4 Ingredient Soft Caramels
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EASY 4 Ingredient Soft Caramels you can whip up in about 15 minutes. You don’t need a candy thermometer to make these caramels and they literally melt in your mouth!
Looking for more easy dessert recipes? I have you covered with my posts for Peanut Butter Fudge, No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, Easy Microwave Peanut Brittle, and 3 Ingredient Old Fashioned Potato Candy.
Why This Recipe Works
Old-fashioned flavor — People just LOVE my mom’s candy caramel recipe. Truly, it’s famous. And, while it’s delicious, it’s one of those recipes requires a candy thermometer, a giant pot, and a LOT of pot-stirring. As much as I adore those caramels, I tend to be a slightly less patient person than my mother and need something quick and easy that still delivers a big buttery caramel flavor. That’s where this recipe comes in. Big flavor, little work. I love it.
Easy — These homemade caramels seriously are so easy to make. They only require four ingredients (5 if you decide to go all-out and sprinkle on the sea salt) and you spend about 10 minutes stirring and keeping an eye on the stove pot.
No fancy gadgets — The best part is that NO fancy gadgets (namely, no candy thermometer) are needed. Do you have a saucepan, a can opener, and a spoon? Then you are good to go!
Delicious — Not only is this easy caramels recipe quick, but they are also soooooo melt-in-your-mouth yummy. BIG caramel flavor, with just a hint of sea salt (if you chose to add it). The hardest part is waiting for the caramel to cool before eating it!
Ingredients
- Sugar — Use all-purpose, white sugar here for the best-tasting caramels.
- Light Corn Syrup — Make sure you use light corn syrup because this type of corn syrup keeps the sugar from crystalizing as it cooks, ensuring a rich, chewy texture.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk — This is the trick to easy caramels because the condensed milk easily caramelizes when put to heat and helps the caramels maintain smoothness and creaminess.
- Coarse Sea Salt & Vanilla — Optional flavors you can add to the caramels but not necessary!
Here’s How You Make It
- Combine the butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir, stir, stir, till the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved into the melted butter. They’ve become one.
- Add the corn syrup and condensed milk to the butter/sugar mixture.
- Allow the candy syrup to boil then decrease the heat and let it simmer for about 7-10 minutes or so.
- Keep stirring till the caramels have reached a deep golden color.
- Pour the caramels into a foil-lined 8×8 inch pan and let them cool completely. (Here’s where you’ll sprinkle them with coarse sea salt if you choose.)
- When the candy has completely cooled, you can cut the caramels into squares and wrap them in wax paper.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- This recipe creates roughly 20-30 caramels (depending on how large you cut them).
- Store wrapped caramels in an airtight container at room temperature.
- For additional richness and flavor, stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla after removing the caramel from the heat and before pouring it into your prepared pan.
- Want to add a little salty zing to your caramel? Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of them after you pour them into a pan to cool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Once the caramels have cooled, you can cut them up and wrap in wax paper. I use wax paper because it will not stick to the caramels. Depending on what size you want to cut your candy you’ll want to cut squares or rectangles of wax paper the same shape as your caramels, and slightly larger (I give them about a half inch extra on each side).
Once you have all your wax paper cut, add a caramel to the center and roll the caramel up in it, then twist both ends tight to keep it secure.
Want to use your homemade caramel for more than just individual candies? You could:
– Make caramel apples by dipping and twirling apples into the caramel while it is still warm in the pot (put the apples on a stick or use a fork inserted into the top of the apples before dipping).
– Don’t want whole caramel apples? Slice apples up and put them in concentric rings on a plate and drizzle warm caramel over the top of them. Bonus: Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the warm caramel over the apples before it cools for an extra treat.
– Have an ice cream social and pour warm caramel over the top of ice cream sundaes.
– Dip pretzel sticks into the caramel and then roll in sprinkles or chocolate chips or crushed candy.
– Add caramel to brownie batter before or after baking.
– Add a little square of caramel into the middle of a chocolate chip cookie before baking.
More Recipes for Caramel Lovers!
