3 Ingredient Sugar-free Magic Shell—Better Than Store Bought
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If you grew up loving the frozen fun Magic Chocolate Shell topping, you're going to love this Homemade Sugar-free Magic Shell (aka Chocolate Hardening Sauce). Three simple ingredients and a few minutes are all you need to add magic to your dessert and deliciousness to your taste buds.
I loved Magic Shell as a child. It was so much fun and mysterious, right? I mean, you pour chocolate sauce on your ice cream and within seconds it turns from liquid to a crunchy shell! (Hence why it's called “chocolate hardening sauce” by some.)
And the crunch: yum!
Crunch and ice cream go so well together, am I right? Nothing better.
Unfortunately, Magic Shell toppings (either at an ice cream shop or from the grocery store) are loaded with sugar (there are literally 16 grams in a 2 tablespoon serving!) and typically also contain milk (which our oldest child can't have).
So what's a mom to do?
I wanted to share my childhood magic shell fun with my kids, so it was time to make our own version that's not only a sugar-free magic shell but also a vegan magic shell.
What Makes Magic Shell Harden?
If you’re wondering how the chocolate shell works, you’re not alone! I wondered that for such a long time. Then I realized the secret: it’s all about the coconut oil.
When warmed, coconut oil is liquid and pourable, like any oil. However, when it gets cold, it solidifies. Combine coconut oil and chocolate and that’s when the magic happens.
How to Use Magic Shell
All you do is pour the desired amount onto your cold dessert. It pours as a liquid and then quickly becomes a crispy crunchy shell.
The key is that you need to put it on food that’s cold for it to do its thing. Some delicious examples include the following:
- Ice cream topping
- Popsicle drizzle or hard shell coating (just dip your popsicle in and voila! I think these Sugar-free Fudgesicles would be amazing dipped!)
- Spoon over cold or frozen fruit to make a shell or drizzle topping
- Milkshake topper
And since there's no sugar in this homemade shell, you can go above and beyond the 2 2-tablespoon serving size with no worries. Mmmmmm……
How to Store
If you don’t use all of your magic chocolate shell immediately (probably won't happen!) after you make it, store it in an airtight container (like a mason jar) at room temperature. It should last for quite a while.
You can also store this in the fridge, but it will harden there and won't be usable as a magic shell without reheating. The only reason to keep this chocolate shell in the fridge would be to make it last longer or to have a yummy chocolate treat.
Even at room temperature, the coconut oil can solidify, depending on the temperature of your home (coconut oil solidifies at 76 degrees, Fahrenheit). If that happens, simply warm your homemade shell by placing the container in warm water over a double boiler until it’s liquified.
Variations
As is, this recipe is fantastic, but, why not try some of these fun adaptations?
- Chocolate Mint Shell: add 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract
- Chocolate Orange Shell: 1/4 teaspoon orange extract for a fun chocolate orange shell.
- Chocolate Cherry Shell: 1/4 teaspoon cherry extract for a chocolate cherry shell.
- Chocolate Almond Shell: 1/4 teaspoon almond extract for a chocolate almond shell!
- Salted Chocolate Shell: doubles the salt
Really almost anything goes!
Recipe Notes
Heat: Make sure to melt the coconut oil at low heat. If the oil is too hot, you will likely end up with a lumpy mess.
Sweetener Alternatives: The ratio of powdered sugar to regular is about 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar to 1 cup granulated sugar. If you want to use a different sweetener, you'll need to take this and the sweetness into consideration.
If you'd like to powder your own sweetener for this recipe, use about 1/4 cup granulated sweetener (I prefer low-carb sweeteners or coconut sugar).
If you want to use honey or maple syrup, about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount should work, so use 1/8 cup to 3 tablespoons.
1/8 teaspoon stevia extract also works very well for this recipe.
Allulose Notes: You can use allulose for this recipe, but since it tends to make finished products softer, the resulting “shell” will be a little soft. It's still delicious, but it's a little “fudgier” than if you use other sweeteners.
Ways to Use
Of course you can use this homemade magic shell on ice cream, but it makes a great dipper for popsicles and also is amazing drizzled on frozen fruit.
Special Diet Notes
This recipe, as written, works for keto and vegan diets, and of course, it works for gluten-free as well.
For AIP: Use carob instead of cocoa, and choose an AIP sweetener like honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar. Coconut sugar would work the best in this application, but all should work.
THM: This recipe, as written, is THM:S for the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan.
It’s super fun and a great crowd-pleaser to pour chocolate sauce onto your ice cream…only to have it harden to a luscious, crunchy shell right before your eyes. And then, of course, to eat it!
I hope you love this chocolate shell recipe as much as we do and would love to hear what what you think!
More Delicious Chocolate Recipes:
- Dairy-free, Allergy-friendly Chocolate Frosting – so good it might not make it onto the cake!
- Healthy Chocolate Fruit Dip (Paleo, Vegan) – so healthy and delicious!
- No Bake Chocolate Brownies – simply delectable.
