Just 3 simple ingredients come together to create this easy and truly creamy chocolate mousse. The marshmallows give the mousse a truly unique texture and flavor. It’s light and fluffy, slightly less rich than traditional egg-based mousse, and has that subtle bouncy, slightly chewy marshmallow mouthfeel that I love.
The Tip Behind Our Easy 3-Ingredient Marshmallow Chocolate Mousse
I received this tip from our senior food editor and dessert expert, Elisa Pietrantonio, and it immediately made sense to me. A while ago I experimented with melted marshmallows to stabilize whipped cream and they helped hold the shape of the cream beautifully. Adding melted chocolate seemed like a genius extension of this idea. The result is a super simple, egg-free chocolate mousse. Thank you Elisa. I’ve never made a chocolate mousse this simple.
I tested quite a few variations, adjusting the amounts of marshmallows, chocolate and cream, before landing on this ratio as the sweet spot. There’s enough cream added to the melting marshmallows to keep them from turning into sticky, stringy glue, and the rest of the cream is whipped to soft peaks, which keeps the mousse light and airy.
I chose to use dark chocolate because the marshmallows already provide a lot of sweetness and the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate balances everything out wonderfully. I even tried a version without whipped cream, thinking the marshmallows alone might provide enough bounce. It was delicious, but much closer to a ganache or fudge than a real mousse.
If you prepare this mousse in advance, cover the glasses with plastic wrap. It’s easier to place them on a tray and wrap the entire tray rather than covering each glass individually. The mousse will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Note that this recipe requires at least 2 hours of chilling for the mousse to set.
Although it’s almost impossible to mess up, since it’s really a melt, whisk, and mix recipe, there is one crucial step: allowing the melted marshmallow and chocolate mixture to cool for about 10 minutes before incorporating the whipped cream. If it’s too hot, the cream will deflate immediately and you’ll end up with something dense and runny rather than airy and foamy.
What you need to make this easy chocolate mousse
- Marshmallows: I used mini marshmallows, but regular sized ones work just as well. Just cut them into small pieces so they melt evenly (I like to use scissors for this). Pink and white marshmallows work perfectly here. If your marshmallows are older or slightly stale, you may need a few extra tablespoons of cream and a little more melting time. A freshly opened package works best.
- Thickened cream: this plays a dual role. Part of it is used to melt the marshmallows without becoming sticky, and the rest is whipped to give the mousse its lightness and airiness.
- Chocolate: around 50% cocoa solids was the perfect balance for me, although you can go darker if you prefer a deeper chocolate flavor. I wouldn’t recommend milk chocolate – paired with marshmallows it becomes too sweet and the chocolate flavor is lost.
Egg-free chocolate mousse exists and we have recipes for all tastes: try our Chocolate mousse 15 minutes with hazelnut spread or our Baileys mocha mousse.
Recipe, images and recipe notes by recipe and video content creator, Stella Morelli.
