This incredible vegan fudge is easy to make in 5 minutes with only 5 simple ingredients. Smooth, creamy and decadent, it tastes just like the fudge you’d get from the candy shop!
This is the kind of fudge that grandma used to make, or that you picked out at the candy shop as a kid. No one would ever guess it’s vegan and completely dairy free!
I’ve made several vegan fudge recipes over the years, and this one takes the cake. It actually tastes exactly as fudge should! Sweet, super creamy, smooth and rich. Other vegan recipes tend to be super dense, hard and very dark chocolate tasting. Which is perfectly fine, but something else entirely.
This is just the best fudge ever, and it’s so easy to make. I actually made it in the microwave! But don’t worry, you can make it on the stovetop if you want. You don’t need to find any rare ingredients, such as vegan sweetened condensed milk or even vegan chocolate chips!
Another vegan candy idea you might enjoy making are these Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls!
Ingredients for vegan fudge
- Powdered sugar – Don’t freak out, but you are going to use an entire (32 oz) bag. Remember, we are making CANDY. And this fudge recipe makes about 40 servings, more or less depending on how you slice it. Plenty to share with friends and family! Buy organic to ensure it’s vegan. There is no alternative I know of here, so substitute at your own risk!
- Natural, unsweetened cocoa powder – I wouldn’t use alkalized cocoa powder here, but regular natural unsweetened. Cacoa powder might work, but I haven’t tested it.
- Vegan butter – I used Earth Balance brand, but any brand should work just fine. I haven’t tested it with coconut oil, but it *might* work.
- Unsweetened plant milk – I used soy milk, but any plant milk will work.
- Vanilla extract – This adds a wonderful flavor to the fudge. You could add a little peppermint extract for peppermint fudge, or almond extract for a different flavor (maybe add some chopped almonds as well).
How to make it
(This is simply an overview with photos, for the full printable recipe, scroll down to the recipe card.)
Like I mentioned already, you can make this vegan fudge in the microwave OR on the stovetop. Your choice!
- For the microwave option, get out a large microwave safe bowl. Sift in the powdered sugar. I used a fine mesh strainer to sift. You could skip the sifting, but you may end up with chunks of powdered sugar/cocoa powder.
- Next, sift in the cocoa powder.
- Add spoonfuls or chunks of the vegan butter over the sifted ingredients. Then drizzle the milk in as well.
- Microwave for 4 minutes, or until the butter is almost completely melted. Transfer the bowl to the counter, add the vanilla, and stir immediately until smooth.
Work quickly as the fudge will start to harden pretty fast. Pour the melted fudge into a parchment paper lined pan with some overhang for easy removal later.
Let it sit until hardened. I stuck mine in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Lift out the fudge using the parchment paper, and slice with a heavy knife. Enjoy!
To make it on the stovetop, simply add the ingredients to a large pot and heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Transfer to the dish and chill.
Tips for success
- Don’t substitute or reduce ingredients. It will throw off the recipe, especially if you reduce the sugar. The fudge won’t set properly.
- If the mixture seems to have some chunks while you are stirring with a spoon, you can use a hand mixer instead. It’s not really necessary, but if you find it easier to use one, then go ahead.
- All microwaves act a bit different, so you may need to microwave a little longer or shorter. Just make sure the vegan butter is nearly melted, and you should be good to go.
- Sift your ingredients. Both powdered sugar and cocoa powder can be very chunky, so make sure to sift them before you begin. You don’t need a fancy sifter, just a fine mesh strainer.
How to store fudge and sending as a gift
Store fudge in an airtight container, preferably in the refrigerator. It will keep it nice and firm, though it is quite stable at room temperature. You can also freeze it.
To send fudge through the mail as a gift, simply secure it in a container, cut up into squares and send. Unless you are sending it in the middle of summer, it should be just fine.
Fudge varieties and add ins
- Peppermint fudge – Add 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract and perhaps some crushed candy can pieces.
- Rocky road – Mix in some vegan marshmallows, chopped almonds and vegan chocolate chips.
- Walnut fudge – Stir in some chopped walnuts.
- Fruit – Dried cranberries or chopped medjool dates, maybe even dried blueberries or cherries.
- Peanut butter – Swirl in some peanut butter, before chilling.
- Caramel – Add a layer of vegan caramel on top of the fudge, or just drizzle each piece with a little caramel.
