This easy homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge recipe is the perfect no-bake treat for any chocolate-peanut butter lover in your life! It's creamy and delicious, requires only 6 ingredients, and can be made in less than 15 minutes!
Table of Contents
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge - Here's What You'll Need!
The list is short here my friends—only the following 6 ingredients are needed to make this super easy chocolate peanut butter fudge recipe.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Or you can use a good quality 60% or 70% dark chocolate. I used Ghirardelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Peanut Butter. It's best to use a creamy, no stir type of peanut butter. I prefer either Wegman's creamy peanut butter or Jif's natural peanut butter.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk. You'll need a full 14 ounce can of this sweet stuff. Do not confuse this with evaporated milk. It is not the same thing!
- Mini Peanut Butter Cups. They'll get chopped up and used as the topping! Reese's are always a good bet, but ALDI makes them as well and they are AMAZING.
- Vanilla Extract and Salt. To balance out the sweetness and round out the flavors, you'll also need vanilla extract and salt.
I did not try this recipe using any other ingredients or methods. If you'd like to see a different method for making fudge using heavy cream, check out my Cookies and Cream Fudge recipe!
Here's How to Make It!
Chop up the mini peanut butter cups. I chopped up almost a full bag of the mini peanut butter cups. Set aside—you'll use these as the topping in a few minutes!
Melt the chocolate chips with the sweetened condensed milk. Use a large glass mixing bowl to heat the two ingredients together. I also recommend heating them up for 1 minute at full power, stirring them together until most of the chocolate chips have melted into the sweetened condensed milk. Then heat again for 30 seconds at 60% power.
Add in the Peanut Butter. I went with 1 ¾ cups of creamy peanut butter. If you want more chocolate flavor than peanut butter, you can reduce this amount to 1 ½ or even 1 cup. Add in the vanilla extract and salt, then stir it all together—it's okay to leave some swirls of the peanut butter too.
Transfer to the pan. Once transferred, level and smooth it out with a spatula. Top with the mini peanut butter cups you chopped up a few minutes prior. Gently push them into the top of the fudge, which will already start to set.
Chill the fudge. The minimum amount of time needed is 1 hour, but leaving it in the refrigerator overnight is totally fine. You can also freeze it too (for up to 3 months).
What Baking Tools Do I Need?
The list of what tools you'll need to make this easy chocolate peanut butter fudge is almost as short as the list of ingredients!
- 9-inch Square Baking Pan. I used my Wilton 9-inch pan for this recipe, but you can also use an 8-inch square baking pan for a slightly thicker fudge. For a thinner fudge, you can use a small jelly roll pan or baking sheet (with a 1-2 inch edge).
- Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper. I recommend using either a non-stick aluminum foil for this fudge recipe or parchment paper. You'll need this to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. You can skip it if you want, but it's easier to cut the fudge when it is outside the pan.
- Large Glass Mixing Bowl. Only one is needed to mix up all of the ingredients (minus the mini peanut butter cups).
- Whisk and Spatula. The only brand I really love is GIR—or Get it Right. They're so well made and come in the best colors!
- Microwave. No stove top needed for heating the chocolate and sweetened condensed milk together. We're going for easy here!
- Cutting Board and Knife. This will come in handy for when you cut up the mini peanut butter cups and again for when you cut the fudge into squares.
Quick Tip for Cutting Fudge
For clean slices of chocolate peanut butter fudge, I recommend running the knife under hot water first. Wipe the knife with a clean kitchen towel, then make the cut. Repeat after each time you make a cut.
Doing this also helped keep the mini peanut butter cups from breaking off the top of the fudge.
For nice clean-cut sides, I trim off the uneven edges before cutting the chocolate peanut butter fudge into squares.
Recipe FAQs
I used my Wilton 9-inch baking pan for this recipe. I love my Nordic Ware pans, but they have rippled sides and bottoms and, for this recipe, I did not want to have that marking left on the fudge.
You can also use an 8-inch baking pan for a slightly thicker layer of fudge.
Unless you stir the peanut butter really well—I'm talking no visible oil left—I do not recommend it. It's best to stick to the creamy, no-stir kind.
The best way to store fudge is to keep it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container with wax paper placed in between so the fudge does not stick together.
Yes, absolutely! Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and (optionally) aluminum foil, then place it in an air-tight container where it will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let it come to room temperature before cutting it into squares (if you left it as one 9-inch square).
Enjoy These Other Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats!
Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
Author:Ingredients
- 25-30 Mini Peanut Butter Cups, chopped into small bits
- 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 ¾ cups Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Line the bottom and side of a 9-inch square pan with either parchment paper or aluminum foil. Set to the side.
- Chop the mini peanut butter cups into small bits, then set to the side.25-30 Mini Peanut Butter Cups
- Combine the sweetened condensed milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips in a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 1 minute on full power. Stir and continue to heat for 30-45 second increments at 60% powder until the chocolate has melted with the sweetened condensed milk.14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk, 12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Add in the peanut butter, vanilla extract, and salt, stirring until well blended and smooth.1 ¾ cups Creamy Peanut Butter, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared 9-inch square pan, then top with chopped peanut butter cup bits. The fudge will already start to set as you place the peanut butter bits on top.
- Place in the refrigerator uncovered for a minimum of 1 hour to set. Longer is always better though!
- Remove from the pan and cut into squares. I cut my chocolate-peanut butter fudge into small 1 inch squares, but you can always cut them bigger!
- Chocolate peanut butter fudge can be kept stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator (use wax paper for layering) for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze it, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in an airtight container, for up to 3 months.
Suzanne says
Silly question and maybe I’m reading it too quickly and missed it but do you add the pb cup pieces right before you chill it?
Jennifer says
No worries! It's in step 5, "Transfer the mixture to the prepared 9-inch square pan, then top with chopped peanut butter cup bits. The fudge will already start to set as you place the peanut butter bits on top." Then in step 6, you place it into the refrigerator to chill.