Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
This Chocolate Sauce recipe first appeared on My Sauce Recipes, where I am a contributor.
This Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce recipe is a delicious treat to pair with your favorite dessert! Calling for just 5 ingredients, this chocolate sauce comes together in less than 10 minutes and is wonderfully chocolatey. Makes 16(ish) servings.
The BEST Hot Fudge Sauce
We’re all BIG chocolate lovers in our house… and there’s something wonderful about a perfectly decadent chocolate sauce on top of any dessert, right?
It adds a little something extra, and I love it.
Also, it’s so great with so many things. (More ideas on this in a bit.)
Why I love this recipe:
For years, we’ve purchased jarred Hot Fudge Sauce from the grocery store. Recently, I wanted to try my hand at making my own.
Turns out, chocolate sauce is easy to make at home. All you need are a handful of ingredients and a little time.
Also, this easy hot fudge recipe is just about perfect for anything you could consider adding it to. I would also not judge you if you ate it by the spoonful.
Here’s some more things I adore about this recipe:
- It makes a large batch… so you’ve got plenty to keep in your fridge and enjoy, or you can portion some out to share!
- You can pair it with anything chocolatey. Need a drizzle for cake or a cupcake? Boom. Want an ice cream topping? Here ya go.
- It’s balanced. Sometimes, sauces like these can get a little sweet for my likings. This one has a nice hint of bitterness from the cocoa, but in my opinion, it’s not too much.
- You can make this sauce thicker or thinner. If you like a thicker fudge sauce, simply use less milk. If you want it to drizzle more easily, add a little more. I have notes on what to do in the recipe card below. Either way, it’s a delightfully smooth chocolate sauce.
No matter how you look at it, this Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce is a simple treat to make at home!
Dessert Recipes to pair with this fudge sauce: Brownies from Scratch | No Churn Fudge Brownie Ice Cream | Strawberry Chocolate Cake | No Churn Peppermint Ice Cream Milkshake | Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Easy Raspberry Frosting
What you need to make this recipe:
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Let’s talk ingredients!
In addition to the tools above, you’re going to need some ingredients to make this recipe, too! Chances are, you might already have some of them in your fridge or pantry. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full measurements and instructions.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Sweetened condensed milk — this canned goodness is the base of our sauce and provides creaminess, as well as sweetness. It is not the same thing as evaporated milk.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder — this is going to give our sauce the BEST flavor! You can use Dutch process cocoa or the regular unsweetened baking cocoa. Either will work.
- Kosher salt — adding salt to sweet things helps balance out the sweetness! Just a pinch will do. I like to use a medium-grain kosher salt here (Diamond Crystal is my fave), so use something similar in size.
- Whole milk — this thins out the sauce just a little bit so it’s perfectly drizzleable
- Vanilla extract — the 100% pure kind is amazing and lets these chocolate flavors sing!
Please note that this recipe does not call for heavy cream, half-and-half or even bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars. This recipe was developed to be as easy as possible!
What to use Hot Fudge Sauce on:
Who doesn’t love a drizzle of chocolate on top of, well, anything?
If you’re looking for some things to add this recipe to, let me suggest:
- Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (or your favorite store-bought brand)
- Hot fudge or ice cream sundaes
- Pound cake
- Brownies
- Cheesecake
- Fresh fruit
- Pancakes (like The BEST Chocolate Chip Pancakes) or waffles
- Homemade ice cream cake
How to make this Homemade Hot Fudge recipe:
Choose your sauce pan. I like to use a medium-sized one with a heavy bottom.
Add the sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and salt to the saucepan.
DID YOU KNOW?
Using a small rubber spatula will help get all the sweetened condensed milk out of its jar. Just be prepared… it will be sticky!
Heat the ingredients over medium heat until combined, stirring constantly, then pour in the milk.
Continue stirring until smooth, and cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
You may lower the heat to low heat to ensure that it does not overcook or burn.
Pro tip!
It’s important to stir, stir, stir as this chocolate sauce comes together because you do not want it to burn! The constant stirring will help the ingredients come together, and it will also prevent anything from sitting on the bottom of the pan for too long.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
Serve warm. Also, if you let the sauce cool, you can then store it in a mason jar in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.
How to store and reheat leftovers
Store the cooled chocolate sauce in an airtight container or a sealed mason jar. Keep it in the fridge for up to a month!
How to reheat: Pour into a bowl, and reheat in 15-second increments, stirring between each one so the chocolate sauce does not burn.
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll need a can of sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, kosher salt, milk and vanilla extract to make this recipe.
Chocolate syrup is thinner than chocolate sauce.I’ve also read that most chocolate sauces use a fat in the recipe (like butter, milk, etc.) while syrups use water.
The consistency is the main difference. A fudge sauce is thicker and more decadent while a chocolate sauce is thinner.
More dessert sauces to try:
Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
Ingredients
- 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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Instructions
- Combine the sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened cocoa and salt in a saucepan.
- Heat over medium heat while stirring constantly until combined, then pour in the milk.
- Continue stirring until smooth, and cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Serve warm or let cool, then store in a mason jar in the fridge for up to a month.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
Quick and easy, and it used the ingredients I had in mind.
Make sure you stir/whisk the sweetened condensed milk and the cocoa until it’s smooth, or else you’ll end up with some clumps later on. Like me.
Delicious and something you can whip up at a moment’s notice.
So happy that this was quick, easy AND delicious for you, Leslie! I really like your note and will add that to the post for others to see, as well, because the stirring and whisking the cocoa and sweetened condensed milk until smooth is important. Thanks for your review and feedback!
Could the increments be wrong… 1 can sweetened condensed milk to 1 CUP of unsweetened cocoa. It was SO bitter. I added and added sugar.
???
Hey Dee. I am so sorry about this, and you are correct: I wrote down the wrong increments of cocoa to sweetened condensed milk. I re-tested this recipe in my kitchen this morning after receiving your comment. The correct measurement should be 1/2 cup of the cocoa powder to a full can of the sweetened condensed milk. The end result is a chocolatey and slightly bitter sauce, but it should not be SO bitter that it’s inedible. 🙁 Again, I am sorry. This was a mistake on my part, and I am fixing the recipe card and post to reflect the accurate measurements right now. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.