More vegan Christmas treats to enjoy
- Vegan Peanut Butter Balls
- Vegan Snowball Cookies
- Vegan Pecan Bars
- The Best Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Peppermint Mocha Cake
Easy 5 Minute Vegan Fudge
Ingredients
- 32 ounces powdered sugar (1 bag)
- 1 cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk (or another plant milk)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- Optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, see Notes for more options
Instructions
- Line a 7 x 11 inch or 8 x 8 dish with parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang for easy removal of the fudge later.
To make it in the microwave
- Get out a large microwave safe bowl. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder over the bowl (I use a fine mesh strainer for this). Place small spoonfuls or cubes of vegan butter on top of the mixture, all around. Drizzle the milk in as well. Microwave on high power for 4 minutes until the butter has almost melted completely.
- Immediately transfer the bowl to the counter from the microwave, add the vanilla, and stir well until combined. I prefer to use a hand mixer to get any clumps out, but a spoon works as well. Work quickly as it will start to harden pretty fast.
- Stir in any nuts if using. Pour the fudge into the prepared dish, and spread it evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, if desired. If you want a thicker, taller fudge, use a smaller container like a 8 x 8. For thinner fudge, a 9 x 13 will work. Any size dish you have should be just fine.
- Allow to set for about an hour, I stuck mine in the refrigerator to speed this up, and it only took about an hour.
- Using the parchment paper, lift out of the pan and use a large sharp knife to cut into squares. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen.
Stovetop instructions
- If you prefer to make it on the stovetop, get out a large pot and sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into it. Add the vegan butter, in chunks or spoonfuls, and drizzle in the milk. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts, but do not let the mixture boil or burn. Stir constantly until smooth, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Immediately transfer to the prepared dish and chill.
Notes
- To ensure your powdered sugar is vegan, buy organic. I like the Wholesome brand.
- Yes, the recipe calls for an entire bag of powdered sugar, but keep in mind, we are making candy, a large amount and a small square of it is rich and satisfying. I haven't tried it with less sugar or a sugar substitute, so I really can't recommend an alternative here. This actually tastes like real fudge, not a sugar free vegan alternative.
- I used earth balance vegan butter, but any brand should work just fine, or use my homemade vegan butter. I haven't tried it with coconut oil, but it might work.
- Optional add ins: chopped pecans, almonds, dried cranberries, 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract for mint fudge, a swirl of peanut butter, or for rocky road fudge, add some vegan marshmallows, chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
This recipe did not work for me unfortunately.
While the taste is great, the fudge won’t set.
I always measure with a scale – twice – before beginning a new recipe so I am confident I measured the correct amounts.
Thinking about the chemistry in this recipe makes me think the solution to the problem seems very simple and requires only small changes / clarifications in the method described above.
Firstly: the ingredients. Powdered sugar in my world (I am Swiss but live in Australia now) is just that: sugar. No additives (i.e. no cornstarch).
This ingredient would need to be added for anyone using pure powdered sugar.
Secondly: The two components that would make fudge set in this particular recipe are: cornstarch and / or sugar. Both need to reach a specific range of temperature in order to do their thing.
1) Cornstarch has to be cooked to a temperature of 95° C / 203° F in order to thicken.
2) Sugar needs to cook to “soft ball stage” at 112 – 114 ° C / 234 – 237° F to develop the structure that turns fudge into fudge and makes it set.
The stovetop instructions mention to not let the mixture boil or burn. While I agree with the burning part (no one likes burnt sugar), the remainder of the instruction is not very precise.
Vegan butter (all butter for that matter) melts at around 40° C which is barely warm to the touch. So if cooked until the butter is melted, there will never be enough heat to let this recipe set.
I shall try again by cooking to 112 if using pure sugar or to 95 if I decide to add the cornstarch to see if that will work!
Full marks for the taste though!
Can’t wait to make this. Cooking Milnot fudge is a cherished childhood memory. My mother passed this year and I’ve inherited the pot she used to make fudge. She cooked it to “soft ball” stage on the candy thermometer but of course never used a thermometer herself. She would drip fudge into cold water to see how it would set. Much to the delight of us kids who didn’t have the patience to wait for the fudge to set and cool lol! Would this test work for this recipe as well? or do you have a preferred range of temperature when cooking? Thanks so much. I’m eager to make this for my own family who is plant based and lactose intolerant 🙂
Wow! I just made this to take to friends for dinner, who are dairy free. I have to say it’s delicious! I was skeptical at first but it was really easy. I made it on the stovetop because I like to watch it so it doesn’t overcook. One tip I would suggest is to use a potato masher to break it all down. I also used an immersion blender to get the lumps out and added a little salt to help with the sweetness. I can’t wait till it’s cooled off and fully hardened. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Nora, My friend LOVES your lemon frosting I put on your lemon cupcakes. She just sent me a text for the recipe because she wants to make lemon fudge out of it??? But I don’t understand how she would do that from a lemon frosting recipe. Do you have any suggestions how she could turn your chocolate fudge recipe into Lemon Fudge! Thank you so much!
