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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Notes
Nutrition
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This was delicious!! I'm a vegan baker and just made a ton of canna-coconut oil and this was perfect for it!! Toss in some pecans and a couple scoops of almond butter and it was mouth watering!!
Could these be poured in a mold?
Made this twice now. Fast and easy and very yum! Thanks from NZ
Made these with canna-coconut oil. Best. Edibles. Ever. Lots of love from over here in Cali haha
These are brilliant, I used small paper cake wrappers as I didn’t have any parchment, they were a bit flat but tasted perfect. Will have to try with peanut butter for Valentine’s Day. Thankyou!
I’m a diabetic so can’t use honey or maple syrup. Can I use a sugar sub, for ex. Sucralose or erythritol? Thanks
I've never tried it with either of those, sorry!
Can this be doubled so an 8 by 8 dish can be used?
Sure can!
Super decadent. Thank goodness it was a small batch recipe. Filled up some mini silicone muffin cups halfway, added a small dollop of natural peanut butter, poured more of the fudge on to fill the cup. Thanks for the excellent recipe.
Do you know the calories for 1 squares?
There are lots of great calorie calculators out there that you can use. Here’s one I like: https://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Very rich and addictive and satisfied my chocolate craving!! Only thing is I used honey instead of maple syrup and I added a little peanut butter. I think it was a little too much honey. But overall, delicious and will make again!! I'm happy with this healthier alternative
This would have been a 5 star but because you added maple syrup or honey its no good on my keto eating plan..if you had used stevia or erythrotol it would be ketogenic and you could just about eat the whole batch. Mind you you wouldn't feel like eating anything ele for the day hehe. ..I am s chocochocoholic too??
Oh, my; I have all the ingredients on hand, so tomorrow after sunset, I"m going to make a batch of it JUST FOR ME! I didn't find this until now, just half an hour before sunset (and the beginning of the Sabbath), so can't do a thing about it, But watch out Saturday night...the fudge is coming!!
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.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my goodness. I made this right after reading since I had all.of the ingredients and it is so good! I left out the toasted coconut, and added on powder, a little extra coconut oil and some peanuts for some crunch and it is delicious. Also, I looked up the ingredients and if one pan is 9 servings there's about 95 calories per serving. I was fine with a small bite and can probably get 20 portions for me, so 30 cals, not bad! Thank you!!
Would a 9x9 pan be too big?
You could try it, but you may end up with some very thin fudge! The one Cassie used is about 6" x 6".
I tried this and the coconut oil would not mix in. It just stays on the top. Any suggestions?
Made it last night, one plain batch and one with hazelnut extract and a few chopped cashews.... oh my they are amazing!!!
Does anyone know what like a one inch square of it would be for weight watcher points???? Would love to know!! Thanks
Ooh, that hazelnut extract + cashews twist sounds amazing!
Love this fudge! Especially with a fresh raspberry on top when I eat a piece!
Ooh, that sounds great!
I made this, and it hardened so nicely, but was too bitter! Any suggestions?
Just add a bit more sweetener and you should be good. 🙂
Hi Cassie!
Have you ever tried doubling or even tripling the recipe and using a bigger container?
I would like to make a big batch for the Hollidays. 🙂
Thank you so much!