Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce is a rich, creamy blend of caramelized sugar, cream, butter and salt that come together to make the perfect topping for ice cream, cupcakes, cheesecakes, brownies and hot drinks. Just four ingredients create one of the best sweet treats ever!
So are you with me that homemade caramel sauce is one of the best sweet treats ever? It's a shocker that I didn't even like it much growing up. I was only exposed to jarred caramel sauce and butterscotch. So in that case, I was team butterscotch. But homemade salted caramel sauce is so, soooooo much better than store bought caramel sauce. Homemade salted caramel sauce is like liquid perfection. I use it as a secret ingredient in some of my desserts but also as the star player in a lot of other desserts. I mean, the versatility is endless. It's one of those things that you could even eat straight out of the jar with a spoon like my homemade lemon curd. Or if you want to be refined, then use a piece of dark chocolate! I promise I won't tell anyone either way.
Ingredients
- White sugar
- Heavy whipping cream
- Salted butter
- Salt
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
- Vegan - you can certainly make a vegan version of this homemade salted caramel sauce. First, you would substitute a vegan heavy whipping cream (Trader Joe's brand works great) for the heavy cream. Or if you don't mind a coconut flavor, you can use full fat coconut milk. Then, substitute a plant based butter for the salted butter. Miyokos plant milk butter or Country Crock plant butter sticks work well. Finally, make sure you use vegan labeled or organic sugar as most white sugar is not technically vegan due to how it's processed.
Storage
Store any unused salted caramel sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Next Level Tips
- I highly recommend making more than you need! Homemade salted caramel is great to have in the refrigerator ready made. It also makes great little gifts too!
- I often store extra sauce in decorator bottles. It's easier to reheat the caramel already in the bottle. It often only takes 15-30 seconds in the microwave depending on how thick I want it.
- Add a splash of bourbon or rum if you want to add an extra layer of depth to the caramel sauce.
- To make cleaning any dried caramel sauce from spoons, whisks or pans easier, just use hot water. Hot water will melt any hardened sauce back in to a liquid and then clean as normal from there.
FAQ
Instructions for homemade caramel sauce online can be very conflicting. Some recipes say stir continuously. Some say don't stir at all. I've tried it both ways and my answer is...well, both. Until the sugar starts to melt, don't stir it at all. This lets the sugar start to melt faster and saves time. Once the sugar starts to melt, however, is when you want to start stirring. And the more the sugar melts, the more often you want to stir until you're stirring continuously at the end.
Maybe you've heard that caramel should be heated up to 230 or 240 degrees Fahrenheit and you're wondering why I recommend stopping at 225? This is because the hotter the mixture gets, the more quickly it heats. Something like exponential heating. So if you wait too long, you run a high risk of burning your caramel by the time you get the candy thermometer out of the pan and the burner turned off. I've done it friends. Stopping once the candy thermometer reads 225 gets you a beautifully caramelized sugar sauce with no burnt aftertaste!
No, just make sure you are stirring or whisking constantly once the sugar really starts to melt. Once there are only a small amount of sugar clumps left, break them with a spoon. After all sugar clumps have melted, stir for another 30 seconds and remove from the heat.
No, regular table salt or sea salt is fine. We want the salt to dissolve anyway. Save the fancy flaked salt for when it's used as a finishing salt that makes a dessert prettier.
No, you can leave out some or all of the salt and also use unsalted butter (though I highly recommend salted butter). The salt does balance the sweetness while taking the flavor up a level, but it is not an absolute necessary ingredient.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- 1 sauce pan with high sides
- 1 candy thermometer optional
- 1 whisk
- 1 funnel optional
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 8 tablespoons salted butter room temperature
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream room temperature
- 2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Bring the butter and heavy whipping cream to room temperature by leaving them sit out or using the microwave. Get a whisk ready and set aside.
- Put the white sugar in a sauce pan with high sides and place on the stove over medium low heat. Do not stir until you see the the sugar around the edges start to melt and turn brown. Be patient, this could take up to 5 minutes.
- Once the sugar starts to melt, stir occasionally with a wooden spoon so that the sugar melts evenly. As the sugar starts to melt, it will clump first. That's normal. The more the sugar melts, the more you'll want to stir.
- Continue stirring until only a few large clumps of sugar remain. Break those up with the spoon. Remove the pan from the heat once the sauce reaches 225℉ (or no more than 30 seconds after all sugar has dissolved.)
- Have the whisk ready. CAREFULLY pour in ¼ of the cream. The mixture will violently bubble up and that's normal. Whisk quickly until the mixture calms. [Take care to make sure you are whisking the entire pan or globs of caramel may form at the edges of the pan.] Add the next ¼ of the cream and whisk quickly. Keep repeating until all cream has been incorporated.
- Add the salted butter 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Whisk quickly until all butter has melted and been incorporated.
- Add the salt and whisk until incorporated.
- Using a funnel, carefully pour the liquid caramel into storage jars (or decorating bottles) to cool. [If any chunks have formed, place a strainer over the funnel and strain the caramel through a strainer while pouring into the funnel.]
- Allow the caramel sauce to come to room temperature before using or placing in the refrigerator.
- Refrigerated caramel sauce becomes thick. To return refrigerated caramel back to a sauce, microwave the caramel in increments of 10-15 seconds until desired fluidity is reached. Caramel sauce heats and becomes liquid very, very quickly.
Notes
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons salted butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup heavy cream (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon salt
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