Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
This quick and easy homemade salted caramel sauce recipe requires only four ingredients, takes just 15 minutes, and comes out perfect every single time.
It's absolutely divine on ice cream sundaes, can be used in any recipe calling for caramel sauce (hello, salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars!), makes a wonderful hostess gift, and, most importantly, is delicious straight from the spoon (feel free to drop an extra spoonful in your coffee!).
The salted caramel possibilities are truly endless, especially when you have a no-fail, go-to recipe. I've found the simplest method to be the best when making caramel sauce – a pan, a whisk, and just a few simple ingredients is all you need.
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Caramel Sauce
It’s easy to understand why people fall in love with a homemade salted caramel sauce; it’s not as cloyingly sweet as store-bought versions and has a much greater depth of flavor.
It doesn’t take much time or many ingredients to churn out a batch in your own kitchen and I guarantee you’ll be addicted! Here are the highlights:
- Quick: It only takes 15 minutes to get a smooth, creamy salted caramel sauce.
- Simple: You only need four ingredients and no fancy equipment.
- Lots of help: There are expert tips on making the recipe, as well as a video to guide you.
The Ingredients
These four ingredients undergo a magical transformation and result in the most amazing caramel sauce you’ll ever taste.
- Sugar: Regular white, granulated sugar.
- Unsalted Butter: Use the best butter you can, it makes such a difference in flavor! I love Kerrygold and highly recommend it. I use unsalted butter so that we can completely control the salt content in the sauce. If you can only use salted butter, you can do so but add only 2 teaspoons of the flaky sea salt, then taste and add more if desired.
- Heavy Cream: This is best at room temperature so it incorporates into the sauce properly. Heavy cream can be labeled in many different ways depending on the fat content; you can also use whipping cream, heavy whipping cream, light whipping cream, or double cream. Do not substitute milk, it is not thick enough for making this sauce.
- Salt: I highly recommend using flaky sea salt like fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt. If you need to substitute regular table salt, use only 1 teaspoon, or the sauce will be much too salty!
How to Make Salted Caramel
Caramel sauce can be intimidating, but the more you make it, the more you will get a feel for the look and the smell, and it will become second nature.
Here's a quick rundown of the process:
- Sugar goes straight into the saucepan (no water!) and is melted over medium heat, while you stir constantly. The sugar may clump at first but it will all eventually melt.
- Continue cooking until the melted sugar is a gorgeous amber color, then add the butter and whisk until it is completely melted.
- Remove the pan from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream, then stir in the salt. Your caramel sauce is done!
No Candy Thermometer Required
It is not necessary to use a thermometer when making this caramel sauce; simply using visual cues will work perfectly!
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The sauce may seem thinner than you'd expect when you're done whisking everything in, but it will thicken as it cools.
Recipe Success Tips
Below are a number of tips to help you make the most amazing caramel sauce!
- Prep Your Ingredients: Have all of the ingredients measured, at room temperature, and ready to go before you begin making the sauce. Things move quickly once the sugar starts to melt and pausing for a measurement or to grab something could cause the sauce to burn.
- Scaling the Recipe: Due to how much the sauce bubbles up when the heavy cream is added, doubling or tripling the recipe is not recommended. If you’d like to make a larger volume, I recommend making separate batches.
How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat Salted Caramel Sauce
Allow the sauce to cool for a bit in the pot, then pour into a glass jar or other airtight container and cool completely, then store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. You can gently warm it up in the microwave or on the stove over low heat before using it again.
You can also freeze salted caramel sauce in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then reheat as desired.
Can This Be Used for Caramel Apples?
While this is a delicious caramel sauce, it will not work for caramel apples; it is not thick enough to cling and set as a coating on the apples. I recommend using my homemade caramel apples recipe instead.
How to Use the Sauce
This salted caramel sauce quite literally goes with everything! Here are some ideas of how to use it, serve it, or gift it:
- Drizzle it over ice cream, brownies, pie, or cheesecake.
- Use it as a dip for apple slices or other fruit.
- Stir a spoonful into hot chocolate or coffee.
