Every time my mom visits and stays with me for a few days, she wakes up before me. She quietly slips out the front door, my spare key in hand, and runs around the neighborhood, sometimes before the sun even starts to peek over the horizon.
Most mornings, Mom ends her workout by jogging up a massively steep hill, where the road leads to a modest shopping center with a supermarket, a hardware store, two banks, lots of restaurants, and… A Starbucks.
She orders the same drink every time: an almond milk (or nonfat!) chai latte with no water (so it doesn’t dilute the cozy spice flavor!). Although my dad always starts his days with really strong black coffee, Mom dislikes coffee’s taste and sticks with tea… But she does enjoy the rich coffee aroma inside of Starbucks!
Her steaming mug of chai in hand, she walks back to my house slowly savoring her favorite hot beverage, and she even somehow manages to shower before most people’s alarm clocks ring. She loves those peaceful moments in the morning!
Since my family is spending Christmas down in Southern California with me, I thought I’d surprise my mom with this Healthy Eggnog Chai Latte one morning during their visit! Eggnog is her favorite holiday drink, and since she loves sprinkling it with a little nutmeg, I thought its flavor would pair perfectly with cozy chai spices.
Thankfully… I was right! This healthy eggnog chai latte turned out so well that I even whipped one up for myself! Even better? It’s so easy to make, ready in just a few minutes, and 66 calories!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY EGGNOG CHAI LATTE
Let’s go over how to make the best ever healthy eggnog chai latte! To start, you’ll need chai, which is a special type of tea that comes from Indian culture. To make it, black tea is combined with lots of cozy spices, usually including cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and sometimes even black peppercorns. It tastes so warm and comforting!
Fun fact: “Chai” actually means “tea,” so saying “chai tea” is like saying “tea tea” — just a little redundant! 😉
As a quick and easy shortcut for this healthy eggnog chai latte, I use bags of chai (like this!) instead of making my own entirely from scratch. The bags of chai come with the spices already added (but no sugar)! That means all you’ll need to do is boil water, drop in two tea bags, and let them steep. Super easy!
Tip: I love really strong spice and tea flavors in my chai lattes, so I typically let them steep for much longer than the boxes advise… Closer to 15-20 minutes, rather than just 5 minutes!
While your tea steeps, you’ll prepare the other part of this healthy eggnog latte. To do that, you’ll need almond milk and eggnog! As you’ve probably seen me mention before, I feel really weird about drinking eggs… Even though I know store-bought eggnog is completely and totally safe to consume straight from the carton.
So instead, I use egg-free and dairy-free vegan “eggnog!” This is the almond milk eggnog that I love. I’ve used it to make just about all of my other eggnog treats as well, including these truffles, these muffins, this cake, these cupcakes, and these cookies! (My family is obsessed with almond milk and rarely buys anything else, so using unsweetened almond milk and almond milk eggnog works perfectly for us!)
As an added bonus, the almond milk eggnog that I use has just 50 calories in each ½ cup serving… Compared to 180 calories in each ½ cup serving of traditional eggnog. That really helps keep your healthy eggnog chai latte low calorie and low fat!
If you prefer your lattes on the sweet side, then you can easily add in a touch of your favorite sweetener! I often use this liquid stevia, which is a plant-based no-calorie sweetener that’s clean-eating friendly (it contains nothing refined or artificial!). You can also use pure maple syrup, honey, agave, coconut sugar, granulated sugar, erythritol… The sky’s the limit!
Finally, to enhance the eggnog’s flavor, I also add in a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, just like how my mom adds a little pinch of each to her daily glass of holiday eggnog. They add such a lovely richness and warmth to this healthy eggnog chai latte!
Once you’ve combined your eggnog with your preferred sweetener and a sprinkling of spices, simply warm that up… Pour it into your mug of hot chai…
And enjoy every festive sip! Then when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy eggnog chai latte!
Healthy Eggnog Chai Latte
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (180mL) water
- 2 chai bags
- ½ cup (120mL) almond milk eggnog ← that’s the exact one I use!
- ½ cup (120mL) unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
- tiny pinch ground nutmeg
- 4 drops liquid stevia (or adjusted to taste)
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil. Pour into a mug. Add the chai bags, and let them steep for 5-10 minutes (5 minutes for normal strength, 10 minutes [or more!] for stronger chai flavor).
- Add the unsweetened vanilla almond milk, almond milk eggnog, cinnamon, nutmeg, and liquid stevia to a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the milk is hot. Pour into the fully brewed chai.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte
♡ The Easiest Ever Chai Latte
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Peppermint Hot Chocolate
♡ Healthy Peppermint Mocha
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy eggnog recipes!
Sounds good, but my chai is loose leaf. How much tea is in one bag?
It means a lot to me that you’d like to try making this Kerry! I’m not quite sure how many teaspoons are in each bag, but it’s about 2 grams. Alternatively, if you know how much of your loose leaf chai you need per ¾ cup of water, then simply double that! (Most chai lattes are made with double-strength chai, or 2 tea bags instead of just 1.) Does that make sense? 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this eggnog chai latte if you make it!
Your mom sounds like a girl after my own heart. I love getting up early and exercising before the sun’s up. & I’m a sucker for a good chai. I also love it extra strong, but I’ve never steeped bags for as long as you suggest. Lucky for me, we just got this eggnog so I’ll have to try this latte (+ extra steep time) before this week ends! PS: I totally didn’t know chai means tea – oops! ????
I had a feeling you might be a morning person Megan! 😉 Somehow, I still think you wake up even earlier than my mom… It must be so peaceful and quiet out then! 🙂 I started steeping my chai for a lot longer by accident… I forgot about my mug on the counter one day, and it tasted even better than usual with that extra strong spice flavor. I haven’t ever gone back to “normal” steeping times since then! ????
Ha ha! I tried this yesterday & oh my, it was even better than I imagined! I love how the chai spice flavors and the eggnog flavors both come through! Such a perfect drink for the holidays! 🙂 (& I tried the longer steep times – how did I not think of this before?! ;))
YAYYYYY!!!! I’m SO glad you loved this chai latte Megan!! With how much I adore you, that truly means the world to me! ❤️
Great one for the holidays. I love egg nog, the lightened up versions and this made it even better with the spiced tea. Thank you
It’s my pleasure Frances! I’m so glad you enjoyed this eggnog chai latte! 🙂 Happy holidays!
This recipe is very good. I followed it 100% and it tasted even better than most of the coffee shops near where I live
I’m so glad you loved this chai latte Helen! It means the world to me that you’d say it tasted even better than the ones at coffee shops in your neighborhood — that’s the best kind of compliment! Thanks for taking the time to let me know! 🙂