The Best Salted Caramel Sauce — This homemade salted caramel sauce is creamy, buttery, rich, thick, smooth, and blows away anything you’ll ever buy. Best of all, it’s done in 15 minutes!
Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
I love caramel sauce and could literally eat it by the spoonful. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, it’s fast and easy to make.
I’ve tried lots of recipes and methods, and I’ve found this is the best, easiest, least fussy way to make homemade caramel sauce, and it’s ready in 15 minutes. The easy caramel sauce is creamy, buttery, rich, thick, smooth, and blows away anything you’ll ever buy. You’ll never want store-bought again, which is usually thin, runny, and lackluster in flavor.
I love salted caramel and for salty-and-sweet treats, and always add a pinch of salt to my caramel. Even if you don’t want it ‘salty’, a pinch of salt helps balance the sweetness so the homemade caramel sauce doesn’t taste overly sweet.
Salted caramel sauce makes great gifts and keeps for months, but I doubt it will last long enough to give away.
What’s in Salted Caramel Sauce?
To make this homemade caramel sauce, you’ll need:
- Granulated sugar
- Water
- Corn syrup
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
How to Make Caramel Sauce
To make salted caramel sauce, combine sugar and water with a tiny bit of corn syrup (reduces the likely of crystallization) and whisk until smooth. Then just let the mixture boil away until it turns caramel-colored.
Depending on what size pot you use and the conductivity, the boiling time could range from about 5 minutes on the low end to about 10 to 12 minutes on the high end. I have an electric stove, and because I always use a pot much larger than I ‘need’ as insurance against bubble-overs, boiling usually takes about 10 minutes.
The final stage where the sauce turns from pale amber to that perfect shade of caramel can go quickly, in less than 30 seconds, so keep a watchful eye and don’t let it burn. Super stinky and you’ll have to start over.
Then just whisk in the cream, vanilla, and salt, and dig in!
Can I Make Caramel Sauce Dairy-Free?
Having never made dairy-free salted caramel sauce, I can’t say for sure if a non-dairy alternative will work in place of the heavy cream. If you find a method that works for you, please leave me a comment so I can try it for myself!
What Type of Salt Should I Use?
I used regular table salt, but you can also use kosher or sea salt. Just note that salt with larger flakes tastes less salty than table salt, so you may have to play around with the amount you add in.
How to Store Homemade Caramel Sauce
You can keep this salted caramel sauce at room temperature for up to a month. If you’re planning on giving it away as gifts, use your best judgement when figuring out how far in advance to make the sauce.
Tips for Making Salted Caramel Sauce
The tiny bit of corn syrup in this recipe helps prevent the homemade caramel sauce from crystallizing, but you can omit it if desired.
While making this salted caramel sauce, you can swirl the pan gently every minute or two if necessary, but the less the sugary mixture gets on the sides of the pan, the better in preventing crystallization in the final sauce.
There are pleasant vanilla undertones in this easy caramel sauce, which are heavenly for a vanilla fiend like myself, but the vanilla can be omitted or swapped with bourbon, rum, Grand Marnier, or a favorite liqueur. The alcohol burns off quickly, and it’s a mere 1 tablespoon for the whole batch, and what remains is an extra layer of subtle flavor.
Here’s how to make caramel sauce from scratch!
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Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon light-colored corn syrup, can be omitted but helps reduce crystallization
- ½ cup whipping or heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, optional (or substitute with bourbon, rum, Grand Marnier, or a favorite liqueur)
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste (for a true ‘salted caramel’ sauce, I use 1 teaspoon)
Instructions
- In a medium to large saucepan (use a pan much larger than you think you’ll need because the sauce will bubble very vigorously at the end), add the sugar, water, corn syrup and bring to a boil over high heat, whisking until sugar has dissolved.
- Allow the mixture to boil for 5 to 12 minutes, or as necessary, for it to turn caramel-colored, at which point it will likely be smoking slightly. The final stage where the mixture turns from pale amber to that perfect shade of caramel can go quickly, in less than 30 seconds, so keep a watchful eye and don’t let it burn. Super stinky and you’ll have to start over. Throughout the boiling time, you can swirl the pan gently every minute or two if necessary, but the less the sugary mixture gets on the sides of the pan, the better in preventing crystallization in the final sauce.
- As soon as the sauce has turned caramel-colored, reduce the heat to low.
- Very carefully and slowly, add the cream. Stand back because mixture will bubble up considerably.
- Optionally, and very carefully, add the vanilla and salt, to taste. Stand back because mixture will bubble up again.
- Whisk until sauce is smooth and combined, and let it boil another 1 minute, which helps thicken it up.
- Transfer sauce to glass jar or heat-safe container (easiest to pour into a 2-cup measuring cup and then easily pour into glass jar). Allow sauce to cool uncovered to room temperature; sauce thickens considerably as it cools.
- Sauce will keep airtight at room temp for at least 1 month, although will likely last much longer; use common sense if giving as gifts with storage considerations.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipes That Use Caramel Sauce:
Salted Caramel Buttermilk Brown Sugar Muffins — These easy, one-bowl, no-mixer muffins are soft, wonderfully moist, and the crumb has the perfect balance of density and lightness.
Peanut Butter Twix Caramel Bars — In these bars, there’s buttery shortbread, rich and dense peanut butter, sweet and intense caramel, and smooth dark chocolate.
Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies — Salty-and-sweet, soft and crunchy. If you enjoy contrasting flavors and textures, these easy blondies are just for you!
