This healthy vegan chocolate sauce is naturally creamy and versatile thanks to oat milk and contains no added fat. It's silky smooth, made with just 4 ingredients, and has a decadent hot fudge flavor you'll want to drizzle on everything! Trust me, after one taste you won't believe it contains no nuts, coconut, oil, dairy, gluten, or refined sugar!
Truth? This vegan chocolate sauce is blowing my mind. It is every bit as rich and delicious as it looks in the photos, yet it's made with just 4 wholesome ingredients. I honestly didn't know it was this easy to make such an amazing and versatile chocolate syrup!
This recipe comes to us courtesy of author Kim Lutz and her book, The Oat Milk Cookbook. Big thanks to Kim and Sterling Publishing for allowing me to review the book and share this recipe with you.
If you've visited my blog before you may be familiar with my obsession with oats. From this popular vanilla oat ice cream and vegan pecan pie filling made with oatmeal, to baked goods made with oat flour like my oat flour banana bread, pancakes, and healthy oat mug cake, oats are a major theme around here.
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The Oat Milk Cookbook also highlights the versatility of oats. It features more than 100 delicious, dairy-free recipes that prove the versatility of oat milk for everything from cheesy sauces and soups to coffee drinks and desserts.
I love that the first chapter includes information about the benefits of oat milk over dairy, such as the health, environmental, and animal cruelty issues. Kim also gives great tips about kitchen tools you'll need to make many of the recipes.
I've already marked SO many recipes throughout the book that I can't wait to try, including this gorgeous Oat Milk Sandwich Bread that Sarah of Bad to the Bowl made and shared.
Why You'll Love This Healthy Vegan Chocolate Sauce!
- Simple: Only 4 ingredients and 5 minutes to make a batch (or 10 minutes if you make your own oat milk).
- Versatile: Use homemade oat milk for a creamier chocolate sauce or a different non-dairy milk for a thinner chocolate syrup. Plus...
- Different Temps: Use it at room temp or warm like vegan hot fudge. Or chill it for a dense, spreadable, fudge-y consistency!
- Healthy: Made with unsweetened cocoa powder and sweetened entirely with maple syrup, there's no dairy, coconut, oil, corn syrup, or added fat of any kind!
- Delicious: Most importantly, it tastes amazing! I know you'll love it as much as we do.
The pure, simple genius of this chocolate sauce is why I chose it as THE one I wanted to share over all the other recipes in the book.
I mean, look at it! How can you not want to keep a jar of this heavenly sauce in the fridge at all times?!
When chilled it's more like a spreadable ganache. I'm not even kidding. Just wait until you see it. It's actual oat magic.
Ingredients and Substitutions
To make vegan chocolate syrup, all you need are a small saucepan, a whisk, about 10 minutes, and these 4 ingredients:
- cocoa powder - Look for natural, unsweetened cocoa powder, though you can sub raw cacao powder if you'd like.
- pure vanilla extract - important for the overall flavor
- maple syrup - I haven't tried the recipe yet with agave syrup but I suspect it will work, too.
- oats and water - In the recipe notes I've included instructions for making a basic oat milk at home. As mentioned above, this will give you an extra creamy and impressive chocolate syrup! But you can also use store-bought oat milk if you don't mind a slightly thinner consistency.
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Though you can make the chocolate syrup with either homemade or store-bought oat milk, I highly recommend you try it first with homemade.
You see, commercial oat milks go through a process that breaks down the starches that give oatmeal its thick and gooey quality. In case you've ever steamed oat milk for a latte and wondered why it doesn't get weird like some homemade oat milk does, that's why.
I even figured out how to replicate the enzyme process at home for my oat milk recipe!
But for this chocolate sauce, the oat "slime" actually works to our advantage by making it extra creamy and thick - basically, it replaces the viscosity of dairy cream.
Thankfully, making oat milk for this recipe is as simple as blending oats and water, then straining it through a nut milk bag.
How to Make Vegan Chocolate Sauce
- Whisk together all 4 ingredients in a small sauce pan.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cook for about 2 minutes more. You'll see the natural starches of the oat milk start to thicken and get ultra creamy.
- And that's it! Remove from heat and serve now like vegan hot fudge, or let it cool before serving or storing.
Serving Tips
You can use this chocolate sauce warm, at room temp, or chilled. And here's a little perk you might enjoy versus sauces that are made with added saturated fats.... this one doesn't harden as it cools.
