Recipe updated: April 3rd, 2024
Hello, all of you chocolate lovers out there! If you want a fantastic melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate fudge recipe, this is the one! Not only is it so good, but it is also so easy to make! Just heat the ingredients on the stove until all is melted, then put it into a pan to cool and set at room temperature for about 1 to 2 hours before cutting. That’s it. No candy thermometer is needed! Easy fudge recipe, right?
Making fudge is fun, but eating it is much more enjoyable, and so is eating chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms, and homemade chocolate pudding. We love our chocolate in this household, that is for sure!
❔ What’s in this Dark Chocolate Fudge?
There are only five ingredients in this dark chocolate fudge recipe, but the main ingredient is dark chocolate chips. Three full cups! The other four ingredients are unsalted butter, table salt, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract. This is a very simple recipe to prepare in about 10 minutes. The hard part is letting it cool for about an hour or two. 🙂
🍫 Key Ingredients
- 3 cups of dark chocolate chips
- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk – 14 ounces
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon of table salt
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
👩🍳 How to Make Dark Chocolate Fudge
These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.
Step 1. Put All the Ingredients in a Saucepan Except Vanilla
Put 3 cups of dark chocolate chips together with 1 can (14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk, 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and 1/4 teaspoon of table salt in a medium-sized heavy saucepan.
Step 2. Cook Over Medium Heat
Put the saucepan with the dark chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, and table salt on the burner and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook the chocolate mixture until melted and smooth. This should take about 7 to 10 minutes or so, give or take a few.
After the chocolate mixture has melted, remove the saucepan from the burner and turn off the heat. Set the saucepan on a pot holder.
Important: Do not leave this mixture on the stove and walk away from it. If you don’t stay by the stove and continue to stir the mixture on the bottom of the saucepan until it is melted, it can scorch. This means it will stick to the bottom of the pot and then burn. It doesn’t take very long to melt, so you won’t be at the stove for too long.
Tip: You can use a double boiler if you prefer. A double boiler is one saucepan with another smaller saucepan that sits inside it. The idea of this concept is the ingredients inside the smaller pan will not have direct contact with the burner. The saucepan is filled with water, and the smaller pan that sits in the saucepan has the ingredients in it. The heat boils the water, hence giving heat to the ingredients without the worry of scorching the bottom of the pan, or the ingredients.
Step 3. Add the Vanilla Extract
While the saucepan is sitting on the pot holder, measure 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract with a measuring spoon and add it to the melted chocolate mixture.
Step 4. Mix the Vanilla Extract with the Fudge
Thoroughly stir the vanilla extract together with the chocolate fudge mixture.
Step 5. Pour the Chocolate Fudge into a Prepared Pan
The chocolate fudge mixture is ready to go into a pan so it can cool and set up. To prepare a pan, use an 8×8 inch square pan and put parchment paper in it. The parchment paper helps to remove the fudge from the pan easier. After putting the parchment down, then pour the chocolate fudge mixture into the prepared pan.
Spread it out evenly all around the pan. A spatula works best to spread the mixture around, but you can use a regular spoon, wooden spoon, knife, or whatever you have.
Step 6. Cool at Room Temperature
Let the dark chocolate fudge cool at room temperature for about 1 to 2 hours or so before removing the parchment paper and cutting it into squares.
Step 7. Remove the Parchment Paper
After the fudge has cooled and set, remove the parchment paper. The parchment paper should peel off the fudge very easily, then discard the parchment paper into the trash can. You can leave the fudge on the countertop for a couple of weeks. Place some aluminum foil or plastic wrap around the top of the pan to cover the fudge while it is sitting on the countertop.
Step 8. Cut into Squares if You Prefer
This dark chocolate fudge is sweet and rich in flavor, so cut small squares because of that. Cut the fudge with a sharp knife into 1×1-inch squares. You can cut them into any size you like, but one-inch squares get the job done! It doesn’t take much to satisfy the sweet tooth.
🌟 Enjoy!
I hope you have enjoyed this easy chocolate fudge recipe and the quick prep time and cooking time it took to make it. I think it’s the easiest fudge recipe that I know of. And the taste is bursting with dark chocolate flavor that’s not too sweet, but sweet enough. Enjoy!
😊 Recipe Variations
- Toss in some coconut and almonds after the chocolate is already melted, then chill, and after that, cut into almond joy candy bar squares.
- Sprinkle sea salt over the top of this homemade fudge before cutting it into 1-inch squares. Flaky sea salt sounds wonderful!
- Add about 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips to the fudge mixture after it has melted.
- Throw in some walnuts, pistachios, or small pieces of dried cranberries after the fudge mixture has melted.
- If you want this fudge to be just a bit sweeter, add about 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the dark chocolate fudge mixture.
🙋 FAQs
Yes, you can freeze dark chocolate fudge. Wrap it up well. Use an airtight container made for the freezer. Dark chocolate fudge can be stored in the freezer for a couple of months.
This fudge can sit on the countertop for easy access whenever you feel like a little bit of dark chocolate fudge to munch on. Keep it in an airtight container with a lid on it. Fudge can be on the countertop for a couple of weeks, then after that, either freeze it or toss it.
💡 Final Thoughts
A lot of folks make this easy chocolate fudge during the December holidays. Fudge makes the perfect gift, it wraps up so pretty, and it smells so good!
But you can gift this fudge to anyone at any time of the year. It’s also an easy recipe to make for bake sales, potlucks, special occasions, and celebrations.
📄 Recipe Card
Dark Chocolate Fudge
🫕 Equipment
- Square cake pan 8×8-inch
🧂 Ingredients
- 3 cups dark chocolate chips
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
👩🍳 Instructions
- Put the dark chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, and salt in a medium saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat until melted and smooth. Stir constantly. Then turn off the heat and remove the saucepan from the burner.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Put a sheet of parchment paper in an 8×8-inch square pan.
- Pour the melted fudge mixture into the pan, then spread it evenly around the pan.
- Let it sit on the countertop for about 1 to 2 hours to cool and set.
- After that, remove the parchment paper from the fudge.
- Cut the fudge into about 1-inch squares.
*️⃣ Recipe Notes
- Stir the mixture constantly so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the saucepan.
- You can use a double boiler if you prefer.
- Some extra add-ins to the fudge after it has melted can be coconut flakes, almonds, peanut butter, walnuts, pistachios, or pieces of dried cranberries.
- If you want the fudge to be sweeter, add about 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the fudge mixture.
- Lightly sprinkle some sea salt over the top of the fudge after it is already in the pan and before cutting it into squares.
🥰 More Dessert Recipes You Will Love
We have some easy and delicious recipes that we have made throughout the years. Some are from the past and some are from the present, so we want to share them with you. These are a few of our favorites that we know your family will enjoy also. The full recipe and instructions are included in the links below:
- Cream Cheese Cookies with Sprinkles – You will want to make these cookies a lot, they are that good! With most everything already in your kitchen, you can make these cookies any time you want to. Unsalted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, a brick of cream cheese, one large egg, vanilla extract, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and of course lots of sprinkles. Yum!
- Triple Chocolate Brownies – Chocolate lovers beware, these triple chocolate brownies are exactly that, lots of chocolate in every bite and oh so good! These brownies are made with butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, two eggs, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, white chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chips.
- Mississippi Mud Cake – A delicious cake made with the basics and then lots of miniature marshmallows, milk chocolate chips, and finely chopped pecans.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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