Recipe For Easy Chocolate Fudge
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Enjoy rich and creamy squares of decadent fudge thanks to this old-fashioned recipe for chocolate fudge. It takes just 6 ingredients to make this easy chocolate fudge.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not just a recipe for chocolate fudge I am bringing you today. This is ammunition 😉. Yes, you heard me right! Put a good easy chocolate fudge recipe in the right hands and you can take over the world. You can get your car tuned up, your grass cut, your dog walked, and have the doors to any building opened for you with a red carpet rolled out in your honor. How do you do this, you ask? Just hold out a plate of fresh, homemade fudge.
This is a no-fail and super easy fudge recipe that anyone can make (I promise!). Mama and Grandmama have been making it this way for as long as I can remember. So, how do you make chocolate fudge? All you have to do is boil the butter sugar, and evaporated milk (yep, we don’t use condensed milk in this fudge recipe), and then add in the chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, vanilla, and nuts (these are optional). Then you have to patiently wait for the chocolate fudge to set before you can indulge.
This recipe for chocolate fudge makes the creamiest melt-in-your-mouth fudge imaginable. If you can stop at one piece… well, you have more control than me!
Recipe Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Marshmallow creme
- Evaporated milk
- Vanilla extract
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips ( )
- Sugar
- Pecans or chopped nuts of your choice (optional)
How to Make Chocolate Fudge
Place your butter…
Sugar…
And evaporated milk in a saucepot.
I like to get a really big can of evaporated milk so I can use what is left in my coffee. It makes the BEST coffee creamer!
You’ll need a candy thermometer because we are going to cook this to the “soft ball” stage.
The candy thermometer has that written on it so you know.
While that is heating up in your saucepan, take some butter and smear it all over the bottom and sides of a 9×13 pan.
Place your candy thermometer in the pot. Make sure just the tip is beneath the liquid but don’t let the tip touch the bottom.
It has a handy dandy clip that lets it hook onto the sides.
Bring that to a rolling boil, stirring constantly.
Keep a watch on your thermometer so you will know when it gets to the soft ball stage.
This is going to take about five minutes on medium-high heat.
Once it gets to the soft ball stage, remove the saucepot from the heat and pour in the chocolate chips.
Add in the marshmallow creme and mix together.
Add in your vanilla and nuts if using.
Stir that all up until the chocolate chips melt. It is gonna take a few minutes but don’t worry, it’ll melt.
Pour into your prepared pan.
Allow the homemade chocolate fudge to cool completely before cutting into squares.
This old-fashioned chocolate fudge recipe makes 3 pounds. Enjoy that delicious bite-sized !
Storage
- Store leftovers of this easy chocolate fudge in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can store it at room temperature, but it will become quite soft.
- You can also freeze them for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge before devouring!
Recipe Notes
- Here are some fun variations to make this recipe for chocolate fudge your own:
- Substitute the pecans for chopped walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, or pistachios.
- Add 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows and 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts to make rocky road fudge.
- Top the fudge with crushed peppermint candy canes at Christmas. You could also substitute vanilla for peppermint extract.
- Another festive touch is to add 1/2 cup of red and green candied cherries along with (or instead of) the chopped nuts.
- Top the fudge with sprinkles before cooling.
- When you add the vanilla extract, stir in a tablespoon of bourbon or rum for an adults-only fudge.
- Add 1/2 cup of dried fruit, like dried cranberries, raisins, or candied cherries.
- Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips instead of the nuts.
- Use or instead.
- If you have leftovers, you can add crumbled fudge to a cup of hot milk to make the best hot chocolate you’ll ever taste. You can else melt it to make a hot fudge sauce and pour it over ice cream or a cake.
Check out my other fantastic fudge recipes:
Cinnabun, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter Fudge!
Chocolate Meltaways: A Fabulous Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
- 3/4 cup butter or 1 1/2 sticks
- 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips 12 ounces
- 1 1/2 cup marshmallow cream
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Combine sugar, milk, and butter in a heavy saucepan and heat to boiling.3 cups sugar, 2/3 cup evaporated milk, 3/4 cup butter
- Stir constantly for about 5 minutes over medium heat or until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage on your candy thermometer (238 degrees).
- Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Stir vigorously until well blended.1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 1/2 cup marshmallow cream, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Pour into a greased 13x9-inch pan. Cool completely and then cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds.
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I’m gonna have to try your recipe. I make my husband’s grandmothers recipe. It’s really good and creamy but you have to beat the heck out of it with a wooden spoon to finish it. Last time we broke the spoon.
Oh wow! I bet that is an amazing recipe though!