In fact, it's fantastic straight out of the fridge the next day! The consistency becomes more like a caramel sauce but with the flavor of deep, dark chocolate fudge.
Also, feel free to add a pinch of salt to the pot. Next time I might try it with a bit of smoked sea salt!
FAQs
Both chocolate syrup and chocolate sauce are thinner in consistency and sweeter than hot fudge. The key difference is that chocolate sauce often includes milk or cream, which makes it slightly thicker and richer than chocolate syrup, which is made with water.
The cool thing about this vegan version is that, depending on the non-dairy milk you use, this recipe can serve as either one.
Store homemade vegan chocolate sauce in a lidded jar or other airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Yes, this low-fat chocolate sauce freezes well! So feel free to make extra, and store it for a rainy day. Or make ahead for use on a dessert for a party or other special occasion.
I've heard from some of my readers that other non-dairy milks work, but the result will be more like syrup. If you want the thickness provided by homemade oat milk, you may want to add a small amount of starch, such as arrowroot or cornstarch.
Ways to Use Vegan Chocolate Sauce
Serve this healthy vegan chocolate syrup:
- drizzled on oat milk ice cream, coconut milk ice cream and any vegan ice cream flavor you love!
- as a syrup for oat flour pancakes and muffins
- as a dip for vegan protein cookies
- chilled and spread like frosting on these healthy banana brownies
- on frozen banana nice cream
- as a dip for fresh fruit like strawberries and sliced apple, pear, and banana - hello, vegan chocolate fondue!
- on frozen banana bites (yes, please!)
- you can also make hot chocolate and creamy vegan cocktails with it!
During the week when you (or the kids) want a quick snack, pull the jar of sauce from the fridge and spread some on one half of a peanut butter-banana sandwich. Heavenly.
Check out this new spreadable Vegan Chocolate Ganache lightly adapted from this recipe!
Grab a copy of The Oat Milk Cookbook, and be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think about this vegan chocolate sauce... and your favorite ways to enjoy it!
Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Sauce & Syrup
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup - Note: 6 tablespoon is ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp; for a double batch you'll need ¾ cup.
- 6 tablespoons oat milk, homemade or store-bought - See Notes for homemade.
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan whisk together the cocoa powder, vanilla, maple syrup, and oat milk.
- Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 2 minutes, or until thick and creamy.
- Serve the chocolate sauce warm or at room temperature. It's delicious both ways. We also enjoy it straight from the fridge when it's thick and spreadable.
Notes
- Combine 1 cup rolled oats with 4 cups ice cold water in a blender. In my Vitamix I like to blend on high for no more than 30 seconds to avoid slimy oat milk (note that if you're only using it for chocolate sauce, this doesn't really matter).
Depending on your blender I recommend experimenting with this to find the perfect blend time. - Strain the oat milk through several layers of cheesecloth or a nut milk bag.
- Store oat milk in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Shake well before using.
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used.
Jen says
I don't have a nut milk bag. I do have a very fine mesh strainer that I use to strain my homemade soy milk. Do you think I could strain the oat milk with this instead?
Lori Rasmussen says
Hi Jen - The strainer might not catch all of the oat bits. If it doesn't, you could use a very thin tea towel or any lint-free fabric like that, even an old t-shirt works.
Lisa Celeste says
Does this recipe have to be oat milk? Will cashew milk or pea protein milk work?
Lori Rasmussen says
Yes, you can use a different milk, it just won't be as thick and creamy as it is with homemade oat milk (due to the starch and fiber in oats).
Karen M says
Delicious! Nice and thick and gooey, too. Thank you!
Justice says
So good . Thank you for this! There really are so many ways to satisfy your sugar cravings with no refined stuff!!
Louisa says
Delicious and easy. Thanks for the tasty recipe. Was perfect over our ice cream tonight.
Mandy says
Just made for vegan icecream sundaes
This sauce is the bomb
Thanks so much !
Lionel says
This is a great recipe. The result is a flavorful and light change chocolate syrup. I did modify the recipe a little by using agave nectar in place of the maple syrup. This cuts the calories down and maintains a degree of light sweetness while letting the chocolate shine through. Additionally I add a pinch of salt to control bitterness. I use this primarily in coffee or drizzle on non-dairy ice creams.
Jackie says
Will this syrup work in iced coffee?
Lori says
Hi Jackie,
I haven't tried that but it might! My only concern is that it's fairly thick after heating. So you'll either need to blend, shake, or whisk vigorously.