredient for individuals with autoimmune diseases, arthritis in particular. Honestly, most people because inflammation is a major cause of a lot of discomfort and many diseases.

It has been linked to joint pain relief, improved digestion, healthy blood flow, immune system support, and more. With a little bit of research, you can find a lot of additional proven health benefits. The best part is that it’s a natural product versus a manufactured supplement or drug.

What Makes This Recipe Great

I might be the only one, but I’m just going to say it–I hate the taste of turmeric. I really, truly, deeply hate it, and I don’t understand how people consume it straight up (#healthgoals), but I don’t hate the health benefits of turmeric. In fact, I love the health benefits and also used to love the way I felt back when I used to force myself to chug my golden latte because I actually could feel the difference.

This Golden Cacao Latte recipe, or Turmeric Hot Chocolate, or Turmeric Latte for People Who Hate Turmeric recipe, was a result of my trying to find a way to consume turmeric in a way that was actually enjoyable. So, if you’re looking for a way to consume turmeric and reap health gains in a way that actually tastes good, or just love the combination of turmeric and chocolate, this one’s for you!

The perfect way to get all the anti-inflammatory benefits without dreading the taste. Plus, it’s caffeine-free so you can enjoy it any time of day (your new favorite drink, right?!).

How to Make a Turmeric Latte

I’m providing my base recipe below, and I want to call out a few things that you can play around with and a few things I recommend against playing around with. First of all, I use ground turmeric powder in my recipe, but you can, of course, always opt for fresh turmeric root.

If you’re in the I-don’t-like-how-turmeric-tastes boat with me, though, I’d recommend sticking with powder because the root is a lot more intense in flavour as you can imagine.

As with most of my recipes, you can and should adjust the flavor, especially because when you first start out drinking turmeric, you may have a lower tolerance for the flavour. As you continue to drink this latte and “graduate,” you might find that your tastebuds become a little more accustomed to the spice and may then want to decrease the sweetness, cinnamon, or cacao powder.

Ingredient Notes

• nondairy milk of choice: Don’t substitute the dairy-free milk for just water because the creaminess really adds to the flavour of this latte, AND it’s important to consume turmeric with some kind of healthy fat for best absorption as well. I personally use homemade cashew milk and almond milk made in my Almond Cow machine, but coconut milk works especially well, too. You can really use any type of milk– oat milk, regular milk (if not vegan), or your favorite type.
• hot water
• ground turmeric
• ground Ceylon cinnamon: I personally use Ceylon cinnamon in my sweet dishes. There are 2 main varieties, Ceylon and Cassia. The difference is slight, but Ceylon has a bit more of a sweet taste to it, so it works best in desserts, whereas Cassia is great for cooking savoury dishes. Sub for regular ground cinnamon if you have no idea which one you have!
• cacao powder
• vanilla extract
• Medjool date: Pitted* OR tsp of maple syrup or other sweetener.
• teeny tiny pinch of ground black pepper: Black pepper also helps to enhance the absorption of curcumin from the turmeric significantly. It’s beneficial to pair the two, and I promise that, especially in this recipe, you won’t taste it at all.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Bring water to a boil in a small pot or small saucepan. You can also use hot milk, but I prefer combining cold non-dairy milk plus hot boiling water to reach the perfect, instantly drinkable temperature right off the bat. Also, it’s easier to clean the pot out when just boiling water.
2. In a high-speed blender, combine all the ingredients and blend on high until completely smooth. You should end up with a really smooth beverage with a nice foam on top.
3. Give your latte a taste and add additional ingredients as needed. I recommend adding additional cacao or sweetener if it still tastes strong and bitter to you.
4. You can top it with additional cacao, a sprinkle of cinnamon cinnamon, or turmeric, but I added the turmeric on top for garnish for the photo. If you don’t like turmeric, I would not recommend sprinkling it on top. You can also add a bit of ground ginger if desired– it’s all personal preference!

Secrets to Success

• If your Medjool date isn’t super soft, soak it in water the night before or in hot water to make it easier to blend.
• Also you can also cook savoury dishes with turmeric, and I don’t mind it at all in curries, stews, and with other spices. So if drinking turmeric STILL doesn’t appeal to you after you try this recipe, give a savoury dish a shot. You probably eat dishes already that contain turmeric that you don’t notice!
• To make an Iced Turmeric Latte, simply let the latte cool and pour it over a glass of ice.

More Latte Recipes

If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know what you think with a comment below! Follow me on Instagram for more delicious recipes!

Love & turmeric health gains,