This is the BEST Gluten-Free Vegan No-Cook Healthy Holiday Fudge recipe ever! You only need 5 clean, real food ingredients and it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.
Vegan Holiday Desserts just can't get any easier than this Healthy No-Cook Fudge recipe!
Gluten-Free Vegan No-Cook Healthy Holiday Fudge
Here's why this recipe works - my top 3 reasons:
- Can be prepared in about 5 minutes
- One-bowl recipe with only 5 ingredients
- Healthier than traditional fudge
Can Be Prepared In About 5 Minutes
If you need a quick and easy no-cook dessert recipe for the holidays, this one is for you!
Most traditional homemade fudge recipes have to be heated, cooked, boiled, use a candy thermometer, etc. to prepare.
But my healthy fudge recipe can be prepared in about 5 minutes by simply adding all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and stirring everything together.
After that, you only need to let it firm in the freezer for about an hour before enjoying which gives you time to work on something else in the kitchen.
One-Bowl Recipe With Only 5 Ingredients
As I just mentioned, you can mix this recipe in one-bowl making clean up a breeze!
And you'll love the short ingredient list with easily accessible ingredients like raw cacao powder, maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil, and vanilla extract.
Healthier Than Traditional Fudge
Everyone loves fudge during the Holidays, but it's not the healthiest dessert by far.
Let's take a look at the typical ingredients you will find in store-bought and homemade fudge recipes:
S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Russell Stover Walnut Fudge Candy Ingredients: Sugar, Cream Dairy, Walnuts, Corn Syrup, Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate Processed with Alkali, Cocoa Butter, Butter Fat, Soy Lecithin, An Emulsifier, Vanilla, Vanillin, An Artificial Flavor), Sugar Brown, Palm Kernel Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Sorbitol, Salt, Potassium Sorbate, Flavors Natural
S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Traditional Homemade Fudge Recipe Ingredients: 2 ¾ cups sugar, 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 cup half-and-half, 1 tablespoon corn syrup, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
I've even seen versions using these highly processed ingredients:
- An entire jar of marshmallow cream (corn syrup, sugar, water, egg whites, artificial flavor, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, artificial blue color 1)
- Margarine (liquid and partially hydrogenated soybean oil, water, buttermilk, contains less than 2% of salt, soy lecithin, potassium sorbate (preservative), mono and diglycerides (emulsifier), lactic acid, natural and artificial flavor, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene color)
Do people really still use margarine?!
These store-bought and homemade recipes are made with highly processed ingredients that contain GMO's, refined sugars, preservatives, and food colorings.
My healthy version is made with real food and is plant-based, raw, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, paleo-friendly, no refined sugar and there is no cooking involved!
How To Make No-Cook Healthy Holiday Fudge: Step-by-Step Instructions
Here is how to make this recipe and I'll show you with step-by-step instructions below.
Before beginning, prepare a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and set aside.
Step 1: Melt The Coconut Oil
Firstly, the coconut oil will need to be melted before adding it to the other ingredients.
I add mine to a small saucepan and melt it on the stovetop on the lowest heat.
Step 2: Mix All Ingredients Together
Secondly, add the melted coconut oil with the remaining ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl and stir together until it's creamy and smooth.
Taste and adjust the sweetener to your preference.
For example, you may like your fudge on the sweeter side and you can add 1-2 tablespoons of extra maple syrup if you prefer.
This is a basic fudge recipe, but here are some optional add-ins you could use and add in this step:
- Pecans
- Walnuts
- Macadamia nuts
- Chopped pistachios
- Peppermint Essential Oil
- Sweet Orange Essential Oil
Step 3: Transfer The Fudge To A Loaf Pan
Thirdly, transfer the fudge mixture to the prepared loaf pan and spread it evenly.
Place the loaf pan in the freezer for approximately 60 minutes, or until it hardens.
Step 4: How To Store The Fudge
Lastly, store the fudge in an air-tight BPA-free container in the freezer until ready to serve.
This is important because the fudge will get soft and lose its shape if left out at room temperature.
Keep this in mind as this would not be the ideal dessert to make if you will be traveling with them or will be somewhere where they couldn't be stored in a freezer.
Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions for No-Cook Healthy Holiday Fudge
Here are some expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Raw Cacao Powder: I use organic raw cacao powder for my chocolate in all my recipes, especially to keep them "raw", but feel free to use regular cocoa powder.
Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is used in this recipe in place of butter. I like to use "refined" coconut oil instead of "unrefined" coconut oil because it doesn't taste or smell like coconut.
Maple Syrup: I used maple syrup as a natural liquid sweetener, but you could also use organic date nectar, coconut nectar or a sugar-free liquid sweeter to make this recipe keto-friendly.
Almond Butter: I used almond butter because it has a neutral flavor, but you could also use another neutral flavor nut butter like cashew butter. Or, if you want a chocolate + peanut butter combination, use peanut butter(yum!) or try my Peanut Butter Fudge recipe!
Loaf Pan + Serving Size: Here you have three options.
- Use a 9 x 5 loaf pan and the following recipe which will make about 18 small, thick squares of fudge.
- Use an 8 x 8 baking pan and the following recipe which will make more servings, but they will be thin squares.
- You can double the recipe in the 8 x 8 pan and you can have more servings and thick squares.
Want More Healthy Plant-Based No-Bake Dessert Recipes?
