Rich, deeply chocolatey, finished with sea salt, and ready in 20 minutes.
Rich, deeply chocolatey, finished with a pinch of sea salt, this salted dark chocolate hot fudge sauce is the one you will make every Christmas and every summer and every time someone asks you to bring dessert.
I have loved hot fudge for as long as I can remember. Not liked. Loved. There was a Hershey’s hot fudge that came in a little can when I was a child (thick, rich, almost impossibly fudgy) and I would skip the ice cream and eat it by the teaspoon standing at the kitchen counter. They stopped making it years ago, which I consider a great culinary loss, but this salted dark chocolate hot fudge sauce is the closest thing I have found. Better, actually, because of that pinch of sea salt at the end, which tips the whole thing from simply delicious into something you cannot stop thinking about.
I first made this as part of a homemade Christmas gift collection a few years ago, and it has been in my December rotation ever since. A jar of this tucked into a gift basket with good brownies and sprinkles is one of the nicest things you can give someone. It also keeps for up to three weeks in the refrigerator, which makes it practical as well as generous.
My friend Annie of the blog Most Lovely Things is working on a book, Made with Love: 100 Recipes for Gifting from the Kitchen, coming in 2027, and this month we are shareing a recipe for gifting. Hot fudge sauce was the first thing that came to mind. Be sure to visit Annie to see what she is making this month.
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Why This Is the Best Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe
This is an easy recipe with common ingredients you can find at most grocery stores, but the method is what sets it apart. Making your own hot fudge sauce at home is one of those things that sounds more complicated than it is. You need a small saucepan, a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over simmering hot water, and about 15 to 20 minutes. That is the great thing about this classic hot fudge sauce: simple process, extraordinary result.
The key is building the chocolate flavor in layers. Good-quality bittersweet chocolate melts low and slow first, then cocoa powder deepens it further, and the cream mixture brings everything together into a smooth chocolate sauce that is glossy, thick, and intensely flavored. The best part is that pinch of salt at the end, which turns a very good chocolate fudge sauce into something you will be spooning straight from the jar.
A Note on the Chocolate
The best thing you can do for this sauce is use a good bittersweet chocolate bar rather than chips. Chips have stabilizers in them that can make the texture slightly grainy when melted, and this sauce deserves better than that. Chop the bar roughly and it melts low and slow into something completely smooth. For a deeper, darker flavor, look for a bar in the 70 percent range. For something a little less intense, 60 percent is the sweet spot for most people. If semisweet chips are what you have on hand, they will work. Use the best chocolate you can find and the sauce will reward you for it.
A Note on Cocoa Powder
Dutch-process cocoa gives you the deepest, roundest chocolate flavor here and contributes to the silky texture of the finished sauce. Sift it before you add it. I mean it. Lumps in cocoa powder are stubborn and not worth the trouble.
What Goes Into This Hot Fudge Sauce
You need three ounces of good bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, plus three tablespoons of unsalted butter cut into pieces, a quarter cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process if you have it, sifted), three-quarters of a cup of heavy cream, three tablespoons of light corn syrup, two tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon of vanilla extract, and a pinch of sea salt. That is it. Everything you need is probably already in your kitchen.
How to Make This Hot Fudge Sauce
Start by melting the chocolate and butter together in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring now and then until the whole thing is glossy and smooth. Pull it off the heat and stir in the cocoa powder until there are no lumps left, then set that aside while you get the cream mixture going. In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, corn syrup, sugar, and sea salt, bring it to a boil over medium heat (it comes up faster than you expect, so stay close), then reduce the heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about three to five minutes. Take it off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and then the chocolate mixture, scraping every last bit in with your spatula. Transfer to a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface so a skin does not form, and let it rest for about twenty minutes before you pour it into jars or spoon it straight over ice cream.
