Best Chocolate Fudge
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You’ve found it! The best chocolate fudge recipe — a classic, old-fashioned, chocolate fudge made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry (no condensed milk here). I include plenty of well-tested tips for flawless fudge!
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Fudge
Chocolate fudge might just be one of my all-time favorite candy recipes.
Last year around this time I shared a week of candy, including a deliriously creamy peanut butter fudge, peanut brittle, toffee, and honeycomb (among others), but it’s been a while since I shared this decades-long, family-favorite chocolate fudge recipe. I originally shared it almost 4 years ago but thought it could use a photo facelift, some new tips, and a video.
Old-fashioned fudge is a labor of love and a treasure. It’s made with pantry-standard ingredients, this is a fudge recipe without condensed milk (not that I have a problem with easy condensed milk fudge), a fudge without marshmallow fluff.
Real old-fashioned chocolate fudge isn’t as creamy on the surface as the varieties and recipes that are more commonly available today. It gives a little bit of resistance to your tooth on that first bite and then just melts away, smooth and creamy on your tongue.
It’s not “easy” to make (is any candy?) but I swear you can taste the love and effort that goes into it. My mom makes this chocolate fudge every year for my siblings and me on Valentine’s Day and most of the tips that you see have mostly come from years of her trials and errors.
Ingredients for Chocolate Fudge
Our ingredient list is very basic:
- Whole milk.
- Granulated sugar. You’ll need 3 cups for this recipe. One of the comments I get most often when I share candy recipes is that they use “too much sugar!”. Well, that’s candy for you. It basically is flavored sugar that’s been cooked into another form.
- Light corn syrup. Not to be confused with high fructose corn syrup, which is not the same thing. I do not recommend trying to make this fudge recipe without the corn syrup.
- Unsweetened chocolate bar. It should be 100% cacao. I’ve used Baker’s chocolate and Ghirardelli and tend to prefer Ghirardelli as sometimes Baker’s chocolate leaves little specks throughout my fudge (you can see this in one of my original fudge photos that I left below. This seems to be purely an aesthetic thing, though, and the fudge tastes the same regardless of which brand I use). You’ll also only need a small bit, just 2 oz of chocolate flavors this chocolate fudge.
- Butter. I use salted here.
- Pure vanilla extract.
Key Tips for Perfect Chocolate Fudge Every Time
Fudge, like most candy recipes, is tricky and can be temperamental. Before you try to make it for the first time I highly recommend watching the video (below the recipe) and reading my tips and tricks. I know, there are a lot of tips here, but these have been collected from my mom over years and years of trial and error as well as my own tribulations with this recipe.
- Read through the recipe before beginning and have all of your ingredients measured and ready to go before beginning. Yes, my first tip is to read all of the tips!
- Don’t crank your heat up too high when bringing your mixture to a boil. Fudge takes patience. If you crank up the heat the sugar won’t have the time to melt properly and your fudge will be grainy or worse.
- When stirring, don’t scrape the sides of the bowl above the mixture line (you’ll notice sugar crystals settling there). Before the mixture comes to a boil you may use a damp pastry brush to gently wash off of the sides of the pot because the granules from the sugar can make your fudge too grainy if they fall back into the mixture.
- I recommend using room temperature butter when you add it to the fudge mixture. Perhaps it would be fine to use cold, but you don’t want to do anything to “shock” the fudge and make it drop its temperature too rapidly.
- Once you add your butter and vanilla DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES stir your mixture. Let it sit! The butter will melt as it cools, and things will look a little funky but please leave it alone until the temperature dips just below 110F, not a degree before then.
- It will take time for your temperature to drop to 110F. Like, possibly an hour. This isn’t a quick and easy fudge recipe, you need some patience.
- Once you finally dip below 110F, stir, stir, stir… but don’t stir too much. I know, this is vague, and it may take you more than one try to get a knack for this. For perfect fudge, stir until the mixture begins to lose its glossy sheen and becomes thickened, this can take several minutes. Stirring fudge can be a workout, keep going without stopping, and it’s not a bad idea to have someone else nearby ready to help you with the stirring if you’ve been skipping arm-day at the gym. Zach is usually my stirrer-on-standby.
- When stirring your fudge for the final time and pouring it into your prepared pan, don’t scrape the sides of the bowl above the mixture line — again, you want to keep any sugar crystals out of the fudge.
- High humidity is an enemy to candy making! Even the weather can affect the outcome of your chocolate fudge, and it’s best to make on a dry day.
Don’t beat yourself up if this fudge doesn’t come out right the first time. It takes practice, and it’s well-worth the effort.
Enjoy!
More Candy Recipes to Try:
- Chocolate Truffles
- Sea Foam (like Divinity, but not quite!)
- Potato Candy
- Easy Peppermint Bark
Best Chocolate Fudge
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (235 ml) whole milk
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 oz (57 g) unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces (100% cocoa)
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Lightly dampen a pastry brush and set it nearby the stove.
- In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, milk, corn syrup and chocolate over medium heat.3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar, 1 cup (235 ml) whole milk, 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup, 2 oz (57 g) unsweetened chocolate
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly, occasionally brushing the side of the pot with the pastry brush to remove crystals that might fall into your fudge.
- Once mixture begins to boil, attach your candy thermometer to the pot (make sure the bottom of the thermometer isn't touching the bottom of the pan).
- Stir mixture occasionally until your thermometer reads 238F (soft ball stage).
- Immediately remove pan from heat and add your butter and vanilla extract. Do not stir the butter and vanilla! Allow it to set and melt3 Tablespoons salted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Leave mixture undisturbed until your candy thermometer reads 110F. This will take a long time, possibly an hour or more.
