Protein Hot Chocolate Before Bed: Good Idea or Not?

Pick a caffeine-free flavor and a protein hot chocolate works well as a bedtime drink for most healthy adults. A scoop of our Classic Chocolate Bone Broth Protein Mix has 14g of protein, 0g sugar and 0mg of caffeine. Two things matter: pick a caffeine-free flavor (never Caffeinated Chocolate at night), and finish your mug 30 to 60 minutes before lights-out.

This guide covers which flavors are safe at night, what the research on protein before sleep actually found, what a warm mug can and can't do for sleep, where magnesium fits, and who should check with a clinician first.

Will protein hot chocolate keep me awake?

Not if you pick the right flavor. Classic Chocolate, Mocha and Chai all have 0mg of caffeine. Mocha gets its coffee taste from coffee flavor, not coffee caffeine, and Chai has no tea in it.

Caffeinated Chocolate is the exception. It has 60mg of natural caffeine from green coffee beans per scoop, the same in the 26-serving and 12-serving bags. That's a morning flavor only.

Why be strict about it? In one study, people took 400mg of caffeine at bedtime, 3 hours before bed or 6 hours before bed. All three disrupted sleep compared with a placebo, and even the 6-hour dose cut total sleep time by more than an hour (Drake and colleagues, 2013). That's a big dose, far more than one scoop, but it shows caffeine reaches further into the evening than it feels like it does. For a side-by-side of the numbers, see how much caffeine is in hot chocolate, mocha and coffee.

Is it good to have protein before bed?

For years the advice was just "don't eat before bed." Then researchers started testing protein taken right before sleep. In one 12-week training study, young men who had 27.5g of protein every night before sleep gained more strength and muscle size than men given a placebo (Snijders and colleagues, 2015).

That study used a bigger dose of a dairy protein in young men who were lifting weights, so it doesn't tell us what a 14g mug does for a woman in her 40s. What it does suggest is that protein before bed isn't the problem people once assumed. A broader review of nighttime eating concluded that small snacks of about 150 calories, especially single nutrients like protein, don't appear harmful in healthy people and may even help muscle protein synthesis and cardiometabolic health. Large mixed meals late at night were a different story (Kinsey and Ormsbee, 2015).

A scoop of our Mix made with water is 80 calories (90 for Chai). Made with 8 oz of unsweetened almond milk, it's still well under 150.

“I love the idea of a protein hot chocolate before bed because it combines something comforting with real nutrition. Rae Basics gives you 14 grams of protein along with bone broth, collagen and amino acids, making it an easy way to add more protein and bone broth goodness to your day.”

Skotie Rae, RN, founder

Can a protein hot chocolate help you sleep?

This is where a lot of wellness marketing gets ahead of the evidence, so I'll be plain. A mug of protein hot chocolate isn't a sleep aid, and I won't sell it as one.

What it can do is give you a warm, calm ritual in place of a less helpful one, like a glass of wine, a bowl of ice cream or standing in the kitchen scrolling. For a lot of women, the routine is what helps.

You may also read that the glycine in collagen supports sleep. Bone broth protein is naturally rich in collagen, and collagen is rich in glycine. But the sleep studies on glycine used about 3 grams of glycine by itself (Bannai and Kawai, 2012), and our label doesn't list glycine per scoop, so I don't count on it. I'd call it a nice fit for an evening drink, not a promise.

Adding magnesium to your nighttime routine

If you're building a wind-down routine, magnesium usually comes up next. It's a mineral your body uses in more than 300 enzyme systems, including muscle and nerve function, according to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Research on magnesium and sleep is still limited and mixed (Arab and colleagues, 2023), so think of it as support for a calm evening routine, not a sedative.

Our NO. 04 Magnesium Glycinate is three capsules of non-buffered magnesium bisglycinate, 200mg of elemental magnesium, taken with water 30 to 60 minutes before bed. That lines up with an evening mug. The NIH sets the upper limit for magnesium from supplements at 350mg a day for adults, and you should check with your clinician first if you have kidney disease or take prescription medicines. Our guides on when to take magnesium glycinate and which magnesium is best for sleep cover timing, forms and spacing it from medicines.

Some women would rather keep evenings for the capsules and move the mug to breakfast, where 14g of protein does more for a coffee-only morning. Either way works, and there's no clash between protein and magnesium. Here's a simple morning and night routine using both.

How to make a bedtime protein hot chocolate

Keep it small and warm. This is the method from our Protein Hot Chocolate recipe, adjusted for evenings:

1. Heat 8 oz of milk or water until it steams. Don't boil it. A smaller mug means fewer bathroom trips overnight.
2. Stir one scoop of Classic Chocolate into 2 tablespoons of the hot liquid to make a paste.
3. Pour in the rest while stirring. A pinch of cinnamon or sea salt is nice here.
4. Drink it 30 to 60 minutes before bed, with your magnesium if you take it.

If you want the coffee taste without caffeine, the Evening Mocha Latte uses Mocha. My own evening cup is the Classic Chai Latte. It's the one I make at 8 p.m. after the kids' bedtime: warm, spiced, no caffeine, and it still counts as protein.

Who should skip it or ask first

• Anyone told to limit protein, for example with some kidney conditions. Ask your clinician.
• If nighttime heartburn bothers you, have your mug earlier in the evening instead of right before lying down, and mention it to your clinician.
• Coconut allergy. Our Mix gets its creaminess from organic coconut milk and oat milk.
• Kids: only the caffeine-free flavors, and check with your pediatrician on amounts. See bone broth hot chocolate for kids.

For more on the drink itself, including taste and dairy-free options, read is bone broth hot chocolate good for you. Every nutrition panel is on Rae Basics at a glance, and Classic Chocolate Bone Broth Protein Mix is the bag I'd keep by the kettle for evenings.

Quick answers

Sources

1. Snijders T, Res PT, Smeets JS, et al. Protein ingestion before sleep increases muscle mass and strength gains during prolonged resistance-type exercise training in healthy young men. J Nutr. 2015;145(6):1178-1184.
2. Kinsey AW, Ormsbee MJ. The health impact of nighttime eating: old and new perspectives. Nutrients. 2015;7(4):2648-2662.
3. Drake C, Roehrs T, Shambroom J, Roth T. Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. J Clin Sleep Med. 2013;9(11):1195-1200.
4. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Magnesium: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.
5. Bannai M, Kawai N. New therapeutic strategy for amino acid medicine: glycine improves the quality of sleep. J Pharmacol Sci. 2012;118(2):145-148.
6. Arab A, Rafie N, Amani R, Shirani F. The role of magnesium in sleep health: a systematic review of available literature. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2023;201(1):121-128.