Check out these:
- Clean Eating Chocolate Crunch Bars
- Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
- Raw Snickers Bars
- or my Real Food Vegan™ 14-Day Meal Plan Program with 42 plant-based vegan + gluten-free recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Gluten-Free Vegan No-Cook Healthy Holiday Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic refined coconut oil (melted/liquid)
- ¼ cup organic cacao powder
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- ¼ cup organic almond butter
- 1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare a 9 x 5 loaf pan lined with parchment paper and set aside.
Melt the coconut oil:
- Add the coconut oil to a small saucepan and melt on the lowest heat. Another option is to add the coconut oil to a small bowl and then place the small bowl inside a larger bowl filled with hot water to melt it.
Prepare the fudge:
- Add all ingredients, including the melted coconut oil, to a medium-size mixing bowl and stir until it's well combined and has a creamy and smooth texture.
- Taste the mixture and add 1-2 tablespoons of extra maple syrup if you'd prefer it to be a little sweeter.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan and spread it evenly.
- Place the loaf pan in the freezer for approximately 60 minutes, or until the fudge is hardened.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container in the freezer until ready to serve because it will get soft and lose its shape if left out at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Thomas says
Follow the recipe exactly as it says and 99.9 5 of the time it comes out great. I just can't make it look as nice as yours.lol.
Karielyn says
Hi there Thomas! You get a better success ratio than I do most of the time lol! I usually will have to make something 2 - 3 times to get it just right.
I glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for taking the time to let me know you liked it...I really appreciate it 🙂
Emily says
Hi Karielyn, could this recipe work with normal butter?
Karielyn says
Hi there Emily! I'm thinking it wouldn't because the coconut oil in the recipe is what "holds" everything together once it hardens in the freezer. Regular butter doesn't harden/melt the same way coconut oil does.
If you prefer to use regular butter instead of coconut oil, you may want to find a traditional fudge recipe which will use butter as an ingredient.
Thanks for the question and I hope that helps 🙂
Kim says
Can you taste the coconut in this recipe? Or is it overpowered?
Thanks
Karielyn says
Hi there Kim! If you don't like the taste or flavor of coconut oil (which I don't!) you can use organic refined coconut oil which has zero coconut taste or flavor.
I hope that helps and that you enjoy the recipe if you decide to make it 😉
Audra says
Hi Karielyn and Kristen
I love this recipe and made it a week or so ago with no problem. I tried to make it again today, and the same thing happened to me, the coconut oil separated and came to the top.
The only difference in the way I made them was the brand of coconut oil. Perhaps try a different brand for better results? The brands I used won't be of any use to you as I am in Australia and used local brands.
A question for Karielyn - should the oil be virgin, extra virgin etc?
Karielyn says
Hi there Audra! Thanks for sharing your tips! The brand of coconut oil was one of the possibilities I came up with so that may be the culprit.
I, too, alternate between brands of coconut oil, but the brand I used in this recipe was from Vitacost and it was "organic" and "extra virgin".
Hope that helps and thanks so much for giving us your feedback to help solve the mystery 😉
Kristen Archer says
I made these tonight and followed the recipe but when they came out of the freezer the coconut oil had separated out and left a white layer on top. Any thoughts on what I might have done??
Karielyn says
Hi Kristen! I'm not sure what could have happened...I've made this many times and have never had that happen 🙁
I'm trying to troubleshoot...was the coconut oil completely liquid before you mixed it in? (sometimes I have made them and was too impatient to wait for it to melt completely and it left tiny tiny chucks of solid coconut oil, but never a complete layer on top). Did you use coconut oil? (there is also coconut butter, not sure how that would have worked though). Was all the ingredients mixed together well until it had a creamy texture? (sometimes I've used raw honey instead of maple syrup and it isn't as easy to mix in as the maple syrup. Maybe if everything wasn't mixed well/completely it might have caused it to separate?). Did you put them into the freezer immediately after mixing everything together? (If the coconut oil solidified before it was put into the freezer, that could have been what happened. Coconut oil will become liquid around 75 degrees or so and will harden at lower temps. Maybe it was liquid when mixed, then if it sat for a little bit could have hardened and separated before it froze?).
If you have a chance, let me know what kind/brand of coconut oil, almond butter, cacao, etc that you used and I'll try to see if it made a difference.
I'm thinking it had something to do with the coconut oil because with only 5 ingredients, there isn't too much else that could go wrong.
I hate they didn't come out right but hopefully you were still able to enjoy them. Let me know if any of the ideas above could have been the reason.
Thanks for trying them out 😉
Kristen says
Hi Karielyn,
Thanks for the reply! I was at my mom's for Christmas when I tried to make them so I don't have all that info. I know the coconut oil was completely melted but I mised it all by hand instead of with a mixer, perhaps that is why. I'm going to try them now that I'm home and I'll use a mixer to see if that was it. I'll let you know!
Karielyn says
Hi Kristen! Hmmmm...I don't think mixing by hand would have done it and that's how I mix mine up when I make them.
I just don't know what else it could be but I do hope you try them again and have better results...and let me know 😉
Jen says
Is the mixture pure liquid before you freeze it? Mine is...
Karielyn says
Hi Jen! Yes, it will be liquid after mixing everything together, but after you put it in the freezer, the coconut oil will harden and it will become solid, just like regular fudge.
Just be careful not to leave it out at room temperature because it will get soft and lose it's shape (once the coconut oil starts to melt) so keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.
Hope you enjoy it! 😉