We Taste Tested 10 Chocolate Sauce Brands To Rank Them Worst To Best
Chocolate sauce is a tasty and versatile addition to your pantry. It's perfect for drizzling over ice cream, pouring into milk, sweetening your coffee, or even just eating by the spoonful to satisfy that afternoon craving for a sweet, chocolatey treat. For some, chocolate sauce is the best type of chocolate because it enhances any dessert and can elevate flavors to new levels.
There are a myriad of chocolate sauce brands competing to be on your next banana split. Each comes with a different price point, serving size, and flavor profile. With so many options on the market, figuring out which chocolate sauce is best to pick up on your next grocery run can be difficult. I created this ranking to help make the process a bit easier. I took into account taste and price, then blended my personal experience with online reviews.
All prices are at the time of publication and may vary based on region.
10. Torani
Torani is a more expensive option at $5.99, and unfortunately, the taste just doesn't live up to the price. The bottle is elegant, and while it has an overall 4.8-star review on the Torani website, there seems to be a persistent issue that lower-ranking reviewers found: the thickness. I experienced this firsthand when I tried this syrup. When I poured other syrups onto a spoon, they spread easily. This one remained plopped in the center.
This Torani sauce also has that distinct dark chocolate taste that often turns people off from dark chocolate entirely. It is bittersweet, poignant, and borderline medicinal. That element does get drowned out when the sauce is combined with ice cream, though. Only then does this sauce shine with its bold, prominent, and semisweet dark chocolate flavor. I also thought it was interesting that this sauce had a serving size double that of some of the other sauces on this list at 2 tablespoons, which seemed excessive given how these flavors pack a punch.
9. Great Value
Walmart has long been a tried-and-true store for anything you could need — from neck pillows for your next travel excursion to oat milk for your non-dairy latte. Items from its in-house Great Value line are usually priced affordably, too, which keeps shoppers coming back. At just $2.18, Great Value's sugar-free chocolate syrup with Splenda is an affordable option for your next dessert or cup of chocolate milk — and it only has 10 calories for a 2-tablespoon serving.
Some of the negative reviews on the Walmart website were adamant that the syrup was only worthy of the trash can — and I would agree. It's extremely bitter, with almost no notes of chocolate. Instead, I tasted a burnt coffee flavor, which lingers in the mouth longer than any other flavor. Vanilla ice cream doesn't serve to offset the taste like you'd expect it to, so the very poignant bitter flavor outshines the rest of the dessert.
8. Bosco
This New Jersey-made ice cream topping brand was established in 1928 and is one of the most well-known manufacturers out there. The company's much-loved chocolate syrup is still available in 33 select store chains and via online retailers like Amazon.
Part of Bosco's hype might be its mid-range price of $3.92. I thought the flavor was unimpressive, and it didn't stick around long enough to really be enjoyed. The sweet, almost tangy flavor of the chocolate syrup dies down very quickly, which is unexpected from a sauce that isn't super thin nor super thick.
At first taste, I picked up on notes of a very sweet chocolate bar, which is a welcomed flavor profile for chocolate syrup. However, the flavor is temporary. After I drizzled it on vanilla ice cream, I found that the sweetness was at the forefront, while there was little cocoa flavor to pick up on.
7. Hershey's
Hershey's chocolate has long been a staple in the world of chocolate. There is no doubt it's an incredibly popular chocolate brand as a whole, and its syrup is no different. For $3.49, it sits within the average price range for a bottle, so there's no breaking the bank for this dessert topping.
On its own, the syrup is quite runny. When I took a bite, I noticed it dissolved quickly on my tongue. The fast absorption meant there was no time for the chocolate flavor to marinate, so the cocoa undertones are very subtle and fade away quickly. I used 1 tablespoon of syrup for a scoop of ice cream and still found that the back of my throat was a bit dry after eating it.
There was also a slight bitterness to the syrup, which was welcomed — as it meant it wasn't overly sweet. The syrup wasn't particularly rich, either. Despite my high hopes for this syrup — and the 4.6-star rating it has on Google Reviews — Hershey's bars might be better than their sauce.
6. Nesquik
Nesquik is a kid-favorite brand that's been around for more than 70 years. It carries two syrups in chocolate and strawberry flavors outside of its line of chocolate milks and drink powders.. The price for the chocolate variety was comparable to other brands at $3.49.
Based on my taste test, it seems accurate to say that Nesquik has a very strong chocolate flavor rather than a super sweet profile. It has a more pronounced cocoa profile than the Hershey's syrup and doesn't have any aftertaste to it. The consistency of the syrup is liquidy and smooth, and when poured over vanilla ice cream, you can taste a distinction between the vanilla and the chocolate flavors. This was a welcomed change because other products only prevailed in sweetness. Nesquik's chocolate syrup balances sweetness and chocolate well, justifying its 4.7-star Google rating and making it a solid choice for your ice cream.
