Hotel Chocolat : Indulgent vegan chocolate truffle recipe ideas

Enjoy delectable chocolate truffles, even if you're dairy-free, with these vegan truffle recipes

At Hotel Chocolat, we believe everyone deserves to enjoy the glorious indulgence of chocolate - even if they have dietary restrictions. For us, no dairy is no problem. Our talented chocolatiers have conjured up an exquisite range of vegan truffle and chocolate recipes. From our incidentally vegan dark chocolate to our innovative Nutmilk chocolate, we have an irresistible creation for every chocolate lover.

If you're hoping to whip up your own delicious dairy-free chocolates, why not try making vegan chocolate truffles? If you're new to working with chocolate in the kitchen, this is a beginner-friendly treat to attempt. Not your everyday chocolate, but not your standard dessert, truffles are the perfect post-dinner delight for the chocolate aficionado.

Our chocolatiers adore creating these opulent ganache-based treats, so we think you will too. Here are a few utterly indulgent vegan chocolate truffle recipes. Unfortunately, we can't share our own truffle recipes (they're top secret) - but you can still taste them for yourself.

[Link] How to make vegan chocolate truffles

Before making your truffles, take a look at our article all about chocolate truffles for some more context on this delectable dessert.

Simple vegan truffles

If you've never made chocolate truffles before, you might want to start with this easy vegan truffle recipe from BBC Good Food. It only requires five ingredients and 15 minutes of prep time.

Like with most truffle recipes, the main ingredient here is dark chocolate. As it's the dominant flavour in chocolate truffles, you'll want to choose the highest quality high-cacao chocolate you can find. Our 85% Dark Chocolate Batons feature sublime notes of Ghanaian cacao and are ideal for melting down. Equally, our 100% Dark Ecuador Chocolate Batons will give your truffles the most intense cacao flavour with its unique smoky notes.

Chocolate truffles with coconut and nuts

Jamie Oliver's dairy-free chocolate truffles are an exciting and adventurous twist on the classic chocolate truffle.

Again, dark chocolate forms the truffle base, but additions of coconut, vanilla and mixed nuts bring in new textures and flavours. While the nuts and desiccated coconut add some crunch to contrast the silky smooth centre, coconut milk and oil add a subtle fragrance to this bite-sized delight.

We adore Jamie's suggestion of adding a pinch of chilli to spice things up!

[Link] Hard-shell vegan chocolate truffles

Here at Hotel Chocolat, some of our most heavenly chocolates have a set chocolate coating to contrast a smooth, soft filling. We can't get enough of this blend of textures.

With this in mind, we've found this vegan chocolate truffle recipe featuring a ganache centre smothered in hard dark chocolate. Bite through the chocolate shell and experience delightful cacao flavours and tones in the indulgent truffle core. This is a great recipe to try out if you have a little more time on your hands.

Choosing the best chocolate for truffles

As we've mentioned, the key to creating the most indulgent truffles is to make them with high-quality chocolate. To us 'high-quality' means a few things. Not only should chocolate be packed with expertly selected cacao to deliver a full, nuanced flavour profile, but it should also be as ethically and sustainably sourced as possible.

Chocolate truffle flavours

If you fancy spicing up these chocolate truffle recipes, feel free to add some extra ingredients. In our own collections, we've created everything from fruity chocolate to coffee chocolate, so trust us when we say we're fans of flavour!

You might find that your most successful additions are things that don't change the composition of your chocolate truffle too much. For example, a hint of chilli, cinnamon, or vanilla shouldn't alter your truffle's texture or weight, while overly large chunks of fruit or nuts could make your truffles lumpy or difficult to roll into balls.

Keep an eye on size and quantity when incorporating things like dried or fresh fruit, nuts, liqueur (for boozy truffles), and other pieces of confectionery.

You can also experiment with making truffles using different chocolate grades. While you might find it easier to get your hands on vegan dark chocolate than vegan milk or white chocolate, there are options out there. If you're a fan of lighter, creamy chocolate, our 45% Nutmilk made from finely milled hazelnuts instead of milk creates an irresistible truffle centre. It's so smooth, it's easy to forget it's actually vegan*.

Please note that, although our dark chocolate and Nutmilk chocolate products contain no dairy ingredients, they are created in the same environment as our milk chocolate. As such, we can't guarantee it's free from dairy traces.

[Link] The best vegan chocolate truffles

If you don't have the patience to make homemade chocolate truffles, you can still enjoy heavenly truffles made from scrumptious high-quality chocolate. Though there are some differences between truffles and pralines, they both have that gorgeous decadent taste and texture. We like to enjoy them interchangeably, so here are a few of our favourite vegan pralines and truffles…

Firstly, our Gianduja Bombe. These silky smooth hazelnut pralines melt in the mouth like butter. Based on the original Gianduja recipe invented in Northern Italy in the 1800s, our chocolatiers have put their own spin on this delectable creation. We use only the finest Piedmont hazelnuts (known for their delicate flavour), our 40% cacao chocolate for an utterly creamy praline, and a rich 70% chocolate casing.

Alternatively, our Simple Vegan Nutmilk Ganache Selector is as creamy as it gets. Let your tastebuds experience the divine combination of our 70% dark chocolate and coconut milk. Our Nutmilk truly shines in this ganache truffle, with its velvety texture and subtle hazelnut flavour.

Fancy a truffle with a touch of zing? Our Raspberry Nutmilk Ganache Selector will be right up your street. Real pressed raspberries add a fruity tang to these chocolates featuring both our 70% dark chocolate and mellow 45% Nutmilk. We simply adore this fresh sweet edge blended into our creamy cacao-rich chocolate.

Lastly, why not sample our Panned Pecan Nutmilk Praline Selector? It's simplicity at its finest. While pecan brings a natural sweetness, a dash of sea salt adds balance to the delicate flavours within this praline. Again, our delectable Nutmilk chocolate brings a vegan-friendly creaminess to the mix. The perfect truffle for pairing with a soothing cup of tea.

We hope you enjoy creating these vegan chocolate truffle variations… Or just tasting ours - that's allowed too!