Salted Caramel Sauce
Homemade salted caramel sauce rivals anything you can buy in a store or even have in a restaurant. It only requires a handful of ingredients and tastes divine.
Homemade caramel can get a bad rep. It can be a little finnicky – whether it be burning the caramel, it crystallizes, etc. However, when it’s made right it’s pretty simple and the result is probably the best caramel you’ll taste in minute. I love using homemade caramel in recipes like my Turtle Brownies and Snickers Thumbprint Cookies.
There are two schools of thought on making caramel sauce. One is making a wet caramel, which this recipe is and some are dry. I have made both and I personally have better luck making wet caramel. I also think it’s slightly easier for beginners.
Baking Notes & Tips
Making caramel is really just cooking some sugar but it does take a little patience and paying attention. There are also some methods to help with success. The first being the wet method as I said earlier. This means you add water to the sugar while it dissolves which aids in it not burning. Then the water boils off, it caramelizes and you add the other ingredients.
I would suggest using a stainless or light bottomed colored pan to help you determine the color of the sugar caramelization. Dark (often nonstick) pans can make it hard to see if the caramel is too light or too dark. Too light will be a very underdeveloped caramel with not tons of flavor other that sugar and burnt caramel will taste.. well, burnt. Just like when browning butter, it’s something you need at JUST the right amount of toasted.
Having all of your ingredients ‘mise en place’ (French for essentially having everything premeasured and ready to go) before starting will be a key to success. You don’t have to walk away from the stovetop to pour or measure anything especially when time is critical.
Salted Caramel Key Ingredients
- Sugar – Spoiler alert, if you didn’t already know caramel is pretty much just sugar. Salted caramel like this does have some salt so it can feel a little more balanced but if you are looking for ways to “reduce the sugar” or using a substitute I would suggest just not making caramel.
- Butter – Butter adds richness and a silkiness to the texture. Again, I would not use margarine. The better the butter, the better the caramel. A good European butter or just one with a higher butterfat would be excellent.
- Water – Because this is a wet recipe, we use water. All of the water is cooked off though so the caramel won’t be any more liquidy than you’d imagine.
Ingredients
- 200 g Granulated sugar 1 cup
- 120 g Water ½ cup
- 120 g Heavy cream ½ cup, room temperature
- 56 g Unsalted butter 4 tbsp, room temperature
- ½ tsp Vanilla
- pinch Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium size pot, add water and sugar and whisk together.200 g Granulated sugar | 120 g Water
- Place pot over medium to medium heat and allow the sugar to completely dissolve and the mixture to come to a gentle boil. Reduce heat if boiling more intensely.
- Let the sugar syrup boil for 10-15 minutes, and while it does DO NOT STIR. If the mixture is boiling at the level you should need to do anything but if you see any sugar crystals appear on the sides of the pot, brush them with a wet pastry brush.
- After 10-15 minutes the sugars should be beginning to caramelize. Once they have reached a medium amber, reduce the heat, whisk and carefully pour in your heavy cream. Pour slowly as the cream will cause the syrup to bubble up and will be very hot.120 g Heavy cream
- Keep whisking over low heat for about a minute until the caramel has come together.
- Remove the caramel from heat and add your butter and vanilla and whisk to combine.56 g Unsalted butter | ½ tsp Vanilla
- Stir in your salt, then pour into a jar or bowl and let cool. After about 30 minutes you can move the caramel to the refrigerator to finish cooling.pinch Flaky sea salt
