Slow Cooker Fudge is a set and forget recipe that allows you to make homemade fudge with minimal effort and maximum yum. Serve it for dessert, a sweet treat, a gift idea for friends or simply just because. This slow cooker fudge recipe is easy, fun and results in melt in your mouth delicious chocolate fudge.
Recipes like the Mint Aero Fudge, Malteser Fudge, Chocolate Orange Fudge and the Marie Biscuit Fudge are all easy homemade fudge recipes.
The Microwave Chocolate Fudge, Marshmallow Fudge and the Vanilla Fudge let us cut down the time involved and use the microwave to heat and melt the fudge ingredients.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Set and forget: arguably the best thing about slow cooking this point! Simply add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker and let it work its magic 😉👍.
- Simple ingredients: each of the ingredients needed to make the slow cooker chocolate fudge can easily be sought from your local grocery store. They are year round available ingredients that will be straight forward to get your hands on.
- No bake: this slow cooker chocolate fudge is the perfect easy no bake treat! We simply melt the ingredient combination and the hard work is done!
- Homemade fudge: is a lot easier than you might think to make. We simply prep, combine, melt and mix. All of the steps are very simple and easy to follow 😁👍.
- Gift giving: place pieces of the sliced fudge into clear plastic bags or boxes with a pretty ribbon to give to loved ones who love chocolate. It is the perfect festive baking recipe.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the slow cooker fudge recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Butter: I recommend using unsalted butter. We chop it into small pieces to aid in the melting process.
- Vanilla: this is optional however, the vanilla extract does give the fudge a lovely touch of vanilla flavouring.
- Sweetened condensed milk: thick, sweet and sticky, this ingredient is the key to bringing the fudge together. We need 1 standard tin of sweetened condensed milk.
- Sprinkles: optional, yet bright and colourful and an easy way to decorate the fudge.
- Milk chocolate: my best advice here is to always use cooking chocolate not regular eating chocolate when making fudge. It melts differently and is the best choice to cook with.
Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by adding the ingredients to the slow cooker bowl.
- Add the chocolate (Photo 1)
- Then add the butter (Photo 2)
- Add the sweetened condensed milk (Photo 3)
- Add the vanilla essence (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Slow Cooker Fudge
To make the slow cooker fudge, start by removing the lid of the slow cooker and then adding the ingredients. So add the chocolate melts, then the butter, followed by the sweetened condensed milk and then the vanilla.
- Turn the temperature to low (Photo 5)
- Stir together the ingredients when they have melted (Photo 6)
- Transfer into lined tin (Photo 7)
- Decorate the fudge with sprinkles (Photo 8)
Turn the slow cooker to low heat and leave the lid off.
Once the ingredients have melted, you can use a spatula to stir them until they are consistently combined. Once combined, transfer the wet fudge into a lined cake tin and then decorate the fudge with sprinkles.
- Place the fudge into the fridge to set (Photo 9)
You can test to see if the fudge is set around the 2 hour mark. Simply push the surface with the tip of your finger. If it stays firm and pushes back it is set, it is softens it needs a little bit more time to firm up 😁👍.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
It is up to you when it comes to serving the fudge what you want to use it for. Be it a bake sale, dessert, sweet treat, snack or other, the fudge is very versatile and will lend itself to being served in a variety of manners or occasions.
Remove it from the fridge when it is set, then use the paper over hang to lift it up and out of the tin. Then discard the paper and use a knife and chopping board to cut it into small square pieces.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftover fudge in a sealed, airtight container in the fridge. It can be kept 2 weeks.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- If you would like to use milk chocolate or white chocolate in place of the dark chocolate, you can (to the equivalent amount).
- If you want to omit the sprinkles completely you can. Or decorate with a themed set of sprinkles, such as red and green for Christmas time.
- You can omit the vanilla if you want to cut down on the number of ingredients used to make the fudge.
- A spatula is great to use to stir the fudge. This is because they have a rubbery surface and won't scratch the inner slow cooker bowl.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- When lining your slice tin with parchment paper (baking paper) leave a slight overhang. You can then use this overhang to help pull the set fudge up and out of the tin when you are ready to slice it.
- A spray with a little cooking oil in the base of the slice tin will help to ensure that the paper will stick and not move around too much.
- If you love fudge and want to try even more flavour combinations you might like to try the Snickers Fudge, Baileys Fudge or the Turkish Delight Fudge.
- If festive baking is your favorite way to spend some time you might like to try the Christmas Oreo Balls, Christmas Rocky Road, Chocolate Ripple Wreath, Christmas Fudge, Christmas Chocolate Crackles or the Christmas Chocolates 😁👌.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main ingredients in fudge?
