A homemade hot fudge sauce recipe in 5 minutes with 5 ingredients? Yes, please!
A mixture of cream, butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips come together in minutes to create a rich decadent fudge sauce.
Dress up sundaes, brownies, cakes, and even smoothies with this uber-easy, super creamy, chocolatey fudge sauce!
Our Favorite Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe
- Made with 5 simple ingredients, this recipe for hot fudge comes out rich and smooth with a delicious dark chocolate fudgy flavor!
- It’s super easy to make, heat, melt, and stir.
- Best of all, this hot fudge sauce recipe is really fast, it takes just 5 minutes.
Ingredients and Variations
Chocolate chips – You can use dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe, or a mixture of both. We prefer them over cocoa powder for their velvety texture and rich chocolate flavor.
Avoid using candy “melts” as they don’t have a great flavor in this chocolate sauce.
Dairy – Half-and-half or light cream provides a rich flavor compared to evaporated milk. It gives this chocolate fudge sauce the perfect consistency.
Brown sugar – This adds sweetness and balances out the semi-sweet chocolate.
Vanilla – You can switch out the vanilla extract for other extracts such as hazelnut, rum, almond, or banana to change the flavor.
How to Make Hot Fudge
- Heat cream and brown sugar as per the recipe below.
- Add chocolate chips and let the mixture rest without stirring for about 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk until the sauce is smooth and stir in vanilla.
This hot fudge sauce recipe is great served warm or room temperature over ice cream or even cake.
How to Use Hot Fudge
The sky is the limit on what to do with hot fudge sauce! Use it as a dip for fresh fruit like strawberries and bananas or cookies like shortbread, or sugar cookies.
- Spoon it over ice cream sundaes for hot fudge sundaes.
- Spoon it over a banana split with other ice cream toppings.
- Drizzle over Belgian waffles, or angel food cake.
- Scoop some into your favorite milkshake, or a cup of homemade hot chocolate.
- Use it as a filling in your favorite ice cream cakes.
Storing Hot Fudge Sauce
- Keep hot fudge sauce in a Mason jar or other container with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge for up to 10 days.
- Reheat hot fudge sauce on low power in the microwave or place the jar in a saucepan with water on the stove on medium heat.
- And, yes, it can be frozen! Be sure it’s cooled and in a tightly sealed container. Thaw in a saucepan on medium heat and whisk in a little milk to thin it out.
More Delicious Dessert Toppings
Did your family love this Hot Fudge Sauce? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Hot Fudge Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- Mason Jars for storing
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups half and half or light cream
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine half and half and brown sugar over medium heat until until brown sugar has dissolved and tiny bubbles start to form on the edges.
- Stir in the butter until melted, and turn off the heat.
- Add the chocolate chips and do not stir. Let sit for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Whisk chocolate chips until smooth, stir in vanilla, and serve warm or cool.
Notes
- Store hot fudge sauce for up to 10 days in the refrigerator in a Mason jar or other lidded container.
- To reheat hot fudge sauce, use low power in the microwave, or place the jar in a saucepan with simmering water on the stovetop.
- Fudge sauce can be frozen. Thaw on medium heat on the stovetop, or on low heat in the microwave. Add a little milk to thin it if necessary.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert, Sauce
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Just make the sauce to pour over my Pizookie pie with ice cream and it’s fabulous.
I am so glad you liked it! I would love to hear more about your Pizookie pie!!
Can you put this in the crockpot so it stays warm and people are able to use it throughout the day?
I haven’t tried it but if the slow cooker is on warm it should be ok. You’ll want to give it a stir every now and then and be sure it doesn’t get too hot.
This is super easy and super delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Follow up: served it last night with dessert and everyone loved it! I found my 8 year old son eating the leftovers with a spoon today!! :) The texture was so smooth. My dinner guests kept pouring more and more over their berries. I used Gheradelli semisweet chocolate chips
Just made it tonight! The texture is amazing, super smooth and glossy. Next time I may use slightly darker chocolate and maybe a dash of coffee to get the flavor a little deeper. Serving it tomorrow night with angel food cake and strawberries! Super, super easy.
So glad you loved it Alison!
what is half and half?
Half and half is sold in North American grocery stores and contains half milk and half cream. A light cream (about 10-12% mf) should work fine in its place.
What is half and half?
Half and half is sold in North American grocery stores and contains half milk and half cream. A light cream (about 10-12% mf) should work fine in its place.
Could you use the fat free half and half in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it but I”m pretty sure that would work!
What is HALF AND HALF
lol…….
Half and half is a mixture sold in most North American grocery store. It’s half milk and half cream. Light cream (10-12% mf) can be substituted if needed.
Would evaporated milk (undiluted of course) work as a substitute if I don’t have 1/2 & 1/2?
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it would work! It may slightly alter the taste. I’d love to hear how it works for you!
About how much does this make?
This makes about 3 cups
Would the fudge sauce do well if I can it in jelly jars for gifts?
I have never done canning so I can’t say for sure but hopefully someone else has tried it!
I love this. I make a choclate sauce, but I just add a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. This is a good one with concrete measurements. :) I plan to share this. :)
This is amazing! My boyfriend loves fudge and I’ve been wanting to make a homemade variety for him one of these days. Definitely will be trying this, thank you!
I have a brownie recipe that calls for a can of Hershey’s chocolate sauce, do you think this would work? I think I’ll try it soon, I’ve got to get more half & half first.
I think this is a little bit thicker than the Hershey’s chocolate sauce but I bet it would be amazing and fudgy… LOL. I might have to search for that recipe and try it out myself!!! Yum!
Do you use dark or light brown sugar?
I used light but either will work in this recipe.
Do you store it in the fridge ? How long does it keep?
Up to about 10 days. :)
Is this semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate?
Semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Is the brown sugar measurement packed or unpacked
Packed. Thanks, I added it into the recipe! :)
Your recipes look too delicious! What is “half and half” please? I live in South Africa, and have no idea what it is!
Many thanks
Tracey
Half & Half is a light cream (approx. 10-12% MF). Any type of cream should work in this recipe.
How do you store, or did I miss it mentioned
I store it in the refrigerator.
Is there a way to make this sauce thicker ?
You could try using a heavy cream or slightly reducing the cream, but I have only tried this recipe as written so I can’t say for sure. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!