Made the old-fashioned way on the stove just like Grandma would, this Keto Fudge Recipe is a decadent luxury. It’s creamy, buttery, rich, and chocolatey – exactly how chocolate fudge should be. Make it as a gift or share it at home, and just try to eat only one! This recipe is vegan and paleo too.
This post was originally published on November 24th, 2021.
❤️ Why you will love this Keto Chocolate Fudge Recipe
- Easy fudge recipe: This keto fudge recipe does take a little time to make, but you don’t need a thermometer as you do with sugar.
- It is chocolate heaven. This sugar-free fudge recipe is one of my favorite recipes. It has an amazingly rich chocolate flavor, just as chocolate fudge should.
- Simple ingredients: This sweet treat has wholesome, simple ingredients including cocoa powder, cream (I’ve used both coconut cream and heavy whipping cream for this recipe with great results), sweetener, butter, refined coconut oil, vanilla extract, salt, and crushed walnuts (the best part – I love that crunch!).
- You can make it ahead. If you want to share this homemade fudge with guests in the summer or holiday season, you can make it a few days ahead of time and it’ll still taste great. It’s perfect for keeping a batch in the fridge…just in case you get an unstoppable evening sweet tooth!
- It actually tastes like fudge. So many keto, paleo, and vegan recipes tend to taste…well, diet. This recipe does not at all even though there is no sugar. Huzzah!
- Perfect for the keto diet: At only 0.6g net carbs per slice, this low carb recipe is so easy to fit into any ketogenic diet.
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Cocoa powder: Plain, dark chocolate cocoa powder is what you’ll need to make this keto fudge recipe. Make sure it is unsweetened cocoa powder and that it doesn’t have any extra ingredients!
- Cream: I used coconut cream this time for a dairy-free option, however, heavy cream has been tested and also works well in this recipe if you’d prefer to use that. For the coconut cream, use just the hard creamy white part from a can of coconut milk, which comes to about a cup. If your coconut milk is completely liquid, try refrigerating it and it should separate into cream and clear liquid. if it doesn’t, the cream is probably mostly still on top so pour it off very carefully. My supermarket recently has only been selling coconut cream that doesn’t separate, so in this yummy keto fudge recipe, I had to pour it carefully.
- Butter: Preferably solid, natural, unsalted butter or a plant-based equivalent. I have made this keto fudge recipe with “buttery spread” before and it turned out fine.
- Coconut oil: This helps to solidify the final keto chocolate fudge.
- Sweetener: I used a stevia & erythritol blend. A sugar substitute like monk fruit works well in this delicious keto fudge too. The ratio to sugar for my sweetener is 1:1. I used granulated sweetener as it melts well, however, powdered sweetener is also a great choice.
- Vanilla: Vanilla extract deepens the flavor and adds warmth. It can be skipped if you don’t have any on hand.
🥣 How to make Keto Chocolate Fudge with cocoa powder
- Prepare the pan: Line a square pan (I used an 8×8 dish) with greaseproof or parchment paper and set it aside.
- Add ingredients to a medium pot: Add the cocoa, coconut milk, and sweetener to a pot on the stove over medium heat.
3. Heat and mix: Stir until the erythritol is completely dissolved and allow it to simmer for 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add other ingredients: Turn off the heat and add butter, coconut oil, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine.
5. Pour and beat: Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer for about 10 minutes, until it cools and begins to thicken.
6. Pour and garnish: Pour into the lined 8×8 dish and top with a few handfuls of walnuts if desired.
7. Cool and chill: Allow it cool to room temperature (about an hour) and then set it in the fridge for about 2 hours.
8. Pro tip: for a clean cut, after the fudge has set in the fridge, place the fudge on a cutting board and slice it with a warm knife, wiping the blade between each slice.
🤫 What is the secret to making fudge?
For this recipe, there are two important steps I would keep an eye on:
- Melt the sweetener: This is one of the first things you do. It does take a few minutes but erythritol-based sweeteners do melt completely. Melting it will keep it from tasting grainy.
- Beat it! Just like the traditional fudge recipe, I recommend beating the fudge until it’s cool. I’ve found that when I just let it set in the fridge it forms crystals, but if I beat it for 10-15 minutes or so after cooking it will set with a much smoother texture.
🧊 Do you put fudge in the fridge to set?
Yes! This recipe will set perfectly in the fridge in just a couple of hours. It should be cooled to room temperature before placing it in the fridge.
⏳ How long does fudge last?
Store this Keto Chocolate Fudge recipe in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container.
🌱 How do I make this Keto Fudge Recipe vegan or paleo?
Vegan: Use dairy-free butter or replace the butter with coconut oil.
Paleo: Use ghee or coconut oil instead of butter, and a paleo-friendly sweetener like stevia, monk fruit or coconut sugar. It will no longer be keto if you use coconut sugar.
🥜 I don’t like walnuts. What can I use instead?
The added crunch makes this recipe super addictive. It’s my favorite part! I highly recommend sprinkling unsalted and roasted pecans, peanuts, almonds, or hazelnuts over the top of this chocolate fudge. You can also skip the nuts entirely if you’d prefer.
