If you’re looking for an easy addition to your Christmas cookie platters, or maybe just a quick way to get your chocolate fix, you’ve got to try this easy homemade chocolate fudge recipe. It’s seriously easy, only takes a few minutes, and makes the most deliciously rich melt-in-your-mouth fudge. And you won’t need a candy thermometer or any other special equipment to make this amazing chocolate fudge. Just melt everything together, let it cool, slice, and serve!
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Ingredients for Chocolate Fudge
This chocolate fudge is incredibly simple and at its core only requires three ingredients. I’ve added a couple more items just to take it to the next level, but it’s up to you! Here’s what you’ll need for this awesome chocolate fudge recipe:
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This gives the fudge its rich and sweet flavor and texture and helps soften the chocolate just enough to achieve that thick, fudgy texture.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Chocolate chips bring all of that chocolatey flavor to the fudge and help firm the mixture up into sliceable squares.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla gives the fudge a more dimension and a richer flavor.
- Butter: A little bit of butter thrown into the mix gives this fudge an extra rich melt-in-your-mouth finish. Many people skip this ingredient, but I think it’s worth adding for a silkier texture and richer flavor.
- Nuts: Nuts are completely optional, but I love how the flavor contrasts the rich fudge and they offer visual appeal. You can skip the walnuts or swap in your favorite nut in its place.
How to Store Homemade Fudge
Once cooled and sliced, you can keep this homemade fudge at room temperature in an air-tight container for about two weeks. It can also be held in the refrigerator, if desired, but the cold air can cause it to slowly dry out. The same goes fro freezing. This fudge is freezer safe, but make sure it’s wrapped very well and in an air-tight container to prevent drying and freezer burn.
More Flavor OPtions
This easy fudge recipe is quite flexible and can be modified to include different ingredients. Here are some ideas for other homemade fudge flavors:
- Flavor Extracts: try swapping the vanilla extract with other flavors like peppermint, almond, or orange.
- Toppings: Try topping the fudge with different nuts, crushed candy canes, marshmallows, pretzels, graham crackers, or sprinkles.
- Chocolate Chips: Try different flavored morsels, like peanut butter, white chocolate, or butterscotch.
Microwave Instructions
You can make this style of homemade fudge using a microwave, but I find using a pot on the stovetop to be much easier. The stovetop method only takes a few minutes more and it’s easier to control the heat and how evenly the ingredients cook. To make this chocolate fudge in the microwave simply add everything to a bowl and microwave on high for one minute, then stir. Continue heating and stirring in 30-second intervals until everything is melted and evenly combined, then transfer to a dish to cool and slice.
Easy Chocolate Fudge
Servings 16Ingredients
- 1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk ($1.99)
- 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ($3.14)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.25)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.25)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) ($1.25)
Instructions
- Add the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and vanilla to a medium saucepot.
- Heat the ingredients over medium-low, stirring constantly, until everything is melted and evenly combined. The mixture will be quite thick and glossy when it's ready (see photos below).
- Spread the fudge into a 8×8-inch pan lined with foil or parchment paper. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over top and press them lightly into the surface.
- Place the fudge in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about two hours or until fully chilled and firm. Remove the fudge from the refrigerator and slice into 16 pieces, then serve.
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Nutrition
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You might also like our Fudgy Homemade Brownies!
How to Make Chocolate Fudge
Add one 14oz. can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 Tbsp butter, and 1 tsp vanilla extract to a saucepot.
Heat the mixture over medium-low while constantly stirring, until everything has melted and evenly combined. The mixture will be quite thick and glossy when it’s ready.
Spread the fudge into a 8×8-inch baking dish lined with foil or parchment paper.
Sprinkle ½ cup chopped walnuts over top then press them lightly into the surface.
Chill the fudge for two hours in the refrigerator to make sure its very firm before slicing it into 16 pieces. Enjoy chilled or room temperature!
Do you use salted butter or unsalted?
You could use either but we like using salted!
Great taste very more-ish, followed recipe except I didn’t have enough dark chocolate chips so used half white. I put walnuts in the mixture not on top. Not sure if that effects the consistency, but it came out a bit too creamy and sticky. Will definitely try again. So quick and easy!
I tried this recipe and it was absolutely delicious! However, I found that I ended up with a layer of sweetened condensed milk that separated out and coated the fudge. It didn’t impact the taste at all, but it definitely looked weird! I’m not sure what went wrong; I don’t think I overcooked it the mixture, because I stopped when it looked thick and glossy like in the picture. Perhaps I had the stove set slightly too high? I had it at medium-low as recommended, but I’m still learning the particularities of my current stove. I would love to figure out what I did wrong because I NEED to make this again!
Wow, what perfect timing!! I was just thinking that I would love some homemade fudge, but all the recipes I could find involved messing around with candy thermometers, bain-maries, and other things that I wasn’t set up for… and lo and behold, the very next day, Beth posts this recipe!
Now that I’ve found the time to make it, I can say that it’s exactly the rich, decadent, chocolatey flavor that I was hoping for – and SO easy to make! I made this batch plain, since one of my family members is allergic to walnuts, but I can’t wait to experiment with, say, toasted almonds, or various extracts (I love the idea of both peppermint and orange), or a sprinkling of colored sugar or sprinkles over the top.
I made this fudge tonight, and before I added the nuts (about a cup of chopped mixed nuts) I sprinkled with flaky sea salt. It was delicious!
So easy and delicious! Kept half for myself and shared half with a friend.
Super easy to make and absolutely delicious. The perfect treat to bring to work for sharing
This is very similar to another recipe I saw except you put it in the microwave for 30 second increments until everything was melted and combined.
Could I double or triple this recipe? Thank you for sharing this.
Yes! If you double you could make them in one 13×9.
I can’t find my mom’s old recipe, but this looks very similar. I lost her this year, and I’m looking for things to make at the holidays to honor her memory. I think this is going on the list. 💗
Just curious if you ever tested roasting the nuts for fudge? Never liked raw nuts in fudge or cookies as a kid. I started roasting nuts before adding them to cookies, total game changer!! If only my mom and grandmas knew back in the day how much this could make their baking 1000 times better!!! 🤷🏻♀️ Could just be my opinion though.
I bet that would be awesome!
Can you make it without chocolate or add white chocolate instead thanks Jennifer
You can definitely do it with white chocolate. :)
Love this recipe . Thanks for sharing
My family has been making fudge like this for years and it’s absolutely delicious! I highly recommend it’s always kept in the fridge as it will begin to melt quite quickly at room temperature.
Mine stays solid at room temp, but I guess it depends on how warm your house is! Our studio is about 70-73 depending on if we’ve been cooking all day and it stayed solid. :)