Sauces & dressings · Sweet sauces

Dark chocolate sauce

Name: Dark chocolate sauce
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 3/4 cup water; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup cocoa powder; 2 oz dark chocolate 70-85%, chopped; 1 tbsp butter; 1 tsp vanilla extract; a pinch salt

The pourable kind that sets slightly on cold ice cream. Cocoa powder does most of the work — it carries chocolate flavour at a fraction of the fat of melted chocolate, so a little real chocolate at the end is all it needs for gloss.

Time: 10 min (2 prep + 8 cook)
Servings: 10
Per serving: 96 kcal
Protein: 1 g

Ingredients

3/4 cup water180 g
1/2 cup granulated sugar100 g
1/2 cup cocoa powder40 g
2 oz dark chocolate 70-85%, chopped60 g
1 tbsp butter15 g
1 tsp vanilla extract5 g
a pinch salt1 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Whisk the water, sugar, cocoa and salt together in a small pan while it is still cold — cocoa lumps the moment it meets hot liquid.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking, and let it bubble 3–4 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the whisk.
Off the heat, stir in the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla until smooth and glossy.
Serve warm. It thickens considerably in the fridge; loosen it with a spoonful of hot water rather than reheating it hard.

How much is a serving?

About two tablespoons — 35 g. Sauces are scored per 100 g like everything else, which is roughly three servings' worth.

Why this score

engineered against fullness

Dense calories with little protein, volume or fiber to fill you up.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

5% of kcal

42% water

22 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

24%

10%

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 957 kcal goes into the pot, 401 g of ingredients comes out as ~360 g of food → 266 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 266
Protein: (5%); 4 g
Fat: (37%); 12 g
Carbohydrates: (58%); 42 g
of which sugar: 32 g
Fiber: 6 g
Sodium: 141 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.