❓ How many net carbs are in this low-carb fudge recipe?
There are 0.6 grams of carbs per slice of this chocolate fat bomb recipe.
🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips
- Use either coconut cream or heavy whipping cream: They both work well on a keto or high fat diet, and both taste amazing in this recipe.
- Beating is important: To avoid a gritty texture from sugar crystals, you must beat this fudge until it cools. I used an electric hand mixer, however, a stand mixer or good ol’ elbow grease will also do the trick!
- Other things to add: After beating the fudge mixture and cooling it slightly, add in sugar free chocolate chips or swirl in one of your favorite nut butters like peanut butter or almond butter.
😋 More keto desserts to try
- Keto Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe
- Keto Apple Crisp
- Squid Game Dalgona Candy
- Easy Pumpkin Pudding
- Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites
- Vegan Chia Pudding (2 ways!)
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me (@makehealthyrecipes) on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please give it 5 stars with a review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Keto Chocolate Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
- 50 g 1/2 cup cocoa
- 228 g 1 cup coconut cream or heavy whipping cream
- 272 g 1.5 cups sweetener (I used stevia & erythritol blend), see note 2 for paleo options
- 113 g 1/2 cup butter (plant-based, regular, ghee, or coconut oil)
- 54 g 1/4 cup coconut oil, preferably refined
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- crushed walnuts or nut of choice optional
Instructions
- Line an 8×8 dish with greaseproof or parchment paper and set it aside.
- Add the cocoa, coconut milk and sweetener to a pot on the stove over medium heat.
- Stir until the erythritol is completely dissolved and allow it to simmer for 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add butter, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer for about 10 minutes, until it cools and begins to thicken.
- Pour into the lined 8×8 dish and top with a few handfuls of walnuts if desired.
- Allow it cool to room temperature (about an hour) and then set it in the fridge for about 2 hours.
- Tip: for a clean cut, slice with a warm knife, wiping the blade between each slice.
Notes
- Vegan: Use dairy-free butter or replace the butter with coconut oil.
- Paleo: Use ghee or coconut oil instead of butter, and a paleo-friendly sweetener like stevia, monk fruit or coconut sugar. It will no longer be keto if you use coconut sugar.
- Use either coconut cream or heavy whipping cream: They both work well on a keto or high fat diet, and both taste amazing in this recipe.
- Beating is important: To avoid a gritty texture from sugar crystals, you must beat this fudge until it cools. I used an electric hand mixer, however, a stand mixer or good ol' elbow grease will also do the trick!
- Other things to add: After beating the fudge mixture and cooling it slightly, add in sugar free chocolate chips or swirl in one of your favorite nuts or nut butters like peanut butter or almond butter.
- Store in the fridge in a sealed container for up to a week!
Bethany, this is GOLD!!! Even my non-keto, old-school cooking mom liked it. THAT is saying something. I won’t bother with another keto fudge recipe again.
That said, I decided not to use coconut milk this time. I was really excited about old school fudge and just didnt want to ruin it for myself with coconut. So I used HWC. I’ll try coconut another time as I’m super interested in less dairy but so often I just don’t don’t care for the taste.
Additionally, I had on hand an erythritol and monk fruit confectioners blend so I used it. I also remembered Pyure sweetener (the one I was talking about above) doing weird things with chocolate taste wise.
Also added some roasted pecans on top.
I could kiss you square in the mouth for this recipe. It is AMAZING. Thank you so much!
OMG this sounds AMAZING! But I have questions lol. Using coconut cream..do you TASTE the coconut? Could I use heavy cream instead? And your sweetener…my erythritol and stevia blend is twice as sweet as sugar. Can I use it? Or does it need to measure equal to sugar?
I’m stoked to try this! Thanks!
I couldn’t taste the coconut cream but I use it all the time so my tastebuds may be a little immune at this point! I haven’t tried using heavy cream but I don’t see why not. For the sweetener, I use a 1:1 sweetener to sugar blend, so I’d try adding 1/2 and see how the sweetness is, and then add more to suit your taste. Fudge tends to be very sweet though, so you may find you can use the regular amount called for. Let me know how it turns out! =]
Bethany, this is GOLD!!! Even my non-keto, old-school cooking mom liked it. THAT is saying something. I won’t bother with another keto fudge recipe again.
That said, I decided not to use coconut milk this time. I was really excited about old school fudge and just didnt want to ruin it for myself with coconut. So I used HWC. I’ll try coconut another time as I’m super interested in less dairy but so often I just don’t don’t care for the taste.
Additionally, I had on hand an erythritol and monk fruit confectioners blend so I used it. I also remembered Pyure sweetener (the one I was talking about above) doing weird things with chocolate taste wise.
Also added some roasted pecans on top.
I could kiss you square in the mouth for this recipe. It is AMAZING. Thank you so much!
I’m SO glad you loved it, Suzanne! Roasted pecans sound *amazing* – I’ll need to try that next. Good to know about the HWC! The traditional recipe that I based this on used HWC but sometimes I can’t stomach dairy, which is why I use the coconut cream. If you’re into peanut butter, check out my keto PB fudge – very similar recipe, could probably use HWC as well =]