- Put it in a pretty mason jar, tie a ribbon around it, and give it as a hostess gift, birthday gift, or holiday gift.
- Whip it into buttercream frosting.
- Eat it by the spoonful.
Recipes That Use Salted Caramel Sauce
Use your batch of homemade caramel sauce in these recipes:
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars
- Easy Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
- Salted Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Salted Caramel Apple Cake
- Snickers Cupcakes
Watch the Recipe Video:
If you make this salted caramel recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating - it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (397 g) granulated sugar
- 12 tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon fleur de sel, or any other flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Add the sugar in an even layer over the bottom of a medium (3 to 4-quart) saucepan. Heat the sugar over medium heat, whisking it as it begins to melt. You'll see that the sugar will begin to form clumps, but that's okay. Just keep whisking and as it continues to cook, they will melt back down. Stop whisking once all of the sugar has melted, and swirl the pan occasionally while the sugar cooks.
- Continue cooking until the sugar has reached a deep amber color. It should look almost a reddish-brown, and have a slight toasted aroma. This is the point where caramel can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds, so keep a close eye.
- As soon as the caramel reaches its sweet spot, add the butter all at once. Be careful, as the caramel will bubble up when the butter is added. Whisk the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted. Remove the pan from heat.
- Slowly pour the cream into the caramel. Again, be careful because the mixture will once again bubble up ferociously.
- Whisk until all of the cream has been incorporated and you have a smooth sauce. Add the fleur de sel and whisk to incorporate.
- Set the sauce aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then pour into your favorite glass jar and let cool to room temperature. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.
Notes
- Salt – I highly recommend using flaky sea salt like fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt. If you need to substitute table salt, use only 1 to 1½ teaspoons, or the sauce will be much too salty!
- Saucepan – It is important to use a saucepan of at least 4-quart capacity. It will seem too big for the job, but when the butter and cream are added, the sauce bubbles up ferociously, and you need that space so it doesn’t boil over.
- Storage – The caramel sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. This recipe is not suitable for canning or long-term storage.
- Freezing – The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using it.
- Reheating Instructions – To reheat the sauce, remove the lid from the jar and microwave for about 45 seconds, then stir. It should be smooth and pourable, but not piping hot.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
I make Cinnamon Apple Ice Cream Topping and Fudge Ice Cream Topping. When I make them, I screw the lids on right away so the jars will seal. In step 5 it says to set the sauce aside to cool for 10 to 15 minutes then pour into jars. I am wondering if I screw the lids on right away, if these jars would seal also. Have you tried this and if so, do you know how long the shelf life would be? I prefer making things up ahead of time and having on hand when I make my gift baskets up. I like everything to be consistent so the people on the receiving end don’t have to be concerned about things spoiling. Thank You,
Hi Zoe, I can’t confidently recommend canning this recipe for long-term storage, as I’m just not sure how safe it would be. Sorry that I couldn’t be of more help!
I made Carmel for the first time ever with your recipe. I ignored all of the comments and “suggestions” below, and followed exactly as you wrote. I was making the snickers cake recipe for my sister’s birthday tomorrow, and everything turned out so amazingly perfect. The salted Carmel is to DIE for. I didn’t even measure the heat and just sniffed for that toasted smell, made sure it had a little smoke coming off it, and saw that reddish brown color and it ended up so beautifully. I’m so excited to have picked up my new hobby of baking, and I just wanted to thank you so much for your amazing your amazing recipe☺️
Just a few notes/tips:
I’ve taken to making this in a big nonstick wok; cleanup is a snap and the sugar doesn’t seem to burn as easily.
I don’t mind a bit of crunch in the sauce, so I use a wonderful and fairly coarse (not really flaky) briny Celtic sea salt from France. The flavor is fantastic. It’s very damp in the jar and light grey in color from the sea minerals.
Where I live, cane sugar is almost nonexistent. We have beet sugar everywhere, and I do believe this has much more trouble melting than cane sugar; I have yet to do a comparison test. For those having trouble with lumpiness or sugar not melting, check what your sugar is made from. If it’s beet sugar, you may want to try cane instead.
