Quick & Easy Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
Caramel is such a versatile sauce to have on hand! Not only can it be good on its own as candy but you can use it in or on ice cream, brownies, cookies, cupcakes – you name it!
Even better news is that it’s super easy to make and comes together in a matter of minutes with ingredients that you either probably already have in your fridge or can easily find at your closest grocery store!
While store-bought caramel sauce is convenient, making your own caramel sauce at home is surprisingly easy and can elevate the taste of your other homemade treats. The absolute best part about making your own homemade caramel sauce is that you can customize it to your liking by adjusting the sweetness or viscosity, adding in different flavors like cinnamon or bourbon, or experimenting with different types of cream and sugar.
Tips for success & substitutions:
- Use a candy thermometer – although not 100% necessary, a candy thermometer will help you in knowing exactly what stage your caramel is at. For a thinner caramel to drizzle over ice cream or cupcakes we heat our sugar syrup to the soft-ball stage (234 – 242°F). For a firmer caramel for example that would be poured in molds for candies we heat the sugar syrup to the firm-ball stage (242 – 250°F).
If you don’t have a candy thermometer that’s fine – you can use the cold water method! Keep a bowl of cold water near as you make your caramel and as it browns, dip a spoon in the sugar syrup. Allow the syrup to drip into the cold water then use your fingers to form it into a ball. If the ball instantly flattens once removed from the cold water, this is the soft-ball stage. If the ball is able to briefly hold its shape before flattening, this is the firm-ball stage.
No need to worry if you have accidentally cooked your sugar syrup too long – just add a 2-3 TBSP of water to your caramel once removed from the heat to thin it. - Don’t skip the lemon juice! Yes, I know adding lemon juice may seem a little strange but the lemon flavor does not translate to our finished product. The actual purpose of the lemon juice is to allow us to stir our sugar without it crystallizing – otherwise we’ll end up with chunks of sugar in your finished product!
- Use a wider, shallower pot rather than one with really tall sides. Once our sugar has reached soft-ball stage and it’s time to add the heavy cream and butter, the mixture bubbles quite aggressively. Using a shallower pot, gives the mixture enough surface area to dissipate the heat with a much lower risk of burning us versus a narrower, tall pot which only gives the heat one way to escape – up aka closer to our hands. Trust me and skip the steam burn
- Make this recipe dairy-free by subbing in heavy cream for coconut cream and butter for your favorite butter substitute.
- Feel free to sub in brown sugar. Brown sugar can be substituted for granulated sugar in equal quantities. The resulting flavor is deeper and the caramel itself will be darker.
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
Ingredients
- 9 oz granulated sugar
- 5 oz heavy cream
- 5 TBSP unsalted butter
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat up heavy cream in microwave or in a separate saucepan until hot.
- Add sugar and lemon juice to a saucepan and, over low-medium heat, stir constantly until sugar is completely melted and has reached soft-ball stage (see blog post)
- Once sugar has reached soft-ball stage, add hot heavy cream and butter to sugar syrup and continue to stir until mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heat-resistant jar. Allow to cool a bit before serving & enjoy!
