5-Minute Hot Fudge Sauce {Three Flavors!}
This decadent 5-minute hot fudge sauce (classic, peanut butter, and butterscotch flavor variations!) is dangerously delicious!
Hot fudge sauce is my weakness.
Not my only weakness, of course, but a very strong contender for top five weaknesses of all time.
Ultra chocolatey? Check. Rich and fudgy? Check. Perfect on everything from ice cream to bananas to digging in with a spoon? Check, check and check.
While I have a much-loved hot fudge sauce recipe posted way back in the archives, this 5-minute hot fudge sauce has completely moved in and stolen my hot fudge loving heart.
I mean, how can you resist a hot fudge sauce that literally takes just minutes to make?
Actually, let me be a sensible friend and say: you should actually try and resist this amazing and easy hot fudge sauce, because it is dangerous. Very, very dangerous to have around.
Consider that your friendly warning.
Now for those of you, like me, who can’t resist and feel you need to press forward into the decadent waters of hot fudge land, I have a feeling you are going to fall head over heels for this stuff.
And if a rich and extra-chocolatey classic hot fudge sauce is a little too mainstream for you (huh??), live a little and try one of the flavor variations included in the recipe.
Peanut butter-chocolate hot fudge sauce? Oh heavens.
Butterscotch-chocolate hot fudge sauce? Bring it on.
I currently have three jars of this 5-minute hot fudge sauce in my refrigerator. Not because we’ve forgotten about it.
No, no. Because we go through it at a shocking pace.
I should be embarrassed about that. But hey, it’s summer. Ice cream season. Dig-in-with-a-spoon-coping-skills season. Forget-about-it-being-swimsuit-season season.
Basically, it’s hot fudge season, and I’m not sad about that.
See How to Make It Here
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5-Minute Hot Fudge Sauce {Three Ways!}
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces (about 1 1/3 cups) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (see note)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) butter
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (optional)
- 2 tablespoons natural unsweetened or Dutch-process cocoa powder (sift the cocoa powder before using if it is extra lumpy)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, stir together the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips), heavy cream, butter, corn syrup, brown sugar (if using), and cocoa powder. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth, 3-5 minutes. Don’t let the mixture overheat or scorch! Add additional milk or heavy cream, if needed, for a thinner consistency.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Peanut Butter-Chocolate Variation: use milk chocolate chips (or half milk chocolate/half semisweet), add 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter to the mixture before heating, and increase the heavy cream to 1 cup.
- Butterscotch-Chocolate Variation: use half milk chocolate/half semisweet chocolate, add 2/3 cup butterscotch chips (about 4 ounces) to the mixture before heating, decrease the cocoa to 1 tablespoon, and increase the butter to 6 tablespoons.
- Use immediately or store the sauce in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. Reheat in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly just until heated (don’t let it boil or simmer) or in the microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time – thin with additional milk or heavy cream, if needed.
Notes:
The hot fudge sauce (any flavor) will only be as good as the chocolate you use! I almost always use Ghirardelli or Guittard chocolate chips. They melt better than other brands I’ve tried, but ultimately, just use chocolate chips you love the flavor of!
As much as I love dark chocolate, in the PB and butterscotch versions, it really does help to lighten up and go with at least part milk chocolate, otherwise the chocolate flavor overwhelms the add-in flavors of peanut butter or butterscotch. The sauce is still very rich and chocolatey.
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Recipe Source: adapted from Food Network Mag May 2018 (altered amounts for PB and butterscotch variations as well as increased chocolate slightly in classic version and opted out of extra brown sugar)
Can this be frozen? There’s just two of us at my house and as crazy as it sounds, I don’t think we’ll go through it in two weeks!
I don’t know, Kelsey – sorry! I think it’s worth a try, but I haven’t personally tried yet.
Mine turned out more like a ganache than hot fudge – I didn’t have enough chewiness.
I wanted to report back to say that when I ate the leftovers over ice cream today they were perfectly fudgy and chewy. Not sure what changed – was it the resting, or the reheating, or did it need to go over cold ice cream to get that fudginess? I don’t know. I ate it on fruit the first day. Maybe Mel’s hot fudge was just aghast that I put it on fruit, not ice cream.
This was yum! Served the plain chocolate version over brownies and vanilla ice cream and topped with peanuts….soooo good! Thanks Mel!
I want to make this coconut flavored but not sure the best way to do that, any ideas for me?
I’d probably add coconut extract in place of or with the vanilla.
I just made this tonight to use on top of our brownie sundaes! It was so delicious, and really easy to whip up. My boys loved it and I did too, and now I have a jar full of leftover hot fudge in the fridge to use all week long!
Thanks for letting me know, Sam!
I actually forgot to add the corn syrup and only added 1 T of the brown sugar and it was really good. I also agree with you Mel about using really good chocolate.
Thank you for sharing, great recipe!
Glad it worked out!
I am definitely in the dig in with a spoon to cope with the summer season camp. Made it. Love it. Thank you!
Thanks, Trisha!
This sounds amazing! I am not a fan of the flavour of butterscotch chips (maybe US ones are better), but we can get salted caramel chips that I think would go great in this. I can’t wait to try it.
I just realized that I totally forgot to add the cocoa powder, but it tasted amazing anyway! No more store bought hot fudge for us! Thanks Mel!
Yay! That’s awesome it was amazingly delicious even without that boost of cocoa powder!
Any idea how long this will keep in the fridge? 2 weeks? A month?
I think at least 2 weeks, not sure beyond that.
Next time I will try plain old semi-sweet chips. I am a dark chocolate lover. But I really think I favor the semi sweet chips (over bittersweet or extra dark) in this recipe since you are adding cocoa powder.
