Chocolate Sauce
Posted Jul 28, 2023, Updated Jun 10, 2024
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This homemade chocolate sauce is even more delicious than store-bought varieties. It’s easy to make with 8 simple ingredients in 10 minutes and is so good you will want to just eat it with a spoon!
This homemade chocolate sauce is so delicious you will not be able to keep yourself from licking the spatula as you make it.
Did you know that store-bought chocolate sauces contain artificial flavors, corn syrup, preservatives and emulsifiers – all things we prefer to avoid in our house.
Therefore, I created this recipe for a chocolate sauce made with real ingredients that tastes even better than any bottle you can buy in the store. It’s easy to make in 5 minutes at tastes amazing on top of ice cream, cakes, etc.
Chocolate Sauce Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Heavy Cream. there is no substitute for heavy cream in this recipe.
- Salted butter. unsalted butter works well, too.
- Cocoa powder. use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Honey. light corn syrup works well in place of honey.
- Light brown sugar. dark brown sugar works, it just imparts a richer “molasses” taste.
- Semisweet chocolate. Use your favorite chocolate – bars, discs, chips, etc. You can use milk, dark, semisweet or even white chocolate if desired.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. the seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste are both good substitutes for vanilla extract.
How to Make Chocolate Sauce
This homemade chocolate sauce is easy to make with 8 ingredients. Let’s walk through how to make chocolate sauce step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin my mixing together the heavy cream, butter, cocoa powder, honey, brown sugar and sea salt in a 3-quart saucepan.
Then, warm the mixture over medium heat until the butter is melted and it just beings to bubble around the edges, whisking often.
Next, turn the heat to low and simmer on low for about 5 minutes.
Then, turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the warm burner. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
Once smooth, remove the chocolate sauce from the heat and whisk in the vanilla.
Then, let the sauce cool slightly before serving, the chocolate sauce thickens significantly as it cools!
Serve
Serve on top of your favorite ice cream recipes (like this homemade vanilla ice cream, homemade chocolate ice cream or cookie dough ice cream).
You can also serve it on top of brownies, angel food cake, etc.
Or, use it in recipes like this ice cream cake and chocolate milkshake.
Store/freeze
Store in a glass jar (1 quart) in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Warm slightly before serving.
Freeze in a glass jar with a lid (leaving room at the top for the chocolate sauce to expand during freezing) for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Chocolate Sauce Recipe FAQs
This recipe lasts for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, and 2 months in the freezer.
Chocolate syrup is usually made with water an is thinner, whereas chocolate sauce is made with rich dairy and is thicker.
This chocolate sauce is made with heavy cream, butter, cocoa powder, honey, brown sugar, sea salt, semisweet chocolate and vanilla.
This recipe is thickened by simmering some of the liquid out of the dairy and by the melted chocolate.
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Homemade Chocolate Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup honey
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate (about ⅔ cup chocolate chips)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, mix together heavy cream, butter, cocoa powder, honey, brown sugar and sea salt.
- Warm the mixture over medium heat until the butter is melted and it just beings to bubble around the edges, whisking often.
- Turn the heat to low and simmer on low for about 5 minutes.
- Then, turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the warm burner. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
- Then, remove from heat and whisk in vanilla.
- Let cool slightly before serving over ice cream, brownies, etc.
- Store in a glass jar (1 quart) in the refrigerator. Warm slightly before serving.
- Mixture thickens significantly when cooled
Video
Notes
- Heavy Cream. there is no substitute for heavy cream in this recipe.
- Salted butter. unsalted butter works well, too.
- Cocoa powder. use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Honey. light corn syrup works well in place of honey.
- Light brown sugar. dark brown sugar works, it just imparts a richer “molasses” taste.
- Semisweet chocolate. Use your favorite chocolate – bars, discs, chips, etc. You can use milk, dark, semisweet or even white chocolate if desired.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. the seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste are both good substitutes for vanilla extract.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this to go on banana splits and it was great! I did substitute real maple syrup for the honey, and it gave it a slightly “woodsy” taste that was very good.
Great recipe! It was delicious.
It is mentioned that the sauce can be frozen. Is canning an option? Or do the cream and butter contents make t less viable for canning?
Thank you!
Didn’t have heavy cream that day. It tasted like ambrosia (nectar of the Greek gods)