Hmmm I’m really not sure! I don’t know if it will work to turn the frosting into fudge. Most people use white chocolate chips as the base of lemon fudge, so I’d have to do some testing. It sounds amazing though!
Hi Nora, Thank you for that. I get your emails so I’ll keep an eye out if you do come up with a recipe. Thank you so much. Everyone thinks your cupcakes are extraordinary, especially the lemon ones. Thank you so much! 😋😁🩷
Thank you! Oh, I love lemon cupcakes and it’s been a while since I last made them. Thanks for reminding me! 🙂
Hi Nora, how long would the fudge keep out of the refrigerator? I work in a fudge shop and we sell traditional fudge from the counter, would this be suitable to store that way or does it need to be kept in the fridge? Struggling to find a vegan recipe that sets like dairy fudge and can be stored at room temp. Thank you for any advice 😊
Hi Lynn. The fudge lasts quite a long time when stored in the refrigerator. I’ve had some in the refrigerator for 2 weeks and it still tastes great! It will stay quite stable at room temperature for a few hours, however, is best stored in the refrigerator of freezer. I hope this helps!
Nobody can tell it’s dairy-free, & they don’t believe I made it. Whenever I need some chocolate, I whip this up in the microwave. Licking the spatula holds me over until it’s solid (I use the freezer to cool it down).
I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Amazon) because it doesn’t give me GERD, and it’s richer and smoother.
Never had a problem with it not solidifying—I just double-checked the powdered sugar ingredients and was surprised to see it contains corn starch—maybe that’s the magic stuff?
Thank you, Nora!
Hi Mandy! I’m am thrilled you are loving the fudge! It is delicious, for sure, and so so chocolatey! Thanks for your wonderful review and feedback! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
Really good recipe, but the fudge turned out really grainy. Still amazing though!
I use coconut oil and shorten the microwave time and it’s amazing! Almost like the jiffy marshmallow creme fudge recipe but vegan!
Hi Amy. I’m so glad you are loving the fudge recipe! Thanks for sharing your ideas and great review!
This is so delicious! But it never set for me. Too much vegan butter or milk? It remained the consistency of ganache. We all ate it with spoons but I’m wondering what I can do differently next time…
Hi Kara. I’m glad you love the recipe flavor! If you followed the recipe exactly, I’m not sure why is came out soft. Did you use the entire bag of powdered sugar? It should firm up like in the photos if you used the correct amount. I hope this helps.
I love fudge! This recipe was perfect!!
I made this for a team away day at Christmas and everyone loved it – thanks for the recipe, it worked exactly as you said it would and was so easy to make.
That is so great, Annie! I’m thrilled it was a hit, and that you found it easy! I appreciate your fabulous review! Thank you!
Just made the fudge for a valentine party, cut in heart shapes. It is perfect and I actually like it better than traditional non vegan fudge. It turned out absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
I absolutely love the flavor of this recipe, however even though I believe in my heart I follow the directions exactly for stove top, it’s a runny ganache. It makes me so sad because of the plethora of foolproof reviews. I can’t really answer the question of why it’s runny. Im gonna try reheating and adding cornstarch
Oh no I’m sorry to hear that! It’s possible the mixture isn’t getting hot enough. Perhaps try adding a little bit more cook time in the microwave, perhaps an extra minute and see if that helps. Are you using any substitutions at all? I do wonder if you need to use powdered sugar that also contains cornstarch. I always use that kind, and I wonder if that could be why it doesn’t set up for some folks. I hope I can help!
I made this recipe for the first time for Christmas. It’s January 13th and I’ve now made it two more times because it’s that good! I think the most difficult part is sifting the ingredients, and that’s mostly because it’s time consuming. Also, I like that I can pretend that it’s fancy just by throwing decorative sprinkles over it.
Can’t wait to try this. So much easier looking than all the other vegan fudge I have seen.
Tried this recipe 3 times. Left in the fridge overnight (min 8 hrs max 16 hrs) and it just will not set. It’s delicious, to be sure. But very sticky and gooey. Wondering if adding more sugar might help solidify it or using a different vegan butter? Earth Balance did not work. Maybe the butter has to be hotter? Tried it for 45 second (melted but a few small blobs left) and 1 min (completely melted).
