How to make a super simple, five ingredient chocolate sauce made with chocolate chips. This easy homemade chocolate sauce recipe is great for drizzling over desserts like cheesecake, dipping for fruit, or topping ice cream!
I made this easy homemade chocolate sauce to put on a recipe in my future cookbook I’m working on with my grandmother Nan, and it’s basically the easiest and best ice cream cake/pie thing ever. And this is coming from an ice cream cake obsessed family.
The original recipe for the chocolate sauce came from Nan via text message. It called for light Karo corn syrup, but I didn’t want to buy corn syrup.
I have some in my pantry at home, but I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase it for the weekend just to make the sauce for an ice cream pie in which the sauce would not be the star. Little did I know that the star would, in fact, be the chocolate sauce. (Ok, well the ice cream pie and the chocolate sauce were equally loved)
Luckily, we’re all family because I’m pretty sure every person dipped their finger in the saucepan with the chocolate sauce in it at least once. The good news is that Karo syrup was not a make or break ingredient, and stirring together the sugar and water was completely sufficient.
The other thing I changed regarding the original recipe is that I used milk instead of cream.
The most important thing is that with all those changes it’s still just as delicious! Love it when that happens, and it ends up being really good.
Why you should make this chocolate sauce recipe
Everyone needs a good homemade chocolate sauce recipe, and this one is ever so simple. A few steps is all it takes to have a homemade sauce, and you only need four ingredients!
And if you’ve ever wondered how to make chocolate sauce with chocolate chips, now ya know!
How to Make Chocolate Sauce with Chocolate Chips
Like I said before, this is super simple.
- Put sugar + water in a saucepan.
- Add milk.
- Simmer.
- Stir in chocolate chips until smooth, and add vanilla.
- Pour over everything because this stuff is magical.
Tips for Making Easy Chocolate Sauce
There aren’t too many special things you need to know about this chocolate sauce.
The only main thing I want to stress is that this is more of a drizzling sauce and not as thick. However, if you serve it straight from the fridge, it is pretty thick and can hold up on a spoon (unlike the photo below which is when it was slightly warm or room temperature).
Make Ahead Tips
This is great for making ahead of time, and it keeps in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for 2 months. No need to do anything special to make this ahead of time. Prepare as directed then transfer to a container, and refrigerate or freeze.
If you are freezing this, I recommend freezing it in smaller portions so you don’t have to defrost the entire batch to get some of this chocolate sauce in your life.
Nan always has this in her freezer because it’s so easy to heat up and serve with ice cream for an effortless yet lovely dessert that everyone loves.
Variations & Substitutions
Allergy substitutions:
This can easily be made dairy free by using dairy free chocolate chips and a non dairy milk like almond milk. The sauce might be a little bit thinner, but it will still be delicious.
What to serve with this chocolate sauce
The most important thing to serve with this chocolate sauce is this Easy Ice Cream Cake. If you make the chocolate sauce and you don’t make that ice cream cake, you are severely missing out!
But this chocolate sauce is great drizzled over ice cream, cheesecake, apple slices, brownies, cookies, anything!
We actually made s’mores using this sauce. Here’s how:
- Spread the chocolate sauce (right from the fridge so it’s thicker) onto the inside of half of a graham cracker and set aside.
- On the other half of a graham cracker, place a large marshmallow.
- Microwave for 10-30 seconds — depending on your microwave — until it puffs up.
- Remove from the microwave and smash it on top of the chocolate. Enjoy!
You can also make apple nachos with it by drizzling the warm chocolate sauce over sliced apples. Sprinkle with chopped nuts for a little extra protein, and enjoy!
Final thoughts:
It’s definitely more saucy than it is thick, so take that into consideration when you are preparing this. You can eat this homemade chocolate sauce over ice cream or cheesecake, with strawberries or apple slices for dipping, spoon over apple slices, or whatever.
I love making apple nachos with sliced apples, this chocolate sauce, and some chopped nuts. It’s similar to the apple nachos with homemade caramel sauce — so tasty!
MORE CHOCOLATE RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
- Peanut Butter, Caramel, Chocolate Dip
- Chocolate Coconut Chia Bars
- German Chocolate Brownies
- Chocolate and Raspberry Tartlets
- Mayan Hot Chocolate
Easy Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup milk 2%, whole, or non-dairy milk
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips one 12 oz. bag
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir together the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and heat over medium. After 2 minutes, add in milk. Bring to a simmer.
- Add in chocolate chips, and remove from heat. Stir until chocolate chips are completely incorporated. Add vanilla extract, and stir until smooth.
- Serve warm or cold. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks (or freeze for a month or so).
Notes
What to use in this recipe:
Meme
Doesn’t this recipe look good?! You should probably share it for later:
68
Looks great and super simple. I am going to make this tomorrow. Thanks for posting!
Thanks! It is addicting
This sauce is delicious!! I was looking for a recipe for chocolate sauce that didn’t use corn syrup or half & half. This was super easy and came out awesome. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Keri! It’s one of my favorites and it’s so easy 🙂
We tried it last night. Delicious! Thank you!
