How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce
This recipe makes the most delicious caramel sauce and is so easy to make with simple ingredients that you likely already have at home. Perfect for morning coffee, ice cream sundaes, or served with apple slices as an alternative to caramel apples!
Speaking of caramel apples, I created this recipe while making my Caramel Apple Loaf Cake because I had such a hard time finding store-bought caramel sauce with quality ingredients. As I was pouring this perfect sauce into small mason jars, I realized they would make such a cute holiday gift idea! Think Thanksgiving hostess gift, teacher gift, or in mini jars as favors for any holiday party!
This easy homemade caramel sauce will yield a soft caramel, similar in texture to chocolate fudge when at room temperature. If you are looking for a similar flavor but more crunch, try my Easy Homemade Toffee which also calls for basic ingredients that you probably have in your fridge and pantry!
Ingredients to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce
- White Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
Tools to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce
- Heavy-Bottomed Saucepan
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Silicone Spatula
- Mason Jar or Other Glass Storage Container
- Optional: Candy Thermometer or Instant Read Thermometer
All About Ingredients for Homemade Caramel Sauce
Sugar Mixture
This easy caramel sauce recipe is unique in that you’ll notice both granulated sugar and brown sugar on the ingredients list. Many caramel recipes call for only white sugar but the addition of brown sugar adds a depth of flavor and more moisture to the sauce without watering it down.
Unsalted Butter
The butter in this recipe can be cold or room temperature. If you are familiar with my cookie recipes, you are well aware of my fondness for cold butter in recipes so it will be no surprise that I used cold butter but softened, room temperature butter would speed up the process so use either! Also, the recipe calls for unsalted butter but if you only have salted butter on hand, use that and omit the added salt.
Heavy Cream
Make sure you use heavy whipping cream and not half & half or another substitute because it will affect the final texture of this recipe. Heavy cream will result in a nice, creamy caramel sauce.
Vanilla Extract
The vanilla is optional in this recipe but I do think it adds another layer to the flavor of this caramel recipe.
Salt
As mentioned above, if you only have salted butter on hand, use it and just omit the added salt. However, for an easy salted caramel sauce, double the salt (or leave as written if using salted butter) and bonus points if you have a more flavorful salt on hand. If I really want to taste the salt (like in my Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies), I like to use French grey salt.
How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce
To make your own caramel sauce, add all ingredients to a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom and bring to medium-low heat.
Once the butter melts, stir just once and then leave the mixture to heat up and start to bubble.
If you have a candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer, remove the pan from the heat when the mixture reaches 230 degrees.
If you do not have a thermometer, heat until the sugar melts and the mixture is golden brown and very bubbly. This should take approximately 5-8 minutes. Remove pan from the heat.
Let the bubbles deflate and make sure caramel cools slightly before pouring into a glass jar, storage container, bowl, or small serving pitcher. Make sure it’s glass or heat-safe ceramic, not plastic.
Store extra caramel in the fridge and let it come to room temperature before serving. To speed up that process, you can hold the jar under warm running water.
Homemade Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 4 TBSP unsalted butter
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom and bring to medium-low heat.
- Once the butter melts, stir just once and then leave the mixture to heat up and bubble.
- If you have a candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer, remove the pan from the heat when the mixture reaches 230 degrees.
- If you do not have a thermometer, heat until the sugar melts and the mixture is golden brown and very bubbly. This should take approximately 5-8 minutes. Remove pan from the heat.
- Let the bubbles deflate and make sure caramel cools slightly before pouring into any glass or heat-safe ceramic dish or container.
- Refrigerate leftover caramel and bring to room temperature before serving.
