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]
In first step, shouldnt the sugar be heated with a bit of water?
Hi Tanya, Actually, no. There are two different methods for making caramel – “wet” (added water) and “dry” (no water). This is the dry method.
Had a trip to Melbourne where I had an amazing dessert,Peanut butter parfait with chocolate icecream on top, with salted caramel over the top sprinkled with crushed salted peanuts.Used your recipe for the parfait and it was perfect.It is now my family and friends favourite dessert.
Well, I tried to double this… maybe that was my mistake…. now I have 4 cups of beautiful caramel colored sugar blobs swimming in 3 sticks of butter. Wah!!!!!!!! I really wanted this to work
I’ve never made homemade caramel before other than store bought caramels with cream. I’m thinking about using this for making caramel apples. I’m wondering about how the caramel sets up. Does it set hard enough to use for apples? When it’s soft enough to coat the apples, will it run off before it sets up? Thanks for any info!
Hi Linnea, Yes, you could definitely use this for caramel apples. It will set up stiff, but not rock hard. I would recommend putting the apples into the fridge after you dip them so that they set up before any running (although it’s virtually impossible to avoid at least a little pooling).
Michelle, it is no wonder your recipe is the first in google search for salted caramel sauce. This was the quickest caramel sauce I have ever made and it was so tasty. I never realized that the dry sugar method worked so well. Was always worried that it would seize. Could not believe how fast I was able to get the sugar to caramelize. I too like some others found that before most of the sugar had melted, that some of the sugar had turned brownish. I persevered and all was ok. The reason may have been that I had not stirred at the beginning. From experience, one of the most important things when making caramel sauce is that you use a heavy pan since this distributes the heat for even results. One writer also asked whether to heat the cream. However, the cool cream helps to arrest the cooking of the sauce giving you more control in case you did not stop heating in time. Thanks Michelle.
I just wanted to say that I now want to bathe in this Salted Caramel Sauce…my whole house smells amazing! Thanks so much for posting this recipe.
I made this last week and it was wonderful!! I would love to make jars of this for family members and friends for Christmas, but I am wondering about refrigeration. Do you know if this caramel has to be refrigerated or will it be OK left out for a day or two? Maybe others have asked about this already, but there are so many comments to search through, so I just thought I’d ask. Thanks!
I got to this blog and recipe via a link on http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com, and I’m so glad I was curious to see this recipe! It’s PERFECTION on a spoon!! Thank You so much for taking the time to share this Salted Caramel Sauce recipe!
I made a custard-based vanilla (vanilla ice cream recipe #1) from the above-mentioned website, and I swirled a thick fudge through it, along with some oven-roasted cashews and candied bacon! I then let it freeze overnight (it was the longest night of my life!!!), re-warmed the salted caramel sauce and drizzled it (that’s a lie; there was nothing so dainty as a drizzle with this recipe!)
The next time I make it, I’m going to coat the bacon with fudge; just looking for the perfect chocolate fudge recipe to complement the bacon…my husband suggested we swirl the caramel into the ice cream as well, but the caramel sauce is the crowning glory of this ice cream treat! I know that bacon in ice cream sounds odd, but it isn’t at all. The salty, smokiness peeks through all of the sweetness surrounding it, and the texture is really delightful!
Once again, Thank You for this and all you do! I’m a fan!!
I just made this and it was so EASY and tasty!! I did buy a candy thermometer making it goof proof!! Thanks, I am going to make some and put in little jars for christmas gifts.
I made this the other day and it is gorgeous!!! Can’t wait to put in in and on EVERYTHING! I linked back to you on my blog post. Love your blog. It was one of the first ones I followed.
I just made this recipe! I cut it in half and substituted the cream for evaporated milk. It turned out PERFECT! I will continue to make this recipe. Next time I’ll use the cream as directed but just didn’t have it today. SO if you’re out of cream you can use evaporated milk in a pinch!
Thanks
I just made half a batch of this to top fudgy brownies – it tastes so decadent! I’ve never made caramel before and a this recipe was excellent + easy to get right.
I made this tonight and used it for the Salted Caramel Cream cheese buttercream that you used over chocolate cupcakes. I, however, used it on an apple spice cupcake which I made using my own homemade applesauce. SOOO GOOD!!!
I used a coarse sea salt and it was almost too salty when eating the caramel plain but not as noticeable when in the buttercream or drizzled atop the cupcakes.
Thank you again for another wonderful recipe right when I needed it!!
quick question how heavy a cream do you use? and where do you get it? :)
Hi Richard, Here in the U.S. it is just sold as quite literally “heavy cream”, which is the heaviest available. Otherwise, you have whole milk and half-and-half (which is essentially a mix of whole milk and heavy cream).
Hi BEB-
I have a question regarding this sauce. I’m looking for a salted caramel sauce that I can add to buttercream to make salted caramel buttercream, as well as drizzle between layers of cake. My question is if the sauce is drizzled between cake layers (i.e. cake, salted caramel buttercream, layer of salted caramel, repeat) and the cake is then refrigerated and brought to room temperature, would the caramel be so hard that it would be difficult to eat (i.e. biting into crunchy/hard caramel)?
Thanks!
Hi Taylor, I used this sauce in the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes I made and it worked perfectly. If you spread the sauce on its own and then refrigerate, it won’t become rock hard. Stored in the refrigerator, it gets very thick, but not hard, if that makes sense. You should be fine!
OMGosh! I think I have died nad gone to heaven!! Delish! Today the sauce and tomorrow the cupcakes! YUM!