5. Smucker's
The Smucker's brand offers a wide range of products, including fruit spreads, peanut butter, and sundae syrups (which are made to pair with ice cream). A 20-ounce bottle of chocolate syrup retails for $3.79. Overall, I found that this syrup had a subtle chocolate flavor that was less notable than other brands I reviewed.
The shape and design of this bottle are funky in the best sort of way, but the protective tab that sits over the opening in the bottle was really difficult to open. I also noticed the serving size listed on the back of the bottle was 2 tablespoons, which seems excessive for a sauce that's sweet enough on its own. There is no poor aftertaste, but the syrup's cocoa flavor gets slightly lost when mixed with ice cream. The sweetness remains, though, so you're not compromising all the flavors if you choose Smucker's the next time you're at the supermarket.
4. Favorite Day
Target is a popular shopping destination for many folks. Its house brand, Favorite Day, is known for taking good quality groceries to the next level. Favorite Day's chocolate syrup is part of this lineup, and at the $2.19 price point, I expected it to be similar to Hershey's or Nesquik. But something about this syrup makes it a standout.
It's thicker than expected, but that isn't detrimental. In fact, the thinness made the chocolate taste more prevalent at first before it eventually started to die down. I also found that this syrup left a slightly dry aftertaste, like when drinking a dry red wine. Still, there was a sweetness that enhanced the vanilla ice cream, as a good syrup topping should do. Plus, this product had a strangely familiar taste that I just couldn't put my finger on, but it reminded me of my childhood. I could understand why the reviewers who contributed to this syrup's 4.5-star rating said it was a hit with kids.
3. Ghirardelli
Ghirardelli just sounds fancy, and high-quality, rich chocolate may come to mind when its name comes up. The history of the Ghirardelli chocolate company dates back to the Gold Rush when the founding chocolatier brought the chocolate to California. Since then, the company's lineup has grown to include several different varieties of chocolate sauce, as well as caramel and vanilla sauces.
Premium chocolate sauce comes at a premium price, as is the case with Ghirardelli's comparatively steep price of $5.48. But the flavor justifies the cost of this product. The consistency is thick and comes out of the bottle in thin lines that pile up on the spoon rather than running off it. On its own, the sauce tastes almost like a jar of frosting. It's rich, chocolatey, and heavy on the palate.
However, the sauce's thickness caused it to firm up against the cold ice cream, which made it act more like a hard shell. Despite this, I found that the Ghirardelli sauce was the first one with flavors that were enhanced when paired with the ice cream. The chocolate flavor was more palatable against its vanilla backdrop, which made for a bowl of ice cream that was precisely the dessert it was meant to be.
2. Whole Foods 365
Whole Foods' in-house 365 brand is about more than just value. It also focuses on responsible sourcing and addressing human and animal welfare in the supply chain. While its chocolate syrup is priced more at the higher end of products I reviewed at $4.49, the organic ingredient list justifies it.
The syrup's consistency achieves a middle ground. It's not as thick as Torani's, but it isn't as runny as Hershey's. It easily perches on top of the scoop of ice cream without sagging drastically off the sides or hardening like a shell.
The flavor of this product is also perfectly flavored and worthy of note. The syrup is very sweet, rich, and just as chocolatey as it needs to be. Moreover, there's not a ton of chocolate flavor, but when mixed with vanilla ice cream, the dessert becomes very well-balanced. You could even just eat a spoonful straight from the container.
1. Trader Joe's
Do these syrups get points for having cute, fun bottles? If they do, add this to the list of reasons why Trader Joe's takes the cake. Its Midnight Moo chocolate syrup looks as pleasurable as the name sounds. Plus, it's made with organic cocoa powder and cane sugar, which is not something shared by the other brands I reviewed.
The Midnight Moo syrup is great for chocolate lovers, especially anyone who opts for dark chocolate over a milky one. It has a very rich taste and a strong cocoa flavor. That flavor does get diluted when mixed with the ice cream, though, so you lose some of the rich chocolate taste when using it for a sundae. I used the entire 2-tablespoon serving and found that it still needed more syrup to hold its own. Overall, it's a great chocolate syrup with a plausible $3.99 price point, which makes it the most worthy of your cart.
Methodology
The syrups on this list were chosen based on brand popularity and accessibility since I wanted to review brands customers were likely to encounter at their local stores. I also tried to include a range of price points to cater to a variety of shoppers.
The order of the syrups on this list was determined primarily on a taste test and utilized the same vanilla ice cream across samples. Additionally, I used only the allotted serving size of each syrup to ensure that I was tasting it as the company had intended it to be used. A successful syrup was one that was rich in chocolate flavor rather than just sweetness and one that balanced well with the vanilla ice cream without hardening or melting off the sides of the scoop. In addition, I also took into account price and overall online reviews.