My Homemade Caramel Sauce tastes perfectly buttery, smooth, and sweet with a hint of salt. It’s irresistibly good, and even better, the recipe is simple with just 5 ingredients and no thermometer required. With my tips below, you’ll be whipping up a batch of salted caramel like a pro!
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Helpful Reader Review
“Never thought I would be able to make it like the picture. It turned out better than I thought it would. Absolutely delicious, creamy, it’s perfect. Thanks for the easy recipe. “ – Rosalind ★★★★★
Homemade Caramel Sauce
I published this recipe years ago, but I have updated it to be more foolproof and authentic. What I love most about this caramel sauce recipe is that it’s a true caramel sauce. If you prefer the original version, I have (more accurately) filed it under Butterscotch Sauce.
If you’ve ever shopped for caramel sauce at the grocery store and had a difficult time finding one without mystery “natural flavors” and corn syrup as the primary ingredient, this recipe is for you! It’s simple to make with only 5 basic ingredients and tastes amazing–better than anything at the store!
It’s so delicious, you’ll want to drizzle it on everything. Use it to dip Apples, and drizzle over countless desserts like my Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Pie, hot or Iced Coffee, ice cream… You name it! This is such a versatile sauce, and it keeps well in the refrigerator.
Caramel Sauce Ingredients
I suggest avoiding substitutions, since it’s perfectly balanced to prevent crystallization.
- Granulated sugar – melting white sugar slowly with water makes the base of the caramel sauce.
- Unsalted butter – cut into cubes. Make sure your butter is at room temperature since cold butter can break the sauce! European butter has a higher fat content and less water, which can make the sauce better and easier to make. I love Kerrygold butter.
- Heavy cream – warm before adding to keep the sauce from sputtering and breaking.
- Vanilla extract – Use Homemade Vanilla Extract or store-bought.
- Salt – cuts the sweetness to create an irresistible salted caramel flavor. You can add it to taste.
How to Make Caramel Sauce
The key to a successful homemade caramel sauce is to dissolve the sugar before simmering and not to stir at any point. This can flick sugar granules onto the sides of the pan, which will fall back into the mixture later and cause the whole thing to crystallize.
- Melt the sugar – Add the sugar to the bottom of a heavy-bottomed saucepan and shake the pan to distribute it evenly. Drizzle the water over the sugar and let it sit for a minute to fully moisten the sugar. DO NOT STIR – you don’t want sugar to get splashed on the sides of the pan. Set over medium-low heat and, without stirring, let the sugar dissolve completely until clear, about 5 minutes.
Pro Tip to Prevent Crystalization:
If you do see any sugar crystals at the edges, cover the pan with the lid for 30-60 seconds as it simmers; the steam will help wash the pan walls. If it does crystalize and firm up, add 2-3 Tbsp of hot water and stir until it melts again, then proceed.
- Simmer – Without stirring, bring to a simmer and increase to medium heat. When it starts to take on a little color, swirl the pan occasionally until it’s light amber or honey-colored (it takes about 5-8 minutes on my stove). Don’t let it brown too much, or it will taste bitter. As you swirl towards the end, any stray sugar crystals should dissolve.
Natasha’s Safety Tip:
Be careful not to touch or lick the hot utensils or the pan — melted sugar and caramel is scorching hot! Also, let the pan cool before washing it, then soak it in hot water to easily remove the caramel sauce.
- Add the butter – turn the heat to low, and whisk in half the butter. It will bubble vigorously. Once incorporated, stir in the rest of the butter. If it separates, remove the pan from the heat and stir until it comes together.
- Add the cream – while whisking, drizzle the warm cream into the pan (it will bubble up) and whisk until smooth (or 220°F), then remove the pan from the heat. Make sure you DO NOT add cold cream, or it may splatter.
- Finish with vanilla and salt – Whisk vanilla and salt to taste into the caramel off the heat.
- Cool and store – It will thicken in consistency as it cools, so let the caramel cool for a few minutes before using. Store cooled caramel in jars in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
How to Fix Crystalized Caramel Sauce?
I’ve had my fair share of crystallized caramel batches in developing the perfect recipe, so hopefully my tips above will prevent it for you. If it does look crystallized and seized at any point (see photo below), don’t worry! To fix siezed caramel: Add 2-4 Tbsp hot water to the separated mixture, and then reheat over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and swirl the pan to capture any remaining sugar crystals.
My Caramel is Liquid – is that Normal?
The caramel will be more liquid and drizzling consistency when it is still hot/warm and will thicken as it cools. After refrigeration, it will become very thick and will hold its shape on a spoon. Reheating it on the stovetop or in the microwave will loosen it up again.
How to Serve Caramel Sauce
I wasn’t kidding when I told you this homemade caramel sauce was versatile, so here is a long list of ideas, and I’m just scratching the surface!
