All Day I Dream About Food

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Keto Coconut Fudge – Dairy-Free Recipe

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This dairy-free keto fudge is creamy chocolate heaven! My daughter declared it to be the best fudge I’ve ever made. Now that’s a ringing endorsement. A truly delicious low carb and dairy-free treat. Nut-free too.

Keto dairy free fudge made with coconut milk in a pile on a white table.

This delicious coconut fudge recipe has been on my blog since 2013, but it was in desperate need of an update. Now I’ve made it creamier and lower carb than ever. And it’s completely dairy free and so easy to make. It’s definitely going into regular dessert rotation in our house.

Mind you, I do love dairy filled fudge too. There are no shortage of keto fudge recipes here on All Day I Dream About Food. How about some Peanut Butter Cup Fudge? Or some delicious Keto Rocky Road Fudge made with my sugar-free marshmallows?

I think it’s fairly safe to say that you will never get me to give up dairy.  ‘ve had to give up so many other foods in my life and most of the time, I am okay with that. I’ve been able to create wonderful alternatives and I don’t miss many of the foods I once consumed with abandon.

On occasion, when confronted with a food I once loved and can’t makeover to be low carb, like a mango or a pineapple, I feel some regret. But I accept my lot in life and I hope I can say that I’ve made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

However, I’d be hardpressed to give up my dairy and I sincerely hope I never have to do so. Cheese, yogurt, cream…these are the foundations of a happy low carb life!  At least for me they are.

Squares of keto fudge on a white table with a knife in the background

Dairy Free Keto can be so tasty!

I will readily admit, however, that there are some pretty wonderful dairy-free alternatives out there, and being that I really do dream about food all day, I am more than happy to play around and experiment with these things.

It’s fun getting a little bee in my bonnett about how I might use something like coconut milk to replicate a treat typically made with milk and cream. As several of my readers have tried making my Sugar-Free Condensed Milk with coconut milk, and have reported good results, I began thinking about fudge made with coconut milk.

I figured that at the very least, I would end up with some tasty, dairy-free chocolate goo that I could spoon out of the pan and into my mouth.

Two squares of dairy free chocolate in a wooden bowl filled with shredded coconut.

How to make Dairy Free Keto Fudge

You will notice in the updated recipe that there are a number of optional ingredients. So while this fudge is incredibly easy to make, there are some things I want to point out. These tips help make it the best keto fudge, according to my daughter!

Use canned coconut milk: You really cannot make this with the carton coconut milk. You need the thick rich coconut milk that comes in a can. Your mixture will never set properly, if you use anything thinner. I love the Native Forest brand because the milk is organic, non-GMO, and sustainably farmed, and because the cans are BPA free.

Coconut oil also helps the fudge thicken and set properly, so don’t skip it!

Using two sweeteners is important. I know people hate this and want just one go-to sweetener. Me too! But I played around with this recipe and while you can use just the Swerve, it tends to dry out and recrystallize a bit. The Bocha Sweet helps it stay softer. But you cannot use all Bocha sweet or it will never firm up properly.

I had one batch with more Bocha Sweet that was much too soft and I had to re-melt the whole thing and add more ingredients to thicken it.

Choose unsweetened chocolate: Take care not to confuse this with sweetened sugar-free chocolate like Lily’s. You want chocolate that is 100% cacao, with no sweeteners at all. It has more fiber in it and again, helps the fudge thicken and set properly.

But ALWAYS be sure to remove your hot coconut milk mixture from the heat before adding the chopped chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate is temperamental and tends to seize when subjected to too much heat.

The collagen is optional but it does help thicken the fudge and give it a wonderfully chewy quality. And it’s incredibly good for your joints, skin, and hair so I recommend it.

The extracts and flavorings are up to you! Want your keto fudge to have a true coconut flavor? Add coconut extract. Want it to be just like regular chocolate fudge? Stick with vanilla.

Add shredded coconut, chopped nuts, or any other tasty additions! You don’t have to do this if you just want plain fudge. But rolling the cut up squares in shredded coconut made a very lovely presentation.

Coconut crusted keto fudge in a stack on a white background

How to store keto fudge

Like most keto fudge recipes, this dairy-free fudge does get a bit gooey at room temperature, so it’s best kept in the fridge. It does just fine for an hour or two, so if you’re serving to guests, you can leave it out on a plate for a bit.

