Chocolate Magic Shell

This is the easiest and best Chocolate Magic Shell recipe! Just 3 ingredients – two kinds of chocolate plus coconut oil – melt together for a fun, delicious ice cream topping!

Homemade Magic Shell Recipe

One of my favorite ice cream memories from growing up in the 80’s was Magic Shell. I truly thought it was “magic”. I love that my family can enjoy this fun treat with this easy homemade Magic Shell recipe!

All you need for homemade magic shell is chocolate and coconut oil. I like to include 2 different kinds of chocolate, for a little more flavor depth than the original bottled stuff, but that’s totally not necessary.

Just melt the chocolate and coconut oil together. Then pour it over your favorite ice cream – we really love the peanut butter ice cream and chocolate magic shell combo. Then watch the magic happen. Within seconds, the liquid chocolate turns into a hard shell – a super fun, crunchy chocolate crown atop your scoops of ice cream!

If you like dipped cones, shakes blitzed with chocolate flakes, and ice cream treats such as Klondike bars – all with hardened chocolate – then you’re going to love this recipe! I worked at a local small town summer drive-in in the 80’s, and the chocolate and cherry cone dips were my favorite treats (I still order them at Dairy Queen to this day).

I’m basically a kid again every time I make this homemade magic shell!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

For me, there’s a lot of nostalgia with this recipe. But even if I didn’t grow up with it, I’d still love it. Here’s why!

• Easy. There are not many recipes easier than this one. You just need a saucepan and a stovetop – or a bowl and a microwave!
• Super short ingredients list. Did I mention that you only need three ingredients to make this magic shell? We always have chocolate and coconut oil in the pantry, so we can whip it up whenever we want.
• Better than store-bought. Yes, I firmly believe that this simple recipe is better than the original. Because you can use your favorite chocolate!
• It’s FUN! This goes without saying. It’s loads of fun to press my spoon through that hardened chocolate shell – to watch it and hear it crack!

What Is A Chocolate Magic Shell?

Chocolate magic shell is a dessert topping made from melting chocolate and coconut oil together.

So how does magic shell work? Coconut oil is liquid when warm, and hard and crunchy when cold. So when you pour it over frozen ice cream, the chocolate sauce becomes a brittle “shell”. The ice cream literally freezes it into place.

Then when you tap into the magic shell with a spoon, the hardened chocolate caves under pressure and cracks into pieces. It’s incredibly fun!

If you’re looking for the store-bought product, it’s usually located with all the other ice cream toppings. But making it at home from scratch is so easy!

Recipe Ingredients

You really only need 2 ingredients to make this dessert topping – your favorite chocolate chips and some coconut oil. But I like to use two different kinds of chocolate chips. It’s up to you!

Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredient amounts.

• Semisweet chocolate chips – Semisweet chocolate contains less cacao than bittersweet chocolate, so it tastes a bit sweet and will sweeten the magic shell. My favorite semisweet chocolate chips are Guittard brand.
• Bittersweet chocolate chips – Bittersweet chocolate is less sweet, which balances out the sweetness of the semisweet chips. I’m a dark chocolate fan, so this combination is a compromise that my whole family loves!
• Coconut oil – You can use refined or unrefined (also called “virgin”) coconut oil. Both perform the same in this recipe, but the refined coconut oil will have a more neutral taste compared with the unrefined coconut oil which has a coconut flavor and aroma.

How to Make a Chocolate Magic Shell

Here’s the beyond-easy method for making magic shell! You only need one pot or bowl to make this luscious sauce:

• Melt together the chocolate and coconut oil. Combine chocolate chips and coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted and smooth. – – – You can also do this with a bowl in the microwave!

• Cool the sauce a bit, then use. The magic shell will be very warm after you make it, which will melt your ice cream if you use it right away. So let it cool for up to 10-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes so it cools evenly. Then go ahead and use it when it’s just barely warm.

Tips for Success

Read on for a few tips on how to make the best homemade chocolate magic shell:

• Make it dairy-free. If you want to make a dairy-free, vegan magic shell, choose dairy-free/vegan chocolate and proceed with the recipe as written.
• Use different types of chocolate. I love the combo of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate so the magic shell is not overly sweet. But go ahead and use different chocolate chip varieties, including milk chocolate!
• A chocolate bar also works. If you prefer to use a chocolate bar rather than chips, this also works well. Simply make sure you use 12 ounces total of chocolate, then chop the chocolate before you melt it.
• Melt the mixture gently, so it doesn’t burn. When using the microwave, heat the mixture in shorter intervals of 20-30 seconds, then give it a stir, and continue heating if necessary. Same goes for the stovetop; use gentle heat and keep stirring so the chocolate chips don’t burn.
• Cool slightly before using. If you’re serving magic shell over ice cream, let it cool slightly before you pour it on. Otherwise, if it’s too hot, it will melt the ice cream and not harden properly.

Ways to Serve a Chocolate Hard Shell

Ice cream is the clear first choice for magic shell. Here are a few of my favorite ice cream recipes that you can top with magic shell, plus a few more serving ideas:

• Peanut butter ice cream. Peanut Butter Ice Cream was made for chocolate magic shell – it’s my family’s favorite! Pour a generous helping on top of a bowl of homemade ice cream and enjoy.
• Crème fraîche strawberry ice cream. A little drizzle of chocolate shell atop my crème fraîche strawberry ice cream recipe will give it a chocolatey burst!
• Salted caramel ice cream. Chocolate and caramel were made for each other. Top my salted caramel ice cream with chocolate hard shell for a special treat.
• Cookie Monster ice cream. This is where the kid totally comes out in me. This fantastic blue-hued Cookie Monster ice cream is stuffed with bites of Oreo and cookie dough. And it’s EXTRA fun with a hard magic shell topping!
• On ice cream pizza. Magic shell is super fun drizzled over my ice cream pizza recipe!
• Malts, shakes, and smoothies. Drizzle magic shell into the ice cream when blitzing homemade malts, shakes, and smoothies. The liquid magic shell will freeze when it hits the cold ice cream and the blender will blitz it into chocolate flakes!
• Coffee drinks. Take your coffee drinks over the top with the addition of homemade magic shell! Try it blitzed into an icy frappuccino!
• Over frozen fruit. Drizzle magic shell over frozen fruit for a refreshing, fruity treat. We especially like to do this with frozen pineapple!
• Add some flakey salt! As shown in the photo above, I love to add a sprinkle of sea salt flakes (Maldon sea salt flakes are my favorite!).

How to Store

Store your homemade chocolate magic shell in an airtight container in a cool, dark place (like your pantry) at room temperature. It will keep well for up to 1 month.

If it solidifies, briefly reheat it in the microwave in short bursts until it’s liquid enough to pour.

More Chocolate Recipes

• Chocolate Wacky Cake
• Easy Chocolate Buttercream
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
• Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Marshmallow Buttercream

This recipe post was first published here in 2012, then updated in 2023.