- Caramel apples or dip for sliced apples
- Apple Turnovers (inside or out)
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Baked Apples
- Caramel French Toast
- Caramel Corn Pops Treats
- Churros Dip
- Mini Cheesecakes topping
- Crepes
- Apple Crisp Drizzle
- Pumpkin Waffles topping
- Apple Pancakes topping
- Affogato
- Banoffee Pie
- Apple Coffee Cake
- Cheesecake drizzle
- Sourdough Dutch Baby
- Dutch Apple Pie drizzle
My easy homemade caramel sauce recipe tastes amazing on top of so many desserts and dishes! It’s simple to make and tastes so much better than anything at the grocery store. Mix up a batch to keep on hand, and then tell me in the comments how you use your caramel sauce!
P.S. If you preferred my original sauce, check out my Butterscotch Sauce recipe.
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, warm
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp sea salt, or add to taste
Instructions
- Melt the sugar – Add the sugar to the bottom of a heavy-bottomed saucepan and shake the pan to distribute it evenly. Drizzle the water over the sugar and let it sit for a minute to fully moisten the sugar. DO NOT STIR – you don't want sugar to get splashed on the sides of the pan. Set over medium-low heat and, without stirring, let the sugar dissolve completely until clear, about 5 minutes. The mixture should be clear, and the sugar fully dissolved before it simmers.
- Simmer – Without stirring, bring to a simmer and increase to medium heat. If you see crystals on the sides of the pan, cover with lid for 30-60 seconds. When the caramel starts to take on a little color, swirl the pan occasionally until it's light amber or honey-colored (about 5-8 minutes). Don't let it brown too much, or it will taste bitter. As you swirl towards the end, any stray sugar crystals should dissolve.
- Add the butter – Reduce the heat to medium-low and carefully whisk in half of the softened butter cubes, then stir in the rest. The mixture will bubble vigorously — that’s normal. Keep whisking until the butter is fully incorporated. If it separates, remove from the heat and whisk until it comes together.
- Add the cream – Slowly stream in the warm cream while whisking constantly. Again, it will bubble up and steam. Keep whisking until smooth, then remove from heat.
- Finish with vanilla + salt – Turn off the heat and whisk in vanilla and salt. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
- Cool and store – Let cool slightly before using. It will thicken up quite a bit as it cools. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. It firms up when refrigerated. Re-warm gently to drizzle.
Notes
- Do Not Stir – Stirring the sugar and water mixture can cause sugar crystals to stick to the pan walls. If those fall back into the pan later, it can “seed” the whole pan and crystallize your caramel. Also, let the sugar fully dissolve and turn clear before simmering. Be patient.
- Even Heating – use a heavy-bottomed saucepan (avoid non-stick pans) for even heat distribution and avoid temperature swings (add room-temperature or warm ingredients as directed).
- Don’t Rush It – Patience is key at every step. Don’t rush this with higher heat, or it can crystallize.
- Use a Lid – If you see sugar crystals at the edges of the pot at the simmering step, cover with a lid for 30-60 seconds; the steam will help wash the pan’s walls.
- Swirl occasionally – as soon as you start to see some color developing, gentle swirling helps to distribute color evenly and helps clear any remaining sugar flakes from the surface and walls.
- Use warm cream so it doesn’t splatter, separate, or burst, which can happen if you add cold liquid to a blazing-hot caramel sauce.
- European butter has a higher fat content and less water, which can make the sauce better and easier to make. I love Kerrygold butter.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Homemade Dessert Sauces
Dessert toppings, like my homemade caramel sauce, just taste better when made from scratch–and they are easy! Try these next:
Just made this so easy and GREAT!! putting on top of pear pie with home made ice cream
I read through a bunch of reviews and ended up googling the difference between butterscotch and caramel sauce. There’s not a huge difference, so you could just call it butterscotch caramel and end the debate. Lol. Now let’s get down to the serious part. It is quick! Easy! And delicious! What more could anyone want? As far as the reviews that complained about excessive salt. I used the 1 tsp called for and it was perfect! But I think the type of salt used will have a major impact. They aren’t all interchangeable. I used Maldon flaked sea salt and the level was perfect. I just pulled a big tray of your brownie recipe out of the oven and made this sea salt caramel to drizzle over the top for our Super Bowl party. One question; I’m assuming this would get drizzled over the top after the brownies have completely cooled?? Thanks for this recipe. It’s just what I was looking for. P.S. I compared it to some Torani caramel sauce I had in the fridge and this is so much better!!
Thank you so much for your commend and feedback, Paulette! Drizzling caramel over brownies that are cold or warm is personal preference. A fee things to consider – when drizzling over cold brownies the caramel layer will be more firm and creating a caramel texture. The warm brownies will melt the caramel partially resulting in it seeping into the brownies and making it a bit more gooey. I hope that helps & I’d love to know which you prefer once you experiment.
