60+ Homemade Candy Recipes (gummies, bars, fudge & more!)

Making homemade candy is easier than you might think! We’ve compiled 60+ healthy candy recipes that skip the junk, but not the flavor! With everything from homemade gummy bears to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup knock-offs and no-bake brownie bites to chocolate dipped pretzels, there’s something for everyone in this roundup of no-junk homemade candy recipes.

With so many candy-focused holidays throughout the year, it seems like junk food can make its way into our homes just about every month of the year.

From Halloween to Christmas, Valentine’s Day to Easter, there are just so many occasions for sugar-laden treats to tempt our sweet tooth and do damage to our health.

It’s fun to make and eat homemade candy and treats, and there’s no reason we should have to deprive ourselves (or our kiddos) of sweets, especially during special holidays.

We just have to change the game a bit.

Hard candies, fudge, chocolate bark, and even marshmallows aren’t out of the question — as long as you’re willing to poke around and find a healthy candy recipe for one of these things that you know your family will love.

So here are dozens and dozens of homemade candy recipes that contain zero junk ingredients — no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors, no artificial flavors.

Beware: a lot of chocolate is about to follow! But if you’re not a chocolate fan, no worries. There’s something here for everyone!

Homemade Truffles

Can one really have too many homemade truffle recipes? I think not! The variations are endless and we’ve got a dozen for you to try right here.

• Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles – Chocolate is God’s gift to women, am I right? Bittersweet chocolate truffles coated in cocoa powder melt in your mouth. What a gift indeed!
• Paleo Raspberry Truffles – Intensely dark and rich, these Paleo raspberry truffles will knock your socks off! And with the tart raspberry essence and rich chocolate combo, you will be in chocoholic heaven!
• Chocolate Truffles with Mint – Homemade chocolate truffles are much easier to make than you would think! By making them yourself, you get to control the ingredients and make them a much healthier indulgence!
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles – These bad boys are sure to become a family tradition, and why not? They don’t have any refined sweeteners, plus they’re enhanced with healing collagen!
• Homemade Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles – Armed with this DELICIOUS truffles recipe, you and your kids can have a homemade candy treat, and feel good about what’s in it.
• Rustic Mayan Chocolate Truffles – Bitter, with hints of cinnamon and chili, these truffles are amazingly complex.
• Dark Chocolate Maple Cream Truffles – Even the chocoholics among us will be pleasantly satisfied with just a bite or two of these rich truffles.
• Peanut Butter Vanilla Protein Truffles with Chocolate Ganache – If you’re a fan of natural protein powders, here’s a creative, non-smoothie way to use them.
• Chai Chocolate Truffles – When you want a Real Food, ethical chocolate treat, chai chocolate truffles satisfy on all fronts!
• Goji Berry-Cranberry Truffles – A completely sugar-free treat that incorporates some awesome superfoods: goji berries and coconut manna!
• Salted “Caramel” Pecan Truffles – Hey, a girl needs a treat at least once a day, right? These 3-ingredient truffles can be thrown together in a couple of minutes when you need to treat yourself.
• Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles – Peanut butter and chocolate together? Now that’s my idea of a true treat!

Image courtesy of Don’t Waste The Crumbs. 

Balls, Bites & Other Homemade Treats

From chocolate-covered pretzels to no-bake brownie bites, these homemade candy recipes are the perfect solution to that late-night sweet tooth. There’s zero guilt involved in these healthy candy recipes.

• Sea Salt & Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds – The jury is definitely not out on these chocolate covered almonds. They are fabulous. This recipe is a win-win-win. (Yummy, healthy, and super crunchy!)
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels – Learn how to make chocolate-covered pretzels using any kind of real chocolate, instead of candy melts. These simple, sweet and salty treats make a perfect homemade gift.
• No-Bake Chocolate-Covered Raspberry Cookie Bites – Healthy fats, nourishing ingredients, and chocolate combine to make the perfect marriage of healthy and sweet. Your quick dessert dilemma is solved!
• No-Bake Brownie Bites – When it’s one of “those weeks”, turning on the oven to bake brownies is just too much. This no-bake version is just as delicious, with much less effort!
• Low-Carb Chocolate Coconut Fat Bombs – It’s hard to find low-carb sweets, but not anymore. Eating a low-carb/high-fat diet doesn’t have to leave you without dessert!
• No-Bake Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Bites – These little cuties are grain-free, gluten-free, and nut-free. There’s nothing to worry about here — except running out.
• No-Bake Sugar-Free Coconut Balls – A moist and creamy coconut filling is surrounded by a chocolate shell. Never has homemade candy tasted so good!
• Healthier Candied Pecans – A low-sugar version of that classic candied nut we all love!
• Dark Chocolate Detox Bites – How many superfoods can you cram into a piece of candy? You won’t believe how many! This is a colorful homemade candy treat that’s so fun to make!
• Chocolate-Covered Cherry Dessert Balls – Once you pop one of these cherry cordial-like dessert balls, it’s going to be hard to stop. Consider yourself warned.
• Crispy Quinoa & Cashew Chocolate Clusters – These magnesium-rich chocolate clusters are an easy way to get in your daily dose of magnesium… Meaning, these clusters do double duty to fight against stress.
• Allergy-Friendly White Chocolate Peppermint Snowballs -With just 4 ingredients and no baking required, you can whip up batch after batch of these for parties, snow days, kids, and grandkids!

