The Unlikely Baker

Easy and Delicious Recipes for the Home Baker!

Quick and Easy Salted Caramel Sauce

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This delicious salted caramel sauce recipe is perfect for when you don’t need a whole jar. Fill a dozen cupcakes, drizzle on top of ice cream or just satisfy your salted caramel craving in a snap.

Salted Caramel Sauce

I was never a big fan of caramel. I just found it too sweet for my taste. And having memories of caramel candy getting stuck to my teeth for hours (I had braces too!) certainly didn’t help. But a recent trip to San Francisco to visit my best friends changed all that. I was introduced (read: coerced, as best friends tend to do to each other) to salted caramel and that changed everything.

First – salted caramel ice cream

When I landed, my lovely hosts were immediately talking about how they needed to bring me to this famous ice cream shop so I can try their best-selling salted caramel ice cream.

Them: Do you like salted caramel?

Me: Uhm, not rea…

Them: We have to go to this place

Me: Oh-kay…

So off we went to get ice cream I didn’t really want in the middle of a cold, breezy San Francisco night.

The result? The salted caramel ice cream was divine. It’s not the caramel I knew (and disliked) at all. I was sold. Thank God for best friends, eh?

Next – homemade salted caramel sauce

So back home I started looking for salted caramel everything – cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes. But I knew everything started with the sauce. The salted caramel sauce was the key to everything.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Me vs. Stove

It involved the stove though. And you know I try to avoid it if I can. This recipe is a put-everything-in-a-pot kind of recipe however so I put my stove anxieties aside and just did it. It does involve hot (hot – worth repeating) sugar so extra careful, I was.

Apart from that making this salted caramel sauce is a breeze. All you need is a pot and something to stir the sauce with (I prefer a wooden spoon). You’re done in less than 15 minutes. And it is so good.

Perfect amount for your baked goodies

Another thing I like about this recipe is it doesn’t yield a whole bucket of sauce. It’s just about a third of a cup so it works great if you only need a small amount to fill your cupcakes with, or to drizzle on top of your ice cream, or just simply to satisfy your salted caramel cravings.

It hardens over time and I can imagine the difficulty of dealing with a jar full of hard, sticky salted caramel sauce when all you need is a teaspoon.

So whether you’re a lifelong salted caramel fan, a recent convert like me or not into caramel at all – try this recipe. It is remarkably easy to make and seriously addicting.

(This is for you I-Love-Tourists and I-Love-Walking! Looking forward to our next 0.40 mile adventure.)

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Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Sauce

This delicious salted caramel sauce recipe is perfect for when you don’t need a whole jar. Fill a dozen cupcakes, drizzle on top of ice cream or just satisfy your salted caramel craving in a snap.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Whisk together all your ingredients (except the vanilla) in a heavy-bottom saucepan on medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
  2. Bring down to a simmer and whisk until it thickens (it took me about 13 minutes - but make sure not to thicken it too much; it will continue to harden as it cools).
  3. Once thick enough, whisk in the 1/4 teaspoon vanilla then remove from the heat.
  4. Very carefully pour the caramel into a heatproof container. Allow to cool slightly before using (remember: hot sugar!).

Notes

The sauce will harden as it cools. However, you can just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up again.

https://theunlikelybaker.com/salted-caramel-sauce/

(This recipe adapted from Baker by Nature)

Happy stirring!

Did you make this salted caramel sauce? Tell me about it in the comments section below. I’d love to hear all about it.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Great idea Suchi!. Just so happens we have vanilla ice cream….except it past midnight now…but I’m an adult so…

      Reply

    • It really goes well with so many things! I encourage you to try it. It’s a small-batch recipe and very easy to do 🙂

      Reply

    • What sold me was the simplicity of it all 🙂 I’m not a very good cook but I made this one work. Hope you give it a shot and let me know how it goes 🙂

      Reply

  15. I will definitely give this a try! I’m not the biggest caramel fan either but salted caramel sauce over ice cream or a cheesecake – heaven! Love that you shared a recipe that’s only for a third of a cup. Because who really needs a whole jar, right? Pinned it and will for sure visit your blog again 🙂

    Reply

    • That was exactly what I intended – just make what you actually need. I didn’t want to deal with a whole jar of it. And it’s so simple to make that you can just make another batch. Hope you try it!

      Reply

  20. Oh this looks goooooood. And I’m like you, not really a caramel girl. Will give it a whirl cos it looks divine!x

    Reply

    • I know right? I love that it saves me from doing math while I’m already busy baking lol. Hope you find it useful!

      Reply

    • If you’re already a fan of caramel, I think you will like salted caramel too! Thanks for stopping by Priya!

      Reply

  30. I am still cautious on sweets that are too sweet, and that includes caramel. But I want to be like you and trust good friends, so I am going to try your recipes (and possibly put in on ice cream). I have never made a caramel sauce and tried to avoid everything with caramel, but this is going to change 🙂 . Looks beautiful!

    Reply

    • I don’t like traditional caramel too precisely because it’s too sweet. Hope this doesn’t turn out too sweet for you Nicoletta! (I’m feeling the pressure now lol!)

      Reply

  32. Isn’t salted caramel just a revelation? I would put it on literally everything if I could. Some recipes are tricky for me – especially if they start out with melting just pure sugar which I always seem to burn – but THIS recipe seems like one I can handle! Can’t wait for the cupcakes!

    Reply

    • Yes! I went from hating caramel to loving salted caramel 🙂 And trust me, this is easy. I think the hardest part for me was deciding when it was thick enough….I’m excited about the cupcakes too!

      Reply

  33. Don’t you just love finding out that something you used to dislike can be oh so delicious? This recipe sounds incredible, so easy to have ready to use! I’ll pin it to my pinterest so I can make it whenever I feel like baking 🙂

    Reply

    • Yeah, it was really a complete turnaround. I mean, I don’t even eat Werther’s lol. Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

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