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We’re breaking down exactly how to make homemade caramel. Rich and delicious, this easy caramel sauce is perfect for all sorts of recipes! Use it as a filling in a salted caramel cake, drizzle it over ice cream, or just eat the best caramel sauce by the spoonful! We took out any guess work out of this caramel recipe with step by step photos so you’ll know exactly how to make caramel with nothing left to second guess!
How to Make Homemade Caramel
Let’s take a moment to stop and smell the roses…or stop and eat the salted caramel 🙂 Today we’re sharing our foolproof recipe for the best homemade caramel you’ll ever have. Made with just three easy ingredients and no special equipment or thermometers, we’re here to show you that homemade caramel sauce is actually super approachable.
Our tips for the best homemade caramel:
Use high quality butter: You’re only as good as your ingredients and with caramel your butter quality can really make or break your sauce. This is one time when it’s a good idea to splurge on that box that’s a few dollars more expensive.
Never leave your caramel sauce unattended: To make caramel sauce you essentially toast white sugar until it’s melted, before adding in butter, cream, and salt. Your sugar can go from toasty to burnt pretty quickly though, so make sure you keep a close eye on it!
Don’t forget the salt! Caramel is simply too sweet without it. A healthy amount of salt really deepens the flavor profile and will keep your caramel from tasting overly sweet.
This step by step guide will break it allllll down for you so that you, too, can eat delicious salted caramel by the spoonful unashamedly in your home. YOU. ARE. WELCOME.
Let’s get to it, bromies.
Step One: Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat
Move the sauce pan around every few minutes to keep the sugar heating evenly, but do NOT stir constantly
Step Two: Keep an eye on the sugar, stirring it every few minutes until it melts.
The sugar will clump first and eventually start to melt. This can take up to 15 minutes. Be patient! You’ll know your caramel is done when it’s fully liquid and no clumps of sugar remain.
This is what your caramel should look like by the end of this step:
Step Three: Remove from heat. Add butter to the melted sugar and stir to combine.
The mixture will begin to bubble violently.
Now, I know the normal human reaction to this would be alarm, but this is exactly what the homemade caramel should be doing! The butter is much colder in comparison to the hot sugar, so they’re just trying to get to know each other. Sparks are flying.
After a few minutes of stirring the two will start to combine. Just keep whisking until they are completely homogenous
This is what the caramel should look like by the end of this step:
Step Four: Pour in the cream and salt, and stir until completely combined.
This is what the caramel will look like at the end!
What recipes to use homemade caramel sauce in?
I could go on for literally forever. Caramel pretty much goes with everything in my opinion, but here are a few of our favs:
You can store this caramel sauce in an air tight container (we love mason jars!) in the fridge for 1 month or freeze for up to 3 months!
Now that you know exactly how to make homemade caramel, no more excuses, guys. It is soooo much better than any kind you could buy at the store. Happy caramel eating 🙂
We’re breaking down exactly how to make homemade caramel. Rich and delicious, this easy caramel sauce is perfect for all sorts of recipes! We took out any guess work with step by step photos so you’ll know exactly how to make caramel like a pro!
We’re breaking down exactly how to make homemade caramel. Rich and delicious, this easy caramel sauce is perfect for all sorts of recipes! We took out any guess work with step by step photos so you’ll know exactly how to make caramel like a pro!
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat the sugar on medium low heat until its completely melted, swirling the pan gently every 20 seconds or so. The sugar will start to form clumps before melting slowly. Be patient and keep an eye on it to make sure it does not burn.
Once melted, remove from heat immediately and stir in the butter. The mixture will violently bubble. You’re doing it right.
Next, pour in the heavy cream and 1/2 teaspoon of the sea salt. Stir until everything is combined. Taste a spoonful of cooled caramel. If desired add the remaining sea salt to taste!
Pour into small bowl or cup and allow to cool completely before using.*
watch the video
Keywords: easy homemade caramel sauce, easy caramel recipe, how to make homemade caramel, caramel recipe
Notes
Make sure you use a high quality butter! Caramel is made from so few ingredients that the butter and cream’s quality really shines through!
For thicker caramel, only add 1/3 cup of cream!
Feel free to add any additions you like at the the end. We love to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger…the options are endless!
Caramel can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for 1 month or in the freezer for 3 months!
