Ceremonial Cacao Recipe: How to Make Ceremonial Cacao at Home
This is my go-to vegan ceremonial cacao recipe: 100% raw cacao melted slowly into water, softened with coconut milk, maple syrup and warming spices. Below you'll find the full ingredients and method, along with simple ways to prepare your space and yourself, so that drinking your cacao becomes a ritual rather than just another hot drink.
My favourite cacao memories are cacao ceremonies I co-hosted with a dear sister of mine on the Pacific coastline of Nicaragua—gatherings of friends sharing intentions, dancing on the beach under a full moon, sweating in a volcanic temezcal, and eating dinner by a bonfire. But you don't need a beach or a bonfire. A home kitchen and a little intention are enough.
What Makes Cacao "Ceremonial"?
Ceremonial cacao is pure, minimally processed cacao—no added sugar, no milk powders—prepared slowly and with attention. Cacao naturally contains theobromine, a gentle heart-opening stimulant, as well as flavanols that research suggests may support mood. Many people experience cacao as softening: emotions closer to the surface, the chest a little warmer, the breath a little deeper.
If you'd like to go deeper into the history of cacao, its benefits, and how to hold a full ceremony, I share all of this in How to Host Your Own Cacao Ceremony. I recommend making a cup using the recipe below as you read.
Raw cacao paste.
Measurements as a Starting Point, Intuition as the Guide
Most of my recipes don't include exact measurements because when I work with food, I approach each meal with intuition and a beginner's mind — an approach that has been an important part of my own eating disorder recovery and rebuilding a trusting relationship with food.
For this recipe, I've given you rough measurements so that you have a reliable starting point—especially if this is your first time working with cacao. But hold them as an anchor, not a rule. The body is different from day to day, and so when we follow our inner guidance, we end up giving ourselves what we truly need for our well-being at that time. Taste as you go, adjust, trust your own preferences—a cup of cacao is a small, low-stakes way of practising body trust. Some days you'll want it thick and bitter; other days, light and sweet. Both are right.
Raw cacao pods with their beans used to make ceremonial cacao.
Preparing Your Cacao: Ritual as a Cue to Your Nervous System
There is more to making ceremonial cacao than the ingredients. Ritual isn't decoration. It's information. Rituals are powerful tools that guide us through transition and transformation. They indicate a moment of marking change, a moment of turning and invite us to return to what matters. Music, scent, gratitude and intention are repeated cues that tell your nervous system: we are slowing down now; it is safe to soften, it is safe to change. Over time, these cues become an entry point into a more settled, receptive state, which is exactly the state in which cacao is best received.
Music
Put on music that makes you feel good in your heart—medicine songs, mantras, anything with uplifting lyrics. Sing along while you stir. If you would like some inspiration, you can follow my playlists on Spotify.
Clearing the Space
If it resonates, light palo santo, sage or any herbal smoke that carries the feeling of clearing for you. Please choose herbs from your region or those that are ethically sourced. Open a window, tidy the counter, light a candle. The point is less about the tool and more about marking a threshold: this time is set apart from the rest of the day.
Gratitude
Before you drink, take a moment to give thanks for the cacao itself, for the land it grew on, and for the many hands and technologies it took to create the very cacao you have in your hands. Gratitude orients us toward receiving rather than consuming.
Setting Intentions
Speak your intentions out loud as you stir, and imagine them swirling into the drink. When you drink your cacao, you are taking your own words in with it. Intentions can be around what you want to call in and what you are ready to put down. For example: I want to feel more open in my heart. I want to feel grounded in my own resilience. I am ready to soften and release what I have been carrying.
And so, with all of this in mind, I encourage you to create your own ceremonial cacao drink and see where the medicine takes you!
Warm mug of homemade vegan ceremonial cacao with coconut milk.
Vegan Ceremonial Cacao Recipe
Serves 4 — a full ceremonial serving is roughly 25g of cacao and about 200ml of liquid per person. Halve everything for a cup for two, or double it for a circle of friends.
Ingredients
100g raw ceremonial cacao paste, thinly sliced (or 1 cup / ±90g raw cacao powder plus 1–2 Tbsp cacao butter or coconut oil to restore its natural richness)
2½ cups (600ml) water
½ can (200ml) coconut milk
2–3 Tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger (or ½ tsp ground ginger)
1 tsp finely grated fresh turmeric (or ½ tsp ground turmeric)
Optional extras: sesame oil, chilli flakes, cashew butter, extra cacao butter
Method
Put on your favourite music. Clear your space. Give thanks. Set your intentions.
Bring the water to a boil in a pot, then reduce to a gentle simmer.
Add the sliced cacao paste and melt it slowly, stirring a few times. Watch as the cacao dissolves into the water. (If using cacao powder, whisk it into the simmering water until smooth, then stir in the cacao butter or coconut oil.)
Add the coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla essence, salt, ginger and turmeric — and anything else your heart desires (see optional extras).
Taste and adjust. To thicken it up, add more cacao or cashew butter. To loosen it, add more water. Serve warm.
PS: If you would like to add some more cosmic delight to your cacao, you can follow my magic mushroom chocolate recipe here.
From My Kitchen to Yours
However your cacao turns out, let it be an experiment in listening—to taste, to appetite, to what your body is asking for today. If that kind of listening feels far away, and you are longing to feel more at home in yourself and in your relationship with food, I would love to be in the room with you. You can read more about working with me 1:1 here.
I'd also love to hear about your cacao journey—leave a comment below or pop me a DM on Instagram at @francescaeatsroses.
Francesca Rose 🌹
Continue Your Journey
How to Host Your Own Cacao Ceremony — the history, benefits and full ceremony guide
Magic Mushroom Chocolate Recipe — for a more cosmic cup
Coaching — 1:1 support for your relationship with food and body
Downloads — including a free journal companion and an 8-minute somatic audio to settle your nervous system before ceremony
Want to dance? Join our guided dance meditation for the Scorpio Full Moon below.
A guided dance meditation for the Scorpio Full Moon
Photo credit to Sigmund, Viacheslav Bublyk and Ly Le Minh on Unsplash