I’m always on a tight budget, so I use very inexpensive ingredients to make this, and it always turns out wonderfully. I use the cheapest store-brand real butter, shelf-stable (UHT) heavy cream, and the cheapest sugar. Even the thriftiest ingredients make great caramel sauce. My only splurge is good sea salt. Pink Himalayan salt is great as well.
This was awesome! My first successful caramel anything! It is so good and was really easy, way easier than other recipies I’ve tried. Thank you, I’m making this to go with the caramel apple cake!
THIS IS AMAZING! Easy to make and honestly – it’s hard to not eat it all!
If I add corn syrup to prevent the crystallization how to I prevent the separation of the corn syrup?
Also, if I heat it to a lower temperature will that allow it to be more liquid?
Hi Kimberley, I would not recommend corn syrup – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a homemade caramel sauce using it.
This caramel recipe was the first that ever came out for me. I did add 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup to the sugar help keep it from crystallizing (one of the many problems I’ve had in the past). In the future I’d cook this at medium because majority of the caramel was turning brown and the clumps were still completely uncooked, so I had to take it off the heat and whisk it aggressively to keep it from burning. I just barely managed to salvage it. I’m so glad i finally managed to make a caramel sauce. it tastes delicious. Thanks for posting.
Mm delicious, this turned out just right. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
I have been making this sauce for about a year and given it to family, friends, and neighbors. It has always turned out fantastic gaining praise. Today I made a triple batch for a Church fund raiser. I though it worked out the same. With anticipation of a great return for the Church I sat to cool and rest. Then I remember I did not put the salt in the pot. I suppose I will sell as “Carimal Sause”. Oh well it will not elavate blood pressure. Lol
This recipe is fantastic! Thank you for the pictures, they really helped my first time making this recipe. I am making salted Carmel cupcakes for my sons bday and wanted to make them extra special making my own salted Carmel sauce . I only made 1/2 the recipe and the measurements were perfect.
When I added the butter it did not incorporate with the sugar and ended up with an oily mess. What did I do wrong?
Hi Brian, The sugar should be well melted and have turned into a caramel sauce before you add the butter. Is your thermometer accurate? The only thing I can think of is that your mixture was either not hot enough or way too hot when you began to add the butter.
I made the sauce yesterday and I had the exact same problem as Brian. The butter didn’t mix and it stayed as an oily film on top of the sauce. The consistency of the sauce was not smooth either. Now I will admit, that I tried using 10% cream because I didn’t have heavy cream. Would that have been the reason how it turned out?
I had this same problem but was able to fix it. When I added the butter it refused to blend in, so I turned up the heat a bit and got it up to a good bubbly boil. The butter whisked in smoothly and beautifully then. I did the same while adding the cream. Gorgeous sauce. I had some amazing Celtic sea salt, which has a distinct flavor and really complements the sweet creaminess and slight bitterness wonderfully.
I agree with Michelle, in addition make sure the Butter is not cold. I have forgotten to take the butter out to get to room temperature I will put it in the microwave and warm it also warm the Cream.
Great recipe that I’ve made many times now and it works every time! I’ve noticed the change in texture that you can watch happen after you’ve incorporated the butter and start to add the cream. I’ve wanted to try to make soft caramel’s, and have successfully modified this recipe. The steps are exactly the same (350 degrees, sugar, color, butter, cream, salt), but you reduce the cream to just 1/3 cup. Let cool for the same 15 minutes or so on the stove and then pour into your caramel molds (available nearly anywhere). Let cool and sit for 24 hours, pop them out and wrap. (you can use wax paper, cut into squares, but you can actually order candy wrappers too if your going to make gifts…I am thinking you can likely reduce the butter a bit too and next batch will take out 4 Tbls. and see what happens.
I’ve never made my own caramel before, but my wife’s birthday is coming up and I’m going to try to make her a snickers cake.. While the wet method of caramel makes more sense to me than this dry method, I’m willing to give the dry method a try on my electric stovetop. However I can’t help but wonder if anybody has tried a baking method, as can be done for a roux. Maybe getting the sugar melted in the oven and finishing the sauce on the stovetop?