Wow, OMG, Dangerous, Unbelievable, Oh Soooooooooo Good and Awesome too!!! Thanks for sharing. As is my bad habit I lightly tweaked. 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of real maple syrup, 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring and 16 tablespoons of butter (hey look there isn’t anything healthy here to start with). Cannot wait to try this hot on some Paul Prudhomme bread pudding with a couple scoops of Coldstone sweet cream vanilla ice cream! Ought to go straight to food hell for thinking some combination so unhealthy! Wow this is one of the best recipes since Paul Prudhomme’s LA Kitchen Shrimp Enchiladas. Just dangerous good and not that hard to make. TY TY TY
This recipe looks amazing!! Can’t wait to try this out! I’ve been dying to try to make a caramel italian buttercream. Would I be able to incorporate a bit of this caramel sauce into a batch of homemade italian buttercream?
Hi Jacky, I have not used this in Italian buttercream, but I did use it in a traditional (American) buttercream for these cupcakes: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/05/23/salted-caramel-cupcakes-recipe/
Alton brown also used a tblsp of corn syrup to avoid crystallization
OMG best thing ever. Did lots of research and stood in front of the stove for awhile before attempting. First time burned a little, 2nd time burned all the sugar, third time Heaven! Watched Alton Brown he recommends no thermometer and adding cream as soon as you see a bit of smoke coming out of the pan. This was much easier than using thermometer which is why I burned it first 2 times.
Made dark choc cupcakes, filled with this caramel, topped with a slightly different version of caramel buttercream. Friends at the office actually got weak in the knees and had to sit down!
I’ve just made this and have to say it was so easy and absolutely delicious! I’ve used it in an apple pie which turned out fantastic, and this recipe made plenty so looking for other things to do with the leftovers before I make myself sick just eating it out of the pan!
I had a question. If I was gifting this to someone, how long is it good for? Does it need to be refrigerated?
Hi Donna, This sauce is good for a few weeks, and yes, it does need to be refrigerated.
This looks great! I am looking for a salted caramel sauce with dark chocolate. Do you have any ideas about adding dark chocolate to this recipe?
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t played around with any chocolate adaptations to this recipe yet. If you do, definitely share your results!
Hi!!! I tried doing it the first time and didn’t pay attention, so I forgot to get heavy cream. DOH!!!! So, I substituted heavy cream. I used Nestle media crema instead and tasted wonderful! I also used kosher salt and added just a little extra. I loved the sweet taste at first and finishes salty!!!
I was wondering…. have you tried this caramel sauce over popcorn? Is so how didn’t turn out and how did you work it? If you haven’t tried it, do you think it could work? Any tips on how to work with it?
This salted caramel is FREAKING AMAZING! LOL! I’ve made it several time since my first try. This recipe alone could win you the presidential election.
Hi Monica, Are you talking about just drizzling, or using it as a coating, etc? Either way I haven’t putt his on popcorn, but you I do have homemade cracker jack (https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/10/27/homemade-cracker-jack/) and salted caramel popcorn bars (https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/10/19/salted-caramel-popcorn-pretzel-peanut-bars/).
Hi!
Thanks so much for this post – I have been making salted caramel buttercream for my macarons – and I’ve been having a hit or miss experience – I do everything the same each time – but sometimes the cream separates and sometimes it incorporates. But I do add the milk before the butter, as in your case.
My question is: If we let this set in the fridge, would we be able to whip it into a buttercream consistency, instead of a syrup?
Thanks soooooo much!
Hi Sukaina, Once in the fridge, the sauce gets very thick, but I don’t think you could whip it into a frosting (although you could add it to vanilla frosting to make a salted caramel buttercream, as I did here – https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/05/23/salted-caramel-cupcakes-recipe/).
Any tips for getting crystallized sugar off the edges of the sauce pan? lol I didn’t burn it but some of the sugar just became big clumps and never melted
Hi Jennifer, I usually run the pot under hot water right away to see what I can rinse off, and then I’ll put a little dish liquid in there, fill it with hot, soapy water and let it soak for an hour or two. After that it usually comes right off.
Question for you: I’m making oatmeal bars that call for a caramel middle. The recipe has us using the store-bought caramels melted with half and half. I wanted to use homemade caramel so I followed a recipe similar to this (I will try this recipe next time; the other had corn syrup I’d rather not use) but the resulting bars (they were baked with an oatmeal crumble on top) seem to have caramel melted all the way through them, rather than a layer of gooey-ness in the middle as they were supposed to. I poured the caramel into the middle while it was still very warm. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Trish, From what I have experienced, recipes for a caramel “sauce” made of melted caramel candies and cream tend to end up much thicker than your typical homemade caramel sauce. This could be the difference in your consistency.
I made this recipe this week. I’ve just started baking and I’m always hearing people go on about salted caramel. Now I know why. I just used the visual cues (burnt the first batch second guessing myself) but the second batch was perfect. I made the chocolate cupcakes with them and they are to die for! Thank you thank you!
I stumbled across this recipe on pinterest.
I made this last night, twice! The first time I made it, I used the thermometer, paying attention to visual cues and also smelling. ;) I burnt it. Completely. Tried again a little while later WITHOUT the thermometer, just using the visual cues as I KNEW where I had messed up, and it came out awesome! This is one of those recipes where things move along quickly once they GET moving. You need to have all your ingredients out, measured and ready.
My husband, who is NOT a sweets eater, could not get enough of this! I’m making chocolate cupcakes for my friend’s daughter and using this as a filling. So. Delicious. You will NEVER buy caramel sauce again!
Thank you for sharing!!!
xo