And if you are rolling it in shredded coconut, it’s less sticky when picking it up.

That’s it! Ready to make a truly delicious dairy-free keto treat? My daughter really did declare this the best fudge she’s ever had. She would have eaten the whole batch if I’d let her!

Click here if you want more Keto Dairy Free Desserts!

5 from 15 votes
Squares of keto fudge on a white table with a knife in the background
Print
Keto Coconut Milk Fudge
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Chill Time:
6 hrs
Total Time
45 mins
 

This dairy-free keto fudge is creamy chocolate heaven! My daughter declared it to be the best fudge I've ever made. Now that's a ringing endorsement. A truly delicious low carb and dairy-free treat. Nut-free too.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: coconut fudge, keto fudge
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 209 kcal
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with waxed paper or parchment paper.

  2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the coconut milk, sweeteners, and coconut oil to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, or until the mixture is thickened and reduced by about 1/3.

  3. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate and let stand 5 minutes, until melted. Stir in until well combined and mixture is smooth.

  4. Whisk in the collagen, if using, the cocoa powder, coconut extract, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth.

  5. Spread mixture in prepared pan. Chill 6 hours until firm and cut into squares. Roll in shredded coconut, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Read the "How to Dairy Free Keto Fudge" section for recipe notes.

Nutrition Facts
Keto Coconut Milk Fudge
Amount Per Serving (1 serving = 1/12th of recipe)
Calories 209 Calories from Fat 142
% Daily Value*
Fat 15.8g24%
Carbohydrates 5.2g2%
Fiber 2.5g10%
Protein 10.8g22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Nutritional Disclaimer

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

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Comments

  1. Hi Carolyn. Love your website and have been an avid follower of yours on Pinterest. I’ve made your pumpkin cheesecake perhaps once too often. 😉

    I live in the Netherlands, and I’m not sure your can of coconut milk would be the same as ours. What is the volume of the can?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • I think it was about 14 to 15 ounces. I am not at home so I can’t look up the ml right now but remind me when I am back on Tuesday and I will! 🙂

      Reply

  4. Oh my, these look divine! I’m not a dairy free girl, but I do love my coconut milk, and I enjoy shaking it up with some dairy free alternatives. This is definitely getting put on the “make it soon” list. Thanks!

    Reply

  8. I could sooner make piles of real fudge with my willpower fully intact than make this and not act on eating the whole thing in one shot. Sigh…

    Reply

    • What I’ve found is I tend to eat a lot the first day, but then I find that two or three pieces will do, till finally 1 piece satisfies. You will not continue to want a whole batch at a time every day.

      Reply

  9. This looks and sounds yummy … wondering if, along with the xanthum gum, some chia seeds could go in this recipe? I think I will give that a try

    thanks so much

    Reply

  10. Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me what else could be used instead of xanthan? I don’t think it’s sold here where I live, and I really want to try this recipe. I would be grateful for any ideas 🙂 Have a good day.

    Reply

    • You could use a little starch to thicken it. Hold back about 1/4 cup of the coconut milk and mix it with 1 tbsp corn or arrowroot starch. Then add that to the cooking coconut milk about 1 minute before you take it off the heat. That should help.

      Reply

  14. Could I use coconut cream instead of milk? I have it in my cupboard so i thought I’d check before i start 🙂

    Reply

  15. I’m sure you get this annoying question all the time…..but, is there any acceptable substitution for the powdered Swerve Sweetener or powdered erythritol? I have no way of getting either one where I live and this looks too yummy to pass up! I’m open to any type of sugar/sweetener/substitute that might work. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi there. You could use almost any sweetener but Swerve has oligosaccharides which are a fiber. That’s going to help thicken the fudge. So if you use something else, you may need to add some additional xanthan to get it to thicken properly.

      Can you get erythritol at all? If so, I’ve heard some people have good luck grinding it in a coffee grinder to get a finer sweetener (although it’s not really powdered). It may still be a touch gritty but it will taste good.

      Reply

  17. LOVE this! I am allergic to dairy, so I must use coconut milk. I thank you for trying this using xanthan gum though!!! I am definitely trying this later today, and I will report back!!!

