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5-minute Hot Fudge Sauce has just three ingredients and is perfect to use all summer long! This simple recipe tastes like melted fudge and you can reheat leftovers to thin!
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Easy Hot Fudge Recipe
If there is one thing I want all summer long it’s ice cream!! I crave it in summer, probably because it’s so hot here in Sacramento. (Well…let’s be honest. I crave ice cream all the time because it’s so darn good!)
Recently Jordan had some friends over and they wanted ice cream sundaes. We had the ice cream covered but, to my dismay, we were out of chocolate sauce. Now, as a food blogger, I took this as a huge fail: I always have all the sauces on hand. I have chocolate sauce when I make pie and need a drizzle and caramel sauce for when I’m making something gooey. So how in the WORLD was I out of ALL OF THEM at once?! #momfail #bloggerfail
So I did what a good blogger does in these situations: I made my own hot fudge sauce. And, dare I say, it’s BETTER than the kind you buy?
5-minute hot fudge sauce has just 3 ingredients and is perfect for all your ice cream sundaes!
What’s the difference between hot fudge and chocolate sauce?
It’s so easy to buy hot fudge and chocolate sauce that making it homemade has to be easy or why bother, right? Well, I got you covered because this hot fudge recipe is the BEST.
Honestly, I’ve always wondered this! The main difference is the texture. Hot fudge is thicker and more rich while chocolate sauce is thinner and more pourable. Chocolate sauce stays sauce in the refrigerator, while hot fudge gets cold and thick…like fudge.
And, let me tell you, my hot fudge sauce recipe tastes like melted fudge! It’s PERFECT to put on top of your favorite O Organics ice cream!
3 Ingredients Needed
Some recipes are for hot fudge with cocoa powder, but this recipe uses sweetened condensed milk! There are only three total ingredients:
- Chocolate Chips – use your favorite flavor, but use a good brand! We love Trader Joe’s, Guittard, and Guirradelli.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Butter – unsalted or salted. The butter might seem like an odd ingredient, but it’s necessary. Without it the hot fudge will seize and not act properly, so don’t skip it.
How to make hot fudge
- Add sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter. Stir until butter is melted.
- Place hot fudge in a jar. Use while hot.
Favorite Recipes using liquid fudge:
- Drizzle it on peanut butter dip
- Make Hula Pie with it
- Pour it over Peanut Butter Ice Cream Brownies
5-minute Hot Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) can (396g) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup (170g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Stir until butter is melted.
- Place hot fudge in a jar. Use while hot.
- Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. To reheat: place jar in microwave and heat in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until melted and smooth.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- This is a very thick sauce – the hotter it is the thinner, but it’s hot fudge, not chocolate sauce.
- You can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Leftovers – store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will thicken and harden as it cools so heat to thin.
Recipe Nutrition
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Last Updated on April 29, 2023
I wondered how much it makes? What size storage container?
I keep it in a jar in the refrigerator – it makes about 2 cups
It was definitely quick and easy, but disappointing compared to the homemade hot fudge of my childhood – the cocoa and sugar recipe. Like other reviewers, the chocolate flavor was lacking. I used Toll House chips. Once poured over ice cream, it cooled immediately and was thick, sticky and chewy. Had to be forcefully scraped from the bottom of the bowl and had to soak the spoon in my mouth to get all the chocolate off. Wasn’t a fan. I didn’t even finish my serving.
I was in a hurry and decided to try this recipe as a shortcut. It wasn’t very chocolatey and was super thick and almost chewy. Next time I’ll go back to my original recipe with unsweetened cocoa, butter, milk, and sugar.
Perfect pantry staple hot fudge. Thanks!
Seems very watery. What did I do wrong?
Did you use fat free sweetened condensed milk?
Good recipe I used a solid chocolate rabbit from Easter instead of chocolate chips
Great way to use up leftovers!
I made this sauce because it looked easy and delicious. Well, it was easy, but that’s about all it has going for it. I followed the directions exactly and it turned out very grainy. Plus, it’s not as chocolatey as other hot fudge sauce recipes. I put it in a jar in the fridge and heated it up a few days later thinking maybe the graininess would be gone, but it’s still just as grainy as before. I’d be curious to know if anyone else had this issue?
This has everything to do with the quality of the chocolate. Chocolate is not all made the same. It has dozens and dozens of different extracts from one to the other. I used the Kirkland/Costco chocolate, and it was like velvet sauce.
If it’s grainy, you probably boiled it too long, just heat it.
Friends said it was the best hot fudge ever.
This is amazingly good. We not only enjoy on ice cream, but we also take a clean spoon and scoop a bit of fudge as a special treat throughout the day while it is semi-solid in the fridge. lol
Don’t skip butter and I like to add vanilla. Soooo good!!!
I’m a bit confused. Your recipe says butter but the video says vanilla & no butter mentioned. . . . . ?
This is for Easter dessert 2023 so please let me know what to add.
I hope someone answered you before Easter. Ignore the video and add the butter. You can ignore the butter and add the vanilla, but I think the butter is more tasty.
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