Creamy, thick, gooey, warm, vegan chocolate sauce: homemade hot fudge sauce spiked with toasty tahini and a hit of salt can be in your face with just 8 ingredients and 10 minutes. Pour it over ice cream or make these luxurious gluten-free teff waffle sundaes!
This vegan tahini hot fudge sauce is, like this miso soup, another regular feature of our annual ladies' retreat with Sarah, Emma, Erin, and Amanda. If you follow along on Instagram you may have seen us cooking up a storm together at an Airbnb in Nevada City last month. Emma is to blame for getting me hooked on hot fudge sauce several years ago, and I've been making this salty vegan tahini version ever since. So I'm especially excited to share the recipe with you all today.
During our first retreat, we enjoyed this hot fudge sauce on brownies and ice cream for decadent hot fudge brownie sundaes. For years 2 and 3, Amanda made the most delicious waffles for us to pour it over, waffle sundae style. Amanda's sharing the recipe for her heavenly gluten free teff waffles over on her blog today. With malty flavor from protein-rich teff flour, a hint of tang from yogurt, and tender, fluffy middles, they're the ideal vessel for this hot fudge sauce. Add a scoop of melty ice cream, a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts, and a few pinches of flaky salt, and you'll be in waffle sundae heaven.
Tahini + Chocolate = A Perfect Pairing
If you've never tasted chocolate and tahini together, you're in for a treat. Like a more nuanced version of classic chocolate peanut butter, tahini brings warm roasty notes along with floral, bitter, nutty undertones. Think marbled chocolate halva. As a fan of this combo, I've paired it in brownies, vegan chocolate tahini tart, cookies, and ice cream. I'm dying to try Amanda's gluten free tahini swirl brownies and Sarah's chocolate banana tahini popsicles too.
And now I'm sharing an extra simple way to get your chocolate tahini fix: an easy hot fudge sauce that comes together in minutes.
My Best Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe
I've made this recipe at least a dozen times over the years, making little tweaks until I got it just right. This homemade hot fudge sauce is richly chocolatey, not too sweet, and just salty enough to keep you coming back for more. Thick and gooey with a toasty tahini taste, you'll want to drizzle it on everything.
Vegan Chocolate Sauce
Traditional hot fudge sauce is full of butter and cream, but I kept this version vegan. I've used both almond milk and my current favorite plant milk – a cashew-almond-oat blend – in place of dairy milk. Some classic hot fudge sauce recipes call for butter, but here tahini adds all the necessary richness. I've even made this with water instead of plant milk, adding a little more tahini, and it works nearly as well. I've also made this with whole dairy milk and it's equally delicious.
8 Ingredients for Vegan Hot Fudge Sauce
This vegan hot fudge sauce uses just a handful of ingredients that you may already have in your pantry:
- plant milk (or regular milk if you prefer; I've even made this with water!)
- maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
- brown sugar or coconut sugar
- cocoa powder
- tahini
- chocolate
- vanilla
- salt
How to Make Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce with Cocoa
Once you've made your own hot fudge sauce, you'll be hooked on the super simple process. Just combine the plant milk, cocoa powder, and sweeteners together, bring to a boil, then whisk in the tahini, chocolate, and flavorings. Dive in!
Refined Sugar-Free Chocolate Sauce
If you're avoiding refined sugars, you can make this hot fudge sauce refined sugar-free using maple syrup and coconut sugar. Look for chocolate that's sweetened with maple or honey. Alternatively, use half the amount of unsweetened chocolate and increase the maple syrup and coconut sugar to taste.
What to do with Your Homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce
- Eat it warm from the pot, or cold from the fridge like a thick pudding
- Pour it over your favorite ice cream (vanilla, coffee, and chocolate peanut butter are some of mine!)
- Layer it into a vegan ice cream recipe for tahini fudge swirl nice cream
- Dip fresh strawberries, raspberries, or bananas into it fondue-style
- Drizzle it over this gluten free dairy free chocolate cherry skillet cookie
- Make hot fudge brownie sundaes (shown here with Sarah's delicious salted gluten-free nutty brownies)
Homemade Hot Fudge Waffle Sundaes
Whip up a batch of the gluten free light and fluffy waffles pictured here for a luxurious sweet brunch or decadent dessert. Top with toasted nuts, scoops of vanilla ice cream, and a few pinches of flaky salt. Get the waffle recipe over at Heartbeet Kitchen.
