Vegan Fudge Recipe
This vegan fudge recipe is what happens when five simple ingredients decide to show off a little. One square in and you'll swear you've uncovered a secret magic spell.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Vegan Fudge Recipe
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 3 minutes, plus an hour in the fridge.
- ⏰ Cook Time: Zip, zilch, zero.
- 🍫 Flavor Profile: Rich, velvety chocolate with a hint of coconut.
- 🍽️ Good For: Easy weeknight desserts and satisfying a sweet tooth.
- 🧡 Difficulty: If you can stir, you can make this coconut oil fudge!
"I thought you were hyping this recipe up. Oh. My. Dog. This is amazing. Its rich, smooth and decadent. I can't believe how easy and simple this is to make. Thank you for sharing, and so glad I stumbled upon it."
- PENELOPE -
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: I'd like to introduce you to a little recipe that we make at our house all the time: coconut oil vegan fudge. It's our absolute favorite healthier dessert, and we almost always have all the ingredients we need to make it stocked in our pantry.
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Fits any dietary need: This fudge is different from regular fudge in that it is naturally sweetened, totally dairy-free, vegan, and gluten-free. It is packed with nutrients and good-for-you stuff (more desserts like this: these no-bake macaroons and these almond butter cookies).
- No fuss: No boiling hot sugar on the stove and fussing with a candy thermometer. No sticking something in the microwave for 10 minutes. Just five minute, deeply chocolatey fudge, with a gloriously awesome hint of coconut flavor.
🍫 The Ingredients You Need
- Coconut oil: The idea behind this fudge is that property that all coconut oil users know well: coconut oil is solid at room temperature, but anything above that, and it's a velvety smooth liquid oil.
- Maple syrup. If you want to make this fudge vegan, make sure you stick with maple syrup.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder. Not only does it give the recipe tons of rich, chocolatey-flavor, but cocoa powder is also easy to keep on hand in the pantry! I recommend using Dutch-process cocoa powder (the same stuff I use in my hot chocolate mix) for the best, rich dark chocolate flavor, but standard cocoa powder also does the trick!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Honey fudge: If you just need this fudge to be dairy-free and aren't concerned about animal products, you can use honey in place of the maple syrup. Sometimes crystallized honey can cause issues with separation and make the fudge crumbly. If you are struggling with crumbling, bring the fudge back up to room temperature, and see if that helps soften the fudge.
- Peanut butter fudge: You can't go wrong with a peanut butter and chocolate combo (ahem, chocolate peanut butter overnight oats or chocolate peanut butter smoothie)! Just be aware that adding peanut butter will make coconut oil fudge a little less solid (but not less delicious).
- Chocolate orange: Replicate those chocolate oranges you can crack open at the holiday by stirring in some orange zest!
🥣 Vegan Fudge Recipe How-To
Step 1: Whisk the coconut oil with maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt until it is smooth as can be. No lumps allowed!
Step 2: Chill that sucker in the fridge. An hour later, out pops the most velvety, dense, and smooth fudge you've ever had...without a single second of cooking time.
Step 3: Pop the big brick of fudge out of the pan and cut into 9 pieces. Sprinkle with coconut and enjoy!
🙋🏻♀️ Vegan Fudge Recipe FAQs
Most fudge isn't vegan because it contains dairy. But in this recipe, the coconut oil does the heavy lifting, making for a velvety-smooth fudge...without the dairy.
Regular fudge recipes can be super fussy, ending up gritty if you aren't careful. But because this vegan fudge recipe relies on coconut oil for its texture and consistency, you don't have to worry about that!
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Keep it smooth: If the fudge isn't quite coming together, the coconut oil may need to be a little warmer (and therefore more liquid). Heat the whole thing over very low heat and whisk again.
- Be speedy: Short on time (or just feeling impatient)? Pop the pan into the freezer instead of the fridge and it will be ready to cut in closer to 30 minutes!
- Small pan: A small pan will make the best thick pieces of fudge. I usually use a 6"x6" glass food storage container, but a mini muffin tin works too!
- Keep it chill: Store this coconut oil fudge in the fridge or it will get melty and messy!
💚 More Tasty Vegan Dessert Recipes:
If you tried this vegan fudge recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Fudge
Ingredients
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- Unsweetened shredded coconut for garnish
Instructions
- Line a small square dish (I use this small square food storage container-it's perfect for this batch size) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup melted coconut oil, ¼ cup honey or maple syrup, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, and Pinch salt until very smooth. If the mixture doesn't come together, heat over very low heat in a small saucepan until very smooth.
