This easy fudge is just 3 ingredients and takes about five minutes to prepare. Everything is made in one bowl and cooks in the microwave. 
I had a lot of fun making cookies and cream fudge and Nutella fudge. So I decided to tackle peanut butter fudge.
Before I had a chance to experiment, I came across a super easy recipe by Alton Brown. The recipe was only four ingredients and doesn’t use chocolate unlike most of the other fudges I’ve made.
I opted to leave out the vanilla, making this recipe just 3 ingredients. This recipe takes only five minutes to put together. Super easy! They store well too making it great for holiday gifting.
More Easy Fudge Recipes
- Keto Peanut Butter Fudge
- Nutella Fudge
- Peppermint Fudge
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Andes Mint Fudge
- Coconut Butter Peanut Butter Fudge
Microwave Peanut Butter Fudge
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted butter
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (see note)
- 1 lb powdered sugar
Instructions
- Line an 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment paper (I recommend making the parchment paper long enough so that it hangs off the edges of the pan on two sides, which will allow you to grip them later to lift out the parchment paper and contents.)
- Combine the butter and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. Microwave for 1 more minute and stir again until mixture is completely melted and smooth. Add the powdered sugar to the peanut butter mixture and stir until batter is smooth. The batter should be quite thick, like a paste.
- Spread batter into the lined baking pan. Press another parchment paper on the surface and use your palms to apply gentle pressure to evenly spread the fudge across the entire pan. Lift off the top layer of parchment paper and smooth surface of fudge with your hands. Refrigerate for about 2 hours to let set. Lift fudge out of the pan. Cut into one-inch squares with sharp knife. Keep uneaten portions stored in the fridge.
Video
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Sooooo good!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Well I did this recipe exactly how it says to do it but my butter and peanut butter melted completely in 30 seconds and it says to put it in there for two and that it would be creamy after stirring mine was liquid not creamy so not real sure if I did it right or not
The peanut butter and butter should be melted and smooth – this is explained in step 2 of the recipe card. Once you stir in the powdered sugar, the mixture should be thick. Did you do this step?
Made this at 4:00 AM in the morning; I reduced the recipe because I only had 0.68 pounds of powdered sugar. It’s fricking delicious.
We’re so glad you loved it!
I just made this recipe, I had to keep adding powdered sugar to get the paste consistency. So it does require more powder sugar than what this recipe calls for. It is now sitting in my fridge to harden. Just hope it turns out because I just now saw the video and didn’t make my paste consistency that thick. Stay tuned for an update!
What kind of peanut butter did you use?
Make this fudge every year at Christmas.Put some pieces in a box made from old Christmas cards then give away
Love that! We’re so glad you like the recipe.
I found a recipe for PB fudge you must try. One container of frosting ( I used cheesecake flavor). And one jar of peanut butter. I used extra crunchy because its personally my favorite. Microwave each container separately until completely melted and pour into medium size mixing bowl. Mix completely then pour into a 9X9 pan lined with foil. Put in fridge until set. V Best PB fudge I’ve had since I was a little girl.
Thanks for sharing that!
Easy recipe, i just put the same amount of butter as I did with the peanut butter. And also, just added enough powdered sugar until it was like a dough! Easy recipe, I wanted to make some for my dad but I ended up eating it all. ?
We’re glad you liked it!
Well, made this before (years ago) and it came out really good. Main challenge for me now is I didn’t have a kitchen scale and all the powdered sugar bags are 2lbs. So I used AI to find out amount of cups of powdered sugar in 1lb. It said 4, but that ended up being too much for this recipe where it never was able to be smoothed out or paste like. So I’ll probably try closer to 3 1/2 cups or so next time and if still have issues, maybe try about 3 cups. But definitely wasn’t able to get the texture and all you think of with fudge in my attempt last night.
While looking at reviews, just have to tell people to pay attention to measurements. Many of us are adding too much or too little of various things, which has it not come out as well as it should.
Kirbie, if you end up seeing this and don’t mind replying, just wanted to ask two questions:
1. What do you use to stir the batter? (I mean, just a spoon or something else?
2. When you add the powdered sugar, do you add bits at a time or you just dump it all at once?
Not sure if true, but heard those things can make a big difference in how things turn out. Kind of curious if you could answer that or give any small tips/tricks to it.
Thank you for sharing your experience and input. We add all of the sugar at once and stir with a spatula.
