Caramel Sauce
Sure, you can buy it from the store, but homemade Caramel Sauce tastes a thousand times better and is simple to make. It only takes 15 minutes!
This is a great caramel sauce for apples, ice cream, cheesecake, banoffee pie, coffee drinks like caramel macchiato, and more.
“Fresher tastes better.”
It’s something we all hear over and over again about food.
Well, let me tell you…it’s SOOOOO true when it comes to caramel.
It’s easy to pick up a jar of caramel sauce from the grocery store, but it won’t taste nearly as good as the freshly homemade stuff.
And as much of a scary reputation that it has, it’s totally doable for cooks of all levels. There are a lot of comments below from people who have had success with this recipe, and you don’t even need a thermometer to make this homemade caramel sauce!
Caramel is a great finishing ingredient for cheesecakes, over ice cream, or for dipping with apples. I also loving using it for this Caramel Apple Crisp, one of my all-time favorite desserts.
How to Make Caramel Sauce:
To get started, place a cup of granulated sugar in a saucepan, and give it a little shake so the sugar lays flat in an even layer. Then add 1/3 cup of water, which should moisten all of the sugar:
Turn the heat to medium and cook (do not stir!) until the sugar dissolves into a clear syrup.
It will look cloudy at first, but eventually give way to a clear, bubbling liquid. You can see some spots of cloudiness below where the sugar is dissolving, as well as some clear spots:
Continue to cook the caramel, and watch as it begins to take on an amber color:
Do not leave the caramel’s side, and have 3/4 cup of heavy cream standing by.
Once the caramel has gotten a golden color, like honey, turn off the heat and immediately add the heavy cream:
This will stop the caramel from continuing to cook.
Now add two tablespoons of butter:
Continue stirring until the caramel has an even texture.
(And if the caramel seizes up when you add the cream and butter, do not worry! It should smooth out with more stirring and residual heat).
The caramel sauce will look foamy, like this:
Eventually as the heat dissipates, the caramel will settle down:
Right now the mixture will look very thin and runny, but the caramel sauce will thicken as it cools.
I find the caramel has the best drizzling consistency at room temperature.
The caramel is now ready to be enjoyed! I love using it in this Caramel Apple Crisp recipe.
For another caramel dessert, this Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache Tart is also fantastic!
Caramel sauce tips and questions:
- How long will homemade caramel sauce keep? I’ve found it will keep in the fridge for at least a month.
- Can you freeze caramel sauce? Yes, for a few months. Thaw it in the fridge or in a water bath before serving.
- Does caramel sauce need to be refrigerated? Yes, because of the cream and butter. It will get very thick as it cools, so reheat as necessary.
- Can you reheat caramel sauce? Yes, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Heating the caramel will make it thinner and runnier, FYI.
- Why does caramel crystallize? Usually what happens is you get a few crystallized sugar spots on the sides of the pan, where water evaporated and the sugar granules turned into crystals again, and this sets off a chain reaction for the entire pan.
- How do you keep caramel from crystallizing? The easiest way off the bat is to prevent any crystallization on the sides from happening by using a wet pastry brush to wash down the sugar from the walls of the pan. An alternative is to put a lid on the pan for a minute or two when you see crystals forming, which will use steam/condensation from the lid to wash down the sides. Another option is to use a little bit of corn syrup (2 tablespoons) to prevent crystallization. However, a lot of people don’t like to add corn syrup and you don’t need it to make caramel. Finally, never stir the caramel until you’re adding the cream.
- Can you fix crystallized caramel? YES! You don’t need to start over or throw it away. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring the sugar back to a boil. Heating it up with the water should re-dissolve and moisten the crystals. Then you can proceed with the recipe and start getting some color on the sugar.
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Add the sugar to a heavy bottomed saucepan, then shake it so it lies in an even, flat layer.
- Add the water to fully moisten the sugar.
- Place the pot over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and turns clear, a few minutes.
- Raise the heat to medium high, and cook the caramel until it turns amber colored*, about 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and immediately add the heavy cream.
- Add the butter and stir everything together until the caramel smooths out. If desired, add vanilla extract.
- Let the caramel sauce cool to room temperature, then transfer to a jar and refrigerate.
