Homemade Chocolate Sauce
Updated
Updated
Homemade Chocolate Sauce is incredibly easy to make without any corn syrup or dairy and rivals anything you’ll buy at the store! Whip up a batch in only 5 minutes and then drizzle it on all your favorite desserts.
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5 STAR REVIEW
In the time it takes to go to the store and buy some chocolate syrup, you could have already made some and be enjoying it. That’s how quick and easy this homemade chocolate sauce recipe is.
You only need 4 ingredients (plus water) – no corn syrup or dairy – just cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and vanilla. You end up with smooth, sweet, chocolate lava! I think it’s even better than Hershey’s.
Possible Variations
- Make it creamier. Use milk instead of water and stir in a tablespoon of butter at the end. Either or both will provide a richer, creamier texture.
- Turn it into mocha chocolate sauce. Just add a teaspoon of espresso powder.
- Give it a spicy Mexican flair. Include a dash of cayenne pepper or chili powder.
- Add some peppermint extract. This would make give it a holiday vibe and it great for Christmas gifts.
Homemade Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- In a cold saucepan, whisk together the cocoa and the sugar until all lumps are removed. Add the salt and the water and bring to a boil over medium-medium high heat.
- Reduce to a gentle simmer; stirring constantly. Simmer for about 30 seconds and then remove from heat. Let cool and then add in the vanilla.
- Pour into a glass jar and allow to cool. {The chocolate sauce will be very thin when it finishes boiling, but it will thicken quite a bit as it cools.}
- Refrigerate until needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!
Chocolate Sauce vs. Hot Fudge Sauce
The difference between chocolate sauce and hot fudge sauce is that hot fudge usually uses cream and butter, making it thicker than chocolate sauce, which uses sugar and water. So, technically this is chocolate sauce, but it definitely thickens up as it cools, so it’s like in-between. Basically, perfect.
What to use chocolate sauce for?
- Pour it over ice cream.
- Stir it into milk.
- Drizzle it over brownies or angel food cake.
- Layered it in a chocolate trifle.
- Use it as a dip for fruit.
- Give it as a gift! Make a trio of sauces – one regular, one spicy, and one minty!
How to Store Leftovers
Any leftovers should be stored in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Simply reheat in the microwave for a few seconds and give it a stir before serving.
More Chocolate Recipes To Try:
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So easy, thankyou
Why have I not been making this all my life?! So good!!
Love, love, love this recipe!
I never ate chocolate sauce because of all the yuck in it. Thank you for sharing. It’s soo good. I drizzle it in my vanilla yogurt in the mornings.
Absolutely Delicious! It thickened up nicely. I made it for a strawberry crepe topping and everyone enjoyed it. I will use some of the leftovers for the decoration of my chocolate martinis!
Super easy, GREAT
I made this with date sugar for a lower glycemic impact. I used 2/3 c of the date sugar and 3/4 c of cold water. The date sugar contains fiber so it needs more water. The taste is awesome! I can’t wait to try some of the variations you suggested.
This is fast, easy and tastes outstanding
Perfect… and so quick…. Love it!!
Wow this was so delicious and easy! Going in my permanent recipe binder, thank you for sharing!!
This is absolutely the best :) We make this every single week at our home :)
Quick and easy and delicious!
This recipe is great! It is so easy and very tasty. It’s a keeper.
This is the best chocolate sauce recipe ever!!! I can’t believe the amazing results with just 4 ingredients and only minutes to make. No more store bought Hershey’s for us!
We use this syrup to make chocolate milk when we want some and have definitely left it in the fridge for 1-2 months without issue!
Thanks for the recipe, been making it for awhile now. When I don’t have vanilla I use spiced rum, so fantastic.
This is so yummy! I used it over a peanut butter cookie dessert pizza. My family loved it! I added a little powdered milk to add a little creamy flavor and texture.
This is so yummy! I used it over a peanut butter cookie dessert pizza. My family loved it!
Hi, I just made this recipe alongside your caramel sauce recipe, and they both came out great!
Thank you for sharing.
So easyand delicious. I made this as written and added the butter as suggested.
A second time I substituted Splenda for a sugar free version. Also delicious.