Image courtesy of Red & Honey. 

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

One can never have too many peanut butter cup recipes, am I right? Each of the following recipes are slightly different, but every one of them filled with healthy, nourishing ingredients that are a much better option than the store-bought alternative.

• Chocolate Nut Butter Cups – These homemade nut butter cups just so happen to be GAPS-friendly… But we were eating them before GAPS, and we’re still eating them after GAPS. So call them whatever you’d like, but definitely make them!
• Peanut Butter Cups (Paleo Option) – Homemade peanut butter cups made with simple, whole ingredients are the reason why I know that goodness still exists in the world. This recipe is perfection.
• Homemade Peanut Butter Cups – This Homemade Peanut Butter Cups recipe is a healthy copycat of Reese’s! It’s SO easy to make with only 3 ingredients. Gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free too!
• Paleo Peanut Butter Cups – These Paleo “Peanut Butter” Cups don’t actually contain peanuts, but the results are amazingly delicious!
• Paleo Almond Butter Cups – These cups with their smooth and delicious filling surrounded by rich chocolate not only taste amazing, but they’re low-carb too!
• Protein-Packed Peanut Butter Cups – These homemade chocolate peanut butter cups are dairy, sugar, and gluten-free…and they’re packed with protein!
• Chocolate Pumpkin Butter Cups – You’ll be glad you have this recipe when pumpkin season rolls around!

Image courtesy of Delicious Obsessions.

Bars & Bark

Quite possibly one of the easiest homemade candy recipes to make, homemade bark or candy bars are so much fun, and taste divine! How amazing does that salted cookie dough bark look?

• Sea Salted Cookie Dough Bark – Who doesn’t love cookie dough?!
• Peppermint Chocolate Bark – Keep these chocolate bars in your freezer to satisfy your sweet tooth every so often. With just four ingredients, making this bark is a no-brainer.
• Peppermint Pattie Coconut Bark – Coconut oil provides vital nourishment to supply your body with healthy fat and curb sugar cravings. There’s an Almond Joy variation too!
• Homemade Fair Trade Chocolate Bars – Got a chocolate craving and no chocolate in the house? This recipe comes to the rescue!
• Raw Paleo Snickers Bars – Eat these totally raw Snickers bars and enjoy a throwback to the time when you ate candy bars without thinking about what was in them!
• Homemade Peppermint Chocolate Bark – Decadent chocolate and sweet peppermint combine to make a crunchy and satisfying candy for everyone.

Image courtesy of Yup… It’s Vegan!

Fudge

Fudge is quite possibly the quintessential homemade candy recipe that everyone thinks of when someone says “homemade candy”. But fudge variations are almost as many as truffle variations! Just shy of a dozen homemade fudge recipes, there’s surely something for everyone’s taste preferences below…

• Brownie Batter Freezer Fudge – Licking the brownie batter bowl was always my favorite part about making brownies. Let’s think of this fudge as the happy experience of continuous batter bowl-licking!
• Peanut Butter Fudge – This Peanut Butter Fudge is so easy, and crazy fast to make! It’s creamy, smooth & irresistibly delicious!
• White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge – This 4-ingredient White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge recipe makes for a perfect winter treat! It is dairy-free, gluten-free, and tastes better than old-fashioned fudge.
• Marbled Fudge – This fudge makes good use of one of our favorite ingredients: coconut butter! And flavor extracts can be added to create a variety!
• Nut-Free Raw Chocolate Fudge Balls – A chocolate-y, raw dessert that’s completely nut-free!
• Healthy Peanut Butter Fudge – This fudge recipe has a stevia option, meaning you can make it totally sugar-free!
• Mint Chocolate Fudge (Dairy- and Gluten-Free) – Velvety smooth fudge, rich in chocolate and mingled with refreshing peppermint. It’s a must-have during the holidays or any time of year!
• Super Easy Coconut Oil Fudge – Coconut and chocolate together is nothing short of heaven on earth. And this fudge is 100% guilt-free and no-junk!
• Dark Chocolate Pistachio Freezer Fudge (Allergy-Free!) – This creamy chocolate fudge has something special. It’s studded with crunchy green pistachios!
• 4-Ingredient Pumpkin Fudge – It’s okay to use pumpkin as your health excuse to eat fudge. I won’t tell. 🙂
• 5-Ingredient Pumpkin Fudge – This easy homemade pumpkin fudge uses 5 simple ingredients that you probably already have! The recipe is foolproof and has a delicious old-fashioned flavor.