The butter definitely needs to get hot enough and melt all the way, and microwaves can vary. If it’s hot enough and melted, the powdered sugar and everything will start to harden almost immediately when you start mixing. If that’s not happening, it probably needs to be hotter so I would microwave longer.
I tried making this fudge for Christmas. I didnt have the right amount of powdered sugar, so I “fudged” the measurements, and it came out very gooey.
So, we rolled it into balls, coated them in cocoa powder, shredded coconut and cacao nibs, and turned them into truffles. Delicious!!
Unfortunately the fudge did not set up properly. The only thing I can figure was the problem was the vegan butter broke down when microwaved.
The butter needs to get warm enough to melt completely in the microwave, otherwise it will not set up, plus you will have chunks of butter throughout the fudge. Perhaps your butter did not melt; if that is the case, keep microwaving in 30 second intervals until completely melted.
This was so good!! I brought it to a potluck and everyone loved it!
I used oat instead of soy, and was worried if the oat flavor would come out, but it tasted completely normal.
I made this twice, and since I found it a bit difficult to mix as instructed the first time, I decided to melt the butter and mix in the milk first, and then gradually work in the powdered sugar and chocolate mix, and I think it worked really well!
Though I’m typing this as my second batch is cooling, and I’ve realized I forgot the vanilla, so we’ll see how this turns out!
Tasty but too sweet. Cut into small pieces –about 1/4 of the regular size of fudge – and then rolled them in cacao powder so they wouldn’t be sweeter than regular fudge.
So I tried another batch without the vegan butter and used refined coconut oil only. It is a solid, much like the vegan butter. I heated the mixture up in a pan instead of the microwave this time and it setting up just fine this time around. Just wondering what kind of vegan butter you use successfully for this recipe?
That’s interesting, I’ve never tried it with coconut oil. I have used Earth Balance, Miyoko’s, Melt and Country Crock. They all work the same for me and it sets up perfectly every time.
looks so yummy. It calls for 1 bag of powder sugar. A bag is 16 oz from most retailers I’ve never seen a 32 oz bag any where. Is it 16 oz? Thanks. Jean
It’s 32 ounces, that’s the size I usually get, so if you have 16 ounce bags, get two. Yes, it’s a lot! 🙂
Recipe tastes delicious but followed it EXACTLY (measured by weight using a kitchen scale) and the fudge isn’t hard unless straight out of the refrigerator. If you leave it out for even an hour, it becomes more like a ganache/very stiff pudding. I made this to put in Christmas cookie boxes, which unfortunately now makes it useless to me as I can’t leave runny fudge in boxes or it will get all over the other cookies. A shame because the taste is great.
Was it warm in your home when you took it out of the fridge? Did you use all of the powdered sugar? The biggest reason I’ve seen why it doesn’t firm up is because people try to cut the powdered sugar and not use the full amount.
LOVE this fudge it’s so easy! The only thing I would caution (based on microwave method) is that if you beat the fudge while it’s hot, the sugar can crystallize. I mixed the fudge gently throughout cooking, and after taking it out I mixed just enough to incorporate all ingredients, then let it sit for 15 minutes to cool before beating smooth. I had no clumps of crystallized sugar when I did it that way. Great recipe!
Thanks for the tip and your feedback! I’m thrilled you loved the fudge 🙂
We’ve been making this delicious fudge for 3 years running now- absolutely fool proof! Love it! 💗💗💗 Thank you so much for this great, easy recipe!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for your fabulous review!
Hi
How long will this last? My daughter would like to make it to give as a gift to our family.
Thank you
Hi JL. The fudge will be okay if it’s left out at room temperature for a few hours, although storing it in the fridge or freezer is best. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for about 3 months. Hope this helps!
Hi Nora,
Yes, I used a 32oz. bag of powdered sugar and did not stray from the recipe.
Okay. My other thought is that perhaps the mixture did not get quite warm enough in the microwave for some reason. Does your microwave run at a lower power than normal by chance? Did you butter melt well and was the mixture warm when you started stirring it? It does need to get hot enough to work. Sorry you had trouble here, I’d love to help if I can.
I used the stove top so not sure as to what happened. I will just have to try again. My microwave is 1250 watts though.
Made this last night at 8:30 pm and I’m still waiting for it to harden in the fridge at 11:43 am the next day! 100% followed the directions. SO sad this didn’t work for me. Maybe if I freeze it instead?
Something went wrong because it should start firming up right away when you start adding the powdered sugar. The biggest reason I’ve seen why it doesn’t firm up is because people try to cut the powdered sugar and not use the full amount. Did you use 32 ounces of powdered sugar and not change anything else at all?