Hot Fudge Sauce—No Corn Syrup
Thick, rich & chocolatey, this easy, one-pan hot fudge sauce is perfect to top desserts or ice cream sundaes. Honey sweetened even.
I love it when I discover a new recipe by accident. This time, it started when I needed a chocolate fudge sauce to top a dessert.
Remembering a delicious hot fudge sauce from my childhood I decided to grab something from the grocery store. This was not a good decision.
The store-bought sauce had almost no taste of chocolate… perhaps because the first two ingredients were corn syrup, then high fructose corn syrup.
And so I made my own–which turned out to be super tasty and easy! It was so good I tossed the whole purchased jar into the trash. So good, in fact, that I immediately made a second batch so my husband could have it with ice cream.
Even better, later I caught him confiding to our house guest that Hot Fudge Sauce was a perk of marrying a food blogger–and it even made up for doing the cleanup.
More fudge sauce for him!
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. Chocolatey and rich, you may have to stop yourself from eating this with a spoon!
Easy. With just a few ingredients and made a single pan, this is easy enough to make even on a busy day!
Fun. Ice Cream is fun–but top it with Hot Fudge Sauce and it’s over the top! Also great on chocolate desserts! Or make a Brownie Sundae!
Step by Step Overview
Melt butter in a small saucepan, then whisk in cream, honey and salt. Bring just to a boil over medium-low heat.
Add chocolate chips, and whisk until completely melted.
Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and vanilla. Whisk until combined, returning to low heat, if needed.
Tips & FAQs
How is Hot Fudge Sauce different from Chocolate Syrup?
I also make a chocolate syrup (again corn syrup free) that similar to the tasty, thinner Hershey’s syrup many of us grew up eating. That is perfect to keep in the refrigerator for kid’s chocolate milk and impromptu sundaes. It’s delicious but lower in fat, thinner and less rich.
What type of chocolate chips should I use?
Since Hot Fudge Sauce is typically dark and rich, I recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate. You can also go with bittersweet or dark if that is what you find.
Finally, I recommend that you check the ingredient list of your chocolate chips to make sure it has cocoa butter, which is the mark of a good quality chocolate chip.
Can I use a chocolate bar?
Yes, with the same caveats as the chocolate chip selection above.
Recipes to Celebrate Choctoberfest
- Chocolate Freakshake from Creative Cynchronicity
- Dark Chocolate Pannacotta with Mango Coulis from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Paula Deen Chocolate Cake from Jen Around the World
- Silky Chocolate Cheesecake from That Recipe
- Tofu Chocolate Mousse from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you’re at it, join our Pinterest board, too!
Hot Fudge Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1/8 teaspoon salt optional
- 1/3 cup whipping cream or up to 1/2 cup--see note
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or bittersweet, 3 ounces
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Melt butter in a small saucepan, then whisk in cream, honey and salt. Bring just to a boil over medium-low heat.
- Add chocolate chips, and whisk until completely melted.
- Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and vanilla. Whisk until no lumps remain, returning to low heat, if needed. Serve warm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.
- To reheat sauce, warm in a saucepan on low, stirring constantly, or microwave in short bursts, stirring in between. Do not boil.
My fave sundae is a simple hot fudge with some peanuts over vanilla or peanut butter chocolate ice cream. This looks so simple! I am totally making it as dark chocolate as I can get it! Dark chocolate cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips. Yum!
Oooh, Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream is on my list. I might have to double fudge that! I’m a dark chocolate fan too!
This looks irresistible! I love that it’s made without corn syrup, so much better than store-bought. Can already imagine it drizzled over ice cream or brownies. Definitely going to try this soon!
I always have the ingredients on hand and it sounds so much tastier than jarred store bought!
So much better and so easy too!
Can you tell me the amount of salt? I’m seeing it in the directions but not the actual recipe
Thanks!
Good catch Kathy. I went and checked out the original recipe and they used 1/8 teaspoon (after adjusting for size). They did use unsalted butter but there isn’t a lot of butter in this. So I’d say 1/8 teaspoon and have updated the recipe to reflect this. Thanks for letting me know.
I loved reading this post, Inger! I’m glad to know you live with someone who won’t touch coffee-flavored things – I am the same way! (My tiramisu is coming soon! No coffee!) I also love that our fudge sauces are fairly similar. Mine was born on a morning when I added bit too much milk to my sugar and cocoa one morning. I start by making a slurry of the three to form a thick paste, emulsifying the cocoa. Well, with too much milk, it doesn’t mix well. So I microwaved it to see if that would help – and it did, and it was really trashy! And it also created the beginning of my chocolate sauce. I like to say that “accidents will happens – and sometimes it’s a good thing!”
Here’s to lucky accidents David!