It should be 2 cups of powdered sugar or it will be too runny.
For the powdered sugar, you need one pound – did you misread it as one cup? That was probably why it was runny.
Love this fudge!!!
So glad to hear that!
I made this tonight. it turned out great. if the mixture is too creamy add more powder sugar. if you add chocolate when melting add a tsp of half and half or milk. this was such an easy recipe. Thank you
We’re so glad you enjoyed it!
I would like to add a layer of chocolate top/bottom. Should l melt chocolate chips with oil and spread?
Sorry, but we’re not sure – if you add oil to the chocolate the layer may not set and you’ll end up with a messy bottom chocolate layer.
How do you get 64 pieces out of a 8X8 pan??
The instructions specifically state that they are cut into 1-inch squares. Fudge is extremely rich and usually served in small candy portions. An 8 inch by 8 inch pan produces 64 one-inch squares.
1 inch pieces. That’s 8 pieces both directions. 8×8 is 64
I’m so physed I finally found this 4 ingredient #1 favorite 5 min. Microwave only recipe I lost 20 years ago!!! I always added the vanilla as I have again. So fast,creamy,and was always a Family favorite!! My Grandchildren will love it…just as my adult Sons always did!!! P.s.
We’re glad you are enjoying the recipe!
How can u use regul
ar sugar
For the best result, you should use powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar). It is needed to firm up the fudge. If you only have regular sugar, you can turn it into powdered sugar if you have a high powered blender
Mine turned out watery and I didn’t want to add more sugar. Sure hope it’s sets well
It shouldn’t be watery – are you sure you measured the ingredients in the right amounts?
I used 16tbs of peanut butter and 16 tbsp of butter, but it was very liquid and never hardened up. Are my measurements off?
How much powdered sugar did you use? You may not have used enough. The powdered sugar is what turns the fudge solid.
Can you use salted butter ?
It will work – we just prefer unsalted!
Do you think i could use this fudge spread thinly as a filling for sugar cookie or peanut butter sandwich cookies? It seems like it might be something different from just frosting.
Not sure how that would work. The fudge batter is very thick and not really spreadable.
Very good and easy and quick to make.
Happy to hear you liked it!
I love this fudge! It is so quick and easy to make and comes out perfect every time. It is a Christmas tradition.
I’m so glad you enjoy it!
Good taste but even after setting up in fridge for several hours when I cut it one piece in each row crumbled. Not sure if there was a pocket or what but super easy and good!
I’m not sure why it crumbled, but I’m glad you enjoyed the taste!
Yes I made the PNB fudge.sooo good.i used margarine bcuz that’s all I had.it turned out. Perfect.i also added a teaspoon of vanilla.thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed!
I made this last night with my 9 yr old son and, oh.my.freakin.god!!! Is it EVER AMAZING!! Thank you SO very much for this info! I’m always in the kitchen baking and, cooking from scratch and, as anyone knows, that takes much more time and effort than box foods!! So this is an absolute delight to have in my arsenal ? I’m posting pictures as soon as I’m able to figure it out … You’re absolutely a life saver!!
I’m so happy you and your son were able to make this!
Can I use regular sugar
no it needs to be powdered sugar to melt properly
Do I need to sift the powder sugar
no
Absolutely AMAZING!!! My sister and I made this fudge, and loved it. Even better than store-bought.
I’m so happy you liked the fudge!
You are totally Evil for posting the recipe? It is way to easy to make Fudge now?
I wasn’t even looking up Fudge recipes and it came up in the Pinterest feed? Now I can make Fudge all the time ??No I’m not pregnant, that’s just Fudge I’m carrying in my belly?????
All jokes over! I added Almond Extract just to give it a special Christmas touch and I wanted to eat it all. For the second batch I used 1/2 stick less butter and added 1/3 cup Milk C Chips, Almond Ex and chopped Pecans then named it Chocolate Nutty Fudge. I wanted to eat both batches?????
Cool Amy you created a new fudge. I’m gonna try it too.
Has anyone made these ahead of time?
How do they hold up?
These hold up well which is why they are great for gifting. Just make sure to store them in the fridge
This is so easy and melts in your mouth. I did add the vanilla though.
So glad you liked!
Is the mixture supposed to be liquidy before you put it in the fridge??