Since I have an electric oven/cooktop and baking a roux is so effortless and simple I can’t help but think (okay, you can read that as ‘hope and pray’) that I might be onto something… Does anybody have any thoughts/experience on/with doing a dry baked caramel sauce vs. a stovetop caramel sauce?
Just a question – when do you add the salt?
I think this step was overlooked in the recipe :/
It is in step #4.
I made this sauce today so that I could try your Salted Caramel Apple Cake. It turned out perfectly. Thank you for posting the tips, I have not made caramel sauce before and it was very helpful. Saved me from ruining a few batches at first. I did use a thermometer and let it heat to barely 350° just for your information. I see that topic was discussed.
I made this last yea to give away as Christmas gifts! Was sooo good!!!
Can I sub whole milk or half and half for heavy cream? I have been stuck in the house for days with sick kids and am going stir crazy but can’t get to the store because one is still sick.
I have not tried either, but I would definitely do the half and half if you try it. Let me know how it goes and I hope your kids feel better!!
This recipe is awesome! I added some hot red chili powder to the heavy cream and it came out delicious!!!
The print link for this recipe is broken–it wants to still print the pictures and all for 4 pages!
Hi Janell – The link is not broken, it is meant to print everything that appears in the recipe box, and for this recipe, I’ve included step-by-step photos. Unfortunately, there is not a way to elect for the photos to be removed. I apologize for the inconvenience!
Hello, Michelle,
I made this caramel sauce this morning and it turned out perfectly! Thanks for the clear and easy to follow instructions. I was also skeptical about the 350 temperature, but it was exactly right for the deep gorgeous color of this caramel. Using this sauce with a Banana Rum Upside Down Cake that I’m developing for my blog. Always look forward to receiving your posts in my mail :)
What would happen if I did not add the salt? could I use table salt, if so how much? thanks
Hi Diane, If you don’t add the salt, then you just have regular caramel sauce (still delicious!). Definitely do NOT add table salt, it is completely different than flaked sea salt.
Holy cow! Great directions. Making this to go into the salted caramel cream cheese frosting for a birthday cake and I really wonder if I want to share it now. *applause*
Hello! I’ve been wanting to try this!! Omg, going to thw mart today and hit the stove. Thanks babe for the recipe! :D
Hi. Can I freeze this sauce and also your hot fudge sauce?
Hi Raheel, Yes, you could safely freeze both.
Thanks! They are both amazing.
I tried this recipe but the sugar never completely melted and stayed clumpy. I’ve tried the water method before and that seems to work
So, this is the 2nd time that I’ve tried this recipe and it’s basically liquidy, sugary, butter. I followed the direction exactly. I’ve made caramel before and I don’t remember it being like this. Will it thicken if I let it sit?
Yes, the caramel does thicken as it sits.
I do a lot of one ingredient caramel (just sugar) sauce to coat the pans where I bake condensed milk custard pudding, using the ‘dry’ method… very easy when you get used to it and after you burnt a batch of it. However, lately I had second thoughts and became interested is a less sugary and fat version for dressing what is already a very sweet treat (you know, Portuguese desserts take lots of sugar, yolks, almonds, olive oil or butter) … so, after some web research, I have tried this same caramel sauce using whole milk instead of cream & butter. It works perfectly (just avoid brown sugar, that seizes the caramel and makes a grainy sauce); also have the milk ready hot and use a really tall pan because the foam will rise and keep stirring all the time using a oven glove (it produces hot vapor) and than cook it for melting back into the milk the candy chunks you got and until you reach the desired consistency. My next step will be to use milk with a drizzle of lime/orange juice and cinnamon infused. This will produce home-made ‘buttermilk’ caramel sauce, ideal for those custard/eggy puddings.
I was just wondering if the caramel can be canned to save for longer periods and for gifts?
Hi Breann, This recipe isn’t specifically formulated for long-term storage, so to be on the safe side, I would say no.
Hi
It’s 1 tablespoon of salt a typo??
thanks
No, that’s correct.
I made this today and it smelled great and looked great and didn’t burn. BUT it tasted bitter. Why???