This salted caramel sauce recipe is super easy to make, made with a few ingredients and one secret ingredient. This caramel sauce can be drizzled on ice cream, brownies, cheesecakes, cakes, in frappuccinos, and basically can be added to everything!
I have many tips and tricks for how to make a delicious and simple caramel sauce, so make sure that you follow our tips and tricks in the following post!
When you will learn how to make this caramel sauce, your will understand how easy it is and how it pairs with almost every dessert! So many things go with caramel sauce! Ice cream, brownies, chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, etc.
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Why this recipe works
- There is no need for a candy thermometer, it's so easy to make!
- This recipe is using super simple ingredients that you probably have laying around in your kitchen, and if not, you can buy them in every supermarket.
- Salted caramel goes with everything! You can drizzle it on ice cream, brownies, cheesecakes, cakes, in frappuccinos, and basically can be added to everything!
- Has a deep sugary flavor.
- Has salt in it which makes it into caramel sauce, and balances the sweet flavor into a perfect caramel sauce!
Instructions
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Granulated sugar– granulated sugar works best for this recipe, but caster sugar can work as well.
Kosher salt– use kosher salt for this recipe.
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor. vanilla extract is an essential ingredient when baking.
Butter- You will need unsalted butter. Leave your butter at room temperature so it will not be too cold while mixed into the caramel sauce.
Heavy cream- you will need room-temperature heavy cream for this recipe. It is important that your heavy cream is at room temperature so the caramel sauce won't bubble up too much and make a mess.
Corn syrup- is also known as glucose syrup. This ingredient is super important, it stops the caramel from crystallizing and makes it super smooth and, well, caramelly!
Instructions
Start by gathering and weighing all your ingredients so you will be ready to add each ingredient in time.
Into a medium-sized saucepan, add the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Mix them together using a wooden spoon until the sugar is almost completely dissolved.
Turn on the heat on a medium setting, and from here you don’t mix the caramel anymore!
To prevent the sugar from crystallizing on the sides of the saucepan, brush the sides of the saucepan with water. That’s all you do when waiting for the caramel to cook. Repeat every minute or so.
Keep an eye on the caramel sauce so it wouldn’t burn. when the caramel sauce turns into a golden brown color, remove it from the heat and add the butter. Mix with a wooden spoon carefully. Be careful not to burn yourself!
Add the room temperature heavy cream and salt, and slowly mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Place the saucepan on the stove on medium heat, and cook the caramel sauce stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set it aside to cool.
When the caramel sauce will cool to room temperature, it will thicken up into a perfect silky smooth caramel sauce.
Pour the room temperature caramel sauce into a mason jar or an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks! (it will probably not last this long in the fridge)
Expert tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients butter and heavy cream. This step ensures that your mixture mixes gently and does not bubble up and turn into a mess in your kitchen.
- Weigh your ingredients! to make sure that your cake turns out amazing and perfect, weigh and measure your ingredients correctly! For every recipe, I use my food scale to weigh all my ingredients. That way your cake will turn out the same every time!
- Be patient! I know it's tempting to increase the heat while cooking the caramel, but don't! been there done that. To get the perfect caramel sauce, you will need to cook the caramel sauce on medium heat until it turns golden brown. This process can take up to 20 minutes, but eventually, it's so worth it!
- After you mix the sugar, water, and corn syrup until it almost dissolved completely, don't mix anymore! If you will mix while the caramel is cooking, you will create crystals of sugar and it will ruin your silky smooth caramel sauce.
- Warm up the cream! this tip is so important and will stop a big mess from happening. A huge tip that we always do when making caramel sauce, is to warm up the cream in the microwave for about 20 seconds. If you will add cold cream from the fridge, it will sizzle up and make a big mess.
- Brush the sides of the saucepan with water to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. The sugar can hit the sides of the saucepan and can cause crystallizing. We don't want that, we want a smooth and silky caramel sauce. Brush the sides of the saucepan (as seen in the video) every minute or so.
- Use unsalted butter. by using unsalted butter, you can control how salty your caramel sauce will be. If you don't have unsalted butter, simply reduce the amount of salt you're adding to the sauce.
Faq's
This caramel sauce will last for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts this long) sealed in an airtight container. We used our favorite mason jars.
We like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
You sure can! If you dont like your caramel sauce salted, simply skip the salt.
Storing
Store this sauce in the fridge stored in an airtight container or mason jar.
Freezing
To freeze this sauce, make it according to the instructions and let it cool completely to room temperature, then transfer the sauce to a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 3 months.
To thaw, place the container in the fridge overnight or remove the container from the freezer and place it at room temperature for a few hours or until it's thawed.
Substitutions
Dairy-free- it's really simple and easy to make this caramel sauce dairy-free, simply replace the butter with dairy-free butter, and replace the heavy cream with dairy-free heavy cream.
Variations
Vanilla extract- you can add vanilla extract to this sauce for an extra delish flavor!
Cinnamon- add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to make this sauce deliciously spices!
Serving tips
There are so many things to do with caramel sauce. You can drizzle it on ice cream, brownies, cheesecakes, cakes, in frappuccinos, and basically can be added to everything! Here are a few desserts that go well with caramel sauce:
- Vanilla ice cream
- Classic cheesecake
- Chocolate cupcakes
- Add in coffee!
- Chocolate fudge
- Brownies
- Twix cookies!
- Frappuccino
- Chocolate cake (as a filling)
- Salted caramel frosting
- Eat it as is!
Tools
- Mixing bowl (set of 3)
- Whisk Set (pack of 3) to whisk the ingredients together
- Saucepan to brown the butter.
- Mason jars to store.
Classic desserts that you may like:
Pecan upside down cake- This pecan upside down cake is made with a moist and simple vanilla cake and topped with an easy caramel pecan topping.
Ferrero rocher cake- These Ferrero rocher cookies are made with chewy hazelnut chocolate cookies, filled with chopped hazelnuts, and topped with Nutella.
Mini burnt basque cheesecake- This mini basque cheesecake is the perfect-sized cheesecake if you don't serve a crowd. Yes, this cake is intentionally "burnt" with a slightly burnt caramelly flavor that adds so much to this cheesecake.
Mini strawberry pavlova- Mini strawberry pavlova is the lightest dessert that is made with a light meringue that is baked at low temperature, topped with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit.
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📖 Recipe
Simple Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Water
- 2 cups Sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoon Corn syrup
- 1 ⅓ cups Heavy cream
- 75 g Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Into a medium-sized saucepan, add the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Mix them together using a wooden spoon until the mixture is almost completely dissolved.
- Turn on the heat on a medium setting, and from here you don’t mix the caramel anymore!
- Keep an eye on the caramel sauce so it wouldn’t burn. when the caramel sauce turns into a golden brown color, remove it from the heat and add the butter. Mix with a wooden spoon carefully. Be careful not to burn yourself!
- Add the room temperature heavy cream and salt, and slowly mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- When the caramel sauce will cool to room temperature, it will thicken up into a perfect silky smooth caramel sauce.
- Pour the room temperature caramel sauce into a mason jar or an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks! (it will probably not last this long in the fridge)
Jess says
Can you make it without the salt?
RichandDelish says
Yes. You can skip the salt.
Concepcion says
First time making the caramel sauce and it was a pleasant and delicious surprise! Nice flavor not too sweet with a hint of salt…delicious!
Tina Mohankumar says
Yes. It's easy to follow recipe. My caramel got a tad darker shade, anything to make it lighter. Thank you for the recipe
Lisa Milne says
I haven’t made the chocolate cake yet but this caramel sauce is so good I may not bother, lol. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Alee says
Love this recipe! So easy and amazing result.