    Reply

  18. I made this fudge as directed using a 24 count “daisy” treat silicone pan (found at Dillard’s). I used the new sweetner Nectresse instead of my usual Truvia (just because I wanted to try it out.) Didn’t use coconut just slightly pushed in a walnut half on each one. Came out great! Only had to freeze them and they popped out easily. My husband really liked them. He’s not a candy person but he loves dark chocolate. Very strong chocolate taste might be better with 1-2 oz less chocolate. Or not? Thanks for the recipe Carolyn—You’re my go to favorite “Chef”.

    Reply

  19. Hi there. The fudge looks great and the recipe sounds doable for me. Just wondering how much coconut milk is used, because I have a half-gallon from Trader Joe’s and not a can.

    Thanks, Rick

    Reply

  20. Hi,
    Loving your blog and pinning away! Could you tell me if this fudge, once set, can stay out of the fridge? Or must it stay in there?
    Thanks

    Reply

  21. Just made the jalapeño popper casserole!! Amazing! So tasty and creamy! These bars caught my eye and hope to make them soon….though, wish your recipes had calories listed as well.

    Reply

    • oopps, sorry that was a different person’s recipe! So sorry, sometimes I get lost on my tablet, Im still so used to using a computer. But the cajun crab cakes I made last week were awesome. I think a few people at work were jealous of my lunch. haha. Your recipes make things much more tasty while doing aktins induction. And yet there are still many more I want to make after I am off the low carb! They look too yummy.

      Reply

  22. I made this for myself for Christmas. I absolutely love the consistency. It’s a little too dark chocolate for my taste. I’m hoping I can use at least two ounces less chocolate and it still have the same consistency. Great recipe, though. Thank you!

    Reply

    • Hi Beth…sorry for the delayed reply. They can last for at least a week in the fridge, assuming your coconut milk is good!

      Reply

  24. I just made this last night, and while they are delicious and the consistency is perfect, they are a very intense dark chocolate flavor, which I usually love, but in fudge I guess I’m looking for more sweet, less intense chocolate. Have you made this recipe with cream instead of coconut milk? I’m wondering if that would mellow out the intense chocolate flavor. Also wondering if stirring in some peanut butter would work, or cutting back on the amount of unsweetened chocolate added, as some commenters have suggested.

    Reply

  25. OK, I experimented with part of the batch of fudge I made last night. I softened a few cubes of the fudge in the microwave for a few second, then stirred in an approximately equal amount of natural peanut butter (the kind that is just peanuts and salt). The resulting spread was delicious! I then formed the remainder of the peanut butter fudge concoction back into a cube-like shape, wrapped it in wax paper, and put it in the fridge. In a few hours it had set back into a firm, fudge-like consistency, and was a little creamier than the original recipe. I’m definitely going to make this again as peanut butter chocolate fudge! Now I’ve taken another portion of the fudge and mixed it with pureed roasted hazelnuts and put it back in the fridge. We’ll see if that works in a few hours. 🙂

    Reply

    • The homemade hazelnut butter didn’t work as well as the peanut butter. I think when I made the hazelnut butter I processed it too long and the oil started to separate. Also, once the hazelnut butter was added into the fudge, it needed additional sweetener to balance out the slight bitterness of the hazelnuts. So I re-melted the rest of my original batch of fudge briefly in the microwave, warmed up some natural peanut butter (about a cup), and stirred them both together. Poured it all back into an 8″ x 8″ pan that had been greased with olive oil and let it sit in the fridge overnight. It set back up perfectly, and may even be a little smoother than the original batch. It definitely pleases my taste buds more than the original recipe! Thank you!

      Reply

  26. Hi Carolyn,
    I love your blog & recipes & I always look forward to trying out your recipes, this one being no different! But I was curious what brand of unsweetened chocolate you use or prefer?

    Reply

    • Ghirardelli usually, for unsweetened. It’s a higher quality than Baker’s. If I can get my hands on it, I also like Scharffen Berger or Dagoba.

      Reply

    • Cook’s Illustrated did a blind taste test of unsweetened chocolate, and surprisingly, Hershey’s Unsweetened Baking Bar came out as the winner. Ghirardelli’s was in their top five picks as well. I buy whichever of those two is on sale. 🙂

      Reply

  27. I try to avoid all sugar substitutes for our family. Would regular sugar or powdered sugar work with this recipe?

    Reply

        • Anna, have you tried it already? Or maybe you, Carolyn? Anyone else?
          I’ve just discovered this yummy recipe, and my little boys love anything chocolate+coconut, but we don’t use any sugar substitutes either…

          Reply

          • I liked it but texture wasn’t quite “traditional”; not off putting, just not what I was expecting. It’s definitely worth a try

  29. I am new to the gluten and dairy free diet. My 4 mth old has shown food allergies to these two things so far. 🙁 I am looking forward to making this sweet treat for Christmas so I don’t miss out in these yummy deserts. 😉

    Reply

    • It’s useful in a lot of low carb baked goods. Helps gluten-free things hold together a bit better! And a bag lasts a looooong time. Like 2 years long. I keep mine in a jar in the freezer.

