Tesco Light Choices Instant Hot Chocolate Review

Tesco have at last brought out their own brand of  lower calorie, lower fat instant hot chocolate. Light Choices Instant Hot Chocolate contains 70% less fat than Tesco Standard Instant Hot Chocolate.

It’s described as an ‘Instant hot chocolate drink with sugar and sweeteners’.

As someone who drinks low calorie hot drinks on a daily basis, I’m always keen to try out any new varieties on the market. Unfortunately, some of them turn out to be a poor compromise of quality and taste for calories. Would Tesco’s own brand be any different?




Tesco Light Choices Instant Hot Chocolate drink is packaged into a 330g plastic jar which has a similar shape to both Sainsbury’s and Morrisons own brands of lower calorie hot chocolate.

Like many others, this drink is sweetened with both sugar and sweeteners. It also has dried glucose syrup which of course, is sugar in another form.

The powder itself is reasonably weighty with a medium-dark chocolate colour. It smells quite sweet, but there's not much of a chocolate aroma here.

Because it’s an instant hot chocolate drink, it’s simple to make. Just measure out 2-3 teaspoons of chocolate powder into a mug and pour on freshly boiled water. Stir and drink up.

Once the water is poured on, it mixes quite easily with a few lumpy bits floating to the top. Like the powder, the actual drink has a smooth consistency which isn’t too thin. It’s has a mild, sweet chocolate taste which needs no extra sweetening. I did however add a bit of milk which I generally do with most hot chocolate drinks.

Since this is a Light Choices drink, it’s a shame there’s the inclusion of sugar and glucose syrup in the ingredients. Surely without these it would have fewer calories?

It does therefore have a high sugar content and high saturated fat content. But as you’re only drinking 11g of powder at a time, it’s not too high in the overall context of a daily diet. Each drink has 5g of sugar (around a teaspoon) and 0.8g of fat. It’s also worth 1 ProPoint.

Overall I’d say this is a good budget buy lower calorie hot chocolate drink. It’s not my personal favourite but it’s not the worst either.

Available in Tesco stores.

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Nutrition Information 11g serving (made with 200ml water): 41 calories, 1.5g protein, 6.0g carbohydrate, 5.0g sugar, 0.8g fat, 0.5g saturates, 1.4g fibre, 0.1g salt. Suitable for vegetarians.  Artificial sweeteners used are Aspartame and Acesulfame-K.

Weight Watchers ProPoints  (as calculated by Tesco using information provided by Weight Watchers Int’l Inc. for customer information only.)

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