It's that time of the year when Fudge is a must. Indulge in a piece of this chocolate heaven!
The next time you have that insatiable craving for chocolate, take a little time to make our decadent yet guilt-free Slow Cooker Fudge. This clean-eating recipe is made with dark chocolate and coconut milk, creating a dessert that’s as nutritious as it is delicious. And, since each bite contains only 114 calories, it makes a perfect portion-sized treat when you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Just like most slow cooker recipes, the process is so easy. It’s just a matter of tossing the ingredients in the pot and letting the slow cooker do the rest. You could whip up a batch before you go to bed and they’ll be ready to put away in the morning. Or, start it before you go to work and it’ll be ready to eat when you get home. Because it’s so easy (and it turns out to be so delicious), this Slow Cooker Fudge recipe quickly becomes a favorite for most families. No one will even notice that it happens to be a healthier version of fudge!
The Power of Dark Chocolate
Chocolate gets a bad rap as an unhealthy ingredient. On the one hand, it’s true that sugary processed bars (or, even worse, those that use high-fructose corn syrup) aren’t great for your health. On the other hand, darker, less processed chocolate is actually pretty good for you!
Dark chocolate helps lower blood pressure, increase blood flow to throughout the body, and maintain level blood sugar. Instead of starting with sugary chocolate, we’d recommend you find the darkest chocolate you can buy. Then, sweeten up the fudge with a touch of honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar: Your choice. That makes our Slow Cooker Fudge perfectly sweet without adding any refined sugar.
If you want to keep things dairy free, you have a few options when it comes to chocolate. There are Enjoy Life chocolate chips, which also happen to be Soy free, Nut free, Gluten free, Non GMO, Vegan, and Paleo. Talk about a clean chocolate chip! You could also use raw chocolate (sometimes called cacao nibs) if you prefer. But, since cacao isn’t sweetened at all, you may need to add a little more honey in the recipe to make it taste just right.
Why We Love Coconut Milk
As for coconut milk, it’s an excellent alternative to dairy. You’ll find a number of beneficial vitamins and nutrients in coconut milk, including Vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and potassium. It is high in fat, but it contains all the good, healthy fats. Many people say that the medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) fats found in coconut milk help boost your metabolism and promote weight loss!
Plus, coconut milk just tastes really good. When it cooks down in the slow cooker with your chocolate, it creates a rich mixture that has the perfect mouthfeel. You’ll notice it immediately as you bite into one of these rich and decadent Slow Cooker Fudge bites.
Slow Cooker Fudge
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips Enjoy Life is a vegan brand
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned, not in a carton)
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar (optional honey or maple syrup)
- dash of sea salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add chocolate chips, coconut milk, coconut sugar, salt, and coconut oil, stir to combine. Next, cover and cook on low 2 hours without stirring. It's important that the lid remains on during the 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, turn the slow cooker off, uncover, and add vanilla. IMPORTANT; Do not stir fudge mixture at this point. Allow to cool to room temperature, or it reaches 110 degrees with a candy thermometer.
- Once cooled, use a large spoon, stir vigorously for 5-10 minutes until it loses some the gloss.
- Lightly oil an "8x8" square pan. Pour fudge into pan, cover and refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. This fudge is very rich and meant to be eaten on occasion as a treat.
- Canned coconut milk can be found in the Asian or organic sections of most grocery stores.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Have you made this recipe?
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Has anyone tried this with semi sweet chocolate chips? Will it work?
Great question, Megan! Semi-sweet chocolate chips will work perfect for this recipe.
Hi. I’m assuming that the temperature is Fahrenheit not Celsius! K
Yes, Karen. All of our measurements are US Customary.
I wanted to check under the ingredients list where you listed 1/4 coconut sugar, optional honey or maple syrup – did you mean you could use 1/4 cup of any ONE of those, or to use the coconut sugar and add a dash of honey or maple syrup for added flavor? Thanks! Also, is there a way to adapt this recipe to the Instant Pot? 🙂
Hi Sandra,
You are correct – choose one of the following: coconut sugar, honey, or maple syrup. You can use a “dash” of the honey or syrup for flavor if you wish, how ever the fudge is already pretty tasty!
For an Instant Pot, use the “Slow Cook” setting, low pressure, for the same amount of time.
Hi! I’m very excited to try this!
In the beginning of the article you say that one could put it together before going to work or go to bed. My slow cooker stays on warm after the cooking cooking time. Is it ok for the fudge to stay on warming for several hours? The critical point seems to be the cooling afterwards? 🙂
Hmmmm….I’ve never left it on warm for more than 30 minutes. I can’t say for certain. However, if you do and it hardens too much, add a dizzle of coconut milk, just enough so that it can spread easily when adding to the pan.
This did not work for me. I cooked it 2hrs on low in the crockpot and it burned 🙁 so disappointed. When I stirred the rest that wasn’t burnt onto the crock, it is not smooth. I’m not sure I can even save the rest.
Hi Sarah, you can shorten the cook time if needed. It’s almost important not to stir the chocolate until it has cooled to 110!
How would we adjust the other ingredients if we were to use cacao nibs?
We would not recommend using cacao nibs in this recipe. This would changed the way the fudge sets and the fudge would most likely stay a gooey mess.
Turned out perfectly! I omitted the additional sugar, and added chopped up walnuts. My 8 year old twins wolfed it down. Next time I’ll add dedicated coconut to it. A little goes a very long way.
YEAH!!! I’m so happy the family enjoyed the fudge. 🙂
What did I do wrong?
After the 4 hours in the refrigerator, the fat/oil separated and is sitting on the top of fudge, in a whitish coating. I mixed with electric hand mixer since I have arthritis in my hand and fingers.
Christine, Oh No!!! Perhaps it was a matter of over mixing…hmmmmm. It’s difficult to say what went wrong without having more information. 🙁
I was hesitant to try this recipe at first but I’m glad I went for it! I turned out better than I expected. Very smooth.
Best fudge ever.
I give this as gifts to my neighbors every Christmas. They love it.