This smooth, sweet, salty, secretly healthy peanut butter fudge melts in your mouth!
Healthy peanut butter fudge recipe
Did you know it’s possible to make the most delicious homemade fudge with no butter, no heavy cream, and no high fructose corn syrup required?
Only five plant based healthy ingredients, and it tastes just like traditional fudge.
It really and truly does!
Each bite of soft peanut butter fudge is rich, velvety, and so creamy.
This is one snack you’ll find yourself making over and over (and over and over) again.
Also try 3 ingredient Peanut Butter Truffles
A few years ago, while on a beach vacation in Delaware, I discovered a little candy shop along the boardwalk.
The store offered an array of enticing flavors like Chocolate Pecan, Sea Salt Caramel, Toasted Coconut, Pumpkin Walnut, and Classic Peanut Butter.
It would’ve been impossible to leave that shop not craving fudge. The second I returned home from the trip, I turned my kitchen into its own confectionary factory, whipping up healthy peanut butter fudge from scratch.
My original plan had been to make many different flavors of fudge… but peanut butter tasted so good that I never got to the others!
Trending now: Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
Healthy peanut butter fudge recipe video
Key ingredients
Peanut butter – I love the fun texture of crunchy peanut butter, or you can go with smooth peanut butter for a creamier fudge.
Both natural peanut butter and conventional brands (like Jif or Skippy) work here.
Almond butter is a tasty alternative to peanut butter. Or for those on a nut free diet, try sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter.
Coconut oil – Either refined or unrefined coconut oil should be readily available at regular grocery chains as well as stores like Target, Marshall’s, and Whole Foods.
Do not omit or substitute vegetable oil for the coconut, because it does not harden when cold and therefore your fudge will never solidify.
Sweetener – Liquid sweeteners like honey or pure maple syrup are the best options for the smoothest fudge. You can substitute liquid sweetener for granulated sugar or powdered sugar if you wish.
For keto fudge, use low carb syrup, monk fruit, erythritol, or stevia drops to taste.
Banana (optional) – As a huge peanut butter banana fan, I add one ripe banana to naturally sweeten the fudge. If you prefer your recipe to be banana free, you do not need to add the fruit.
How to make the vegan fudge
- Measure out your peanut butter. If using natural nut butter, gently warm it up on the stove top or in the microwave until soft and easy to stir.
- Mash the banana (if using), then whip all of your ingredients together with a spoon or in a food processor until completely smooth.
- Use a spoon or spatula to spread the mixture into a plastic container, glass container, or small baking pan.
- Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips or chopped walnuts if desired.
- Freeze until firm and easy to slice.
- Due to the melty nature of the coconut oil, this freezer fudge is best kept frozen. Store leftovers in an airtight covered container for up to a month.
Want a fun alternative to traditional fudge squares? Freeze the peanut butter mixture in candy molds or mini cupcake liners!
What makes this healthy peanut butter fudge?
Refined sugar free. If you go with the banana option or any of the sugar free options included in the recipe below, this fudge can be entirely free of refined sugars.
Protein in each bite. Just one piece provides over four times the amount of protein found in traditional peanut butter fudge.
No corn syrup, no shortening. Many peanut butter fudge recipes call for high fructose corn syrup, butter or shortening, sweetened condensed milk, or sometimes even marshmallows. You won’t find any of those ingredients in this healthier version.
Vegan + dairy free. The healthy snack can also be gluten free, egg free, and soy free.
More healthy fudge flavors
What would be your dream fudge flavor? Chocolate Banana Bread? Caramel Popcorn? Sugar Cookie Dough? Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Fudge?
Please feel free to list as many ideas as you wish, and you might just see your dream flavor up here on my blog in the near future.
Healthy Peanut Butter Fudge
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter or nut or seed butter of choice (120g)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil (36g)
- 2 tbsp sweetener of choice (30g) or stevia drops to taste
- 1 banana (optional)
- 1 handful mini chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- If peanut butter is not already soft, gently heat until easy to stir. Either combine all ingredients in a small blender or stir together by hand until completely smooth. Spread into a small container or mini cupcake liners. Freeze until firm. To keep the peanut butter fudge from melting, store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Healthy Peanut Butter Recipes
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Healthy Girl Scout Cookie Tagalongs
Cookies and Cream, Birthday Cake, Nutella, or Chocolate Mint Fudge! :d
I absolutely love peanut butter and the fudge always looks so tempting, but so full of calories and unhealthy ingredients. Now I can enjoy my favorite fudge without all the guilt. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Katie!
I also feel better eating this one compared to typical fudge made with butter or unhealthy oil, but I think it is important to note that this healthy peanut butter fudge is still quite high in calories. It is about 70% of the calories that typical/unhealthy peanut butter fudge holds, which I really wouldn’t say qualifies this to be called low-calorie. After all, its base is nut butter!
Made a half recipe of these today and it seems I’m going to finish the entire thing myself before the day’s over. 😀 They remind me of your Banana Split Cheesecake Bites from 2012, which I made with peanut butter. Delicious.
What size pan do you recommend and how many servings in the recipie?
Thanks
Molly, I put mine in an 8×8 dish and it was barely enough to cover the bottom of that, so when she says a small container, then that’s what I would go with. The second batch I used candy/mini cupcake liners and that was perfect. Made about 2 dozen half ounce (14g) pieces. So no cutting, just peel back like a Reese’s PB cup and enjoy!
Oooh this looks heavenly! I am a sucker for PB fudge and I’ve been relying on a recipe that, while amazing, is NOT healthy at all! My dream flavor would be pecan pie or a flavor modeled after seven layer bars 🙂
These look amazing – I can’t wait to make them!!
My dream fudge flavor would be bubble gum. Kind of weird, but I think it could work with the texture of fudge. 🙂
I attempted to make a regular PB fudge recipe a while back using non-dairy milk and natural PB, and the results were AWFUL… I ended up with a top layer that was mostly peanut butter and a bottom layer that was just crystallized sugar. Yuck! This looks much, much better, haha.
You are so talented Katie! Gonna have to try this fudge!
I have this right now in the freezer at work and it is everything I can do to not shovel it all in my face. I used honey as a sweetener because that’s what I had, but it still turned out great! This was my first foray into coconut oil fudge and now I’m anxious to try all the kinds!
Wow Katy! All your recipes are great…but I love peanut butter fudge and this is amazing! I haven’t eaten it for years because of all the yucky ingredients. I was so surprised you can’t even taste the banana. I used maple syrup and it taste just like the unhealthy stuff. Thanks for another great recipe and it pulls together in just minutes for a quick sweet treat!