Peanut Butter Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
If tahini isn't your jam, swap in peanut butter for that classic pairing. Thin with additional plant milk if needed.
Hot Fudge Sauce = Edible Gift
Make a hot fudge sauce mega-batch, pour it into cute jars, add labels, and give the DIY gift of homemade hot fudge sauce. Just be sure to tell your recipients that it needs to be kept refrigerated.
We hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we enjoyed creating (and eating!) them!
Looking for more healthy vegan chocolate recipes? Try these:
- vegan chocolate pudding with tahini (paleo)
- gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies with tahini & oats
- vegan hazelnut no-bake brownies
- vegan & gluten free almond butter chocolate chip cookies with maple and oats
- raw vegan no-bake chocolate cheesecakes
- gluten-free vegan chocolate cream tart
- gluten-free vegan chocolate tart with tahini & caramel
- Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains & Flours
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this Vegan Tahini Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce, I’d love to see. Tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Salted Tahini Hot Fudge Sauce {vegan}
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup (235 ml) plant milk (or dairy milk, or water)
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) packed dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 2 tablespoons (42 g) maple syrup (more to taste)
- 2 tablespoons (12 g) dutch-process cocoa powder
- 6 tablespoons (110 g) well-stirred tahini (I like Sadaf brand; more to taste)
- 2 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (1/2 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, dark brown sugar, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and whisk in the tahini, chocolate, vanilla, and salt.
- Taste, adding more tahini if a stronger flavor is desired, more maple syrup if you want it a bit sweeter, or more chocolate if you want it a bit thicker. The chocolate sauce will thicken as it cools.
- Let cool slightly, then drizzle it over your dessert of choice. Store refrigerated airtight for up to several weeks; warm before using.
Notes
Nutrition
Maureen Sutherland Weiser says
YAAAASSSSS!!!! Running to the kitchen, as we speak!
Alanna says
Yaaaayyyyy! Let me know how you like it!
Aysegul D Sanford says
This hot fudge sauce sounds SO dreamy. And your photos are stellar, as usual.
Alanna says
Aw thank you friend! Wish you had been there with us too.
Sarah @ Snixy Kitchen says
This is soooo delicious that I'd like to fill my bathtub with it and soak all night. Too far? That's love.
Alanna says
Only if I'm invited ;)
Madeline Taylor says
Gorgeous, breathtaking photos! If the food is even half as delicious, count me in!!!
Alanna says
Awwww thanks mom! <333
Jen M. says
So delicious! I’ve been dipping apple slices in it. Can’t wait to stir a spoonful into my iced coffee.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you like it, and that sounds delicious!
Nicole Chau says
Hi, this looks tasty and I'd like to try it soon but your first instruction says coconut nectar but I don't see it in the ingredients. Thanks for sharing and for the clarification.
Best,
Nicole
Alanna says
Thank you for catching that! I've made it with coconut nectar and it works well, but I changed to maple syrup since that's a more common ingredients, and then I neglected to change the instructions. It has been fixed!
Amanda Paa says
It was THE MOST FUN and delicious time, creating these waffles with your genius tahini hot fudge! I can still taste it's goodness. I'm making a batch next week, and having the neighbors over. xoxo!
Alanna says
Aw yay!! Can I come?!
victoria says
Thank you, this has to be just about the healthiest hot fudge I've ever made, but it's also the tastiest. The recipe is a keeper! I used 1/2 tahini, 1/2 peanut butter and was a little concerned the PB flavor would overwhelm the chocolate, but it didn't at all; the PB flavor remained subtle but still wonderful. I noticed this recipe did not turn out with that classic, sticky hot fudge texture. I'm not sure whether I didn't heat it long enough or whether it's not intended to have this same quality. I'm wondering if adding a little corn starch would create that missing stickiness, or perhaps using all sugar instead of 1/2 maple syrup? Thank you, and I look forward to trying many of your other recipes!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Victoria,
I'm so glad you love this recipe and that using half peanut butter worked well - yum!! I love the idea of experimenting with adding a little cornstarch or swapping in some sugar for a thicker / stickier texture. You might need to add a little more liquid since both will cause the sauce to be thicker. Please let me know if you experiment!
-A