I am absolutely thrilled to have finally found a recipe for making smooth and creamy, buttery sweet Homemade Caramel Sauce. This is the only caramel sauce recipe you will ever need.
Homemade Caramel Sauce
When I’ve made caramel sauce at home in the past, it has turned hard and crystallized after a bit of time in the refrigerator. Not so with this caramel sauce recipe.
This sauce is quite thin when it finishes cooking on the stove and thickens as it cools. Straight from the refrigerator, it is still soft and scoop-able.
The sauce warms easily and is pourable when it is room temperature. I served the caramel warm, drizzled over fresh peaches and vanilla ice cream. It was heavenly!
As far as homemade desserts go, it’s hard to imagine anything better than cold ice cream topped with warm sauce. If you’ve been looking for the perfect easy homemade caramel sauce recipe, your search is over.
How to Make Caramel Sauce
If you’ve been intimidated by the idea of making your own caramel sauce, rest assured it’s actually a fairly easy process. It starts by heating a mixture of sugar and water on the stove top until the sugar fully dissolves then cooking it until it turns a light amber color.
When you add the butter the sauce will begin to bubble. At this stage it’s important to stick with lightly stirring the sauce rather than scraping any uncooked sugar crystals back into the pan. Any remaining uncooked sugar in the sauce will cause it to crystalize at room temperature.
After all the butter is melted and combined into the pan, remove the sauce from heat and add vanilla extract, heavy cream and a pinch of salt. Stir everything together until its smooth, velvety and well combined. This sauce stores well in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
It’s amazing served warm but is also perfectly tasty at room temperature.
If you tire of this version of caramel sauce kick it up and make Bourbon Caramel Sauce.
Caramel Sauce Recipe
This caramel sauce is perfection just about every which way you can serve it. I love it on Homemade Ice Cream (or store bought ice cream for that matter), drizzled over fresh fruit or drizzled over Cinnamon Baked Apples.
You could even be extra decadent and pour this homemade caramel sauce on top of Pumpkin Spice Waffles, Light Fluffy Pancakes or Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for a fun breakfast your kids will go nuts over. Can you imagine how delicious Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal would be covered in a spoonful of this perfect caramel sauce?
Ice Cream Toppings
Looking for more great homemade ice cream toppings? You should also give my Simple Homemade Chocolate Sauce a try. I love chocolate and caramel together and like to keep a jar of each of these in the fridge anytime we have ice cream around.
Little jars of homemade caramel sauce are perfect for packing into Homemade Ice Cream Sundae Kits you can give as gifts.
For a special treat or birthday party, consider putting out an ice cream sundae bar with your homemade ice cream toppings, chopped nuts, cherries, and fruit. I’ve got my eye on this Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream Topping from Brown-Eyed Baker to add to our next sundae bar.
Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream is incredible alone or paired with this caramel sauce on top of desserts. When it comes to toppings for waffles and pancakes, my Grandma’s Waffle Sauce has zero competition.
Check out all of the homemade ice cream recipes on this site for pairing with this delicious caramel sauce!
Kitchen Tip: I use this saucepan to make this recipe.
Homemade Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and the water. Stir to combine and then cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves; about 4-5 minutes. There is no need to stir, simply swirl the pan over the burner occasionally as the sugar dissolves.
- Raise the heat to medium high and cook the sauce, swirling the pan occasionally, until it is amber colored; about 7-8 minutes. Add the butter, be prepared for it to bubble and sputter, lightly stir or swirl to melt, do not scrape the sides of the pan or splash sauce up the sides of the pan. (This will cause crystallization, if you scrape the uncooked sugars back into the sauce.)
- Once the butter is melted, remove from the heat and add the vanilla, heavy cream and salt. It will bubble again, but will calm quickly. Stir to combine (again, not scraping sides of the pan) and then let cool before transferring to a jar and refrigerating for storage. Enjoy!
Lindsay Jewell says
Love your photo. Looks delicious. 🙂
adam @unorthodoxepicure says
Delicious!
