Let’s be honest. We’ve all been there, late at night, fridge open and Hershey’s chocolate syrup squeeze bottle in hand. Shameful, but oh so delicious.
Now, imagine that the chocolate syrup isn’t chockfull of artificial flavors, preservatives and processed sugars, but simple, quality ingredients and a whole lotta love.
The flavor in homemade chocolate syrup, especially when made with good quality cocoa powder (I recommend Valrhona), is much more intense than any store bought variety. It’s fantastic drizzled on everything from fresh fruits to desserts like my Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding, Cream Puffs, Tiramisu or Vanilla Crepes.
Have a little fun and try this velvety, rich chocolate syrup for yourself – or rather, for your next dessert – sometime! It’s decadent and delicious, and so satisfying to know that you can make this popular pantry staple at home with a handful of basic ingredients and just 5 minutes of your time!
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Homemade Chocolate Syrup
Yield: Makes 1 cup
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine cocoa powder, water, sugar and salt. Whisk until cocoa is dissolved. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Be careful not to let it get too hot and boil over! Whisk in vanilla extract. Let cool.
The chocolate syrup will keep for several months in a squeeze bottle or glass jar in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
Adapted from Small Notebook
Beautiful and delicious!
Your chocolate syrup looks beautiful, smooth and silky. This is a great easy recipe that I will definitely be making. Thanks. for sharing.
This would be a fun recipe to make with kids to serve on their ice cream for a special family dessert. The easy recipes are the best, thanks for sharing a good one!
This is great, Georgia! I much prefer to make things like this from scratch, rather than buy them from a store. I bet it tastes so amazing, too. Looks lovely!
Strawberries are about to be just perfect here…and I can’t wait to make this syrup to adorn a pint! Thank you for sharing sweet girl. Let’s get together soon for lunch. Have you heard of Hillside Farmacy? Maybe we can check it out?
Sayonara Hershey’s. This looks wonderful, and so versatile!
Hi Monet! Yes, I’d love to get together soon. I’ll email you.
Chocolate syrup makes everything taste good. I can’t even imagine how much better homemade chocolate syrup is. This recipe is wonderful!
I do believe that I could drink this like it was milk….
Love chocolate syrup drizzled over just about well, everything! Thanks for this recipe and especially for letting us know how long it will keep (not that it will last around here though)
Where do you find that cocoa powder Georgia? I wonder if Whole Foods would have it? I always buy the gigantic container of Rodelle brand from Costco because I go through so much of it in my baking. It’s actually a really good quality one though. Nice and dark. This syrup would make even plain vanilla ice cream really special!
Hi Valerie – You can Valrhona cocoa powder on Amazon.com. I’m not sure if Whole Foods or any other stores would have it. Another great brand is Guittard, though! I think stores may carry that.
This is something that my whole family (esp. kids and me? hee hee) can enjoy. Thanks to Valerie’s question I got more info on cocoa. I guess that’s the important ingredient so I should get high quality one! I feel a lot more comfortable if my kids use this rather than store bought brand for many reasons… :-)
I love making homemade chocolate syrup. It’s so much better than anything you can buy!
This is great–and your pics are gorgeous!
So much better than the bottled sauce! Looks yummy!
Does it mix well with milk?
Molly – Just as well as the store bought stuff would!
Oh I love this idea! And what a simple recipe – sometimes the recipes you see are so chock full of weird ingredients that it sort of defeats the point but this looks so good.
If we are being honest, I could probably just drink that chocolate syrup and be happy. Yum!
Since I used to get in trouble for drinking that syrup when I was a kid, no doubt the homemade version is pretty addictive. I will have to whip up a small batch for milk and ice cream. It looks amazing. Glad you posted this one!
the photos are gorgeous. and surprisingly not too unhealthy (sugar doesn’t count). where can i purchase the chocolate.. the grocery stores don’t carry the really good brands, I use Ghirardelli since that is all I can find. Should I try Whole Foods??