Thanks for your reply. I drizzled it over the brownies that weren’t completely cooled. Just a bit warm. I felt if it was done while the brownies were still hot, the lines would’ve all melted together. So the brownies were just barely warm and I let the caramel cool a bit, so it thickened a little. But the caramel was still warm, not hot. It drizzled beautifully and the lines held their shape and dried.
Wish we could post pictures in the comments. (I’m not on social media so can’t put it on fb or instagram.) but I do put on Pinterest when I can.
I am enjoying this in my coffee. Natasha, I’ve been making more meal plans and your large variety of recipes make it so easy to do! Thank you for your YouTube channel and your blog.
You’re very welcome, Jeanette!
Hi Natasha,Nice to meet you.Your recipes were a big success in my kitchen and I love your recipes….
I’m so glad to hear that, Diya!
As Whitney said below, the salt is way off. I love salted caramel, but this is way too much. Had to chuck it
Hi John, did you pack your brown sugar and also make sure to use unsalted butter? Both of those things will make a difference. Otherwise this is a pretty standard amount of salt if using the same proportions of ingredients. That said, you can definitely add it to taste.
I used coconut milk and evaporated milk…it is sooo
Deelicious!! Thank you.
From the Caribbean
How do you fix the sauce where the butter has separated and floats to the top?
Hi Shirley, this could be due to overcooking (make sure the heat isn’t too high). Also, avoid dark brown sugar which can seize the caramel and turn it grainy. To fix a grainy caramel or a caramel that separates, you want to add a little water (1-2 Tbsp), bring it to a boil, and re-dissolve the crystalized sugar then remove it from heat.
I’m not sure what I did wrong but my first batch, when I cooked it down to have 1cup, ended up being so solid that I tempered and added pecans for pralines. The next time I had more than a cup when I thought I should stop but it has separated into the sauce and a clear dark layer on the bottom. What should I do differently?
Hi Evelyn, if you let it cook for too long or over too high of heat, that can happen. You have essentially made toffee (over 300˚F is the hard crack stage).
hi, what do you mean by use REAL vanilla extract? can i use PURE vanilla extract?
Yes, you can. Just avoid imitation vanilla.
WOW! This is DELICIOUS!! I am in West Africa right now so many ingredients are different from what we have back home in USA. I whisked for 15 minutes, thought it might have failed, but decided to raise the heat and within 5 more minutes it morphed into a beautiful consistency!! If it doesn’t thicken right away, don’t quit, raise the heat and keep whisking!! YUM!!
Thank you for sharing, Gordo!
Oh my gosh, I can’t recommend this recipe enough! Such easy ingredients and steps. I just made a batch and poured it over two bags of microwave popcorn – I’m never going back! So sweet but salty; truly the best home recipe!
That’s wonderful, Madeleine! Thank you for sharing.
It’s so delicious that I ate it with a spoon and I don’t normally like sweet sauces.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Serenity!
Can I freeze this caramel sauce? I’d love to make ahead for Christmas gifting!
Hi Deny, I haven’t tried freezing this caramel sauce so I’m don’t sure if that would break the consistency.
Keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw, leave in the fridge overnight, or to quick thaw, place into a warm water bath until it thaws. Store in an airtight container so the caramel sauce doesn’t absorb any off odors.
Delicious and easy! This recipe turned out great, I ran out of things to put it on, it was that good! I used unsalted butter and added the proper salt as called for but next batch I’ll probably cut back the salt a little more for my liking but still as is was sooo tasty. This is a keeper.
Thank you for sharing your experience with the recipe! I’m glad you found a keeper!
If I make the caramel sauce, then place into canning jars that have been sanitized and fitted with sanitized lids/rims, would the caramel sauce last longer than 2 wks? I would love to make this ahead of time for Christmas gifts.
Hi Kay! Likely not. I would still follow the recommended time frame.
This was very good and REALLY EASY! It rises quite a bit when it boils, make sure you have a big enough pan. Add time for it to cool and thicken, about 10 minutes, before you plan to pour it.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Judy!
Can this caramel sauce be canned for later use? I wanted to add it to the Christmas baskets that I give to my family. Thanks.
Hi Luan, I haven’t tried canning this to advise.
Can I use this for recipes that ask for dulce leche – such as the Alfajores cookies?
I want to make my own dulce leche but not from condensed milk.
I have not tested it to advise. Let us know if you experiment.
I needed a caramel sauce for the apple bar for my daughter’s baby shower. After reading the comments on here I decided to go with another recipe…huge mistake. My son tried it and said no, so I made this one and he said it was much better. I told him I should have known better because Natasha never lets me down, I’ve never had a bad recipe from her. This caramel sauce is delicious!!!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe, Jennifer!
Tell you lady that had hard brown sugar to put a few slices of bread in the bag. It will never get hard again Louise Coleman
I wasn’t able to properly measure my brown sugar because it was so hard but it still turned out delicious. Thank you for the recipe
You’re welcome, Sarah!