The Best Hot Fudge Sauce is easy to make and beats store bought options. It turns out thick, gooey, fudgy and delicious—perfect every time!
If you have been frustrated trying to make your own hot fudge sauce in the past, let your mind be at ease. If you follow these simple instructions to the tee—you will be delighted with the sauce and yourself for mastering this simple recipe. This sauce is perfect as an ice cream topper, drizzled over a cake or pie, used to make chocolate milk, or even used as a fudge layer in other recipes. Once you learn how to make your own, you will never reach for store bought fudge sauce again!
You are going to love the delicious flavor and perfect texture of this recipe. Even though the ingredients are ones you probably already have on hand, the taste is like something you would find in a gourmet sweet shop! Although this recipe is quick and easy, the trick to achieving perfect, smooth texture is the cooking and the blending.
The cooking allows the sugar to bind with the other ingredients; too hot, and the sugar burns, too cool or too short, and the sugar could end up grainy or crystallized. The blending has to do with working air into the sauce, or aerating it. The smooth, creamy texture is a result of this blending, so be sure to blend for the full two minutes, even if it seems pretty well blended before that. Also, an immersion blender doesn’t work great for this step. Both the temperature and the time are key here, so be ready with your ingredients and a timer—you will love the result!
- Will the sugar crystallize? Crystallizing is pretty common when working with sugar, but by heating the sugar just right, you can avoid that crystallization. Be sure to follow the cooking and blending very closely.
- Does hot fudge sauce need to be refrigerated? We recommend storing the fudge sauce in the refrigerator. There is probably enough sugar in it to keep fine at room temperature, but it is always safer in the fridge and will keep fresher. Reheat in the microwave in small, 20-30 second increments of time.
- How long will hot fudge sauce keep in the fridge? This sauce can be used up to one month if kept in the refrigerator. If you bottle this to store it, using professional bottling techniques after you make it, it will last from 6-12 months, unopened, in the fridge.
- Can I make this in the microwave? There are recipes out there for microwave hot fudge, but the best results for homemade hot fudge sauce are achieved through cooking on a traditional stovetop. The heat in microwaves just isn’t as reliable. This recipe is best made on the stove top—it is still simple and quick to make.
DID YOU KNOW? Hot fudge sauce is considered low level candy making. Candy making is comprised of anything that has a main ingredient of sugar. It is a finicky science and small missteps can be disastrous. Don’t fret though, if you can follow instructions then you can make candy.
A common mistake in candy making is cooking the sugar too fast. When a candy recipe says “bring to a boil” you should warm it at low-medium heat until everything is melted, then turn the heat up to medium high until boiling begins. Then, always reduce the heat to medium to sustain a simmering boil. If you just flip the heat up to high, you risk burning or otherwise ruining your sugar. Doubling a candy recipe can be difficult as it effects the cooking time, pot size, and more. Substitutions are unpredictable in candy making because each ingredient has a very specific purpose. This is cooking chemistry. Unless you are an experienced candy maker, just stick to the recipe.
If you like this yummy hot fudge recipe, you may also be interested in these other fudgy delights:
- Peanut Butter Fudge Pie With Pretzel Crust
- Sweetened Condensed Milk Frosting
- M&M Fudge Brownies
- Easy 5 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge
- Fudge Swirled Oreo Bottom Cheesecake Cupcakes
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Best Hot Fudge Sauce
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup milk chocolate chips
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 12 ounce can evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a medium saucepan combine butter, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, sugar, and evaporated milk. Stir to combine over medium-low heat.
- Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low and continue simmering for 7 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla.
- Pour the mixture into a blender and blend the mixture for 2 whole minutes.
- Serve immediately or pour into a heat safe airtight container to store.
Hands down the best chocolate sauce everrr!!
i omitted the sugar as it was too much for me with the condensed milk and milk chocolate but it was still ammaaazing! i love your food channel and have followed many of your recipes in the past 🙂
Evaporated milk is used not condensed milk, which is much sweeter.
Hello there..i made the sauce as you said with evaporated milk butter cocoa and chocolate..my sauce is super velvet but it didnt thicken mucj even after putting in fridge..what to do thicken. Should I use bit of cream
We thought this hot fudge was so good! I did use an immersion blender and then I saw that you don’t recommend it. However, the fudge sauce was delicious with a great texture. This will now be my go to recipe for hot fudge!
Very easy. Everyone loved it.
Could this be made sugar free buy using splenda? Will it work?
I would not recommend using a sugar substitute in this recipe.
Thank you for sharing such a great recipe and truly is the best and so easy to make. I look forward to checking out your other recipes.
I changed the recipe slightly after following the instructions the first time. I used semi-sweet chips and it tasted fudgier
I just made this hot fudge sauce to go over ice cream.
It is so delicious, definitely a 5 star . I Will be making this again.
Tastes delicious, but way too sweet, for my taste. I think I’ll try again, but change to semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, rather than milk chocolate.
I couldn’t get the star rating to work, but it’s definitely 5Stars!
This is the Best Hot Fudge I’ ever had! I even converted it so that it was sugar free by using Lily’ Chocolate Chips with stevia and Whey Lo Sugar Substitute for Diabetics. Even my super picky husband said the sugar free version was good.
I made this a few weeks ago following your recipe exactly. It was delicious and velvety smooth! I had a question though. I kept the leftovers refrigerated and after a couple weeks the fudge sauce started to crystallize. Do you have any ideas where I went wrong or how to prevent this? Thanks for sharing your delicious recipe!
Crystallization happens 🙂 To make it last longer be sure to cook it the correct amount of time over the correct heat level and don’t skip the blender!
I made this yesterday. I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful recipe!
I made this recipe today. I followed the recipe exactly. It was absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe!
My pregnant daughter loves hot fudge. We tried several different brands and it was all YUK! I made this today and WOW! It is fantastic. I used my food processor and it worked like a champ. I will never buy store bought again!
Blender definitely makes it smoother! Perfect taste! Thank you for the recipe