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!
Anonymous says
Is it ok if the caramel is lighter?
Marty says
You must be from the South! This looks incredibly sweet, southern, sensational!
Lillian Mittner says
can this be made a couple days ahead and kept refrigerator
Mary says
Yes! I almost always have a jar of this in the refrigerator.
Anonymous says
mine never did turn amber in color. I cooked on the stove for 10 minutes, hopeing to see the turn in color. I removed from the stove top and I am waiting to see if it turns thicker as right now it is the consistency of WATER. let me know what it is that I did wrong,.
Nikki says
Same thing happened to me !
Jeena says
I’ve heard Caramel can be made by boiling a CLOSED can of sweetened condensed milk. Do you know if this actually works? Is it safe?
Mary says
Just so you know, it isn’t going to be actual caramel sauce. However, you can make dulce de leche that way. I don’t recommend boiling a can, there are a lot of unpredictables if at any point it is not fully covered by water. I’ve done it by transferring the milk into a mason jar and topping with a lid. Screw the band on the jar enough that it won’t fall off, but not finger tight. Fill the crock-pot with water to just below the band. Set the temperature to LOW and cover with lid. Let it cook for 6-8 hours, then check the color of the jar. (The lid on my crock-pot is clear and I was able to watch it darken through the day.) After about 6 hours, the milk will have turned golden brown, thick and creamy. As you continue to cook it, the dulce de leche will darken and become thicker. I wanted mine to be pourable when warm, so 6-7 hours was perfect. Use tongs to remove the jar from the crock-pot and set aside to cool. Let it cool at least 1 hour before opening the jar.
sharon says
could I use brown sugar?
Mary says
Sure, that will work fine.
joyce blume says
this sounds so good. do you by any chance have a recipe for butter cookies that melt in your mouth. have had them at a party but the lady wouldn’t give out he recipe have tried several but none have been the melt in your mouth kind.
Mary says
This is my butter cookie recipe: https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/almond-butter-cookies-gluten-free-recipe-meltaway/ Sorry that your friend wouldn’t share her recipe. I’ve never understood that.
Jennufer says
Hi Mary! So I have a question on this yummy looking Carmel sauce. This weekend at our local craft/holiday fair, I had the yummiest white chocolate praline fudge ever. It was almost 2 inches thick with probably close to 1/4 inch of yummy Carmel and pecan center. Will your sauce set up firm enough for this yet still be soft and “chewy”?
Thanks!
Diane says
Can’t wait to make this, thanks for sharing
Jemimah says
Thank you so much for this recipe. I would like my caramel to taste more ‘milky’. Any suggestions?
Lena says
I love this recipe
Michelle says
would love to see a link to the pan that you use to make the caramel sauce.
MJ says
This is possibly THE ABSOLUTE BEST Caramel Sauce EVER! Made it earlier to use with your White Chocolate Caramel Pecan Fudge, as suggested, and it’s AMAZING! The fudge is setting at the moment, but I am already thinking of millions of uses for the rest of the caramel! Thank you SO SO SO much for sharing!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Albino Flores says
Do we need it to settle then it well turn brownish or do I refrigerate it to turn Carmel cooler? Because it has a buttery cooler still. Thank you
Mary says
The caramel probably needs to cook longer if it doesn’t look like caramel yet.
kelli patterson says
Can this recipe be easily doubled or quadrupled?! 😉
Mary says
That should work fine.
Blake says
Two questions: first, is my stove too hot if the sugar and water is bubbling before adding the caramel?
Second, how do you warm up the refrigerated sauce?
Mary says
The sugar and water are fine if they are bubbling. I warm up the sauce in the microwave.
Leanne Dempsey says
Hi, could you please tell me how long the caramel sauce will keep in the fridge. Thanks Leanne
Mary Younkin says
It will keep nicely for a couple weeks, Leanne.
Ashley Turman says
Help! I’m making this right now and it tastes very strong and not caramel like I think I messed up and used pure vanilla extract.
Mary Younkin says
I’m not sure what might have gone wrong, Ashley. Any chance you added too much vanilla? It still should taste like caramel. Did you substitute any ingredients?
Mary says
Can this recipe be canned and given as gifts? It looks fantastic.
Mary Younkin says
I’ve gifted this to friends in the past, Mary. It MUST be refrigerated though. Dairy ingredients are not shelf-stable for canning.
Sharon says
Is the butter for the fudge salted or unsalted ?
Mary Younkin says
I salt it every time, Sharon.