Homemade Chocolate Syrup (Dairy-Free)

Name: Homemade Chocolate Syrup (Dairy-Free)
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup granulated sugar; ⅔ cup water; ½ cup cocoa powder (sifted, see Recipe Notes); ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

All you need for easy homemade chocolate syrup is 5 ingredients and 5 minutes. This rich dairy-free chocolate syrup is perfect on ice cream and in milkshakes, and is much better than store bought!

Chocolate syrup dripping from spoon into a jar.

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Why this recipe works
Recipe Ingredients
How to make chocolate syrup at home
Storage Instructions
Ways to use chocolate syrup
Questions asked and answered
More dessert sauce recipes to try
Recipe
Comments

Why this recipe works

All you need is 5 ingredients and 5 minutes
Rich, clean, chocolate flavor
Dairy-free, vegan, and contains no preservatives or high fructose corn syrup

Chocolate syrup from the store is full of ingredients I can't spell or even pronounce, not to mention that slightly tinny, chemically taste. Who needs all those preservatives and high fructose corn syrup?

Homemade Chocolate Syrup contains only four common pantry staples along with water. Plus, it comes together in about 5 minutes!

Homemade chocolate syrup made with cocoa powder has a rich, clean chocolate flavor, not tinny or chemically at all.

Because it's comes together so fast, it's easy to always have a jar of chocolate sauce on hand!

Recipe Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make this chocolate syrup recipe:

Chocolate syrup ingredients portioned into glass bowls.

Ingredient Notes

Cocoa powder: You can use regular cocoa powder, or for a deeper chocolate flavor, replace the cocoa powder with dark chocolate cocoa powder, and add ½ teaspoon of espresso powder.

Sugar: Since this chocolate sauce recipe is basically a flavored simple syrup, you'll need sugar (dissolved in water) to add sweetness.

See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

How to make chocolate syrup at home

A homemade chocolate syrup recipe really is just chocolate-flavored simple syrup. If you can boil water and sugar together, you can make this easy chocolate syrup recipe.

Step 1: Make a simple syrup

Simple syrup is the secret to making this homemade chocolate sauce recipe. It's just equal parts sugar and water, by weight.

Heat the water and sugar in a 1-quart saucepan set over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to just boiling, then reduce the heat to Low and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring regularly (photo 1).

Collage of before & after dissolving sugar into water. — Making simple syrup

Step 2: Stir in cocoa powder

Add the cocoa powder and salt to the simple syrup. Continue to simmer, stirring constantly, for two more minutes. The cocoa powder should be fully dissolved and the chocolate syrup should be smooth and slightly thickened (photo 2).

Make sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan so the cocoa powder doesn't burn while it's simmering.

Collage of adding cocoa powder & salt to make chocolate syrup. — Adding cocoa powder and salt to the simple syrup

Step 3: Strain and cool

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract (photo 3, top). Strain the chocolate syrup through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps of undissolved cocoa powder.

Let the chocolate syrup cool to room temperature (it will thicken upon standing). Transfer to a clean jar and cover with a tight-fitting lid (photo 3, bottom).

What could be simpler?

Collage of cooling and pouring chocolate syrup into a jar. — Stirring in vanilla and transferring the cooled chocolate syrup into a jar

Storage Instructions

You can store a jar of tightly sealed chocolate syrup in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.

Yield Notes

This recipe makes about 1 cup of chocolate syrup, and can be easily doubled.

Ways to use chocolate syrup

This really is the best chocolate syrup recipe around, easy and quick. You probably don't need me to tell you what to use it on (or in), but I will anyway:

As an ice cream topping (or swirled into homemade ice cream)
In marble cake or brownie recipes
In a killer chocolate milkshake

French vanilla ice cream sundae in front of jar of chocolate syrup and a spoon.

Questions asked and answered

Here are some questions you might have...

What is the difference between chocolate sauce and chocolate syrup?

The main difference is that chocolate sauce (aka hot fudge sauce) is much thicker than chocolate syrup, which has the consistency of runny honey. It's made with heavy cream and an invert sugar, like golden syrup, honey, or light corn syrup.

What is the difference between chocolate syrup and chocolate ganache?

Chocolate ganache is made with just heavy cream and chocolate. Sometimes other ingredients like butter, corn syrup are added, depending on what it's being used for. It's thicker than chocolate syrup and will set up rather than remaining runny like chocolate syrup.