I don’t know if I’d have that much beating power in me but then again, no one nowadays can cook like our Grannies in days of old!
By the way, good job on your savings. Just check out all my “notes” on my FB page in regards to my couponing and you’ll see I can truly relate to you when it comes to finding a bargain! Hehe
(www.facebook.com/mom22seans … The one who has been posting about all the yummy stuff from Southern Plate she’s been making lately!! hehe)
The banana taffy sounds amazing, too!!
I’m headed to your facebook page as soon as I finish here! I didn’t recognize you by Cathy D but soon as you said mom22seans I knew exactly who you were!!! (I only see email addresses when i look at sp comments most times because that is how they show up in my email account).
I’ve really been enjoying your comments!!!!
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
Oh that looks so doggone easy!! I can’t wait to try it! My mama LOVES fudge! She makes it a point to buy fudge & banana taffy every year at the State Fair. I hope she’ll really enjoy this!
On a side note, in reference to the first poster – I mix marshmallow creme with strawberry cream cheese and it makes a delicious fruit dip – especially for strawberries!! Mmm… Think I’m gonna have to make some soon! 🙂
Oh -I most certainly would have bought that sale marshmallow cream too especially with the rapidly approaching holiday season. I have also made this fudge for years and it is nearly fool proof. I use peanut butter chips often as a sub for the chocolate and it is to die for. I have even on occasion made it into two layer fudge. Make one batch of the chocolate and pour it into the pan to cool while you make up the peanut butter one. Pour it over the chocolate batch which has now hardened and wow-you have double delicious. A little frugal tip I will practice from now until the holidays. When you are getting your groceries get one extra holiday ingredient in your order such as nuts, marshmallow cream, baking bits, eagle milk, dried fruits, whatever you will be using . It is not so painful as having to go buy a truckload all at once, especially when being Santa at the same time, and if you do see a bargain-all the better!
Elaine,
You are absolutely brilliant. I love the idea of buying up a little at a time for holiday baking. You are brilliant, I tell ya!
I’m also going to try the layered fudge – wow that sounds good! You know, I’ve never had this with peanut butter chips but I know it will be amazing. I just got into a habit of making it like Mama does!
I have lots of new things to try now thanks to you!
Gratefully,
Christy )
Christy,
You have brought back so many of the things I used to do but had forgotten about. This fudge is “sopt on” and I know my kids will find it in their stockings soon. Your chicken and dumplings are perfect. And Sooooooooooooooo good. I do not think my cardiologist would approve but I will not tell him. A girl has to “pfudge” every once in a while. Just keep the goodies coming.
Foustein
LOL Hey Foustein!
What a delightful person you are! I don’t know if you’ve commented before but I sure do hope you continue to comment in the future!
We just gotta make sure we eat good things on the day before and day of a doc’s appointment so if he asked if we’ve been eating right, we can say “Yes sir”! Hey, we could also eat with only our right hands and then you could technically answer yes to the whole “I’ve been eating right” issue as well.
I wish I was as witty as you in my comment but sleep deprivation prevents it.
Thank you so much for making me smile, hope to see you often!
Gratefully,
Christy
lol I was thinking along the same lines as Mary! my kids love ‘fluffinutters’ as they are called here and ask for them all the time. NOT that I give in, but it never stops them from trying.
Hey Gina, right after moving to Pennsylvania from Ga, you should have been there to see our faces as we walked into a treat shop and they had a big sign up featuring a “Fluffinutter” marshmallow creme dessert item. I laughed out loud and joked about the word I thought was made-up. Then a local woman told me it was an actual product in the grocery stores around here. And they laugh at ME here when I call a shopping cart, a BUGGY. See ya in the baking aisle ;-}
so the fluffinutters are marshmallow creme and peanut butter sandwiches?
My kids are deprived so I need to clarify in order to rectify! lol
Hey Christy,
Thanks for the fudge recipe! I shop the same way you do. I actually go early in the moring and look all over the store for those lil yellow and orange stickers! It’s like a scavenger hunt, and I like to win. Any sometimes I end up with 10 bags of chocolate chips, but we eventually use them all. Nice to see a “real” person cooking, sharing recipes, stories and tips!
Keep It Comin’ Christy!
Ooh shopping in the morning is the best time! Last year Katy had a preschool that started at eight a few mornings a week. I’d drop the kids off and head off for treasure hunting just like you!!
FUN FUN FUN when you score. I’m like you, I end up with a gazillion of one thing but hey, its a deal!
I wish so badly I could find the large cans of tomato sauce for 20 cents a can like I did when we first got married. It was the 29 ounce cans and I bought two flats of them! lol
I guess as long as it thrills us, its good!
Gratefully,
Christy