First time making caramel, this came out so delicious, I can not stop “tasting” it! I had a little trouble with sugar sticking like cement to the side of the pan while it was melting and it seemed like there just wasn’t enough melted sugar left in the pot to add the rest of the ingredients to, so I added more sugar. It melted fast and the end result is amazing! I then feared for my pan, whisk, spoon that the hardened sugar was never getting cleaned off, lol but I filled it with water and it boiled right off. Looking forward to having it with the Pumkpin Cheesecake tomorrow(as long as the caramel can last until then)!
I’ve made this recipe three times. Only once (today) did I have an issue with the melted sugar seizing up after adding butter. I added the cream and then I just put the pan back over medium-low heat and whisked until it combined and was liquid. One reason the melted sugar seized could be that the butter and cream were on the cool side. The previous two batches I took cream out of refrigerator and I think I set it out a couple of hours to bring it to room temp, because no seizing occured.
I changed a lot of the ingredients. I used toasted sugar, I had frozen cream in cubes and thawed (night before) and used in the recipe. I substituted miso for salt (1 teaspoon of white miso), but needed to add more salt at the end. Also, I used Kerrygold butter (salted) the previous two times and Kirkland butter this time. I did add cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom and vanilla extract.
I would use the salted Kerrygold butter going forward, I’d skip the miso and use salt, and I’d decrease cream to 1/3 cup for a thicker caramel. Thawing cream from frozen didn’t seem to make a difference in the outcome, but do bring to room temperature.
NOTE for newbies, the melted sugar will cool quickly on the utensils you use to stir becoming hard; to clean soak the utensils and saucepan in soapy water until the caramel dissolves.; about 15 to 30 minutes.
I tried to view this recipe on my phone with no ad blocker (I have an ad blocker on my laptop) this site was nearly unusable do to all the pop-up ads. I tried to view the video of how to make homemade caramel and after seconds it went to a commercial, I clicked the skip button, which took me to a video of someone making a cake, I couldn’t find the caramel video again. Went to my laptop and there are no ads but also no video.
This is awesome!!! I made the thicker version and ate it by spoonfuls by itself, as well as on vanilla icecream on top of a banana with pecan pieces! Thank you for this! Much better than buying it in a jar!
Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
First time making caramel, this came out so delicious, I can not stop “tasting” it! I had a little trouble with sugar sticking like cement to the side of the pan while it was melting and it seemed like there just wasn’t enough melted sugar left in the pot to add the rest of the ingredients to, so I added more sugar. It melted fast and the end result is amazing! I then feared for my pan, whisk, spoon that the hardened sugar was never getting cleaned off, lol but I filled it with water and it boiled right off. Looking forward to having it with the Pumkpin Cheesecake tomorrow(as long as the caramel can last until then)!
★★★★★
I’ve made this recipe three times. Only once (today) did I have an issue with the melted sugar seizing up after adding butter. I added the cream and then I just put the pan back over medium-low heat and whisked until it combined and was liquid. One reason the melted sugar seized could be that the butter and cream were on the cool side. The previous two batches I took cream out of refrigerator and I think I set it out a couple of hours to bring it to room temp, because no seizing occured.
I changed a lot of the ingredients. I used toasted sugar, I had frozen cream in cubes and thawed (night before) and used in the recipe. I substituted miso for salt (1 teaspoon of white miso), but needed to add more salt at the end. Also, I used Kerrygold butter (salted) the previous two times and Kirkland butter this time. I did add cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom and vanilla extract.
I would use the salted Kerrygold butter going forward, I’d skip the miso and use salt, and I’d decrease cream to 1/3 cup for a thicker caramel. Thawing cream from frozen didn’t seem to make a difference in the outcome, but do bring to room temperature.
NOTE for newbies, the melted sugar will cool quickly on the utensils you use to stir becoming hard; to clean soak the utensils and saucepan in soapy water until the caramel dissolves.; about 15 to 30 minutes.
I tried to view this recipe on my phone with no ad blocker (I have an ad blocker on my laptop) this site was nearly unusable do to all the pop-up ads. I tried to view the video of how to make homemade caramel and after seconds it went to a commercial, I clicked the skip button, which took me to a video of someone making a cake, I couldn’t find the caramel video again. Went to my laptop and there are no ads but also no video.
★★★★★
This is awesome!!! I made the thicker version and ate it by spoonfuls by itself, as well as on vanilla icecream on top of a banana with pecan pieces! Thank you for this! Much better than buying it in a jar!
★★★★★
This is my go-to salted caramel recipe. It always comes out perfect! I sometimes add a spoonful of miso paste instead of salt and it’s divine!
★★★★★
How did I live 6 decades before trying to make this elixir of the gods? Delicious!
ENJOY!