- Pour mixture into the prepared dish. Refrigerate until solid, about an hour, then sprinkle Unsweetened shredded coconut on top, and cut into 9 small pieces. If you're in a hurry, pop it in the freezer and you'll be ready to go in about half the time-although you might need to use a knife run under hot water to cut through it.
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Made these with cannabis infused coconut oil, I cut it 50/50 with uninfused oil. There is still a heavy flower taste but it's very good! I will mix in peanut butter next time!
Now yer talkin. Just please warn people and/or provide un-infused chaser kind
Thats what I'm going to try this with! I have infused liquid coconut oil though, not solid, so I'm not sure if it will come out the same!
After reading the above post, I promptly pulled my stash out of the fridge and topped it with more maple syrup. Haha. We'll see what happens!
Really enjoyed this! I did, however find that the maple syrup and coconut oil separated so the top layer was bitter and the bottom super sweet. Do I just need to mix it better or is it because I tossed it in the freezer to firm up faster?
It might help to warm both the coconut oil and maple syrup a bit in the microwave or over a double broiler next time. 🙂
I will try this. Thanks!!!
Same happened to me when I used honey. I even heated both the oil and honey then mixed? The first time I made it I heated the oil but not the maple syrup. It didn't separate but it was kinda lumpy. Both times it was delish! A great nondairy alternative
I was doubtful about this recipe, but I was having a serious chocolate craving. I can't keep any chocolate in the house or I eat it all... and that is how I found this recipe. And it IS DELICIOUS!! It tastes like the inside of a dark chocolate Lindt truffle! YUM this will definitely become my new "emergency I need chocolate recipe." Also, it is just rich enough that I couldn't eat it all at once. I think I can make it last for two servings 😉
This was very gross and a waste of time and supplies. Spit it out.
it was really good but I don't like honey so much so next time I won't put as much honey in it. I'll Put some peanutbutter or something in it instead =)
I had no syrup or honey, so, being the resourceful person that I am (wink, wink), used 2T of organic raspberry preserves instead. It's absolutely DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing!
Oh man, that is GENIUS! I bet it tasted amazing!
Found this recipe on pinterest today and tried it immediately. It is perfect! The fudge is delicious and so easy to make. I will definitely be making it again.
Thanks for sharing!
So glad you liked it! 🙂
SO GOOD! The mini-cupcake tin is such a good idea! I put some cocao nibs in mine! this is the best recipe ever!
YUM. The cacao nibs is a genius idea!
Delish! Made this tonight. Easy, quick, and perfect for those sweet cravings. Thank you!
Your husband is a culinary genius. This may be the best discovery of 2016... delicious!
MIND. BLOWN. I made some of this fudge last week and HAD to bring it to work so that I didn't eat the entire serving in one day... holy man, this is going to be a staple in my house from now on! I love how easy it is and how natural the ingredients are, and that I always have those ingredients on hand!! Thanks! 🙂
I'm so glad you love it! It's way to easy to eat all of it!
I think I'm going to try these with some sea salt on top!
You know I love me some dark chocolate with sea salt!
I love recipes that are made from all natural , super food kind of ingredients so this one definitely looks amazing to me. I'm like crazy addicted to dark chocolate and LOVE how easy this looks!
I am definitely a dark chocolate addict, too! It's totally healthy, right? *wink*
i was indulging in tofu fudge i made..but this will be made very soon.. lately, i have been slathering coconut oil on my skin..and its done wonders. (this is so off topic)
Not off topic at all! Let's all celebrate the wonderful ways to use coconut oil! It's great for my super-fried-I-really-need-a-haircut split ends. 🙂
I can't wait to make this, I love coconut oil, and really love healthier alternatives.
Thanks girl!
Isn't coconut oil just the best? I use it for everything!
I love that this recipe doesn't have marshmallow! I can't wait to try it!
You know, now I kinda want to add a few mini marshmallows to the top. 🙂
Made this last night and it was fantastuc, thanks for the recipe! I added a tbsp of PB2 to make it peanut buttery without softening it and it was fab!
Awesome idea on the PB2! You can't beat peanut butter and chocolate!
I was thinking about this. did you just add the pb2 or did you replace some of the cocoa with the pb2?
Saw this and made it 5mins later! Just tried it.... Amazing. And it's richness stops me eating too much! Fab. Thanks!
So glad you like it! I'm jealous of your willpower. Richness just seems to make me want it even more! Ha!
Hmmm... The richer the better! Or that just with men??? LOL I can't wait to make this!!!!
Hnnnngggh these look amazing!!!! This is getting made tonight and will undoubtedly not make it through this snowy weekend.
Is it too much that I want to eat this fudge with some hot chocolate while I watch the snow come down?