- The caramel can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 month, or in the freezer for 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Post updated from the archives with new photos, new text, and more tips in August 2018. Originally published March 2012.
Hullo,
What I really would like to make are chewable caramels.
Should I just keep cooking the sugar-cream mixture, maybe w/o butter, until it gets thicker and solidifies?
Hi Silvia, you need a different recipe for that. I have two chewy caramels: https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/sea-salt-caramels/ and https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/pumpkin-spice-caramels-and-common-mistakes-people-make-when-making-caramels/
Thanks for the great instructions( including about what to do if you get crystals) it came out tasting very nice … much better than a different recipe that I tried previously
Hi Christina, that’s wonderful, glad to hear!
Can this recipe be used to coat apples for caramel apples?
Hi Caitlin, my feeling is it may be a little bit too thin. I think it’d be better to find another recipe specifically for coating the apples.
I want to keep it from crystallizing but I tried your method and it started to burn and was ruined. How do you keep it from burning, if you don’t stir it for a couple of minutes with the lid on. Also when the lid is on there was no way to tell if it was sticking, until I smelled the burn. So mine is either burning or crystalizing.
What am I doing wrong? What do you suggest?
Hi Will, do you have a gas or electric stove? It sounds like the mixture is cooking too fast before the sugar has a chance to dissolve into a clear syrup. Does this sound like what’s happening? Even though it may feel strange not to stir, if you stir the mixture, you will almost certainly set things up for crystallization, and it’s not necessary to stir in order to dissolve the sugar crystals. Also, the lid shouldn’t be on at any point during the cooking process, that is only a suggested hack to put the lid on for a minute or two if you’re having issues with crystallization, and that minute shouldn’t be the difference between the caramel burning or not. Here are my thoughts for action steps: are you okay with adding some light corn syrup to the sugar mixture? That will help prevent crystallization. The other thing you can do is add more water at the beginning, to completely moisten the sugar before heating. This will take longer to cook, as you have to cook off all the water before the sugar will caramelize, but it may help you. Let me know your thoughts.
Thank you so much for answering me. I have a 2 year old smooth top Samsung Electric Stove, which seems to change the burner temperature depending on how high I set it. Example when the burner is on medium, it will turn red hot for a few seconds, then cools down quickly which is so different from the old coil stove. So your comment that the mixture may be cooking too fast seems possible.
My liquid always looks a little cloudy – not clear. So I will try turning the heat down and cooking it slower and adding more water if that doesn’t work; adding corn syrup will be my last option. I remember my mom told me when she cooked candy, that the sugar mixture had to spin a thread. I do not think I have ever been able to get any of my mixtures to do that because I do not understand how that is suppose to happen or what it is suppose to look like. LOL
I have a 2 year old smooth top Samsung Electric Stove, which seems to change the temperature itself. The burner turns red hot for a few seconds, then cools down – so different from the old coil stove. So your idea that the mixture may be cooking too fast seems possible. My liquid always looks a little cloudy – not clear. So I will try turning the heat down and cooking it slower; and adding more water if that doesn’t work; adding corn syrup will be my last option. Thanks again,
Hi Will, ah yes, I’m familiar with that type of stove. Ours was like that when I was a child. It seemed to just blast it red at full heat, and then go off completely, alternating every few seconds. I would definitely cook it lower to start, to try to get the sugar fully dissolved and clear. Once everything is clear, it’s easier to brown it from there because you don’t have to worry about undissolved sugar. As far as the thread story with your mom, that was one of the ways to tell what stage the sugar was at without an instant read thermometer. However, threads in this case would be way too low for a target temperature. That indicates about 230F, and you need to get into the final stage which is hard crack. If you have a thermometer, it’s 338-350F that’s the golden window for perfect.
I read the whole thing as well as many many comments… Twice. And then I got Brave and got out of bed and put my hair up and went to my kitchen and got started. My first try I used too big of a pot and the whole thing crystallized from the middle out. It was pretty weird. But I added more water and started again in a smaller pot and I swear it took forever, but the sugar finally became an Amber ish color and I added my cream which by now is very lukewarm. It’s still seized up but I started and stared and stared and stared and stared and I ended up… With caramel sauce! Amazing. I was so scared! it tastes delicious but it is so hot… I need to let it cool down so I can enjoy it. thanks for helping me be brave in the kitchen!