The best milk frothers for making hot chocolate and coffee
Make perfect hot chocolate or milky coffee by investing in a good milk frother for heating and steaming milk. These machines can be operated at the touch of a button.
Milk frothers are a wise purchase for people who like to make professional-quality hot drinks at home. Whether you like a latte, flat white or cappuccino in the morning, or make lots of steaming mugs of hot chocolate, these machines heat and steam milk to perfection at the touch of a button.
Hot chocolate super fans may want to invest in a specialist frother, where the chocolate is whipped in with the milk. These are fun to use and bring a super-pro finish to this lovely drink. They come in different sizes, and at various price points.
We tested a range of milk frothers, using them to blend hot chocolate to test blending capacity. These are our favourites. For more unbiased expert buyer’s guides, visit our reviews section to find 400+ round-ups of everything including the best coffee machines.
Check out expert barista Celeste Wong's recommendations for the best moka pots, gooseneck kettles, coffee grinders and decaf coffee to buy on our sister brand, olive magazine:
- Best moka pots to buy
- Best gooseneck kettles to buy
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- Best decaf coffee to buy
The best milk frothers to buy in 2023
Smeg milk frother
Capacity: 250ml for frothing and heating, 500ml for cold milk
The Smeg milk frother may be the most expensive we tested, but it delivered in bucketloads and was one of our favourites on the test.
For hot chocolate, it gave the best heat coming in at 70C, a great drinking temperature without burning the chocolate. The texture and lightness of the finished drink were outstanding, and on maximum fill, gave two decent mugs full.
Though the price may be high, this is a quality product, well made and super-stylish – it can sit happily on the worktop to be admired.
Using it for frothing milk for coffee is like having a barista in your kitchen, with different settings producing milk (including non-dairy alternatives) for many different coffee styles.
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Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser
Capacity: 200ml
We love this stylish, simple hot chocolate maker from Hotel Chocolate, made by Dualit. This machine not only looks good, but it's also so simple to use; put the chocolate in, add the milk, pop the lid on and press the button.
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Two minutes later you have a foamed, smooth velvety chocolate, a great temperature at around 68C, and the lipped edge means a clean, smooth transition from jug to cup.
On the down-side, it only makes one cup at a time, so it's a little slow when wanting to make several. The Velvetiser is designed to use Hotel Chocolat's brand of hot chocolate, but does work with others too, and gives hot frothy milk too, great for coffee lovers.
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Lakeland milk frother
Capacity: 125ml for frothing, 250ml for heating
The Lakeland milk frother comes with four settings and is incredibly versatile for the price. It froths both hot or cold milk for cappuccinos, lattes and iced coffees, and also heats milk without frothing too.
You can also add chocolate with the milk to make a creamy hot chocolate with a lovely dense froth. The all-important temperature is around 66C, which is perfect for drinking straight away.
The machine has an insulated handle and a spout, so is safe to lift and easy to pour. Its non-stick interior makes it super-easy to clean, too. For the price, this is an excellent machine. The only downside is the maximum for frothed drinks is a rather small 125ml, but you can heat 250ml of milk at one time.
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Dualit milk frother
Capacity: 320ml
The Dualit milk frother is a small, compact machine and stylish enough to leave on show on the worktop.
It makes two decent cups of heated or frothed milk; you can't add chocolate to the machine, so loosen it first by making a paste in a cup.
In full operation, we found this machine so quiet that we had to keep checking it was still working. It delivered a good temperature of milk (60C), but a few degrees hotter would have been appreciated, as our hot chocolate was a little cool by the time we'd added the paste. That was sorted by 30 seconds in the microwave, though. For the price, this is a lovely machine and useful for coffee and hot chocolate lovers alike.
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Recipes for your milk frother
Best ever hot chocolate
All our top hot chocolate recipes
Flat white
Cappuccino
Latte
Macchiato
Mocha
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