By Matt JabsMaking your own chocolate syrup is a simple process of combining five basic ingredients that most people have in their pantry. Let’s briefly talk about the benefits of making our own, take a look at the recipe, calculate how much we save by making our own, then watch a video of how simple it is!
Why make your own chocolate syrup?
You may have your own reasons, but this is why we do it:
- It increases our sustainability and self-reliance skills.
- It saves us money.
- It allows us to regain control over the taste and ingredients (no high fructose corn syrup!).
- It serves as another loving homemade gift that we can give others.
- It makes us feel good!
All of these factors come together to create an awesome feeling whether you’re eating the chocolate syrup on your ice cream, giving it away as a gift, or sharing the recipe with others.
Recipe for homemade chocolate syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup cane sugar OR honey (find unrefined cane sugars here and unrefined honey here)
- ½ cup cocoa or cacao powder, packed (find organic cacao powder here)
- 1 cup filtered water (find our favorite water filtration systems here)
- ¼-½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (buy organic vanilla extract or learn to make your own)
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt (buy sea salt here)
Don’t be afraid to adjust these amounts to your liking!
Directions
Pour all ingredients except vanilla into a saucepan and stir until dissolved over high heat, bringing to a boil. Simmer for several minutes, stirring constantly. (Be very careful to continually stir and watch the mixture as it heats because it can easily boil over if you turn away even for a few seconds.) When the syrup coats a spoon, remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Allow syrup to cool. As the chocolate syrup cools it will thicken more, so if it is already thick enough then bottle it, seal it, and stick it in the fridge. You can store the syrup in a pint mason jar, an old store bought chocolate syrup container, or any other container you like.
This recipe will yield approximately 10-12 ounces of syrup depending on how long you reduce the mixture over the heat.
Cost savings vs. store bought chocolate syrup
This is a rough calculation based on our costs… yours may differ so plug in your numbers for precise savings. To reduce our costs we buy organic cane sugar in bulk, make our own vanilla extract, and only buy cocoa – in bulk – when on sale.
- 1 cup of sugar = $0.25
- ½ cup cocoa = $0.40
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract = $0.04
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt = $0.01
This puts our total cost of production at $0.70 for 10 ounces or $0.07/ounce. Comparing that against an 18.5 ounce bottle of Hershey’s for $2.95 at $0.16/ounce gives us a net savings of $0.09/ounce. Plus we feel really, really good about making it ourselves… and you can’t put a price on that!
Please enjoy this video of Betsy and I making our own batch of homemade chocolate syrup using this exact recipe!
Homemade chocolate syrup video
(If you cannot see this video in your email you can click this link to watch.)
Update: We now only boil the mixture for about 4-5 minutes. This results in a more syrupy consistency…not so fudge-like. You can also mix in about ¼ tsp. of baking soda while the mixture is cooling. This prevents sugars from crystallizing if the syrup is going to be stored in the fridge for more than a few weeks. It will foam a bit at first, but returns to normal during refrigeration.
Questions and comments
Share your questions, additions, subtractions, and variations in the comments below and be sure to share this recipe with others.
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photo by eandlilsmom
We do equal portions of butter, syrup and cocoa – heat and mix
mmm mmmm mmmm
can this chocolate syrup be used to make chocolate milk?
Thanks Stacy
Yes, for sure.
Can you make this with maple syrup or raw honey? Both are low glycemic so I’d prefer them over cane sugar…
We haven’t tried it Leah, but we encourage you to – and be sure to let us know how they turn out!
Hi all.
I have just found this post and would like to know what you class as cane sugar? Is it ordinary white sugar, or a brown sugar or raw sugar? I am a Kiwi so not familiar with a lot of your products.
PS, I love your blog and avidly read your postings. Cheers.
It is unrefined sugar from sugar canes. It is neither white nor brown sugar as you know them, although it usually has a tan color. Hope this help, blessings.
Oh thank you Matt. It is what we call raw sugar by sounds of it. Will try a brew over the weekend. Many thanks for your reply.
Yeah, that sounds right Mari – you’re welcome, and thanks for your kind words!
I have been a Hershey syrup junkie my whole life but resent the fact that they use high fructose corn syrup. I use natural cane sugar in all my baking and any use for sugar and really appreciate your recipe. Thank you!
You guys so rock! I am going to make this very soon. We drink chocolate milk very seldom in my house so I don’t buy syrup to keep in the house but since my little 3 year old godson loves chocolate milk (he calls it Co-Milk) I will make this special syrup just for him and keep it here for when he comes to visit which is quite often 🙂
Can I use white or brown sugar instead of cane sugar . If yes, how do I adjust the quantity ? Pl. reply soon. Thanks.
Sure, but pure cane sugar is much higher quality, we recommend always using it. Not positive on the conversion but I’d say you’re safe using the same amount of white sugar.
Add some peanut butter and some oats and you got No Bake Cookies.
Besides this chocolate syrup recipe being a good substitute for something my family really goes through, it has been great hearing the voices of the two of you! You never get the real sense of what people are like when reading their blog. You both are very down to earth on your video. I have learned alot from subscribing to your blog. God Bless and keep up the great work :o)
p.s. Tried the chocolate syrup and the family loved it! Thanks again!
This sounds very tasty. I was wondering if there is a way to preserve the chocolate sauce that would not require refrigeration?
Considering none of the ingredients need to be refrigerated you’ll probably be fine keeping them out for awhile but I have no idea how long it will last. Perhaps you can try it and let us know.
I was thinking of trying this with agave nectar rather than the cane sugar. Any thoughts?
We haven’t tried that. Also, consider reading this article on agave nectar.
We are trying to cut sugar out of our life. If we were to make this without sugar, would we decrease any of the other ingredients?
Thanks
Keep all other ingredients the same.
This looks like a great, easy recipe. Do you know if it can be preserved? I make my own jam & salsa & can them. Things like this make great gifts for others also but it’s hard to do in bulk if it has to be refridgerated. I’ve been wanting some “cannable” syrup recipes for gifting but I don’t know if they exist.
Thanks!!!
Considering none of the ingredients need to be refrigerated you’ll probably be fine keeping them out long enough to go in gift baskets; I would just instruct the recipient to store it in the fridge when they get it home.
This syrup is so good and easy. I just made some, except I added another 1/4 cup of cocoa, because I like it dark. I did a side by side comparison with Hershey’s syrup, using 1 tablespoon of syrup in 4 oz of milk. The homemade kind was so chocolatey, I had to add another 2 oz of milk. I love that I can control the amount of sugar and cocoa, and there is no high fructose corn syrup. Next time, I plan on cutting back on the sugar a bit and seeing how that turns out. Thanks for a great recipe.
Awesome Martha, we’re happy to provide this recipe and are glad you like it!
You guys rock!! I just so happened upon your website last fall when looking for a homemade laundry soap recipe that my neighbor friend was using. I love making my own products too. The soap works fantastic and is so cheap. Plus I know what is in it. This chocolate syrup looks yummy!! I’m a Type 2 diabetic and was wondering if I could use Stevia in place of the sugar? I think you two are awesome and high fives to you for your self sustainalbe efforts. I love this website and if I ever need a recipe for anything I want to make myself, you’re my “Go To” place. Keep up the fantastic work!
Thanks,
Carla
Thanks Carla, your encouragement means so much to us! We have not tested stevia, but I’m guessing it would be harder to thicken since you have to use so much less of it and it’s not “syrupie.” If you try it let us know how it turns out. God bless and thanks again.