This homemade salted caramel recipe is not only easy to make, it is super quick too!
With only 4 simple ingredients, this caramel sauce can be prepared in less than 15 minutes and can be enjoyed with a wide range of your favorite desserts.
The sauce works great as a topping and filling on so many types of desserts. You can use it as a drizzle on plain vanilla ice cream or ice cream sundaes or even on cheesecakes like my mini salted caramel cheesecake, Snickers cheesecake and chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. You can also use this sauce as filling for cakes, cupcakes and doughnuts, just to name a few.
In fact, if you are a fan of caramel sauce, it is almost impossible to avoid popping in a spoonful of it into the mouth every time you see it or take it out to use in your baking.
Salted caramel may seem hard to make, but if you take a good look at the recipe and preparation method, you will change your mind.
This awesome dessert sauce uses only 4 basic ingredients and can be cooked into perfect homemade salted caramel sauce in under 15 minutes. And you don’t need any special tools, not even a candy thermometer.
Easy right?
Table of contents
How to Make
Ingredients
- Granulated sugar
- Heavy cream
- Butter (salted)
- Rock salt
The cooking process
Here is the step-by-step photos and instructions with images on how to make your very own homemade salted caramel.
- Start by measuring your sugar into a deep medium saucepan. Melt it over low heat, stirring every now and then until the sugar dissolves. At this stage, if you see clumps of sugar in your pot, it is fine. Dissolve it over very low heat. At the end of the process, the caramel should turn into a light amber shade.
- Keep the heat on until the sugar cooks into your desired shade of deep amber color, keeping very close attention on it at this stage as it can very quickly get burned.
- Once it reaches the shade you prefer, add the butter to the hot sugar. Whisk both (be careful of splashes) for about a minute. The sugar might bubble up rapidly when you add the butter if the butter is cold and that is fine. If the butter melts and remains separated from the sugar even after vigorous whisking, that is fine too.
- Carefully add the cream into the melted butter-sugar mixture in a thin steady stream. Again, if the cream is cold, the caramel mixture will start bubbling rapidly. Continue to stir until the bubbles subside.
- Cook the caramel until it has thickened slightly, but not too thick. The sauce will thicken considerably as it cools down.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt into the plain caramel. Stir and pour it into a small jar. Keep the caramel refrigerated. Once chilled, the salted caramel will be very thick. To soften it, heat up the caramel for a few seconds in a microwave or double boil until it reaches drizzling consistency.
Notes
Keep close tab on sugar as it melts
- The taste of your salted caramel is predominantly dependent on the degree to which the sugar caramelizes before the butter and cream are added. Some people like a more intense tasting caramel and therefore prefer to let caramelization happen to a deeper amber color. Others prefer a lighter flavor and choose to not let the caramelization beyond a light amber color.
- The choice is entirely dependent on your personal taste, but do take note that once the sugar starts to caramelize, it will continue to do so at a very quick rate and therefore the tendency to get burnt is very high. Overly browned sugar will result in a burnt salted caramel that can be bitter to taste.
Use a light-colored saucepan to caramelize your sugar
- Once the sugar is melted, it will turn amber very quickly. For effective monitoring of the color, it is best that the interior of your saucepan is light so that you are able to see the color as it caramelizes and decide on the exact point to add butter and cream to it.
Adding cold butter and cold cream into the melted sugar can cause rapid bubbling
- There is no impact on the taste or texture of the salted caramel though.
- If you want to reduce the bubbling, bring both the butter and cream to room temperature before adding to the caramelized sugar .
Salt in the recipe
- If you prefer to use unsalted butter, increase the amount of salt added to the salted caramel to compensate for the unsalted butter. The salt mentioned in the recipe is rock salt which is slightly less salty compared to table salt.
- If you are using regular table salt, you would need to reduce the amount indicated in the recipe to avoid overly salty caramel sauce.
- You can also use flaky sea salt or fine sea salt.
Consistency of the caramel
- The salted caramel will thicken considerably after it has completely cooled down to room temperature.
- It will thicken even more once chilled so do not try to thicken the sauce to your desired consistency with heat. To bring the salted caramel back to its drizzling consistency, heat it up over a double boiler or the microwave.
How long will the sauce last?
- This sauce has a rather long shelf life. You can be kept in the refrigerator for a good one month.
- If you wish to keep it longer, this salted caramel can be frozen for up to 3 months. Pour it into an airtight container. Simply heat up the sauce to bring it to a soft, drizzling consistency before using it on your dessert.
Like this easy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
- Frostings, Fillings and Sauces Recipes
- Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecake - Creamy and Decadent
- Mini Snickers Cheesecake - A Delectable Treat
- How to Make Lemon Curd
- Homemade Golden Syrup - A Quick and Easy Recipe
- Cherry Coulis - Easy Homemade Cherry Sauce
Recipe (Printable)
Here is the full printable version of my salted caramel recipe. And while you are at it, don’t miss the recipe notes right above. Follow the guide and I am sure you will be making the best homemade salted caramel sauce in no time at all!
Salted Caramel Recipe
Ingredients
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 125 ml heavy cream
- 50 g butter salted
- ⅛ teaspoon rock salt
Instructions
- Place sugar is a heavy bottom saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir occasionally to help speed up the melting.
- As soon as the sugar is all melted and has turned amber, add the butter and give it a quick whisk. The mixture may bubble up rapidly. If the butter separates, try to whisk it in, if it remains separated, it is fine.
- Slowly add the cream in a thin stream and mix well. The mixture may rapidly bubble with the addition of the cream.
- Cook the caramel over low heat until it has thickened slightly. The salted caramel will continue to thicken as it cools down, so it does not have to be perfectly thick at this stage. Add salt and mix well.
- Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature before transferring it into a clean jar.
- Keep the salted caramel refrigerated.
Nutrition
And that's pretty much my homemade salted caramel recipe.
Happy baking and decorating 🙂
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