- Now, using a (clean) wooden spoon, begin to stir the mixture vigorously (be careful not to scrape the sides or you may knock sugar crystals into the fudge, causing grainy fudge) until it begins to lose its shiny sheen and thicken (It will take a good bit of stirring before the fudge is just right, your arms will get tired and it's not a bad idea to have a back-up stirrer... seriously!)
- Immediately, once the fudge begins to thicken, pour into prepared pan.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I originally published this recipe 02/04/2016. Post has been updated to include even more tips and more photos. Some of the original pictures can be seen below.
I made this last night, sans wooden spoon because mine seems to have taken a hiatus from kitchen duties. It took forever, but was worth the wait. Loved every bit of it.
My question is – do you have a dairy free fudge recipe for my dairy allergic son? Or, if I were to make substitutions, which milk alternatives would you recommend?
Hi, Katie. I’m really not sure how it would work with a dairy free substitution. Sorry. 🙁
Could I put wax paper down first in the pan and then butter it?
Yes that would work just fine. 🙂
Also. This is my second attempt making this. Last night I made it and it was too soft 🙁 the taste is great but too soft to cut into pieces. What did I do wrong?
Hi Megan! Fudge is tricky. If it was allowed to cool long enough and never set properly, then the most likely issue is that it never reached a high enough temperature when cooking. Could it be that your candy thermometer is inaccurate? Could the thermometer have possibly been touching the bottom of the pan, making you think the mixture was hotter than it actually was?
Candy is a tricky thing, you may just need to make it a few more times to get your knack for it, don’t be discouraged!
What would be alternative to corn syrup? Also, is it ok to use sugar in the raw vs the white granulated? Thanks!
Hi, Richard! I wouldn’t use sugar in the raw. I have only tested this with corn syrup. Since candy can be finicky, I don’t know how anything else would work. The only other substitution I could think of would be golden syrup. 🙂
Do you think adding anything else to the fudge (pecans, peppermint chips, maybe?) would alter the consistency or maybe mess the recipe up? I get extra cash from the people at my internship job to bake for them since they know I absolutely love being in the kitchen (I’m thinking about culinary school) and all of them are SUCKERS for pecans or anything with a crunch in the treats, so I just wanted to ask before I try 🙂 (also, I adore all of your recipes, this website has been my go-to for a long long time! Thank you!!!
Hi Ella! I think adding nuts would be just fine, you would just quickly stir them in as soon as the fudge begins to lose its sheen and glisten. I hope that is helpful, and I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes!! 🙂
Does this make 1 pound of fudge?
I’m so sorry, I actually haven’t weighed it so I don’t know. 🙈
If I don’t have chocolate could I just flavour with vanilla? Is it likely to alter the texture?
I’m really not sure how that would turn out. I’m sorry, if you try it let me know how it works. ☺️
I know i will sound like an amateur, but i just made this and it took forever to get hot enough, forever to cool down, and I went to shove the spoon in to stir and it stopped. Solid. I scraped until I got it mixed but I think it will be grainy. Any suggestions? (this was my first shot at real fudge…)
Fudge is tricky! Honestly my best suggestion would be to just keep trying until you develop a knack for it, it just takes practice, most candy does. You’ll get it 🙂
What if I use 56% cacao semi sweet chocolate? Will I need to reduce the sugar?
Hi Karen! It will be pretty sweet with that chocolate, but I’m not sure how much you can reduce the sugar.
Hello,
Do you use whole milk?
Thank!
Yes I do! I hope you love the fudge, Wendy! 🙂
So glad to find this in an easy-to-forward format, this is virtually the same as my grandmother’s recipe and I can attest that it is the BEST! Only difference is her handwritten recipe calls for a pinch of salt. Your tips are all exactly right about the wooden spoon, medium-high heat, not stirring etc. My grandmother would cut the 3 T of butter into somewhat smaller bits while it was still cold out of the refrigerator and then it would be about room temp when it was time to add it, sprinkling the bits over the top of the mixture and of course not stirring. Really appreciate all the work you put in to testing and writing this up, it’s perfect!
I am so happy to hear this!! Thank you, Carol, I appreciate you commenting! 🙂
Don’t be discouraged! Candy is tricky, with some practice I am sure you will get it!
The recipe initially calls for a buttered 8×8 pan but later says 13×9. Which is it?
8×8! Thanks for pointing that out I’ll fix it
I had the same question but glad I found the answer in the comments!
OK stupid question-never used white chocolate chips before. Can I substitute regular chocolate chips or will that affect the taste on the spice fudge?
I avoid any recipes that make me use a thermometer. They drive me crazy 🙂
Love your emails.
Hi Jann! You left this comment on my chocolate fudge recipe but I’m thinking you meant to leave it on the gingerbread fudge (since you said “spice fudge”), is that right?
If so, while you could use regular chocolate chips, it would definitely affect the taste, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (it would simply taste like chocolate gingerbread, and it’s really just a matter of if your taste buds like that flavor combination) but I think this would be best if you could find white chocolate chips. The white chocolate taste is mostly overcome by the spices, which gives this fudge the perfect gingerbread flavor.
I hope this helps and I’m glad you enjoy the e-mails! Please let me know if you have any more questions about the fudge 🙂
Food traditions are so fun. Fudge on Valentine’s day sounds so sweet, and it looks so creamy and delicious.!
This fudge looks scrumptious, and a keeper! I actually have all the ingredients, which means only thing… I need to make these ASAP! 🙂
DO IT 😉 ! Thank you, Marsha!
Oh man, I could DEFINITELY go for some of this right now! I’m drooling on my desk. 😛 What a fun V-Day tradition. Feel free to send me some if you have any extra!
Haha, will do! Thank you, Jess!