Thanks!
Honey – Thanks for your kind words. I answered your question about the cocoa powder in a response to another comment, above.
Oh, yes! I can’t wait to make this. Looks fabulous and easy. Thanks for the inspiration!
Beautiful syrup!! It looks so rich and decadent!
Georgia, this is amazing!! I love it :) So easy and so freaking’ delicious!
Homemade is ALWAYS best! I’ve made caramel sauce before, but never my own fudge sauce. Dangerous for me, but I may have to jump in with both hips and give it a whirl!
Whoa! I didn’t know it was so easy to make chocolate syrup! So much better then the processed store bought stuff. Beautiful post my dear!! xx
I happened upon your blog at the end of last year, and I just LOVE your recipes! Thanks for all the fabulous ideas – my house is a big fan of you!
Love the way its dripping down the strawberry. Gorgeous post G! :)
I love how silky smooth it is
I had no idea it was so easy to make, it is kind of dangerous
Your chocolate syrup definitely beats any seen in store – it is so perfectly warm and drippy and delicious :D
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Double Nutella Cheesecake Brownies
Homemade chocolate sauce is the best. I add a pinch of cream of tartar and a wee little bit of butter too.
:-) Mandy
I make a version of this that I adapted from Annie’s Eats! My bf loooves chocolate milk :P
I also wanted to let you know I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award! :) You can check here for more details: http://cookingactress.blogspot.com/2012/03/awards.html
OH yes, homemade is always better, regardless of what you’re referring to.
Who knew it was so easy? We should all have this on hand! I bet it’s divine.
Delicious shots of the chocolate syrup!! yum!
Oh, how fun! I will have to give this a try very soon!
This is decadent and right up my alley.
You can always tell a good homemade syrup because the consistency is so different from the corn-syrupy Hershey’s. This looks amazing!
I always shut the fridge door before I started squeezing that heavenly chocolate syrup in my mouth!!! lol
Great.. just what I need, a never ending supply of homemade chocolate syrup… I’m going to have to add an extra two miles to my morning runs!!
There is nothing better than homemade chocolate syrup. Yours looks fantastic!
i bet the homemade version tastes so much better than the store bought one.
Lovely photos Georgia
Oh Georgia…you have some amazing stuff here. I love to make things from scratch…and this is a perfect staple to have on hands at all time. It looks scrumptious! : )
This is delightful! Love the look of that sauce. I would go wild for it!
I’m so excited for strawberry season! This dip looks so tempting right now.
Oh this looks fantastic! I’m craving all things strawberry with spring finally here! I’ll have to try this syrup to dip ours in after we start picking.
Looks fantastic! Especially with the strawberries!
This is a great recipe! thank you….so true about settling for the bottle of chocolate sometimes. I have been there. I will have to whip some of this up next time :)
Ah, this is great, and no bottled stuff will ever replace the real thing :)
Yum yum yum! Looking delicious as always!
I love how easy this chocolate sauce is and I’ll bet it tastes so much better than anything that’s store-bought.
Oh my, I am now in the mood for chocolate sauce…this looks fantastic!
Thanks for this wonderful idea! Sometimes all I want for dessert is a spoonful of chocolate syrup. :) Perfect!
Hi, I made this tonight. Hot, it was just as you picture it above. But it cooled and got crystalized and really grainy. Is that right? The taste was still good when mixed in milk to make chocolate milk, I just wondered if I did something wrong.
Georgia — March 19th, 2013 @ 10:31 pm
Sorry to hear you had trouble once it cooled! No, it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong but just make sure you’re not using expired products.
Has anyone tried this with a sugar substitute such as Truvia or Splenda?
I made this last night using the Costco cocoa. I guess it’s Rodelle, whatever comes in the big round brown containor. I used a heaping 1/4 c of cocoa, and replaced a few tbsp with leftover brewed coffee. Yum!! Thickened up to a ‘hersheys’ syrup consistency after leaving it overnight in the fridge