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    Home • Recipes • Sauces-Preserves-Decor

    Chocolate Sauce Recipe - with Chocolate

    Published: Feb 15, 2024 · Modified: Mar 1, 2025 by Jill ColonnaLeave a Comment

    Jump to Recipe

    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 classic pourable sauce that's not thick - perfect with ice cream and all kinds of French desserts.

    pouring dark chocolate sauce over crepes

    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.

    ingredients for the best chocolate sauce without powder - milk, cream and dark chocolate
    chocolate sauce ingredients: milk, cream, chocolate with a little vanilla and salt

    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.

    poached pear belle helene dessert topped with thick chocolate sauce

    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. I personally don't feel it's necessary, letting us taste that chocolate.

    whisking chocolate into hot milk and cream
    How to make chocolate sauce in just 15 minutes

    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.

    whisking dark chocolate into milk and cream to make a sauce

    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.

    thin chocolate crêpes drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce

    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.

    whisking dark chocolate sauce in a pan with milk and cream and real chocolate (not powder)

    Chocolate Sauce Recipe

    Jill Colonna
    Easy chocolate sauce recipe made with milk, cream, chocolate and a touch of vanilla. Best made with good, bittersweet dark chocolate with a minimum of 65% cacao. Typically thinner in France, it's ideal to accompany classic French desserts.
    5 from 8 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 5 minutes mins
    Total Time 20 minutes mins
    Course Condiments
    Cuisine French
    Servings 6 people
    Calories 116 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 150 ml (5 floz/¾ cup) whole milk
    • 100 ml (3.5 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.

    Notes

    To serve: best on ice cream (such as chestnut vanilla ice cream), profiteroles, thin French pancakes (crêpes), chocolate crêpes and Poire Belle Hélène.
    Storage: keep the cooled sauce covered in the fridge for a week, ideally in a sealed jam jar. Also freezes well (defrost first before using). Reheat gently - either a few seconds in the microwave or directly in the jar in a pan of simmering water.
    Nutrition per 58g serving: 3 g protein; 5g carbohydrates; 9g lipids; Glycemic Index: 1

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    Bonjour - I'm Jill

    As a cookbook author and founder of Mad About Macarons since 2010, I’ve spent 30+ years perfecting foolproof French recipes in Paris—so you don’t have to! Expect step-by-step guidance, lower-sugar treats that don’t skimp on flavour, plus insider food and market guides to help you taste France like a local. If I can do it, so can you - no fancy techniques required!

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    Jill Colonna standing in a French patisserie lab holding a giant whisk over an oversized mixer bowl
    Welcome

    Bonjour - I'm Jill

    As a cookbook author and founder of Mad About Macarons since 2010, I’ve spent 30+ years perfecting foolproof French recipes in Paris—so you don’t have to! Expect step-by-step guidance, lower-sugar treats that don’t skimp on flavour, plus insider food and market guides to help you taste France like a local. If I can do it, so can you - no fancy techniques required!

    Meet Jill

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