This rich, dark, and glossy chocolate syrup is better than Hershey's! With just 4 ingredients (5 if you include the water) and 10 minutes, you'll have your own homemade chocolate syrup.
Prep time: PT5M
Cook time: PT5M
Total time: PT10M
Rating
4.81 stars (46 reviews)
Ingredients
1 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar*
1 cup cold water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Categories
sauce
Cuisine
American
Steps
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder and sugar until blended. Add the water and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and whisk over medium heat just until begins to boil, stirring constantly.
Let boil just until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Your chocolate syrup will still be fairly thin (it thickens to a syrup-like consistency once cool). Taste and stir in additional salt until dissolved, up to 1/4 teaspoon, if desired.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool. Taste again. If it's not sweet enough for you, add a bit more sugar and stir in the warm syrup until dissolved.
Store syrup in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator. The syrup should keep, refrigerated, for at least a month.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 126 kcal
Carbohydrates: 31 g
Protein: 2 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 149 mg
Sugar: 25 g
Reviews
Sally Rollie on 2025-07-27 (3 stars): Although I didn't over-cook the mixture (only bringing it to 220 for 1 minute), I may have had too much cocoa powder as it was THICK, like pudding, when done - even after an additional 1T each water and cold coffee during cooking. Next batch, I will sift my cocoa before measuring and, perhaps, increase the liquid by 10-25%.
Couple of suggestions for your site: What is the size/measure of a "serving?" I couldn't find it anywhere.
Also, I would like to see more cooking sites mention safety and tool tips - especially for newer cooks. Example: advising extreme care handling/tasting hot, sugary mixtures as they will adhere to skin & tongues and can cause severe burns. Suggest any new cook buy a silicone spatula/spoon or they could have chocolate syrup flavored with melted nylon or plastic. Another would be to calibrate your candy thermometer by boiling water, inserting the tool, and see where the reading rests. True reading would be 212 degrees at sea level. I have 2 candy thermometers, one cheap and one not. The cheap one reads 10 degrees cooler than the actual temp and the other reads 8 degrees higher than the actual.
Overall, I like your recipe as a dark chocolate product. I did substitute cold espresso for half the water and sucralose (aka "splenda") for half the white sugar.
Babette on 2024-11-28 (5 stars): I forgot to rate the recipe! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Vicki Elliott on 2024-01-07 (4 stars): This recipe will make a difference by using top quality ingredients.
I used Guittard Cocoa powder, Organic Sugar, Kosher salt and I used both vanilla bean paste and some Madagascar vanilla bean extract. I did add more sugar, salt and vanilla to mine. This recipe will change by the type of ingredients you add. Not all cocoa powder/vanilla is the same and can really affect the outcome.
Dorothy on 2023-08-14 (5 stars): Really good recipe, the best! Didn't know choc syrup is that easy to make. Thank you
Patty08 on 2023-07-22 (5 stars): This recipe is as simple as it gets - and the chocolate syrup is fantastic! I love that it's not too sweet.
Jake on 2023-03-19 (5 stars): Crazy good delicious, followed recipe exactly and turned out amazing!!! The 30 day shelf life in the fridge will never be an issue with this recipe! Thanks!!!
Raichu on 2021-02-13 (5 stars): I lost count how many time I made this chocolate syrup. So easy, simple yet super tasty!