- Chocolate Avocado Ice Cream–amazingly rich and possibly the best Homemade Vegan Ice Cream you'll ever try.
Homemade Magic Shell
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1/2 cup powdered low-carb sweetener (see Recipe Notes for alternatives)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a small bowl.
- Whisk to combine.
- Store at room temperature.
- Shake or stir gently before using.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Hi Adrienne, I just found your site. I’m so excited to look around. I’m looking for something to dip a low-carb homemade strawberry popsicle in to make a chocolate shell. We want the kind that kind of cracks when you bite into it if that makes sense. Do you think this would work or would it be too thick? I’m surprised I can’t find more low carb recipes out there for that. We don’t really want to use chocolate chips. They’re too expensive and we prefer to make our own using organic ingredients. Thanks in advance!
Hi Holly! Welcome! I will likely be focusing a bit more on health-related posts going forward, but still recipes as well and working on some old ones that need updating. Always feel free to reach out b/c some of the recipes aren’t as good as I would like. I do like this one, however. I think this should work for you. You could do a test run on a frozen banana or some blueberries. It tastes great like that. Do let me know :). I’m going to hopefully update this recipe soon. I agree on the chocolate chips. Have you seen this recipe for them? Great (and frugal) minds think alike.
Thanks for the quick response! Since you have a lot more experience than I do in these things, do you recommend a powdered/granular low-carb sweetener or a liquid one here for my purpose in coating popsicles? Typically I use Allulose, but I know it doesn’t always allow things to set up. I have a great thick allulose “honey” that I use a lot, thoughts on that here? Or I could use powdered allulose if you think that would be better. My last choice is powdered or granular erythritol and monk fruit blend just because erythritol is harder on our stomachs. I do have THM super sweet and gentle sweet which are erythritol based.
I’m going to sign up for your newsletters. I love health related posts also. Thanks so much for all your help!
You’re so welcome. Sorry this one took longer. I’ve had two really busy nights including a funeral. I think you’d want to do a powder. I’m sorry I haven’t tried allulose in this recipe. I’d like to now, but I’m inundated with deadlines. I guess one simple option is to try a small batch and put on some frozen fruit and see if it hardens up. What recipes have you had problems with regarding allulose not setting up? Are you referring to it absorbing moisture? Thanks!
Hi, so sorry to hear about the issues you’re currently facing. Allulose has a property that allows it to caramelize which is great, but unlike a erythritol which allows things to harden, it keeps things softer. It’s some sciency thing I guess. An example would be caramel sauce will stay thick and syrupy with allulose but harden with erythritol. The low-carb dairy free ice cream I make with allulose stays scoopable but with erythritol it’s hard as a rock. I will take your suggestion and dip some fruit to see how it goes. Thanks so much.
Hi again, Holly. I’m so sorry for the delay. I did a little test w/ the allulose and it worked out OK for me. Not as crunchy as the erythritol or xylitol, but it was pretty good. I tried it on frozen blueberries. Yum! How did your experiment go?
Hi there! So we did it on the blueberries as well and they were delicious. So we went ahead and dipped our Popsicles. We absolutely loved it! I used half allulose & half erythritol. I think the people that aren’t getting it smooth are incorporating the coconut oil when it is too warm.
It wasn’t like the coating you would get if you melted chocolate chips, it was a little bit fudgy-er if I had to describe it in one word. Either way, we really loved it. This will go in our recipe file for good.
Thank you for getting back to me. I just love your recipes and love even more the fact that you get back with people that support your site.
Hi again! Yay!!! I’m so glad you liked it! I just updated the post with the information about the allulose and I’ll add your thoughts about the coconut oil. Thanks for asking about the sweetener! I’m still buried here but it was great to try this out again and sooo yummy on the blueberries and great to offer another option for people.
Your kinds words mean so much to me! I have some recipes here still that I don’t love so please be patient with me if you find a dud. Or you can ask ahead of time. Your support means so much to me! Blogging has gotten a lot harder these days so I mean it. Really. Blessings on you and yours!
We made this recipe and it turned out lumpy. Not smooth and liquidy. We used carob powder, honey, and coconut oil. The coconut oil was liquid. Any ideas why?
You mentioned that the coconut oil was liquid. Do you mean it separated from the other ingredients and wasn’t blended?
Correct. It was delicious, but separated
and clumpy.
I’m thinking perhaps the oil was too hot. I just made a note in the post about that. Was it pretty warm when you added the cocoa?
The oil was at room temp, which may have been 90+°F.
I’ll make it again and see if that batch works.
I would also try using at least 25% less honey because it’s more sweet than sugar. Maybe even 1/2 the amount. I wonder if the honey is causing it to be too thick. I’ll try the recipe again using less sweetener and see how that goes. Yeah, thinking about it try with half the honey and see. It might even be sweet enough for you with 1/3. Let me know!
I did make a very similar recipe. I reduced the honey to 1/3 and slowly added the carob to the oil per instructions. It seems to be that perhaps adding it all at once and using too too much honey was the culprit.
Yay! Glad to hear!