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This easy homemade Chocolate Turtles recipe combines toasted pecans, microwave caramel, and melted chocolate for the perfect chewy candy. Ready in under an hour with no candy thermometer needed.
The Easiest Homemade Candy is Chocolate Turtles
The Easiest Homemade Candy is Chocolate TurtlesI can't tell you how many times I've made these for the holidays, they're always the first thing to disappear! Most turtle recipes call for melting store-bought caramels, but I make my homemade caramel right in the microwave and it's honestly just as easy (and tastes a million times better). The texture is perfection: soft and chewy with toasted pecans and dipped in smooth melted chocolate. I love that you can double or triple the batch to make gifts for friends and neighbors, because trust me, once people try these homemade turtles, they'll be asking for them every year. They look fancy and impressive, but the secret is how simple they are to make!
Check out all of my candy recipes, like Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge, Pretzel Bark, Rocky Road, Homemade Caramel, and Chocolate Fudge!
How to make Chocolate Turtles:
Toast Pecans: This can be done on a baking sheet in the oven or in a skillet on the stove. Let them cool then chop.
Microwave Caramel: Seriously the easiest caramel you will ever make! Just combine butter, sugars, sweetened condensed milk, and corn syrup in a glass bowl. I love to use the ice water test to check for doneness (drizzle some caramel in a cup of ice water and you should be able to form it into a ball). After the caramel is done, stir in vanilla and chopped pecans.
Drop Clusters: I just use a spoon and a rubber spatula to drop spoonfuls of the caramel pecan mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can make them whatever size you'd like, I usually end up with about 20. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, until set.
Dip in Chocolate: Melt almond bark or chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in 20 second increments until melted and smooth. Dip a cluster into the melted chocolate and cover then lift with a fork and carefully tap to allow the extra chocolate to dip off. Place the best chocolate turtles on a parchment lined baking sheet until set. (I like to use almond bark because it keeps really well at room temperature, for gifting).
Homemade Chocolate Turtles
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, , packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups pecan halves
- 16 oz almond bark or high quality chocolate*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Toast and chop pecans: spread pecans out onto a baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring once, until toasted and fragrant (but not burned!). (Alternately, you can heat them in a hot skillet stirring constantly until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes). Once cooled, roughly chop the pecans and set aside.2 cups pecan halves
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner. Set aside.
- Microwave Caramel: Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave until melted. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and corn syrup and stir well to combine. Return bowl to microwave and cook mixture on HIGH power for about 6-8 minutes, or until it reaches about 235 degrees on an instant read thermometer, or use the ice water bath test.6 tablespoons salted butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup sweetened condensed milk, ½ cup light corn syrup
- (For Ice bath test, spoon a small spoonful of the caramel into a cup of ice water. Use your fingers to pinch the caramel—it should come together into a soft ball. If it won't come together to form a ball in your fingers, return it to the microwave for an additional 30 seconds, and test again.)
- Use hot pads to carefully remove the bowl from the microwave. Stir vanilla into hot caramel. Stir in chopped pecans.½ tsp vanilla extract
- Form Turtles: Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet to create individual mounds of caramel candy. (I usually get about 20, but you can make the candies as small or large as you like). Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.
- Melt almond bark or chocolate in microwave )or use a double boiler), stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.16 oz almond bark or high quality chocolate*
- Dip: Drop a pecan cluster into the melted chocolate and use a fork to coat it all over. Lift the cluster up with a fork, and tap it several times to allow excess chocolate to fall through the tines of the fork, into the bowl. Place dipped clusters on the parchment paper to set up.
- Store turtles in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe December 2019. Updated December 2023 and November 2025.
OK, you pretty much just changed my life. That was so easy and so delicious.
If you’re proficient with chopsticks, they make dipping the refrigerated clusters a breeze, trust me, knocks off oodles of time, and saves on mess.
Or if not proficient with chopsticks, remove the inside tines of a fork you won’t miss. Bending the tines back and forth with pliers usually works. And keep this “dipping fork” in the kitchen toolbox, you’d be surprised on how often it comes in handy
Doubled the recipe and will give them for Christmas. My family LOVES them. Thanks for sharing.
I think you are my new best friend of the day! Your caramel worked perfectly at 6 minutes, and was not much different in taste from the homemade caramel that I have stood over the stove and stirred for at least 45 minutes in the past. The only change that I would probably make next time is to add some sea salt, and that’s personal preference. Thank our so much for sharing your recipe!
Can you use vegan butter to make this?
Yes, I’ve made the recipe with vegan butter and vegan sweetened condensed milk and they turned out great!
Doubled the batch. Turned out excellent! Shared with kids and neighbors!, Yummy!,,
Can’t wait to try a batch . Don’t need them but turtles are soooooo good . Thanks for sharing .
Can this be made with evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk?
No, sorry.
Just made them and I noticed after refrigerating the Carmel they became hard . Does it stay hard?
The caramel should soften at room temperature.
My family loved these!
totally making these for a cookie exchange. I just baked peanut butter kisses in my new oven and I burned all but one batch. Which means my 20 year old tall ovens were shot!
ha! I think I can make these! laura in CO