      Reply

  31. Can you just ground normal (not powdered) in a food processor and use that? I don’t have powdered erithritol or Swerve Confectioners.

    Reply

  33. Made these today. So good! Toasted the coconut though. I didn’t have enough unswt chocolate bar so I subbed half of it for 2tbspcocoa and 1 tbsp coconut oil mixed together, worked beautifully. Whole family loved it.

    Reply

  34. Hi! I made this recipe today and was so excited. I made the fugde in silicon muffin holders and halfway through and a few bites in i had an epiphany. I had half the fudge still in the pan i added a handful of unsweet coconut and some sugarless peanut butter and it tasted just like a no bake cookie. My husband even like it!! Thank you for the start!

    Reply

  35. I notice a lot of homemade low-carb fudge turns out thin pieces and not like traditional thick fudge. Will this recipe still hold up well to making it a thicker layer?

    Reply

  37. I know this is an old post but I wanted to THANK YOU! So simple, yet so satisfying and delicious. I don’t find myself going for seconds, thirds. A little treat after lunch with coffee, sits in the fridge for a whole week. So hard to find good low carb recipes.

    Reply

  38. I really love recipes like these, that use coconut milk instead of regular milk, since I have to stay away as much as possible from dairy.
    But, living in Europe, I cannot find Bocha Sweet nor allulose, since they have not yet been approved here for human consumption. So that leaves me with xilytol, as second sweetener (no problem with erithritol and stevia or monkfruit).
    Do you think that without xylitol the fudge becomes very hard and crystallized? Of course I could use it, but I am just curious as to what the result might be, without it.
    Thank you for all your wonderful recipes, all those I tried from your site were a success! (as opposed to many others I tried from other sites and that were quite disappointing).

    Reply

    • I do think that without the xylitol, your fudge will dry out a lot faster and possibly re-crystallize. That’s the trouble with straight erythritol.

      Reply

  40. Going by the comments I read it seems the older version of the recipe contained xanthan gum. Can I use that in place of collagen as I cannot find it here in the stores? If yes, please let me know the amount of xanthan gum to be added. Thanks.

    Reply

  47. 5 stars
    My doc wants me to reduce dairy for a while, and I’ve been grieving – haha! But this fudge is WONDERFUL! It’s creamy and delicious and I was able to just use the random sweeteners I happened to have in the house. Thanks for a great recipe for us poor dairy free folks!

    Reply

  48. I’m just finding this now in 2020, but I have to say, it’s absolutely AMAZING! We ate the whole pan in one day. I did cut back the sweetener, but I like stuff less sweet anyway. (I did 1/2 cup powdered swerve, and 2 tablespoons monk fruit.) It was so good, I’m currently making another batch!

    Reply

  53. 5 stars
    I recently used your condensed milk recipe in an Instant pot, and it reduced so easily and did not need too much tending, due to the high sides of the liner. It didn’t burn either. I used it to adapt a fudge recipe from Japan that adds cocoa powder to the canned stuff. I should have used your mixture 1/2 and 1/2 of bocha/erythritol to get a softer texture. Next time!

    I just love your site. Thank you so much for making taste so important!

    Reply

    • Coconut cream makes it more thin, which means you need a bit more chocolate or some additional cocoa powder, to thicken it.

      Reply

  56. 5 stars
    Extremely easy to make. I only used 4 oz of unsweetened chocolate, as that was a full bar, and some reviewers mentioned that the fudge had a very dark chocolate flavor with 5 oz of chocolate. I used Valrhona cocoa powder (the best!) and stirred in 65g of chopped, toasted macadamia nuts as well. Cooked for 35 minutes before it was reduced by 1/3, and the rest went like clockwork. Great fudge! Tastes legit. I didn’t think it tasted too dark chocolate-y. It was pretty sweet really. I did include the collagen powder, which helped the fudge set up nicely.

    Reply

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