Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

This Peanut Butter Fudge is creamy and indulgent yet super easy to make. You’ll wonder how you’ve ever celebrated without a few pieces of this peanut butter fudge before!

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe

Fudge, like a lot of things, isn’t as hard to make as you’d think.

I think we are all just so used to buying things pre-made at the store that sometimes it’s intimidating to try to replicate it at home.

But what’s the worst that’s going to happen? It may fail, you may burn something and you may have to toss it all. That’s okay. Because the other times, it’ll work and you’ll have learned how to make something you thought you couldn’t!

This recipe for Easy Peanut Butter Fudge comes from my best friend’s mom. I visited them at Christmastime one year, and snacked on a delicious spread of all kinds of Christmas cookies, plus something I hadn’t ever tried: peanut butter fudge.

I’ve made chocolate fudge and caramel fudge, but not peanut butter. I had to try it and immediately felt my world completely changed by this amazing fudge. Before I left, I had her write the recipe down for me and I’ve been making it ever since.

Why you’ll love this recipe

This recipe is SO easy and so good. Here’s why I think you’ll love it, too:

• Peanut butter fudge is super easy to make. If you want to customize it with chocolate, it’s easy to do that, too. I have all the details spelled out for you below.
• It comes together in just 15 minutes! Then, it needs a bit of time to cool, but 15 minutes of hands-on time is all it takes.
• Creamy and indulgent, it’s a perfect dessert for the peanut butter lover in your life. Make them a plate of this fudge as an easy and delicious gift.
• This will become a go-to dessert recipe for all of your parties and gatherings!

I’ve made this peanut butter fudge for all sorts of events year round, not just during the holidays. It’s a perfect treat for parties and showers, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or just because you need an indulgent treat!

And for me, I feel better about eating a sweet like fudge that I make at home rather than a store bought one that may have way more added into it.

Ingredients

This recipe is made with staple fudge ingredients like butter, evaporated milk, sugar, and marshmallows.

The peanut butter flavor comes from peanut butter chips and creamy peanut butter to add in that mouth-watering peanut butter flavor.

Here’s what you will need to pick up from the grocery store to make this easy fudge recipe:

• unsalted butter
• evaporated milk
• sugar
• salt
• miniature marshmallows
• vanilla extract
• peanut butter chips
• creamy peanut butter

Good ol’ Jif and Peter Pan peanut butters work well for this recipe. You can use the natural peanut butters that settle with a layer of oil on top, but be sure to mix them well before using them in this recipe.

Toppings for peanut butter fudge

Peanut butter fudge is so good on its own, but I have also added toppings before for my chocolate-loving husband. If you like peanut butter chocolate fudge, some chocolatey candies are the way to go.

Here are a few ideas for peanut butter fudge toppings:

• a drizzle of melted chocolate
• chopped peanuts
• chocolate sprinkles
• mini chocolate chips
• peanut butter chips
• M&M’s candies
• Reese’s Pieces candies
• chopped chocolate peanut butter cups
• peanut butter cookie crumbles
• flaky sea salt

How to make peanut butter fudge

This easy peanut butter fudge only takes a few minutes; however, this recipe moves really quickly! Therefore it’s really important you read through all the instructions and get your ducks in a row before you begin.

First, measure out all your ingredients and get out all your tools & supplies so that you are ready to go. I mean it when I say this recipe goes fast!

Also, before you begin, go ahead and line an 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. This makes it really easy to lift the fudge out of the pan.

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat.
2. Once almost completely melted, pour in evaporated milk, sugar and salt. Whisk to combine.
3. Bring to a full rolling boil, over moderate heat, stirring constantly.
4. Set timer for 6 minutes and boil mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in marshmallows and vanilla. Stir until all marshmallows melt and mixture is well-blended.
6. Add peanut butter chips and peanut butter. Stir until completely melted.
7. Pour the fudge mixture into pan. Then allow fudge to cool to room temperature.
8. Remove fudge from pan using parchment paper to lift it out. Use a sharp knife to cut into even pieces.

I actually made four or five batches of this fudge over the last few months and feel like I’ve finally figured out the secret to making it right. It may not surprise you if you’ve ever made desserts like fudge, but the real trick is all in the timing.

What is the secret to making fudge?

The secret to making fudge is TIMING. Make sure you measure all your ingredients out ahead of time and have a timer handy so that you can move through this recipe quickly.

Set a timer and make sure you have your attention focused on the recipe for those precious six minutes!

If you can do that, this will easily become one of your absolute favorite desserts!

I’m not usually the type who likes recipes that HAVE to be followed precisely, but this is one that really does need to be. Here are two reasons why…

What causes peanut butter fudge not to harden?

Another key to this recipe is the timing of boiling the sugar and evaporated milk. If you don’t boil it enough, your fudge will be too soft. Those 6 minutes are really important!

You can put the fudge back on the stove and remelt it, letting it boil a little longer, and see if that helps it to harden up properly.

Why is my peanut butter fudge dry and crumbly?

Letting the fudge cool completely on its own out on the counter, without the help of the fridge, allows the fudge to get the most perfect, creamy consistency.

When you try to shortcut the cooling process, it can become dry and powdery instead of creamy — which is quite a tragedy!

How do I know this? Once I tried to make this peanut butter fudge quickly before a party and I didn’t have time to let it cool completely before we needed to leave, so I threw it in the fridge for a bit before we left.

The next week I made it again for something else and was able to let it completely cool overnight before cutting into it. It made a world of a difference.

More fudge recipes

• Caramel Macchiato Fudge
• Maple Walnut Fudge
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

More holiday desserts

If you are packing this fudge into a cookie plate, pair it with a few of these recipes:

• M&M Cookie Bars
• Sugar Cookie Bars
• White Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
• Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Peppermint Crinkle Cookies
• Stained Glass Window No Bake Cookies

If you make and love this recipe, please leave a ★★★★★ review below! It means so much to me when you try my recipes, and I’d love to know how it goes. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions.