Lychee & Chocolate Martini

For chocolate lovers, a recipe featuring this dreamy ingredient is always worth a try. And for some of us, the words chocolate and cocktail together feel like magic. So when a chocolate martini recipe came our way, we couldn’t resist.

A fun chocolate martini with dark chocolate liqueur

Many of our recipes are developed in our own test kitchen. But we like to mix things up now and then. When Marie Brizard, the makers of Chocolat Royal liqueur, we reviewed a few years ago, asked if we’d like to try their chocolate martini recipe, we were more than happy to say yes. (Our original review of their rich chocolate liqueur was an easy five stars.)

This isn’t your standard chocolate martini. Along with the chocolate notes, there’s a subtle tropical twist. The surprise ingredient is lychee liqueur. Curious? So were we when we first saw the recipe.

The chocolate vodka martini calls for Soho lychee liqueur. Made in France from Asian lychee, it’s a clear spirit with a delicate natural lychee flavor.

Tips & substitutions

If you enjoy lychee flavor, you might try making your own lychee liqueur. It’s a fun ingredient to keep on hand for future lychee martinis. While we don’t have our own version, The Spruce Eats shares a straightforward recipe you can follow.

There are also a few easy dairy substitutions. If you’d like to cut a little fat and calories, you can use fat free half and half. The chocolate and lychee liqueurs are so decadent you likely won’t miss the richness. If you don’t have half and half on hand, another option is whisking 1 tablespoon melted butter into 1 cup of milk.

We haven’t tested this chocolatini with non dairy milks, but a common substitute is a blend of coconut cream and your favorite plant based milk. Coconut cream will add its own flavor, though in a tropical leaning cocktail like this one, that can work beautifully. If you give it a try, we’d love to hear how it turns out.