My Salted Caramel Sauce is a game-changer! It’s rich buttery, perfect for drizzling everything from ice cream to waffles.
This recipe serves eight and costs about $5.16 to make. That’s just $0.65 per serving!
Table of Contents
Calling All Salted Caramel Sauce Fanatics!
This dreamy salted caramel sauce is the golden glue holding the dessert world together. Imagine: rich, buttery caramel spooned over ice cream, drizzled over waffled, or spooned onto apple slices. We’re not stopping there, though!
Plus, it’s ridiculously easy to make at home (no candy thermometer required!). Even the kiddos will love watching the sugar transform into a golden caramel. So grab your saucepan and prepare to create a jar of pure deliciousness that your whole family will love!
What I love about this recipe:
- Forget store-bought! This sauce is a million miles away from that artificial stuff. It’s deep, rich, tastes like real butter and caramelized sugar heaven.
- Easy enough for a weeknight. No fancy equipment needed, just a watchful eye and a sprinkle of patience. Candy thermometer? Who needs it?
- The sweet and salty dance. That hint of sea salt at the end? Pure magic. It cuts through the sweetness and makes the whole thing sing.
Ingredients and Estimated Cost
Per Serving Cost: $0.65
Recipe Cost: $5.16
- 1 cup granulated sugar: $0.40
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter: $0.75
- 1 vanilla bean: $3.50
- ½ cup heavy cream: $0.50
- ¾ teaspoon salt: $0.01
NOTE: The recipe prices are calculated by using grocery store websites. The actual cost of the recipe will vary depending on what ingredients you already have.
How To Make Salted Caramel Sauce
Melt
- Add the sugar to the pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring with a heat-resistant rubber spatula. Melt the sugar until the clumps are gone, and you’re left with a beautiful light-brown liquid.
- Add the butter and vanilla, and continuously stir until completely melted.
Add Remaining Ingredients and Cook
- Slowly pour in the heavy cream, and boil the mixture for 1 minute.
- Remove the caramel sauce from the heat and stir in the salt.
To Finish
- Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
- Then, pour it into a heat-safe jar with the lid off until it has cooled completely.
Storage Tips
STORE AT ROOM TEMP: The sauce can be kept at room temperature for about a day. After 24 hours, it should be refrigerated.
STORE IN THE FRIDGE: This sauce will keep covered in an airtight jar for about 2-3 weeks, but I doubt it will last that long!
FREEZE: The salted caramel sauce doesn’t freeze and defrost well, so I can’t recommend freezing it.
Disclosure: Affiliate links below.
Cook’s Tools and Special Ingredients:
- heavy-bottomed saucepan
- heat-resistant rubber spatula
- vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste (both are optional)
- storage jar (this is the one I used in the pictures)
More Caramel Dessert Recipes:
Watch How To Make It
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Salted Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- heavy-bottomed saucepan
- heat-resistant rubber spatula
- vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste
- storage jar
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter see note below
- 1 vanilla bean seeds removed (optional)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, heat the sugar. Stir constantly with a heat-resistant rubber spatula.
- The sugar will clump, but it will eventually melt. Keep stirring until the sugar melts into a light brown liquid, about 3-4 minutes.
- Once the sugar melts, immediately add in butter and vanilla bean seeds (if using). Stir constantly until butter is melted, about 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly pour in heavy cream while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture comes up to a boil. Keep stirring and boil for 1 minute.
- Remove pan from heat and add salt, stirring until combined.
- Let the sauce cool for 10 minutes, then pour it into a glass jar.
- Cool completely with the lid open, then cover and store in the refrigerator. The salted caramel sauce will thicken as it cools.
Notes
- With this salted caramel recipe, you must constantly stir the entire time it’s on the stovetop. It only takes 7 minutes, so put down your phone and make sure the kids are occupied for those 7 minutes. Keep the mixture moving because it can burn quickly!
- If you use unsalted butter, add ¾ teaspoons of salt to the caramel sauce in step 5. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the caramel sauce in step 5 if you use salted butter.
- The vanilla bean seeds are optional, but I love using them because they enhance the luscious caramel flavor! You can also use ½ teaspoon of vanilla bean paste instead of the seeds.
- I don’t recommend doubling this recipe. I’ve tried it a few times, and the sugar doesn’t melt properly, leaving sugar shards in the sauce—not ideal!
- I make back-to-back batches when I want to make a lot of salted caramel sauce for gifting or other purposes.
Nutrition
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This salted caramel sauce looks amazing! My daughter and I were just talking a few days ago about how we’d love some apples with caramel sauce. Definitely making this soon!
My MOM LOVES salted caramel. She would be so impressed if I made it!
This caramel sauce was the bomb on the ice cream pie we made!
This sauce is so perfect! It was easy to make and absolutely delicious, this recipe is going to get a lot of use at our house!
This is a great recipe for salted caramel. Perfectly salty and sweet!
Just made today. It came out DELICIOUS! Thank you!
Yay, I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
I just love working with salted caramel so much that I need a dedicated post as well. I’d bathe in it if it just weren’t weird!! 🙂
I love it, too. And I don’t think it’s weird to want to bathe in it. 😉
One day soon I will actually make salted caramel at home myself. Yours looks sooooooo good.
Yummmm I love salted caramel sauce! I did a similar post! It’s sooo good on green apples 🙂
I love it, too!
Thank you for all the great tips! Homemade caramel sauce is SO much better than anything store bought!
I agree, so so SO much better than store bought!