Healthy Chocolate Sauce

This healthy chocolate sauce without cream will transform fruit, brownies, pancakes and waffles into a delicious dessert. It's low sugar, low fat, low calorie, and oh-so-chocolately. It takes just 10 minutes to make, and is made with simple everyday ingredients.

Why you're going to love this healthy chocolate sauce

It tastes fantastic. Chocolate sauce made with cocoa has a rich dark chocolatey flavour. But the addition of milk and a little bit of honey makes this kid-friendly too.

It's low in added sugar. Many bought chocolate sauces are based on invert sugar syrup - because it's cheap and easy to store. This healthy homemade chocolate sauce is milk based, and needs just one tablespoon of honey to sweeten it. So in place of a lot of sugar, you are adding more calcium and B12. It's a win-win!

It's low in fat. There's no cream in the recipe. By choosing the type of milk that you use, you can control the level of fat in the recipe. If you use skimmed milk, you won't lose out on taste taste, but you'll have a very low-fat chocolate sauce.

Low in calories. Cutting down on fat also means cutting down on calories, and a portion of this sauce has just 43 calories.

The recipe is gluten free. You can easily make the sauce dairy free by using non-dairy milk such as oat milk or rice milk.

And if you want a vegan chocolate sauce, be sure to switch the honey for maple syrup (as well as using dairy free milk!).

You might also like to try this vegan avocado chocolate mousse which you can make in 10 minutes! Or try this healthy chocolate hummus.

Healthy chocolate sauce is also very easy to make. It'll be ready to enjoy in just 10 minutes:)

Ingredients

Just a few everyday ingredients are needed to make this healthy chocolate sauce.

• Cocoa. Chocolate sauce made with cocoa is rich and dark. Make sure that you use pure cocoa rather than drinking chocolate which has a lot of sugar added. If you prefer, you can use raw cacao powder.
• Honey. Any type of honey will work here as it's going to be heated. In fact it's a great way to use up honey which has crystallised in the jar!
• Cornflour. Note that this is cornstarch, not cornmeal. It's a flavourless white powder made from the kernel of corn.
• Milk. This chocolate sauce is made without cream. But a little bit of diary makes for a creamier taste. You can use any type of milk in this recipe. I used skimmed dairy milk.
• A pinch of salt. I know it sounds strange to add salt to a sweet dish, but a tiny pinch of salt will help to bring out the rich chocolatey-ness of the cocoa.

How to make healthy chocolate sauce without cream

This recipe is incredibly quick and easy to make. You simply add all the ingredients to a cold pan and stir until well mixed. The one golden rule with cornflour is to always add it to a cold liquid.

Then, place the pan over a medium heat, and stir continuously.

After 4-5 minutes, as the mix comes to the boil, the sauce will thicken. Allow it to bubble for a minute, then turn off the heat and give it a final stir.

Your healthy chocolate sauce without cream is ready to be enjoyed hot or cold.

The consistency of the sauce will be quite thick - you can dollop it onto other foods, and it will just hold on top of a muffin. It's also ideal for dipping. If you'd prefer a thinner sauce for drizzling, just stir in a tiny amount of extra milk until you get the consistency that you're after.

Serving suggestions

Where to start???

I first made this healthy chocolate sauce to go with stewed pears. And strawberries and chocolate sauce are a great match (you could also try these chocolate coated strawberries). Fresh cherries are another great option, and children are sure to love banana with chocolate dip.

Low calorie chocolate sauce, with less than 50 calories, is also a great way to turn brownies or muffins into dessert - try it with these healthy adzuki beans brownies, or chocolate coconut flour muffins.

And chocolate sauce is also a great addition to these healthy pancakes and this gluten free protein waffles recipe.

Of course, you don't need me to remind you how good chocolate sauce and ice cream is;)

This healthy chocolate sauce without cream will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

You could also freeze any leftovers. It might split slightly on defrosting - just give it a quick stir to bring it back together again.

Optional flavours and additions

I have to confess, I love this low-calorie healthy chocolate sauce with cocoa just as it is. But depending on how you are planning on serving it, you might like to try some other options:

• Chocolate and cardamom are a match made in heaven. For a grown up chocolate sauce, try adding a pinch of ground cardamom. Or go even more grown up with a splash of alcohol - maybe amaretto for a hit of almond flavour. For a mocha flavour you could also add a splash of strong coffee. Bear in mind though that any liquid you add with make the sauce a little thinner.
• Orange zest. For a healthy chocolate orange sauce, add half a teaspoon of very finely grated orange zest. Make sure you don't accidentally include any of the white pith from the orange, as it'll taste bitter.
• For a more rounded sweetness, you can also add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Frequently asked questions

Other healthy chocolate recipes

If you're a chocoholic who likes healthy treats, look no further...

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Recipe

Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.