Throw Together Rocky Road (5 ingredients!)

Hi hi! I am just popping in to share this super easy Rocky Road recipe with you! I grew up eating this around the holidays as a kid, and love it perhaps even more as an adult now I know about playing around with ingredients and mix-ins!

If you haven't had rocky road before it is a super easy no-bake dessert that is perfect for making for a crowd or for gifting. It is basically made up of all the delicious things that you can find in your pantry, chopped up, and then covered with melted chocolate and mixed together and set into a pan. It does take a wee while to set (about 2 hours), but putting it together only takes about 15 minutes.

When you chop it open you reveal the most amazing looking inside. One batch makes loads (about 20-30 servings depending on how big or small you cut your pieces), and the best part about it is that it is meant to be messy. It's not called smooth asphalt road! It's chunky, salty, sweet, and just the best.

I make mine with marshmallows, peanuts, Turkish delight and sometimes pretzels, but you can really mix and match here with what you like in your own rocky road!

Important Ingredients in Rocky Road

To me, this is what I personally use for the perfect Rocky Road recipe, but like I said, you really can mix and match here - I will pop a bunch of suggestions underneath!

• Marshmallows. In NZ our marshmallows come in a bag that has both white and pink so I used both. You can use whatever you like - if you have big marshmallows then chop them, or you can use mini ones.
• Peanuts. I use roasted, salted peanuts. Any other nut will work well here, I like the roasted salted as it gives amazing flavour to the rocky road along with a delicious crunch. I also added in some pretzels for one of my batches in place of half of the peanuts as I ran out and it was a very, very good decision.
• Turkish Delight. I use Fry's Turkish delight which comes in wrapped bars (this recipe uses 4), but there are lots of other options for something gummy in your Rocky Road if you would like!
• Chocolate. Obviously needed to hold everything together.
• Neutral Oil. This is the sneaky ingredient to make it nice and easy to cut. Just a little makes a big difference.

What is the best chocolate to use in Rocky Road?

I like to use a good quality chocolate that you would eat by itself. In NZ we are really lucky and have amazing chocolate - I use Whittaker's creamy milk, which is a milk chocolate.

You need 500g of chocolate for this recipe, so feel free to mix and match with a milk and a dark, or use a semi-sweet for the whole thing. You really can't go wrong here (although I think that white chocolate would be too sweet), just 500g of the good stuff!

Mix-ins for Rocky Road - choose your own adventure

The options really truly are endless here - you can mix and match all you like. Here are a few suggestions, if you are having a play with options I suggest subbing things out - for example sub the same weight of salted peanuts for another salted nut of your choice, or for something else salty. I like to make sure that there is something squishy (marshmallow), something gummy (Turkish delight), something salty and crunchy (peanuts and / or pretzels) and you can mix and match as you like.

Here are some more suggestions, but you really can just throw whatever you want at it and if you find that you need more chocolate, just melt some more up! This is not an exhaustive list, feel free to go nuts here.

Note that if you do add in a lot more mix-ins or ones that are a little more bulky, you may have to upgrade to a 9" (23cm) pan, so that the rocky road doesn't set up too thick.

How do you stop rocky road from cracking?

I pop a tiny bit of neutral oil into the chocolate when I am melting it. This softens it just a little bit, and makes the rocky road easier to cut without cracking. I find that also chopping up my marshmallows into slightly smaller pieces (not my fave job but worth it) means they do cut a little more cleanly too.

Neutral oil means anything with a neutral taste - rice bran, vegetable, canola, grapeseed, etc etc.

What is the best way to cut rocky road?

I find that the best way to cut rocky road cleanly is with a super sharp, large knife. I don't heat it up as this will cause the chocolate to melt, but making sure the rocky road is properly chilled and then using a big knife helps. Remember that it is meant to be rustic so don't worry if it chops up a bit messy!

If you find that the chocolate is melting on you as you are chopping it up it may not be chilled enough - throw it quickly into the freezer and then keep chopping.

How do you store rocky road?

Keep Rocky Road in an airtight container. I keep mine at room temperature but it is not super hot where I live - if it is where you are, pop it into the fridge.

Can Rocky Road be made ahead of time?

Yes - this is perfect to make ahead of time. I haven't fully tested it as it really never lasts long around here, but it should keep at least a week in an airtight container, longer if you keep it in the fridge.

I have left it too late - do I have to wait that whole time for it to chill?

I've been there. Ideally chilling it in the fridge is best, but I won't tell anyone if you throw it into the freezer once it is in the pan to speed things up.

Can this recipe be scaled?

Yes - when I was testing this recipe I made half batches. It fits perfectly in a 1.25lb (medium sized) loaf pan and makes a really great amount if you just want a little, or you can split up the mix-ins if you wanted to make a few smaller batches of different flavours.

Alternatively you can double it for a 9x13" (20x30cm) pan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

Which pan did you use?
I used an 8" non-stick pan (mine is from USA pan) which I lined with parchment paper to extend over the sides of the pan to form a sling which made for super easy removal.