I’m old enough to remember life before there was magic shell ice cream toppings.  It was first introduced in the 1980’s and over the course of the last 40 years it’s become a classic ice cream treat that you can find in almost any grocery store. But when we get a craving for this chocolatey goodness at our house do we buy it at the store? Nope. You can just make your own magic shell ice cream topping!

How to Make DIY Magic Shell in Either Small or Large Batches

If you’re not familiar with magic shell ice cream topping, it’s an interesting chocolate sauce that hardens up when poured onto cold ice cream, turning into a thin shell that breaks apart when you dig in with your spoon. Magic shell sauce is made with oils that harden at colder temperatures so we can create this same type of sauce at home using just two ingredients – coconut oil and some chocolate chips.

Here are the measurements I use that let me make as much or as little homemade magic shell as I need at a time. For each person I’m serving, I use ¼ cup of chocolate chips + 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. It works like this:

Once you’ve decided on the amount you wish to make, it’s just a matter of popping your ingredients in the microwave. Here are the steps:

And finally, this sauce does have a bit of coconut flavor because of the coconut oil that’s used. But it’s very subtle and actually adds a little extra depth to the flavor. So if you have coconut oil in the house, as well as some chocolate chips, this recipe is a very clever way to use those two ingredients to quickly make your own magic shell ice cream topping at a moment’s notice!

You Can Also: Use Coconut Oil To Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

This post was originally published in July 2013 and updated in March 2025.