Chocolate Egg Cream

Recipe from Phil Rosenthal

Adapted by Julia Moskin

Updated July 6, 2025

Chocolate Egg Cream
Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Total Time
5 minutes
Rating
5(161)
Comments
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Phil Rosenthal, the star of the popular food and travel show, “Somebody Feed Phil,” claims that the food his mother cooked at home was so bland that he didn’t even taste garlic until he was in college. So all of his favorite nostalgic foods, like cheeseburgers and this fizzy treat, are from New York City diners, where he first fell in love with eating. For a truly classic egg cream, the chocolate syrup should be Fox’s U-Bet, and the fizz should be very strong, like the bubbles in seltzer from a siphon. But however you prepare it — and feel free to adjust the proportions to your liking — it makes for a sweet, quick refresher or even dessert on a summer day. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: Somebody Explain Why Everybody Loves Phil Rosenthal

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Ingredients

Yield:1 serving
  • 3tablespoons chocolate syrup (preferably Fox’s U-Bet)
  • ½ cup cold whole milk
  • Cold seltzer, to taste
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a tall glass (about 12 ounces), using a bar spoon or a fork, mix the chocolate syrup and milk together until well combined.

  2. Step 2

    Still mixing, slowly pour in the seltzer. The top will froth up high; this is part of the deliciousness.

  3. Step 3

    Drink immediately, topping up with seltzer as desired.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
161 user ratings
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Comments

Marc

The way that I was taught to make an egg cream, (in my father’s Bronx candy store)was to put the syrup in first, then the milk and before you stir it, you add the seltzer. This way, when you stir, you get a lovely white foam on top of the chocolate milk mixture.

rls-uws

It's a soda drink au creme, reshaped in a New York accent into Egg Cream...it never had egg...no matter what any expert tells you. Growing up in New York City, we called acorns, "egg corns"..there ya go!

Rube

Why is it called an egg cream when there is no egg?

Elisha

Is it truly seltzer water? My mother used to make these and it was milk and cream soda. It was kinda like a melted root beer float (I love a melted root beer float!) It’s hard for me to imagine using seltzer water instead.

C VELA

Not being from NY or having grown up in the heyday of egg creams, I made it as instructed and it was a delight. There was still a light foam on top.

Kmerdot

My first egg cream was at a diner in State College, PA, 1976, shared with my first true love. I don’t know what kind of chocolate was used. Since it was central PA, probably Hershey’s. It was delicious and imparted a sweet memory.

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Credits

Adapted from Phil Rosenthal

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