I love the this. One of the best. It was the first time. Now on I will use it . I mixed milk and half & half
It was perfect and easy
I made this to go with my crepes and it tasted like heaven 10/10 will make again
I have lost count of the times I have made this! We always have some in the fridge. I make a double batch and pour into 3 mini glass milk bottles for storage. Sometimes we warm it in the microwave a little, it is pourable from the fridge but not thin enough for a fine drizzle.
My family loves this recipe so much, I’m constantly making a new batch. But it’s SO EASY I don’t mind!
This is simple, quick to make, as good tasting as anything you can buy…and no High Fructose Corn syrup!
Excellent recipe!!!
Delicious and so easy to make!
Love
So easy! Perfect for iced mocha!! Thankyou!
I absolutely love this sauce – it is divine! Today I am making yet another batch to give as a birthday gift. I’ve tweaked it to use less sugar by cutting back to 1/2 cup. I, too, use the Hershey Special Dark Cocoa and add: 1-1/2 tsp of Medaglia D’oro Instant Espresso Coffee and 1 T+ Jack Daniel’s Whiskey. It is so delicious – I serve it over ice cream, Greek Yogurt w/berries, drizzle over dates OR just a spoonful to go with coffee. Yum!
Superb! I made this to use in a rum cream drink I made.
This was so easy and fantastic!
I made the recipe as is and sugar free (using allulose). In my revised recipe I used evaporated milk, instead of water, and added 1/2 tablespoon of butter at the end. I got the calories down to 2.7g per serving and the sugar down to 0.11g. Your recipe is a keeper and will make it when I have company who are not concerned about their sugar intake. Since my family is concerned about their sugar intake I will use allulose in the recipe instead of cane sugar and evaporated milk instead of water.
.”evaporated milk.”? Do you mean dry milk reconstituted with water? Otherwise please explain what is “evaporated milk”. Thank you.
Evaporated milk in the USA comes in cans. about 60% of the water has been removed from fresh milk. in some countries is known as “unsweetened condensed milk.”
Bought some frozen lidl profiteroles but they came with such little sauce I needed some more but had no cream. Found this recipe and made a half quantity, substituting water for milk. So quick, easy and delicious and the profiteroles were swimming in delicious chocolate sauce which is how we like them! This recipe is cheap too using cocoa rather than real chocolate. You’d never know. Winner all round. Thank you!
fabulously simple and simply delicious
LOVED this recipe!!! Will make again and again. So easy and great flavor.
Great recipe. I substituted evaporated milk for the water and added 1 T water.
My friend introduced me to this recipe and site. I love it. I want to feed my kids healthy foods and I wok full time. These are easy to do and taste wonderful – even better knowing that it is not full of preservatives. Thank you!
The best chocolate sauce ever !
This is a foolproof recipe that I have made many times. Quick, easy and a crowd pleaser! Good on ice cream, cake, fresh fruit.we love it in my house!
This is the best! I made too much for an open house and am not sure I can use it all in 2 weeks. Can I freeze it?
Delicious and so easy!
This dish made things easier for me, thank you
Absolutely amazing. If you like dark chocolate use Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. I will NEVER buy a chocolate sauce again. And it does only take about 5 min to make. This is my first time to your site and now I’ll be going to it to find other delicious recipes !!
Thank you for this one !!
I made a half recipe tonight it was delicious over Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream
So good!
I can’t believe how quick and easy that was. And it’s so much better than store bought!!! Definitely will be making this often.
I used half water half half & half, 3 tbsp of chocolate chips, and added a tbsp of butter off the heat. SO good I could drink it with a straw
This recipe was amazing. I used milk and added chili powder to serve over cinnamon ice cream for a Mexican food night. Everyone raved. And super easy. Thank you!
This recipe is sooooooooooooo tasty!!!
this is delicious and very quick and easy to make. I added a tbsp of butter after I took it off the heat to help it firm up over ice cream.
I can’t believe how good this was – far exceeded my expectations. And it was so incredibly easy. Thank you for sharing!
I made this using Hershey’s
Special Dark Cocoa and added an extra 1/4 sugar.
This was so easy to make and tastes incredible!
Through my own Poor cooking skills I discovered this sauce easily candies. So I decided to try making it in a larger saucepan and letting it boil to candy temp. Delicious chocolate candy. Also delicious chocolate sauce when you don’t make mistakes
I love this recipe so much. It was so easy to make too.