Awesome!! I’m so glad y’all enjoyed it! I love this chocolate sauce 🙂
Thanks for coming back to comment! xo
very easy to make recipe. I made with Hershey’s Special dark baking chips and it has a great flavor. I was hoping it would be a bit thicker but it is similar in consistency to the bottled Hershey’s syrup. I will try boiling the sugar water a bit longer next time to see if that will thicken it up more. Overall a great recipe if you want a syrup type sauce. Thanks for posting it !
Yay!!! Thanks for coming back to share 🙂
I will make a note in the post that it is thinner, so people aren’t confused. It definitely is a drizzling type of sauce.
xo
I was looking for a chocolate syrup recipe in a craving moment when I came across your recipe. Thank you! Unfortunately I was out of sugar (how the hell did that happen?) so ended up using honey (adjusting the milk amount by 1/3). Worked great, thankfully. Appreciate you posting this!
That is awesome to know!! Thanks for coming back to comment, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I missed the part about drizzle thin sauce…any suggestion to thicken now that it’s made? Thx!
I think you could try stirring together some cold sauce and a little cornstarch. Add it to the saucepan and heat it until it thickens a little. Cooling it again will help it thicken up as well.
Added a pinch of sea salt. SO good.
Yay!! Glad you enjoyed it! Love the idea to add sea salt
I wish I could sign up for recipes etc into my inbox!
It keeps saying something has gone wrong.
Hi Suzanne! I checked and it looks like you are signed up — you just need to confirm you subscription. You do this by clicking the link to confirm the subscription in the email you should have received with the subject ‘Important: confirm your subscription’. Check your spam folder if it’s not in your email inbox 🙂
This sauce is amazing!! I made it for the ice cream cake, and thankfully have a lot leftover. Super easy to prepare!
Yayyyyy!! Isn’t it SO GOOD?! Thanks for coming back to share! xoxo
I LOVE anything chocolate so this dip is perfect for everything!!!
Always could use some chocolate sauce, yum!
Well this is my new favorite thing ever! Chocolate for the win!
What a great, simple recipe for a classic pantry staple!
Can I use this to mix in milk for my little one? Seems so simple and I have chocolate chips at home – really want to try – let me know. Thanks.
To make chocolate milk? Yes! You might want to let the sauce sit out at room temperature little bit before mixing because it thickens up in the fridge, but it’s still a good substitute for chocolate syrup 🙂
Enjoy!
Can we use cocoa powder
Hi Deepa! I haven’t tried this recipe using cocoa powder, so I don’t know for sure. I have only tested it using chocolate chips. 🙂
If I make this a bit ahead of time, how long can it stay out at room temperature? Or, if refrigerated, should you let it stand out to warm up for a bit and how long? Thank you!
I think you should be safe for it to be at room temperature for up to 2 hours. After that, I’d put it back in the fridge. It takes about 15-20 minutes to come to room temperature depending on how hot it is and the container it’s in (a smaller container will cause it to come to room temperature faster).
Enjoy!
This was easy ,and,fabulous..I made s super easy by melting choc chips in microwave,1 min,then. Stirring,then 30 secs mores..then added sugar ,stirred not hot ,melted chips til absorbed,then added valinnala,a dash of salt,.At end of mixing I added in half and half,instead of milk or cream,then brought it to the consistency that I wanted with a little water….poured in ball jar,and,refrigerated …Can be served hot
,or,cold..microwave to hotness desired..shake chocolate in jar to mix up smooth,then serve…
HOORAY!! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
It’s a recipe I come back to time and time again!! xoxo
This is excellent. My search was for sauce recipe using milk, can’t believe this worked so well. Thank you!
Notes: I love the suggestion above to add a bit of sea salt. I halved the recipe, and had some fresh mint so steeped that in the liquid before adding the chocolate. Drizzled it in crepes with toasted hazelnuts and whipped cream, God help me it was good
YAY!! I love how you made it your own. Sounds incredible!! Thanks for sharing!
Delicious recipe. I use Trader Joe’s chocolate chips. The consistency was a little too thin for my dipping of apples. Next time I will experiment with the consistency.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it is definitely a drizzly sauce. You can always use a little less water or milk and add more if needed to achieve your desired consistency. 🙂
Just made this for my son who has strict dietary needs. It is fantastic. I halved the recipe because I didn’t need 32oz. I used semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon of light agave and organic soy milk. It’s the consistency of regular chocolate syrup and it tastes delicious! It’s plenty sweet. It’s gonna be great for his (dairy free)ice cream sundae. Thanks so much.
YAY!!! I am so so happy that y’all enjoyed it and that you were able to make something your son was able to eat! Also, glad to know that it works with soy milk and agave. Hope y’all have the best dairy free ice cream sundaes ever 🙂
Hi im making peanut butter cookies with half of the side dipped in. Will this chocolate sauce harden as a half and half cookie?
Hmm… I don’t know that it would. This is more of a drizzling sauce. It could possibly harden if you are keeping the cookies in the fridge.
Very good!!
WOOHOOOOO!!! So glad you game back to share — thank you! 🙂