No. it should be like a solid paste. the post is now updated with video so you can see the consistency. I think you may need to add more powdered sugar.
what wattage microwave oven at what amount of time as time and wattage can make a difference in final product.thanksjoan
I used a 1000 watt microwave
It calls for 4 ingredients. I only see 3. What is missing? Vanilla?
apologies, this is an old post I was trying to update while still very jet-lagged. The original recipe was four ingredients. I dropped the vanilla, so my version is just 3 ingredients.
So easy. Used 1 cup margarine instead of 8oz unsalted butter. One min was all oil, stir, 2nd min it looked overcooked and I thought oh no! Added half the sugar & it wasn’t incorporating so I figured it would suck, dumped the rest of the sugar in and it mixed up beautifully. Tastes great and I see how this can be made millions of ways for bake sales and fairs but it is almost too sweet to be anything but a treat
I’m so glad it worked well for you and it’s good to know that it works well with margarine!
Is powdered sugar the same as icing sugar?
In the US, yes they are the same.
do i add the whole pound of powdered sugar?
yes
the recipe on foodnetwork.com for Alton Brown also calls for a teaspoon of vanilla
that is correct. my version, I left that out. I guess I should have been more clear that I did make some very slight changes to the ingredients and to the actual process of making it as well.
It gives how many squares of fudge?
So it makes an 8 x 8 pan size full and how many squares depends on how big you want your squares to be. I’d say about 16
What if you use salted butter? I bought a pound but wanted to make more.
salted butter just means you’ll have a higher salt content in your fudge. You can try it out and maybe add more sugar to balance out any additional saltiness
So simple and so delicious. I live alone so I half the recipe and I still have plenty to share with neighbors or friends at work. It is rich so two pieces is enough to make one happy 🙂
so glad you like it!
What would happen if I used less butter in this recipe?
I don’t know, but I’m guessing the texture will be off
how long is the shelf life of the fudge?
I usually keep mine about a week
One batch with dark chocolate chips and one batch with White Chocolate Chips with a touch of almond extract and sugar instead of powder sugar…YUMMM!!
nice! glad you enjoyed
So it worked good with regular sugar cause I don’t have powder sugarsugar
good to know! thanks!
Is there any alternative to powdered sugar? I haven’t looked but I don’t think we have any. At least not any that isn’t stale.
i dontknow of any alternative
Does margarine work instead of butter?
I have not tried with margarine
If out of powdered sugar you can put regular sugar in a blender and pulse till a fine powder. I do that in I’m in a pinch. Use like powdered sugar.
It’s was delicious. I would think country spread would work.
Would country spread butter work its in a brown bowl
I have not tried so I’m not sure
My mixture did not come out like a paste I don’t know what I done wrong I have it in frigde hopefully it gets hard
I’m sorry to hear that. Did you make sure to add the entire one pound of powdered sugar? I know some people might think they want to make it less sweet and not add the full amount but actually the full amount is needed to get the correct texture.
Can i use regular sugar instead of powdered sugar
no it needs to be powdered sugar.
Thanks, turned out great! I also tried with almond butter 🙂
oooh almond butter sounds delish
Would crunchy peanut butter work as well? Or would it be better to add crushed nuts at the end?
add the nuts at the end, otherwise it will be really hard to mix the fudge batter and make it smooth. it’ll be hard to tell what are powder sugar lumps and what are lumps from your crunchy pb
Instead of powdered sugar I prefer to make it with marshmallow cream this is a very good recipe thank you for posting it
I’m glad you enjoyed!
I used peter pan crunchy pb and it worked amazing was very sweet and my whole family loved it
I’m glad your family enjoyed!
It was sooo good and there was enough to go around for the hole party. WOW!!
yay!
Dangerously to sweet to be true…So rieasy to make….thank you for sharing….
Hope you enjoy it!
Alton says 2minutes stir and two minutes more
The directions are what I did. The recipe list of ingredients is from his recipe.
Dangerous, dangerous knowledge. It’s a brilliant, foolproof recipe. I actually was out of vanilla and used a little splash of almond extract, and it’s quite lovely. Natural peanut butter works a little differently than your standard JIF, but I think it’s pretty nice.
Oh I’m glad it worked with the natural pb!
Great but at the end I added two tablespoons of vanilla
nice!
Did the vanilla work good with it
This is the third batch in 2 days! Yum!
wow, nice!
Thank you so much for haring I just made the 5 min microwave pbf it’s deliscious s and very easy hank you again..
so glad you like it!