Best I have found
Excellent, simple and flexible
sause recipe. I did this variation- half oatmilk, half water for the liquid, coconut sugar, and whiskey instead of vanilla. Perfect!
Really delicious and horrifically easy! I wound up using 1/2 c of heavy whipping cream and then adding an 1/8 cup of water because it seemed really thick. I did add a T of butter, as well. It tasted so delicious that I decided to make a cayenne batch as well. I only used about 1/4 t of cayenne and we can definitely taste it, but I’m going to be a little more heavy handed with the spice the next time I make it. Great recipe!
Very handy to have on hand! I love it!
This is the best I have tried, Excellent recipe, thanks Amy.
Excellent recipe. I have to disagree with your explanation of the difference between chocolate sauce and hot fudge sauce. Fudge taste in any form, liquid or solid fudge is chocolate cooked. Cooking chocolate changes it’s taste very significantly into what we call fudge. It’s not the addition of butter and cream that does that, it’s the cooking of the chocolate itself. I make a very fine fudge sauce without butter or cream by just cooking a good chocolate sauce. Changes the flavor dramatically.
I used this recipe for so many things.I used it for topping with muffins and so many more things.Thanks for sharing
This was so easy and incredibly tasting.
This sauce is amazing it truly is so much better than store bought Hershey chocolate sauce. I made a half batch using raw sugar, I added cayenne pepper and cinnamon. There will never be a bottle of Hershey chocolate sauce in my fridge again. I like the idea of gifting this. I think I’ll play around with some different “add ins” and make some as homemade gifts for Christmas.
Thank you, thank you!
Easy and delicious!! Used 1/2 water 1/2 cashew milk and a T of butter.
Easy and delicious.
I love this chocolate sauce! Made some today for my neighbor along with some of my shortbread. Taste great over ice cream with the shortbread crumbled on top.
I’m making a cheesecake bar for my sister’s wedding, she wants chocolate for one of the toppings. Would this recipe be ok at room temperature for a few hours? Is it too thin to put on cheesecake slices? Thank you for your help! I’m certainly no professional so any help is greatly appreciated!
Hi Tracy! I like how your sister thinks! HA. Depends how many hours? This sauce does solidify as it cools (and chills), but it should be fine at room temp for a bit. It is definitely thick enough to pour over cheesecake. Did you read the full article? There’s information included about the thickness and also variations.
This was GREAT! And so easy. Thank you!
Had an ice cream bar for my daughter’s birthday and made this as one of the toppings. Super easy and tastes fantastic. GREAT recipe.
I’d like to make this recipe and substitute a sugar alternative in place of the sugar. How do you think that would work?
Hi Cindy! Our recipes are not tested using sugar substitutes, so unfortunately I can’t vouch for results.
This recipe was great! It was quite tasty and easy to make.
Great recipe! I used 1/2 cup of coconut sugar instead of 1 c white sugar. Perfect texture and sweetness.
This chocolate sauce is the easiest and best ever!
Best chocolate sauce recipe I’ve ever made! So easy and tastes excellent.
I cut the recipe in half and subbed milk as suggested in the notes. Excellent sauce recioe!!!! Not too sweet. Thank you!!
I have made this a few times now, within the last 2 months. Thank for the recipe, every time I’ve made it kid’s loved it regardless…, yay no more store bought sauce, also this inspired me to make strawberry sauce, when my strawberries are ready.. thank you again.
I loved this recipe! I used a half a cup of coconut sugar and 1/4 cup of honey instead of sugar and it came out great! Thank you!
just made this chocolate sauce THANK YOU THANK YOU
This was exactly what I was looking for. The texture and flavor were perfect! No changes needed.
can I sub with monk fruit instead of sugar?
Without further recipe testing, I can’t vouch for the results with that substitution. For optimal results, you’ll want to make the recipe as written.
i added just a dash of clove powder really kicks up the chocolate flavor
This chocolate sauce was easy and it tasted like perfection. I haven’t tried it leftover from the fridge yet, but I loved the way it tasted straight from the pan. Thanks for the recipe!
This is fantastic! it turned out so well and is so easy to make! It turns out tasting just like the Hershey’s chocolate syrup! would recommend!
We are glad we came across this recipe, since then we never bought from the store. Our daughters must have for many anything and everything! Thank you
So easy to make and perfect consistency!