Image courtesy of Real Food With Jessica. 

Chocolate Candies

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! There’s been no shortage of homemade chocolate candy recipes in this roundup, but for good reason! Chocolate just may be what we all think of when we say “favorite candy”, but it’s not often that our favorite candy can also be considered “healthy candy”!

• Homemade Chocolate Chunks – Baking healthy cookies just got easier. When you can control the ingredients in your chocolate chips, you have total control over your chocolate chip cookies and cookie dough!
• Easy Homemade Paleo Chocolate – This chocolate is so delicious and so simple to make. Four ingredients and a few minutes are all it takes.
• Low Carb and Keto Chocolate Candy Kisses – Do you have a twinge of guilt when you reach for a sweet treat? You’re not alone! But you don’t have to feel guilty when you’re nourishing your body AND satisfying a craving.
• 5-Ingredient Chocolate Meltaways – There’s no reason to buy chocolate candy from the store when you can so easily (and healthfully) make your own at home!
• Homemade Peppermint Patties – Do you remember the peppermint pattie commercials where a person would be swept away by the sensation of a cool minty breeze? You can be swept away by how good these are for you!
• Walnut-Mint Chocolate Honey Candy – Don’t let the fact that this is a GAPS-approved candy frighten you away from these delicious candies!
• Heart Healthy Homemade Chocolate Candies – In under five minutes, you’ll be enjoying your superfoods and dessert all in one cute package!
• How To Make Homemade Toffee Without Corn Syrup – Good toffee is worth its weight in gold … and so is a toffee recipe that actually works and isn’t full of corn syrup!
• Homemade White Chocolate Candy (Naturally Sweetened Or Sugar-Free!) – Naturally sweetened or sugar-free, with healthy fats and no caffeine, this quick and easy homemade white chocolate candy recipe is perfect for any special occasion!

Image courtesy of Don’t Waste The Crumbs. 

Other Classic Candies

Not a chocolate fan, or just looking to change up your homemade candy making game? Try some of these classic homemade candy recipes and be sure to let us know your favorite!

• Healthy Homemade Gummies – The perfect opportunity to get more grass-fed gelatin into your life!
• Halvah (Honey Sesame Candies) – A little of this favorite Middle Eastern treat goes a long way. And it’s a perfect Easter-time candy!
• Lemon-Lime Coconut Candies – Bright, tangy, coconutty, and slightly sweet… the perfect combination to make a satisfying treat.
• Salted Date Caramels – Dates make a delicious, naturally sweet caramel-flavored filling, perfect with salt and chocolate!
• Rustic Honey Caramel Apples – Cozy fall nights will have you wanting these caramel apples that are made with honey and not high fructose corn syrup.
• Allergen-Friendly Sunbutter Buckeyes – Making treats for those with food allergies can be a challenge. Here’s an allergy-friendly spin on an old favorite!
• Honey and Cream Taffy – Sweet and chewy with a hint of caramel, this hand-pulled taffy is as fun to make as it is to eat.
• Homemade Marshmallows – Grass-fed beef gelatin is the secret in these simple (and GAPS-approved), fluffy marshmallows.
• Naturally Sweetened & Nourishing Chocolate Marshmallows – If you want to put a smile on someone’s face, just mention naturally sweetened, nourishing chocolate marshmallows!
• Hard Honey Candies – So maybe chocolate isn’t your thing? That’s okay! These hard honey candies are so easy to make, you won’t even mind sharing.
• Maple Syrup Snow Candy – Remember in Little House in the Big Woods when Laura and Mary made snow candy? Now you can make your very own!
• Sugar-Free Gummies – Perfect replacement for those gummy snack-packs your kids are always getting from teachers, grandparents, school-lunches, etc.

More Nourishing Treats…

If you love these homemade candy recipes, you may want to check out my book, Nourishing No-Bake Treats (currently on sale for just $5!) contains 12 nourishing and healthy no-bake bite recipes: