Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
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Our easy hot fudge recipe is made with NO corn syrup, but still gives you the thick, glossy texture you’re looking for. Try it on ice cream sundaes & more!
Summer’s on the way, which means ICE CREAM SEASON IS ON THE WAY!!! (*Cue the confetti and sprinkles*)
This summer at Sweets & Thank You, we’re going to be having a lot of fun with ice cream, with homemade ice cream recipes, nostalgic ice cream treats (I’m looking at you Ice Cream Sandwiches!), and classic ice cream desserts like ice cream sundaes with hot fudge sauce.
I LOVE old-fashioned hot fudge sauce! The main difference between this dessert sauce and ice cream toppings like Chocolate Syrup or Chocolate Shell is the texture. Hot fudge sauce is rich, thick, and almost chewy when it comes in contact with the cold ice cream.
We’ve been testing for weeks, and I think this is the best hot fudge sauce I’ve ever tried. It’s thick, chocolatey, and super easy to make. It all starts with simple ingredients…
Simple Ingredients To Get Started
Our easy hot fudge sauce recipe starts with mostly pantry items, plus 1-2 things from the fridge–no fancy ingredients required. Let’s take a look:
- Sweetened Condensed Milk. So how do you make hot fudge sauce without corn syrup? We’ve gotten the best results by using sweetened condensed milk! It eliminates the need for corn syrup, granulated sugar or brown sugar, and gives the fudge sauce a rich, glossy look–no corn syrup required!
- Heavy Cream. Yes, please. Using cream instead of whole milk or evaporated milk will give you the thickest, smoothest texture.
- Butter. Sounds funny, but it’s GREAT for texture and taste. Unsalted butter or salted butter works–whichever you have on hand!
- Salt. An essential ingredient! Hot fudge sauce is very sweet, and a generous pinch of salt helps balance and elevate the flavors. (Don’t worry, it won’t taste salty!)
- Dark Chocolate. Since this sauce runs sweet, I highly recommend using dark chocolate (around 70–72% for the best results!). You can use high-quality chocolate chips or baking chocolate, though chopped chocolate will give you the smoothest results. (Some chocolate chips have stabilizers that prevent them from melting smoothly.)
- Vanilla Extract. Always and forever. This goes in at the end so you don’t cook it off!
How To Make Homemade Hot Fudge, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, step-by-step instructions, tips and more in the recipe card below!
- Heat Milk Mixture. Add sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, butter, and salt to a medium saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat stirring regularly until it’s almost bubbling at the edges.
- Add Chocolate & Vanilla. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate and vanilla. Stir to combine until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
- Serve or Store. Enjoy right away over ice cream or store leftovers in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. The sauce will thicken quickly as it cools.
- Reheat. This hot fudge sauce will get VERY thick when cooled. Gently reheat in the microwave in 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between each interval until the mixture is smooth and glossy again.
Yummy Ways To Use This Sauce
Now that you’ve made our homemade hot fudge sauce recipe, it’s time to USE it! This versatile recipe can be used all kinds of delicious ways, but these are some of our favorite ways to use a jar of hot fudge…
- On A Scoop! Starting with the obvious–pour it over a scoop of ice cream! Vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream…your favorite ice cream. Simple, delicious, classic.
- Serve Up A Hot Fudge Sundae. Or, layer scoops of vanilla bean ice cream with hot fudge, chopped nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry. You’re worth it.
- Classic Banana Splits. Or, share a banana split!
- Ice Cream Cake. Lots of classic ice cream cake recipes use a middle layer of hot fudge and cookie crumbs. This works perfectly!
- Grasshopper Pie. Drizzle a slice of this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie with hot fudge!
- Ice Cream Bar. Have an ice cream party! Set out a few flavors of ice cream, plus classic toppings like this hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles, nuts, and more!
- Brownie Sundaes. Gluten-Free Brownies + ice cream + hot fudge. YES forever!
FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The BEst Hot Fudge sauce
How to Reheat Hot Fudge Sauce. This hot fudge will get VERY thick pretty quickly as it cools. If you need to reheat it, pop it in the microwave in 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between each interval until it’s smooth and pourable again.
Variation: Peppermint Hot Fudge! Around the holidays, it’s fun to serve this chocolate fudge sauce over a scoop of peppermint ice cream with a fudgy brownie and crushed candy canes. You can even add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract to the sauce with the vanilla for extra peppermint flavor!
Make It Even More Chocolatey. If you want a deeper flavor, you can add 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder to the milk mixture at the beginning of the recipe. This will intensify the chocolate flavor even more!
Recipe Card
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Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups sauce 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This homemade fudge sauce makes the BEST hot fudge sundae of your life, or makes a great addition to an ice cream bar!
Ingredients
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat Milk Mixture. Add sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, butter, and salt to a medium saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat stirring regularly until it’s almost bubbling at the edges.
- Add Chocolate & Vanilla. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate and vanilla. Stir to combine until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
- Serve or Store. Enjoy right away over ice cream or store in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. The sauce will thicken quickly as it cools.
- Reheat. This hot fudge sauce will get VERY thick when cooled. Gently reheat in the microwave in 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between each interval until the mixture is smooth and glossy again. (At first, it might seem hard or lumpy–just keep going! Use gentle or low heat when possible, and just keep stirring and melting. I’ll come together again!)
Notes
- Chocolate. I recommend dark chocolate (around 70-72%) when possible to keep this from getting too sweet. You can use bittersweet chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips instead, but the sauce will be less chocolatey and more sweet. Milk chocolate will be too sweet and too weak for this recipe.
- Make It Darker. If you want an even more rich chocolate flavor, you can add 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder with the cream mixture at the beginning.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
