If you love chocolate and you want to explore unique ways of serving it, this easy, homemade chocolate gravy recipe is for you! This isn't just your average chocolate sauce; it's more like a delicious fusion of silky chocolate sauce and velvety pudding.
Offer your guests a sweet breakfast on a Sunday morning (the typical way of serving it) with tea, or serve this dish after supper for a unique dessert. It's an easy recipe that takes about 10 minutes to prepare.
What's unique about this recipe is the fat component comes from the cocoa butter found in the white chocolate, instead of adding a fat like dairy butter.
White chocolate has a cocoa butter content of at least 20%. Higher quality white chocolate will have higher amounts of cocoa butter.
Unlike thin chocolate sauce, this gravy uses flour to create a rich, spoon-able texture you can adjust to your liking.
This dessert gravy is simply a sweet topping for biscuits. Think of it as a cozy cousin to chocolate-covered doughnuts or breakfast pastries. Chocolate on a biscuit is my kind of breakfast!
Speaking of covering things in chocolate, these homemade chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate spoons and Canadian Cuban lunch chocolate bars are also very popular.
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🍫 What is Chocolate Gravy?
Chocolate gravy is a sweet gravy made with fat, flour, cocoa powder, sugar and a liquid such as water or milk. It has base ingredients that are similar to a classic brown gravy, however, it's the sweetness and order of combining the ingredients that differs.
While typical gravy starts with a roux of fat and flour, this gravy adds the fat towards the end.
📝 Ingredients
- unsweetened cocoa powder - Look for high-quality brands with fewer additives. This will give the gravy a richer, stronger chocolate flavor.
- AP flour - To thicken the gravy.
- milk - You can use water if preferred.
- white chocolate - It is best to use a white chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips because it is higher quality and will result in a smoother gravy. Make sure to break it into small pieces so that it melts easier.
*Check recipe card for ingredient amounts.
📖 Recipe Tweaks
What's gravy about this recipe is you can adjust one simple ingredient to match different occasions: the flavor extract. Here are some alternatives to vanilla extract to match different holidays.
- Christmas: orange, gingerbread, peppermint
- Valentine's Day: red velvet, cinnamon, strawberry
- St. Patrick's Day: mint
- birthdays: cake batter, banana
- other: coffee, butterscotch, coconut
🥣 How to Make Chocolate Gravy
Step 1. Mix dry ingredients. Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a saucepan.
Step 2. Add milk. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook over medium heat until bubbling.
Step 3. Add chocolate. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate and vanilla.
Step 4. Stir. Stir until fully melted and smooth.
Step 5. Serve. Serve warm over biscuits, pastries, fresh fruit etc.
🥞 Serving Suggestions
- You can enjoy chocolate gravy for breakfast or dessert.
- This rich, sweet gravy pours directly over your split or crumbled buttermilk biscuits.
- If you're feeling adventurous, you may dare to drizzle it over a savory meat dish like bison pot roast or sausage and bacon.
- You can pour the gravy over French toast, regular toast, pancakes, moist pancake bread, pie and sponge cake.
- It also tastes amazing over fresh fruit and works well in ways similar to my white chocolate ganache recipe.
- If you're serving a full English breakfast, this condiment poured over biscuits provides an alternative to toast, alongside the savory food items like sausage, bacon and scrambled eggs.
- Serve your gravy in a gravy boat so guests can pour as much as they want. Add bacon crumbles for an extra savory, salty crunch.
- Use it as a dip for baked chocolate donut holes.
✅ Joss' Tips
- Use high-quality cocoa powder. It will give your gravy a richer, more intense chocolate flavor. You can use either natural or Dutch-processed cocoa depending on your taste preference. Dutch-processed is alkalized which mellows it out a bit but adds deeper color and makes it more dissolvable. Natural cocoa powder will have a very strong, acidic, concentrated chocolate flavor. It's the kind I prefer for this recipe.
- Gradually add the liquid. Slowly add the milk while whisking to prevent lumps.
- Adjust the thickness. If your gravy becomes too thick, you can thin it out by whisking in a little extra milk. The consistency should be pourable but not runny, similar to traditional gravy.
❓ Recipe FAQs
Once it cools, store it in an airtight container. It can last for up to 4 days in the fridge or up to 4 to 6 months in the freezer.
Reheat on the stove over medium to medium-low heat or in the microwave. If needed, added a splash of milk while reheating to thin it out.
It has a similar flavor to instant chocolate pudding but with a thinner texture: rich, creamy, decadent, fudgy and delicious!
Chocolate gravy is commonly prepared in the Ozarks (Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri) and Appalachian cuisines. The exact origins of this condiment are unclear. Some speculate that this recipe made the most out of limited resources and was created through a trading network. Another theory suggests it was preserved from Spanish colonies by the Melungeons. Regardless, I think we can all agree it is Southern comfort food at its finest.
Each ¼ cup serving of this chocolate gravy is estimated to have about 149 calories.
🤎 More Mouth-Watering Chocolate Recipes
If you tried this 🍫 Easy Homemade Chocolate Gravy Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. And please share the recipe!
📋Recipe
Easy Homemade Chocolate Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 3.5 ounces white chocolate - broken into pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, and salt.3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the milk while whisking to get any lumps out. Turn the heat to medium.1 cup milk
- Cook and stir frequently, until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add the white chocolate pieces and vanilla and stir until the chocolate fully melts.3.5 ounces white chocolate, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Serve warm over biscuits, pastries, fresh fruit etc.
Notes
- Yield: This recipe yields approximately 1 ½ cups gravy.
- Milk substitute: You can substitute the milk with water, if preferred.
- Storage: Once it cools, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 to 6 months.
- Reheating: Reheat on the stove over medium to medium-low heat or in the microwave. If needed, added a splash of milk while reheating to thin it out.
Nutrition
Nutrition information on In the Kitch is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may not include toppings and/or sauces.
Joss says
This is like pourable chocolate pudding. It has such delicious flavor and is incredible over biscuits!