Mel! Once again you bring us an amazing recipe! I made hot fudge sundaes for me and hubby last night and OMG it is everything you said and then some! We. It’s thought it was perfect consistency especially after it was put on the ice cream and had the wonderful fudge taste! Dangerous? Oh yeah. Thank you for another great recipe for the books!
Thank you so much, Carol!!
This is unreal. I made the peanut butter version on a whim last night after dinner. My husband asked if this was a Mel recipe, and I said yes, and he said “I don’t know why I even ask that anymore…of course it is.” LOL! I didn’t have cream but used whole milk and it turned out just fine. I’m making a fruit pizza tonight and will drizzle some of it on that!
Haha, you are so cute, Ashley. Thanks for making me smile. Love that you loved this! (And drizzling it on fruit pizza sounds brilliant!)
This looks delicious! Thank you for all the amazing recipes! We are excited for the cooking with kids class!
Any chance you can send me the link (or just the name) of the game you posted on Insta stories? Thank you!!
Hey Kristi – it was the ThinkFun Roller Coaster Challenge. 🙂
Any ideas on how to make a mint version? We love us some mint-chocolate anything over here! Maybe just use mint extract to replace the vanilla? In addition to the vanilla?
Yum! I’d keep the vanilla to round out the flavor but add a teaspoon of mint extract, too.
I made a jar of this for my niece yesterday. I gave a very small container to my sister in law who promptly was looking for a spoon in her car to try it! She gave up and scooped it with her finger!!! I can’t get over how easy and delicious it was! By the way…my niece hid it from her kids!
Haha, I like your niece! I’m not above hiding decadent treats like this from my kids, too. 🙂
Okay.. I feel really silly for asking this. But.. can this be reheated over and over again? Like. When I refidgerate it in my cute little mason jar, do I need to take the amount I plan to use and put it in another bowl to reheat it? Or can I pop the whole jar in the microwave, use some and then put it back in the fridge and repeat? I know I know! Probably so silly. But I’ve always wondered this about fudges and caramels, and I feel like this is a safe place to ask. Can’t WAIT to try this!!
Hey Stacey – that’s a really good question! I don’t think it can be reheated an infinite number of times…it’ll probably develop a gritty/grainy texture if it’s reheated too many times. The key factor is reheating only until just warm – if you don’t let it simmer or boil it will last longer for future reheats.
Also, sorry I didn’t include this, but I’m too lazy to scoop out what I want, so I always reheat the whole jar, but usually it’s just the top third of the sauce in the jar that gets melty enough to use (I reheat on low power in the microwave). Honestly, though, a jar doesn’t last us more than 1-2 hot fudge “sessions” so I haven’t been able to really test how many times it can be reheated effectively.
Awesome!! I love it! Thanks!
How fortuitous! I JUST made a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream last night! I will make this tonight and try it! (I don’t eat store ice cream any more since I developed sensitivity to carrageenan.
I couldn’t wait to make this and had everything in the kitchen. It definitely was fast, but mine turned out more like chocolate sauce than hot fudge. I did add the brown sugar and measured everything else. I used the Guittard semi-sweet chips and the corn syrup. Maybe it will thicken up as it cools over the next hour or so, but the flavor is really good. I was just hoping for a thicker, chewier sauce like the one in your photos. Not sure if I did something wrong?
That’s puzzling, Teresa, since it definitely comes out very, very thick and almost chewy when I make it. What brand of cream did you use? Do you know the perecentage of milkfat in it? I wonder if that might be part of the consistency differences. I use the Darigold heavy cream from Costco; it has 40% fat.
I used the heavy cream from the Organic Valley brand I bought at Whole Foods. I recycled it so I don’t know the milkfat. I always use that brand of heavy cream in all my recipes. Maybe I will try making it again. It is great tasting. Thanks Mel.
I just made this using a store brand heavy cream and mine also came out more runny than thick. It was so delicious! But I was also hoping for it to be thicker. I’ll have to try it again in the future with a heavy cream with a higher fat content and play around with it. Also hoping it might thicken up a bit in the fridge.
I realized my mistake! I used heavy whipping cream rather than heavy cream, which Google tells me has a lower milkfat (30% for the whipping…). I will retry in the future with heavy cream with the proper milkfat percentage! It still tastes delicious and seems to have firmed up a bit im the fridge.
I was so excited to make this until I read the word “corn syrup” :'( that crap is in so many items and we have to stay clear for my ADHD kiddo. Seriously so sad!!!
Try honey…it often makes a good substitute for corn syrup.
Regarding “corn syrup”: This is not the same thing as that poison high-fructose corn syrup. Different form of manufacture. A person may not tolerate corn syrup but it would be for different reasons.
Do you ever make just peanut butter sauce?
I haven’t ever before, but it sounds yummy. 🙂
Did you use the brown sugar in yours? What is the purpose of the brown sugar?
It adds extra sweetness as well as a hint of extra fudginess (from the softness/moistness of the brown sugar). I’ve made this 6-8 times and I’d say I use it about half the time, depending on my mood.
Love that this is 5 minutes! We have a beloved recipe from my grandma that is just a little more fussy so we don’t make it as much. Love this as another option!
Hope you love it if you try it, Carissa!
Could we use half and half?
I haven’t tried that, but you could definitely experiment!
I think I just found my neighbors’ Christmas gift!!! YUM
Great idea! I gave out hot fudge sauce as Christmas gifts several years ago, and it was a hit!
Oh my, this recipe is the bomb Mel! Can’t wait to try it!