The main ingredients in fudge are chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and butter.
Should you constantly stir fudge while cooking?
When making fudge in the slow cooker you only need to stir the wet mixture every 15 minutes or so over the period of 1 hour. There is no need to stir it constantly as we want it to melt and combine with the other ingredients naturally.
Do you cover fudge while it sets?
There is no need to cover the fudge whilst it is setting.
😍 More Easy Sweet Recipes
If you love getting your sweet bake or no bake on then I have some more recipe that I know you will love. Try these on next time your in the kitchen:
- Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
- Dark Chocolate Rocky Road
- Microwave Chocolate Pudding
- Caramilk Rocky Road
- Sugar Coated Peanuts
- Malteser Rocky Road
- Candied Pecans
- Lemon Polenta Cake
- Orange Polenta Cake
It is time to get our slow cooker on my friend. You can also find all of my sweet recipes or slow cooker recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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P.S I thought it might be fun to have a look at some other Slow Cooker Fudge recipes, so I also whipped up some Redskin Fudge and Salted Caramel (can be plain caramel fudge) so you could see how to make these flavour combinations in your slow cooker also 😁👌
Redskin Fudge
- 1 330 gram packet of redskins (wrappers removed).
- 1 tin of sweetened condensed milk (397grams/14 oz).
- 500 grams (16 oz) white chocolate.
Note: This recipe is SUPER sweet. Cut the pieces into small bite sized pieces. Don't add any extra sugar or vanilla!
Caramel Fudge (Salted Caramel Fudge)
- 500 grams (16 oz) white chocolate
- 1 tin (397 grams/14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup brown sugar
- salt (optional for topping)
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Fudge
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (mine is 5.5l)
- Spatula (plastic as it doesn't scrap the bowl)
- Slice tin (My slice tray measures (28 x 17.5 x 5 cm or use a 9 inch, 24cm square tray).
- Baking paper
- Knife (to cut fudge once set)
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- 500 grams/ 16 oz dark chocolate Note 1
- 397 grams/ 14 oz sweetened condensed milk Note 2
- 50 grams/ ½ stick butter unsalted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract Note 3
To decorate:
- multi coloured sprinkles
Instructions
- Fudge ingredients: add the milk chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, butter and vanilla to the slow cooker and turn the heat to high leaving the lid off.
- Stir: use a spatula to stir the chocolate mixture approximately every 15 mins till it has melted and combine. across a 1 hr period
- Slice tin: once combined, transfer the melted chocolate fudge mixture into a lined slice tray and decorate with sprinkles. Note *
- Set: refrigerate the fudge for at least 2 hrs until set.
- To serve: remove the set fudge from the fridge and lift the overhanding baking paper on either side up and out of the tin. Discard the paper. Then use a sharp knife and cutting board to slice the fudge into 2 cm square pieces.
Notes
- Note 1 - Chocolate - you can use dark, milk or white chocolate melts. I am using dark chocolate for this recipe. If using dark chocolate definitely add the vanilla essence as it is a much more bitter chocolate than milk or white. If using milk or white chocolate, you can skip the vanilla essence if you like and have easy 3 ingredient fudge!!
- Note 2 - Sweetened condensed milk: I admit that this sounds like a very unusual amount ie 397grams. However, you can rest assured that this is simply the exact amount of a standard tin of sweetened condensed milk! It is very close to 400 grams or 14 oz in the USA.
- Note 3 - Vanilla: vanilla extract is much cheaper than vanilla essence. I use vanilla extract more often than note as I like to be mindful of grocery bills and I don't think the difference in the two is even tasted, so use whichever you prefer and stick to your budget as necessary.
- Note 4 - Slice tin: the slice tray you see in the photos throughout the post measures (28 x 17.5 x 5 cm). A smaller surface area slice tray will result in thicker (higher) pieces of fudge and a larger surface area will result in thinner (shorter) pieces of fudge. You can also use a 9inch square (24 cm) tin if you wish too.
Nutrition
Recipe published in February 2020, updated in November 2023 with a rewrite to offer more tasty tips to you 😉👍.
Farah says
That is a fun recipe! Can't wait to use my slow cooker to make this!
Adrianne says
Cheers Farah! Hope you enjoy it, cheers!!
Alisha Rodrigues says
Gosh ! This is so easy .. I've never tried slow cooker fudge before but gonna do it with the kids cos it looks so yum and easy
Adrianne says
Hope you all live it Alisha!! Cooking with the kids is so fun!!
Michelle says
This fudge looks delicious! My daughter is on mid-term break next week and this is the first thing in our list to make. Can't wait!
Adrianne says
That is great to hear Michelle, thanks for that!