Easy chocolate sauce recipe made with milk, cream, chocolate and a touch of vanilla. Made with good, bittersweet dark chocolate (minimum 65% cacao), the quality makes this sauce best.
With very little sugar, it's a French classic that's thin and easily pourable sauce- the kind that we serve in France with ice cream and all kinds of desserts. So if you want an extra thick chocolate sauce, this is not the recipe for you.
What is Chocolate Sauce Made Of?
This chocolate sauce recipe couldn't be easier and is whisked up in only 15 minutes. Made with milk, cream, chocolate plus a touch of vanilla and salt, what I love best is that it doesn't contain any unnecessary sugar.
At a pinch, use just a tablespoon to taste at the end, but it all depends on the chocolate used.
Much like the experience of a good French hot chocolate, the secret is in the ingredients. This is different to a syrup or sauce made with cocoa powder and water, as using dark chocolate makes this sauce stand out on its own.
What's the Best Chocolate to Use?
The better your chocolate, the better the sauce. I use a quality brand such as Barry Callebaut, as I find it's good value. Otherwise, Valrhona is excellent.
From the supermarket, avoid their cheaper own label brands. Best value I find is Nestlé's Corsé Noir (65%), Green & Black's in the UK, but use your own favourite. Choose a bittersweet dark chocolate with a minimum of 65% cacao.
Please don't go for 'chocolate' that doesn't even contain much chocolate otherwise the result will not be at all the same. For this sauce, I prefer 70% cacao as it's strong enough to balance whatever dessert you serve it with.
How do you Thicken Chocolate Sauce?
The good news is that by using real bittersweet dark chocolate, the sauce thickens naturally. Even more so as it cools. There's no need to thicken the sauce by adding tons of butter or any thickening agents.
That being said, there's nothing stopping you adding a knob of butter to gloss up the end result too. If you prefer yours much thicker, then reduce the milk or cream only slightly.
Update July 2025: After popular demand, I have reduced the amount of milk in the recipe - even although we prefer it thinner in France, many of you prefer a slightly thicker sauce and so here it is, now revised.
How to Make Chocolate Sauce with Chocolate
Heat together the milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat with the vanilla until nearly boiling.
Turn off the heat, add the dark chocolate pieces and salt. Whisk until the chocolate sauce is smooth. Although optional, depending on the chocolate used, taste test and add a little sugar if necessary. If you have a stick blender, then mix the sauce - it makes an even better consistency.
Chocolate Sauce Recipe for Ice Cream, Crêpes and More
In France, the sauce is quite thin and served apart and poured over ice cream but it's the perfect accompaniment to many more recipes.
If you're looking for a total choco-extravaganza, double whammy experience, then top this over chocolate cake. Serve a little pot with lava cakes, chocolate beetroot cake, chocolate coffee cakes or chocolate fondant cake instead of the French classic crème anglaise, our thinner version of custard.
Best of all, it's la crème de la crème highlight to top classic thin French pancakes (crêpes), chocolate crêpes, profiteroles and the Parisian Poire Belle Hélène. I'm sure you'll have a few other saucy ideas!
Any leftovers can be reheated over the next couple of days with a thicker consistency.
Chocolate Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 100 ml (3½ floz/ ½ cup) whole milk
- 100 ml (3½ floz/ ½ cup) whipping/heavy cream 30% fat (crème fleurette in France)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
- 100 g (3.5oz /½ cup) dark, bittersweet chocolate min. 65% cacao, broken into pieces
- 1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar optional (to personal taste, depending on chocolate used)
- pinch salt fleur de sel (Maldon or Celtic sea salt)
Instructions
- Heat together the milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat with the vanilla until nearly boiling.
- Turn off the heat, add the dark chocolate pieces and salt. Whisk until the chocolate sauce is smooth.
- Although optional, depending on the chocolate used, taste test and add a little sugar if necessary. For an even better consistency, mix the sauce with a stick blender.
Emma
I keep forgetting to tell you I’ve been making this chocolate sauce recipe for weeks and love it. Reminds me of our trip to Paris last summer - it’s just like the ones we had in a restaurant with crepes - and so serve with your crepes too. It’s now a family favorite. Thank you!
Jill Colonna
So happy to hear you like it, Emma. I hope you also try it on the pears Belle Hélène if you're wanting something else Parisian.
Thanks so much for popping in!