Creamy, sticky and sweet Salted Caramel Sauce is one of the best things. Ever. It’s really easy to make and tastes great on everything!
Sweet & Salty Goodness
Salted Caramel Sauce is really REALLY yummy. It only uses FIVE ingredients – brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, salt and vanilla sugar or extract. And if you’re under total time pressure, even 4 ingredients will do the trick – the vanilla is totally optional!
Caramel has the reputation of being hard to make. That actually isn’t the case at all – it’s quite easy! You just need to be careful when you make it. If you don’t walk away from the stove, and continuously stir the sauce, nothing can go wrong.
I love the flavour combo of sweet & salty. So many “modern” recipes call for sprinkling on some sea salt prior to or after baking. That is because salt enhances the other flavours of a dessert. When you sprinkle some salt onto chocolate chip cookies, you take some of the sweetness away and intensify that yummy sugar-butter-flavour. When sprinkling salt onto a rich chocolate cake or some brownies, you’re enhancing the chocolate flavour.
I find the caramel sauce alone (without the salt) to be too sweet. I mean, it is really sticky and rich anyway, so I don’t need to be reminded yet again about all that sugar in there.
Salt really rounds off the taste, and makes this caramel sauce to-die-for-yummy. Try it yourself!
What can I do with it?
Salted caramel sauce is so versatile. Here just a few ideas what you can use it for:
- On top of ice cream
- With Crêpes
- To fill cakes and cookies (follow my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe here and fill the cookies with caramel instead of Nutella)
- On a piece of bread
- Straight out of the jar (no one will judge you)
- To flavour pudding
- To drizzle on various desserts (for instance my Salted Caramel Nutella Blondies – coming soon)
- You get the idea!
Storing it
I don’t think you’ll need to store it that long, because it will be gone before you know it 🙂 It keeps at room temperature for 2-3 days, but I do recommend that you store it in the fridge. Use it up then within one month.
You can also freeze it in an airtight container (not glass) for about two months, and then let it thaw in the fridge or at room temperature overnight 🙂
Making it
It really is simple!
- First you melt the sugar ( = caramelization) and butter in a pot. Be careful not to burn yourself, caramel is very VERY hot! Also don’t over melt the caramel, because it will burn then, and you can’t “save” it.
- As soon as you have reached your desired caramel colour (the darker the colour, the more intense the flavour), take the pot off the heat and immediately pour in the cream, stirring continuously. It will smoke and bubble, but don’t worry, the sauce will come together again.
- Place the pot back on the stove and melt over low heat and add in the salt and optionally the vanilla.
- When cooling, the caramel will thicken.
If you don’t use it directly, pour it into a glass and store it in the fridge. And when you need it again, warm in a heat-proof container in the microwave or over a double boiler/bain-marie – it couldn’t be easier!
If you make this Salted Caramel Sauce, do leave me a comment and rate the recipe! And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and Facebook.
You might also like …
- My Salted Butter Chocolate Shortbread Cookies – because anything with salt sprinkled on top is great!
- My Nutella Brown Butter Cookies – fill them with Salted Caramel Sauce instead!
- No-Bake Biscoff Cheesecake Bars – why not whip up a batch and drizzle this Salted Caramel Sauce on top?
Salted Caramel Sauce
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 500 g 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy, sticky and sweet Salted Caramel Sauce is one of the best things ever. It’s really easy to make and tastes great on everything!
Ingredients
- 165 g butter
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 150 ml double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or sugar
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, add the sugar and butter, and melt over medium-high heat. Stir regularly, so no lumps forms.
- As soon as the sauce starts to bubble and boil and has reached an amber, light to dark brown colour (depending on your preference – see notes; it can take up to 12 minutes ), remove the pot from the stove.
- Immediately pour in the double cream, stirring continuously: Careful, it will steam and bubble up – but just keep stirring!
- When the sauce is mixed, stir a few more times over low heat. This helps melt any lumps that formed when the cream was added.
- Lastly, add in the sea salt and vanilla sugar /extract and stir well. Set the pot aside to cool to room temperature.
- If not using immediately, pour the caramel sauce into a jar, and place in the fridge.
Notes
- Depending on how dark and “strong” you want the caramel taste, you must melt the sugar and butter for longer, or let it reach a lighter or darker colour. Once the cream is added, the colour will not change much anymore. I went for a light and subtle caramel, but a dark caramel is yummy too.
- Making caramel is not very difficult, but still you must be careful not to burn yourself. Don’t leave the stove. If the caramel burns, you can’t really save it and you have to start over.
- This recipe makes about 500 g of caramel sauce. You can keep the sauce in the fridge for about a month – if it lasts that long.
- The salted caramel solidifies in the fridge, so if you want to heat it up again, do so in the microwave or over a double boiler.
- If you’re using flaky sea salt, you might want to add another ½ tsp of salt – taste-test before you add more salt though!
- I suggest not doubling the recipe, and instead making a few batches. You risk that the sugar doesn’t melt correctly by making such a huge amount.
[…] Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce: Making caramel really isn’t that hard. I have a detailed blog post ready for you to make sure you succeed! […]