- Caramel Cookie Bars
- Salted Caramel Brownies
- Caramel Apple Dump Cake
- Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Easy 4 Ingredient Soft Caramels (no candy thermometer required)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks butter , (12 tablespoons)
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- optional: coarse sea salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla , (see note)
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan combine butter and sugar and stir over medium heat until melted. Stir in corn syrup and condensed milk.
- Bring to a boil and then decrease to simmer 7-10 minutes or until mixture achieves deep golden color, stirring constantly. (*For lower altitudes, simmer time may need to be reduced 2-3 minutes, watch carefully for coloring and read note!)
- Pour caramel into a foil-lined 8×8 inch pan and allow to cool completely. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired.
- When completely cooled, cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made these caramels today and they came out perfect. The butter doesn’t separate if you whisk briskly through the cooking process.
Thank You for the recipe.
Kathy
Hi, so I made this recipe and I have a question for you. Mine set quite well but it stuck to the foil. Is this because I didn’t let them cool long enough or is there something I could’ve done wrong?
Hi Julia! I usually don’t have any issues with that, it might be the brand of foil you’re using? In the future you could spritz the foil with nonstick spray beforehand to prevent sticking!
Making this for the second time… and the first time was a huge hit. It started with someone at work bringing in salted caramels and me stating “Yeah I could probably make those”. So I made your caramel recipe (didn’t have a good time getting it unstuck from the foil though) and then laid the sheet out and used a small heart cookie cutter and cut out caramel hearts. Dipped them in dark chocolate and then dusted with sea salt. Verdict: People at work raved about them and said they were better than the ones from the candy shop.
This time I’m using an epicure bar mold (no foil) and when done will cut each bar into 2… which will yield 40 caramels, and then I will dip in dark chocolate, and again dust with sea salt. Thanks for sharing this great, and easy caramel recipe.
I made these and they came out perfect. I only had evaporated milk so i found a way to convert that into sweetened condensed milk. You put 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar for every cup of evaporated milk and heat it on the stove until it dissolves. Let it cool and ouilla! Sweetened condensed milk! I had a 14oz can and it measured out to almost 2 cups so i used just about 2 1/2 cups of sugar and ended up with way more than 14oz that was needed for the recipe. My whole family loves these chewy caramels and with b the sea salt they are really very good! Thank you for sharing this recipe, every time i see caramel recipes that call for a candy thermometer i shy away and i have tried many other recipes that just don’t do caramel candy chews any justice! These are amazing and i will definitely be making them again!
Your caramels were delicious, thank you! And I loved all your photos too. 🙂 Here’s one I thought I’d share as I just discovered it and it’s divine too – Lemon Myrtle Caramels with Creme Fraiche
Best recipe ever. The hardest part was keeping my wife & mom-inlaw’s fingers away while rapping them! Can brown suger be subbed for regular?
These were my first attempt at making homemade caramels and they turned out great! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Put candy in freezer to cool faster 20 min and now it is staying hard is that from putting it in freezer?
Hi Jeanine, I put finished recipes in the freezer to speed up the cooling process all the time, it shouldn’t change the consistency of the product when it is room temperature again. If you caramel has come to room temperature or is cool (not frozen) then they should still be soft. If they are room temperature and hard, then you probably cooked the caramel too long…
I made these and they came out as hard as a rock. What did I do wrong? First time trying to make caramels or candy of any kind for that matter.
Hi Becky, I haven’t had anyone report back with that! I think though that you probably cooked the caramel too long? The longer it cooks, the harder it will be after it cools…
Jeyshree here I asked for substitute or recepe for corn syrup but you never replied.
Needy much?
I’m not a cook by any means, but my friend (who IS a cook/caterer) said that her mom always told her, “If you can read…you can cook.” Since your recipe had only 4 ingredients (and I DID add the sea salt & vanilla), I thought I’d give it a try. I read all the comments, and got some good tips, so that my first try would turn out. And…IT DID! Oh my goodness. I’ve received compliments galore (gave some in little Christmas boxes to friends), and I can’t stop eating them, they’re so addictive. I added 5 minutes to the simmer time, and made sure to use veg spray on the foil so they wouldn’t stick. I will be making this again, to be sure!! 🙂