This recipe makes a thick fudgy chocolate sauce that does not contain any ultra-processed ingredients. It is good for putting over ice cream, eating with fruit, or stirring into a coffee drink. It has a rich chocolate flavor and the recipe does not use any ultra-processed ingredients.
I think it tastes much better than Hershey’s chocolate syrup in the squeeze bottle because it does not taste like corn syrup, but like chocolate. It takes a few minutes to make up this sauce, but once you do it will keep in a jar in the refrigerator for quite a while.
You can use this recipe to replace chocolate sauces and chocolate syrups like Torani’s Dark Chocolate Sauce and Ghirardelli Premium Chocolate Syrup, which like Hershey’s both contain ultra-processed ingredients.
This recipe is for a fudgy chocolate sauce. It will thicken in the refrigerator, or when poured over something cold like ice cream, but it will remain runny. It is not a replacement for any of the shell style chocolate sauces that turn completely hard when poured over ice cream.
This recipe uses the microwave, so it can be made more quickly. You can also use a double boiler over the stove instead. Whichever method you use watch carefully because chocolate can burn quickly.
Recipe
Equipment
A glass mixing bowl that is microwave safe
A spoon or silicone spatula for mixing
Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, I used Baker’s brand unsweetened chocolate.
6 tablespoons water
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of salted butter
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Directions
Put the six tablespoons of water in the mixing bowl.
Break the chocolate squares up into some smaller pieces, and add those to the bowl with the water.
Microwave the bowl of water and chocolate for two minutes. The chocolate might not look melted.
Use your silicone spatula to mix the chocolate and water together until it is smooth. You might need to work the chocolate around some until there are no more lumps and it is all smooth.
Add the sugar to the mixing bowl with the chocolate.
Stir in the sugar. It will make the sauce look shiny.
Microwave the mixture for three more minutes.
Remove from microwave and use spatula to stir the mixture so that the sugar melts and there are no more granules.
Cut the butter into a few smaller pieces so that it will melt easier. Add the butter and the vanilla to the mixture in the bowl. Stir until everything is smooth and well incorporated.
Unused sauce can be stored in the refrigerator.
Ingredient notes
Chocolate
Be sure to use unsweetened chocolate that is intended for baking. I use Baker’s brand chocolate, and it is easy to use because the bar is divided into marked 1 ounce squares.
Baking chocolate is very bitter and does not have any sugar already mixed into it. You cannot substitute a bar of chocolate that is designed to be eaten plain. That type of chocolate bar already has the sweetener mixed in.
Some bars of chocolate contain an emulsifier called soy lecithin, which makes them an ultra-processed food. Baking chocolate does not.
Sugar
I use basic white granulated sugar.
Sugar is a large component of this recipe, and making changes to the type of sugar will change the outcome of the recipe.
Butter
For this recipe I used salted butter. If you use unsalted butter, add a small pinch of salt to to the end when you stir in the butter and vanilla.
I used salted butter both for ease, and to keep the recipe free of ultra-processed ingredients. Most unsalted butters include natural flavoring, which makes them an ultra-processed food. Salted butter just uses cream and salt, which makes it not an ultra-processed food.
Vanilla extract
This recipe uses vanilla extract, which should not be confused with vanilla essence or vanilla bean paste.
Vanilla essence is an ultra-processed synthetic vanilla flavor. Vanilla bean paste can be a wide range of products that generally are ultra-processed and may include sweetener, flavorings, and thickening agents.
Are commercially available chocolate sauces ultra-processed foods?
Chocolate sauces bought at stores are mostly ultra-processed foods. You might be able to find a premium chocolate sauce from a brand local to your area.
Somebody’s Mother’s Chocolate Sauce
I wouldn’t really consider Somebody’s Mother’s Chocolate Sauce to be an ultra-high processed food. It is a premium product that is designed to emulate the way that chocolate sauce would be made from scratch. It contains cream, butter, sugar, and chocolate.
However, even premium chocolate sauces frequently have cream or other ingredients that have a preservative or emulsifier as part of the individual ingredient. For example Somebody’s Mother’s Chocolate Sauce lists the following ingredients:
Heavy Cream (Milk, Cream contains less than 1% Sodium Citrate and Disodium Phosphate), Sugar, Butter (Salt), Unsweetened Chocolate (Milk Solids).
When I buy chocolate sauce from the grocery store this is the one I usually go with. It’s delicious. I rarely do though, because it is so much cheaper to make my own and only takes about five minutes.
Hershey’s
It is probably a surprise to no one that the squeeze bottle of Hershey’s Syrup Chocolate Flavor is an ultra-processed food. It contains:
High Fructose Corn Syrup; Corn Syrup; Water; Cocoa*; Sugar; Contains 2% Or Less Of: Potassium Sorbate (Preservative); Salt; Mono- And Diglycerides*; Xanthan Gum; Polysorbate 60; Vanillin, Artificial Flavor. *Adds A Negligible Amount Of Fat.
Hershey’s also makes a product called “Hershey’s 5 Simple Ingredients Chocolate Flavor Syrup.” According to their packaging that product contains:
High Fructose Corn Syrup; Corn Syrup; Water; Cocoa*; Sugar; Contains 2% Or Less Of: Potassium Sorbate, To Maintain Freshness; Xanthan Gum; Salt; Mono-An Diglycerides*; Polysorbate 60; Vanillin, Artificial Flavor. *Adds A Negligible Amount Of Fat.
Torani
Torani is a brand that makes a lot of sauces and flavored syrups used in coffee shops. It is generally considered to be a more premium brand.
They sell “Dark Chocolate Flavored Torani Premade Sauce” which advertises on the bottle that it does not contain GMOs or artificial flavors. It also says no artificial colors or perservatives.
According to the ingredients listed on the label, it is an ultra-processed food because it contains “natural flavors.”
The ingredients listed on the bottle are:
Pure Cane Sugar, Water, Invert Cane Sugar, Breakfast Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Less Than 1% Of Chocolate Liquor, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Salt.
Ghirardelli
Ghirardelli is a widely available brand of chocolate that is considered to be more premium. Their chocolate sauce is used in many restaurants and coffee shops.
Their sauce is called “Ghirardelli Premium Chocolate Syrup” and is an ultra-processed food. It contains:
Cane Sugar, Water, Invert Cane Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened Chocolate, Vanilla Extract, Salt, Soy Lecithin.