How to Use This Sauce
Over ice cream sundaes is the obvious answer, and it is a very good one. A bowl of vanilla ice cream with this sauce poured warm over the top is a classic hot fudge sundae done exactly right. But this easy hot fudge sauce recipe goes well beyond the sundae bar.
Spoon it warm over a brownie and let it settle into the cracks. Pour it over fresh fruit, particularly strawberries or raspberries, where the bittersweet chocolate plays beautifully against the acidity of the fruit. Stir a spoonful into your morning coffee for a rich mocha. Add it to hot chocolate for a deeper, darker result. It also makes an excellent ice cream cake filling. Spread it between layers while still slightly warm and let it set in the freezer.
Variations Worth Trying
Milk chocolate version: Swap the bittersweet chocolate for good-quality milk chocolate for a sweeter, milder sauce that children tend to love. The darker chocolate flavor will be less pronounced, but the texture and glossiness stay the same.
Peppermint: Add 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract along with the vanilla. This is a wonderful variation for the holidays and makes a beautiful gift alongside a box of peppermint bark or a tin of cocoa.
Mocha: Stir a teaspoon of instant espresso powder into the cream mixture before heating. This deepens the chocolate and adds a subtle coffee note that any coffee lover will appreciate.
Golden syrup substitute: If you do not have light corn syrup, golden syrup works as a substitute. The sauce will have a faintly richer, more caramel-like sweetness.
A little milk: If the sauce thickens too much after refrigeration and you want to thin it slightly without reheating fully, stir in just a little milk, a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the consistency you want. This also works if you prefer a slightly thinner chocolate sauce for drizzling over fresh fruit or pound cake.
Peanut butter swirl: Stir a tablespoon of smooth peanut butter into the warm sauce just before serving. The ribbons of peanut butter through the dark chocolate sauce are wonderful over vanilla ice cream.
If you prefer your hot fudge sauce without corn syrup I have a recipe for that too!
Giving It as a Gift
Find a decorative holiday tin or a pretty box, line it with tissue paper, and tuck the jar of sauce inside with a small card that tells whoever receives it how to reheat it. Add a batch of homemade brownies, or your favorite boxed mix if December has already gotten away from you, a little bag of sprinkles, and if you are taking it as a hostess gift, a pint of good vanilla ice cream. Everything the recipient needs for a proper sundae, all in one box. I have plenty of brownie and ice cream recipes on the blog if you want to make everything from scratch, and it is a very nice thing to do. But the sauce is the star. No one will notice what the brownies came from.
If you make this, I would love to know what you put it on first. Are you a straight-to-the-ice-cream person, or do you find yourself at the refrigerator the next morning eating it cold by the spoonful? I will not tell anyone either way.
Be sure to visit my friend Annie at Most Lovely Things to see her recipe for hot fudge for holiday gifting.
You can find me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. And if you love Pinecones and Acorns, sharing it with a friend means everything.
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Print
Salted Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge Sauce
Rich salted dark chocolate hot fudge sauce made in a double boiler. Ready in 20 minutes, keeps 3 weeks, and perfect for ice cream sundaes or holiday gifts.
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 11/2 cups 1x
Ingredients
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup heavy cream (heavy whipping cream works equally well)
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
In the top of a double boiler over barely simmering hot water, melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until completely smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder until no lumps remain. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, light corn syrup, sugar, and sea salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, watching carefully. It comes up faster than you expect. Reduce to medium-low heat if needed and stir until the sugar dissolves completely, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately and stir in the vanilla extract and the chocolate mixture, scraping every bit in with a spatula.
Transfer to a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving or jarring. Store in an airtight container or mason jar in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. To reheat, warm gently in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth, or microwave in 20-second intervals. The sauce is good at room temp too, slightly thicker and fudgier than when warm.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Elizabeth, your salted dark chocolate hot fudge looks and sounds so good! And I remember that little can of Hershey’s hot fudge! It had a yellow lid, which I always thought seemed unnecessary since there was no way there would be any left!
I’ll be making this soon!
xx