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Peanut Butter Sauce is perfect as an ice cream topping or on pancakes, waffles, as a dip…or on a spoon. This creamy, thick and delicious dessert sauce has just 4 ingredients and is the perfect sweetened peanut butter flavor!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Topping is the best sauce ever – perfect for any sundae or just eating with a spoon. It’s like eating liquid peanut butter that’s been sweetened with condensed milk. All I can think about is drizzling this sauce over ice cream along with my thick homemade chocolate sauce so that my ice cream will taste like a peanut butter cup.
I’ve been making this recipe for many years and have added some testing notes below fso that your sauce comes out perfect. If you have dreams of drizzling peanut butter over ice cream or just drinking liquid peanut butter then this is the recipe for you.

Peanut Butter Sauce for Ice Cream Ingredients
- Peanut Butter: It’s important to use a shelf-stable (no stir) peanut butter for this. Natural peanut butters will be too oily and grainy for a smooth final product. (You can use Skippy or Jif Naturals as they’re a no-stir, shelf-stable option.)
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is a thickened, reduced milk product with sugar. Make sure to read the can – it is not evaporated milk. There are two kinds of sweetened condensed milk: regular and fat free. Note which type you buy because it makes a difference in how much water you’ll add.
- Vanilla Extract is for flavor. You could also use vanilla bean paste.

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Dorothy’s Testing Notes
- Because this uses sweetened condensed milk it tastes a lot like peanut butter fudge in liquid form.
- Fat free vs regular sweetened condensed milk: Fat free is thinner and will require less water. I’ve added a note to the recipe about using regular, that you’ll need to add a bit more water as you go to get it pourable.
- The sauce thickens when it cools. You store it in the refrigerator, where it will thicken like a soft fudge. Simply reheat to thin and use as a sauce.
Peanut Butter Ice Cream Topping Recipe

Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup (154g) sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup (157g) creamy peanut butter, (shelf-stable, no stir only)
- 5 tablespoons water (may need up to ½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth. Add water and stir until it is incorporated.
- If the sauce doesn't seem to want to incorporate or seems too thick (if you've used regular, not fat free SCM) add another tablespoon of water at a time until it's a pourable sauce (approximately liquid hot fudge in consistency).
- Remove from heat then stir in the vanilla.
- Transfer sauce to a jar to cool. It will thicken as it cools. To make it pourable, just heat it in the microwave for a few seconds, then stir and drizzle or pour over your favorite ice cream. Store covered at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How to make Peanut Butter Sauce for Ice Cream
- Whisk everything together in a saucepan.
- You can see the sauce in this photo is still a little grainy. I needed to add more water.
- Once it’s all incorporated the consistency will be like liquid hot fudge.
Favorite Ice Cream Toppings








No need to heat, I just whisked it together and used it right away. It is an easy and delicious recipe.
Glad you like it, Marsha!
AWESOME SAUCE! And so easy!!!!!
Glad you like it Terry! Thanks.
This PB topping is delicious and so easy to make. YUM !
What is the shelf life on this?
About a week in the refrigerator or you can freeze it.
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