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(104)
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
104 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.

Rube

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

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!

Mel

I grew up working in my father’s candy store on 188th St. in the Bronx. I was taught that the original was made by L. Auster on the lower east side using his special syrup that included eggs. I am always upset by the claim that a proper egg cream is made with Fox’s U-BET THIS IS INCORRECT. We used DIAMOND brand syrup—Fox’s was the supermarket brand - nothing like the real thing…My father, Dave, had 2 partners-Jack (whose nephew is Robert Abrams),and Charlie - each had their own method.

AaronS

Here's an even better idea: Use regular old Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and fresh milk. No need for seltzer (at least if you're from the south). Mix in the amount of chocolate that best suits your taste (you'll get a feel for this after one or two times). Drink. Enjoy. Repeat.

AaronS

Or pour orange soda over a helping of vanilla ice cream to get a creamsicle that's not on a stick.

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Credits

Adapted from Phil Rosenthal

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