Caramel Apple Sheet Pan Pancakes – Craving pancakes but not the work of standing at the stove flipping them? Make these EASY sheet pan pancakes!
Caramel Macchiato Banana Bread – Banana bread that tastes like a caramel macchiato!! Soft, tender, infused with salted CARAMEL and topped with a brown sugar glaze!
Caramel Apple Crumble Foil Packs – EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing!! Juicy apples, chewy crumble topping, and luscious salted caramel…SO irresistible!!
Caramel Cream Poke Cake — Poke cakes are always supremely moist and this one reminds me of a cheater’s version of Tres Leches Cake because it’s sweet and creamy.
If you are making this for someone who has to avoid dairy, you can use canned coconut milk instead of cream. You will not have a coconut taste. My daughter hates coconut flavor of any kind. She can not taste the difference.
Just got finished make this caramel and I had to comment! This turned out amazing, reminds me of my grandmas caramels, simple and delicious.
Thanks
Shonee
http://www.hawthorneandmain.com
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Never made caramel before but this came out perfectly! Thank you for this straight forward recipe. Making your salted caramel bars tomorrow for a girls night in, adding some apple butter to the caramel layer. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Salted caramel bars with the apple butter sounds amazing!
Candace recipe be doubled or tripled? Boiled and sealed in jars?
I haven’t ever doubled or tripled the recipe nor have I boiled/canned it so cannot speak for sure as to the results.
This is the standard caramel recipe, but I disagree it’s the easiest one. The easiest one is the pioneer woman recipe where you just heat brown sugar, butter, cream, vanilla and a little salt for about five minutes, and you’re done. No disasters if you stir instead of swirl, no disasters if a crystal forms someplace it’s not supposed to, no angry hot mess trying to happen when you pour cold cream onto your mixture after taking it off the heat, no seizing up and then having to re-heat. You just put your ingredients in the pot and stir.
hi there, i’ve just made this and it’s amazing – by far the easiest and nicest salted caramel sauce i’ve ever made!! I’m just wondering about storage as most other recipes i’ve tried require the sauce to be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks and gently reheated to use (those recipes involved butter) but yours is store at room temp for 1 month which is great and another bonus as i’d like to give this as christmas gifts, so the question is has that been tried and tested and does stored at room temp in an air tight container mean a sterilised unopened jar in which case once the jar is open does it have to go in the fridge? sorry if i’m just not getting it but thank you for taking the time to read this essay and hopefully reply, x
In theory, if the jar is clean, and the product was boiling going into the clean jar, under normal circumstances, yes, I think a month is realistic. Now, I haven’t batch tested this and made a ton of jars of it in Nov. and then handed them out in Dec. hoping for the best.
But in my own kitchen, I may make a batch and it may sit 3-4 weeks before I make another batch. Basically use common sense and good judgment about food safety and what you think will work and what won’t. Everyone’s comfort levels with things like this are different so do what you think feels right.
Hi Averie,
Is there a way to make this sauce into icing for cookies?
There are recipes for caramel glazes and icings but as written, this recipe makes caramel sauce. You’d have to do some research to achieve the goal you want. Or I just thought of this recipe I made a few years ago and the icing is absolutely AMAZING!!!
Hey! Thanks for the recipe! Super easy to do and follow, plus the ingredients needed are easily found at home, no need for extra cash!
Really works and thanks for the little tips along the way, such as leaving the phone away, checking the colour of the mixture. Taste really nice! Many Many Many thanks!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that my little tips are helpful!
Do you use light corn syrup or dark corn syrup?
Light (not lite!)
Used your caramel sauce for my 365 Day Challenge to a Homemade Home. https://www.homemadedaybyday.com/2015/05/homemade-caramel-sauce.html
Thanks for trying the recipe!
Hi Averie,
your recipes are really great, thanks for sharing!! :-)
In this recipe, can I use agave instead of corn syrup?Does it reduce crystallization too?
Xx
I haven’t tried with agave so cannot speak for sure one way or the other.
Holy. Moly. I’m impressed! This was wayyyyy too easy to make for something so delicious! Thank you for such specific instructions – loved the first one especially. I made this for the first time and I’m trying to hard not to eat it by the spoonful! Now I’m off to go make the salted caramel buttery crumb bars. :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that my specific instructions helped! Enjoy your spoonfuls of this :) as well as the bars!
By the way, Scott, I believe you’re thinking of sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated. ;)
Awesome recipe! I tried a different recipe using the “dry” method. It failed. Or, I failed. THIS recipe, however, was easy! I did not double anything, and really watched the syrup-boiling stage. Great, great recipe and I’ll definitely make it again.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out perfectly for you and was easy! Ive tried the ‘dry’ method as well and I prefer this way too :)
Will the sauce thin down if warmed a little..
Yes like most sauces, if you nuke it for a few seconds it will thin down if that’s what you mean.
There’s an easier way without corn syrup and all those other ingredients!!!!!!!!! its called evaporated milk!!!!!! go figure!!!!after heated on stove in can, it turns to carmel
You are referring to sweetened condensed milk- not evap- Think about it, no matter how much you heat up milk, it’s still just going to be MILK. There HAS to be a sugar involved to get anything “carmeley.” However, This canned milk does NOT make caramel sauce, it makes a close cousin called “dulce de leche”, Scott. They both have their place in the kitchen, and I think it’s just a matter of preference. If you’ve only ever made the Dulce, I’d recommend you try this at least once, so that you get to understand the difference between the two. They are both nummy though!