Rachel says
I made this yesterday for an ice cream social and it was perfect!!! So yummy!!
Honeybee says
Beautiful! How much does it make?
Mary says
It makes about a cup and a half. I've added that information to the recipe. Thanks!
Anonymous says
I used your recipe and drizzled the Caramel over Banana pancakes…. Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
Helen Dyer says
Holy Moly! I just made this, literally. This tastes super good! Thank you so so much because I am in Italy and can't find the kind of caramel I have been craving all fall!!!! THANKS SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!
Super super super easy, an tastes fantastic. Thanks!!!
Veronica H says
Hello,
This looks amazing. Do you think I could use half and half instead of heavy cream?
Veronica
Anonymous says
When do you add the pinch of salt? With the butter or whipping cream? Thanks, going to make this with apple pie for Thanksgiving, can't wait!
Miranda says
I just made this and my house smells like a candy store. AMAZING. I, too, was wondering when to add the pinch of salt so I just left it out. I didn't want to mess with the chemistry of anything. Haha. It was like a science experiment with all the fizzing and bubbling – but sure enough, it turned into caramel sauce! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Mary says
Hi Miranda,
I just took a batch off the stove 5 minutes ago too! The salt is added at the very end. Thanks for the feedback, I'll make a note on the recipe. Half the time I forget it and it tastes great both ways. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Mary
Ashley Courtien says
water, can of unopened condensed milk, crockpot, put water in crock pot enough so the can is sitting completly in it cook 8 hours on low, bam, caramel
Anonymous says
Wish I had a crockpot to try that
Anonymous says
that is not true caramel….it's tre leche.
ANGELA says
Dulce de leche; tre leche is cake
Anonymous says
light amber, not dark. ::facepalm:: and it turns FAST. i literally turned around to pick up the butter and turned back and that fast it was dark. i kept going anyway but it turned out to be a bad idea because it ended up burnt tasting. here we go with round two…..
Anonymous says
I think u have to add butter just as it gets colour mine wasn't dark when I added butter and still tasted burnt
mrsuliban says
This is sooo good… I used it as a topping for a chiffon-roll and it's great because it doesn't harden, even if chilled. Some of the stuff dripped down on the sides of the cake, which just enticed me to keep wiping it up with my fingers and like it off. (I know, I shouldn't be saying this. 🙂 Thanks so much, Mary!!!
Missy says
Any idea how sucanat (dehydrated cane juice) would work instead of white sugar?
Mary says
Missy,
I've never used sucanat, so I have no idea how that substitution would work. If you do try it, please let me know how it turns out for you.
Mary
Iris Johnson says
I just made this caramel sauce and it was amazing! I was a bit unsure it would work at first… I doubled the recipe. It dissolved then crystallized. I panicked and added more water… it then dissolved again and started to cook more evenly with just swirling (i'm a stirring addict)! It then magically turned amber & I knew I hadn't failed. There is still a huge ring of crystallized sugar around the caramel, will not add back in. I added the butter and cream and my homemade vanilla and my house smells like a dream. I made this for a turtle cheesecake I'm bringing to a party tonight! Very excited to hear what people think. Thanks for sharing!
Connie Hatch-Feir says
Hi Iris, I'm a "stirring addict" too! Do you think we could start a support group?
bellini says
I just have to make a batch and soon. THe best thing about caramel sauce is that you always have the ingredients on hand,
Michelle Clark says
I just made pumpkin cheesecake and shared your caramel topping with my readers (linking back to your blog of course). Thanks for the awesome recipe. Michelle
Dana Cochran says
my sauce isnt thick is it is runny what am i doing wrong?
Anonymous says
I make mine with the same ingredients but different proportions. I also add one star anise clove towards the end. The flavor is incredible. I drizzle the sauce over my caramel apple cheesecake and on my pear tarts, topped with ice cream.
Ruth says
I make this all the time! We love it! Thank you!!
Anonymous says
This is the best caramel ever! I'm a 13 year old cook and through all the times of looking for a recipe, I finally found one that tastes AMAZEBALLS! You are a genius! 🙂