Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce {salted or unsalted}
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The very BEST Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce that can be enjoyed salted (or unsalted!) – whip up in a hurry and enjoy for weeks!
I am SO doing a ridiculous happy dance right now because I’ve been dying to share this recipe with you for the past few weeks. Caramel sauce makes me childishly giddy any day of the week but this particular recipe… I’m sort of obsessed with it.
Caution: this homemade caramel sauce is known to have addictive properties.
#butforreals
First of all, it’s so EASY. Like…. who knew that homemade caramel sauce could be so easy? It takes less than 15 minutes to make and you’ll end up with a whole jar full of this amazing stuff to use any way your little heart desires.
Secondly, it TASTES incredible. Sooooo much better than any bottled store-bought caramel sauce I’ve ever tried (yes, that includes you Smuckers. sorry-not-sorry.).
And the TEXTURE you guys…. out of this world perfect. Silky, smooth, buttery dreamy caramel sauce goodness. I’ve had some homemade caramel sauces that were too thick or grainy or a too runny, but this stuff takes the cake. In my humble caramel sauce loving opinion, it’s pretty much flawless.
Another great thing about this sauce? You can make it unsalted, or salted. I absolutely adore salted caramel sauce so I definitely encourage you to add that sea salt, but sometimes I really crave some good old fashioned non-salted caramel sauce so if you feel like leaving it out, I totally get it.
And don’t get stuck in the caramel-sauce-is-only-for-topping-ice-cream rut (although, seriously, put this stuff on some vanilla ice cream, it will blow your mind) because this sauce works for allll sorts of things. If you’re drawing a blank here, don’t worry, I’ve got several incredible recipes for using it coming very very soon!
Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce {salted or unsalted}
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 12 tablespoons butter (unsalted), (unsalted), at room temperature and diced
- 1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-3 teaspoons fine sea salt, (optional, for salted caramel sauce – see note)
Instructions
- In a medium-large sauce pan (about 2-3 quart), stir the sugar over medium-high heat until melted. (You may get some sugar chunks, just keep stirring)
- Once sugar is melted, continue to stir slowly and watch very closely – as soon as the sugar turns a golden/amber in color add the butter and whisk vigorously. Warning: It will bubble up quite a bit and this is normal, just keep whisking until all the butter has melted!
- Remove pan from heat and slowly pour in the cream while whisking vigorously. Mixture will bubble aggressively again but continue to whisk anyway until all the cream is incorporated, then immediately whisk in the vanilla extract and the sea salt (if making salted caramel sauce).
- Set the sauce aside and allow to cool for 15 minutes, then pour into a glass jar to cool completely.
- Store the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge (I keep mine in a jar with a lid, it’s perfect) for up to 2-3 weeks. To reuse, simply heat the sauce pack up in a sauce pan over low heat or in the microwave at 5-10 second intervals, stirring throughout. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Adapted from American Heritage Cooking
thanks
Just made This for yourSalted Carmel Pretzel Mini Cheesecakes that I also Made… And it is so easy to make. Plus it tastes great with the cheesecakes!!!!
Not sure what I did wrong here, but this was a total fail. Never made caramel like this before (melting sugar first) and I should have just stuck to what I was familiar with. The sugar melted and turned a beautiful amber color, but when I added the diced butter, it never incorporated. I was left with hardening globs of browned sugar in a pool of boiling melted butter. I thought maybe I wasn’t stirring vigorously enough, but all that did was leave me with a messy stove and a burned hand. Ended up throwing it all out. Very disappointed that I wasted these ingredients. Any idea what went wrong?
Idk that happened to me too
After I make this sauce, how and how do I make this into frosting for your yellow cake?
It’s so easy! I also prefer salted caramel sauce. I will make it right away. Thank you for sharing the recipe! It’s great!
I’m just about to try making this! I can’t wait! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Unsalted caramel sauce is an important part of my coffee creamer recipe. I’ll send you the recipe for your consideration if you’d like.
5 minutes to get what I want!
Your food photography is always so inspiring! 🙂 I love the very bottom pic with the spoon and the bow on it.
Yummy! This sounds really good!!