Ready in 15 minutes, this caramel sauce recipe calls for only 4 ingredients. It's easy to make and you can use it to top your desserts or add to your drinks.
I love making caramel treats at home, chewy caramel, caramel latte and caramel milkshakes are some of our favorites. Today I'm going to show you how to make caramel sauce without corn syrup, it's easy to make and you can use it in many different recipes.
Table Of Contents:
About this recipe
It's pretty convenient to step into a grocery store and grab a jar of caramel sauce, sure, but we all know homemade is better. It's fresh, it doesn't have any preservatives or weird ingredients and honestly, it's fun and feels awesome to make a staple at home!
I'm going to show you how to make caramel sauce with only four ingredients and in less than fifteen minutes. You'll want to have a jar of this homemade caramel sauce at hand all the time.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Sugar: I used regular granulated sugar for this recipe. You can also use brown sugar, more on that below.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter. Substitutions such as margarine or plant based butters won't work as well.
- Heavy cream: Use the real stuff and not lite or fat free. Coconut milk could be used instead of heavy cream.
Even though traditional caramel candies call for corn syrup, caramel sauce usually doesn't include corn syrup because it's not going to be solid like the candy.
Instructions
- Place sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not stir the mixture at all. Bring to boil and simmer until it turns amber.
- Add butter to the mixture and wait for thirty seconds.
- Turn the heat off, add heavy cream, stir and then turn the heat on again and cook for about one minute or until it reaches the desired thickness.
This is a thick caramel sauce and if you would like to have it runnier, you don't need to cook it over heat after adding the cream. But trust me on this one, however you decide to make it, this is going to be the best caramel sauce you've ever tasted!
Variations
Salted caramel sauce: Just add 1 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt to the caramel sauce after you add the cream.
Caramel sauce with brown sugar: Brown sugar has molasses in it so it will alter the flavor from classic caramel but it's going to be good. The process will be the same.
Usage
Here are a few ways to use homemade caramel sauce:
- Drizzle on ice cream
- Serve with apples
- Use in apple pie and cobbler
- Drizzle caramel sauce on pancakes and waffles
- Use caramel sauce to top cheesecakes and brownies
- Add caramel sauce to your coffee
Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all. Just make sure you have all the ingredients ready before you start. Timing is crucial when making caramel, you need to make sure the sugar doesn't burn.
It only takes 15 minutes to make this recipe therefore it's best to keep the heat at medium to medium low to avoid burning.
After adding the heavy cream, simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes to make it thicker.
Store caramel sauce in a jar and refrigerate for up to ten days. Reheat the sauce in the microwave or over water bath for drizzling.
I don't recommend freezing it because the sugar might crystalize.
More caramel recipes
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Step-by-Step Recipe
Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Place sugar and water in a large sauce pan, don't stir the mixture.
- Bring the sugar and water to boil and simmer until the mixture gets a light amber color.
- Add in butter and stir to melt the butter.
- turn the heat off and slowly add in heavy cream and stir well.
- If you like the sauce to be thick, place the sauce pan back on the heat and cook it for a couple of minutes.
- Let the caramel sauce cool a little bit and store it in a jar.
Notes
- Store the caramel sauce in a jar and refrigerate for up to 10 days. Don't freeze the caramel sauce.
- Keep the heat at medium to medium low to avoid the sugar burning.
- You can also use brown sugar to make this recipe.
- For salted caramel add 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt to the sugar and water.
Shivani Raja
This looks divine - I can’t wait to try it!
Seema Sriram
ooo yum!! I have the stock ready to go on everything now. This caramel sauce is the best.
Teodora Grujic
This looks amazing! I love it in my coffee! Thank you for sharing!
Andrea
Caramel is my favorite and I am ready to put this on everything! Making this ASAP!
Genevieve
You can never go wrong with homemade caramel sauce especially around the holidays!
Michelle S
The pics look great, but the directions are unclear. I'd like to try this, but don't see when to put the butter into the mix.
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
Hi Michelle. Please take a look at the text under "How to make Caramel Sauce without corn syrup" and the recipe card has also been updated 🙂
Justine Howell
OMG on ice cream, delicious!!
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
YAAAS!! Caramel sauce is super good!
Chris Hitchcock
There are so many things I could add this too! What a great easy recipe!
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
Thank you Chris!