Name: Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter; 1 cup light brown sugar (packed); 1 cup heavy cream; 1 teaspoon salt

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Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce is the tasty combo of sweet and salty that you crave with your ice cream, popcorn & all your favorite treats!

Warm, sweet, Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce comes together in about 10 minutes and is the perfect topping for your favorite desserts like ice cream and cake! Whisk together butter, sugar, salt, and heavy cream to make a perfect balance of sweet and salty sauce, and give the whole family something to rave about!

homemade salted caramel sauce in a jar with a spoon with recipe name at the bottom

Caramel Cravings

I sometimes forget how easy some things are to make, but maybe that’s my brain’s way of preventing me from overeating a good thing, like Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce! This sweet, gooey caramel sauce is so good that it feels like it disappears five minutes after I finish making it! Since this salted caramel sauce only takes about 10 minutes to complete, that’s ok with me because I can quickly make a new batch to enjoy with apple slices, drizzled-over ice cream, or popcorn.

What could be better with Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce than creamy Caramel Cheesecake Salad or a fast and delicious batch of Air Fryer Baked Apples– apples were made for caramel sauce!

Other Recipes to Serve with Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

Perhaps one of the best drinks ever created, a Copycat Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino, would be incomplete without this salted caramel sauce!
No matter what time of day you enjoy an Apple Pie Oatmeal Bar, a hefty drizzle of caramel sauce is the perfect topping!

Ingredients

Dairy: You will need butter and heavy cream. While unsalted butter is preferred, you can use whatever you have on hand.

Sugar: You will need brown sugar for this caramel sauce, which gives the sauce a deeper flavor. Dark brown sugar has a more intense flavor, and light brown sugar has a great light molasses flavor, so choose your level of flavor or go with the brown sugar you already have in the cupboard.

Salt: The salt gives this caramel sauce a lovely sweet/salty contrast. You can also sprinkle some sea salt on the caramel for presentation points.

How to Make Salted Caramel Sauce

STEP ONE: In a medium saucepan with high sides, melt the butter over medium heat.

STEP TWO: Stir the brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt into the melted butter and mix well.

heavy cream, brown sugar, and salt added to melted butter in a saucepan

STEP THREE: Cook the caramel sauce for 5 minutes for a thinner sauce or up to 10 minutes for a thicker sauce.

salted caramel sauce in a saucepan with a rubber spatula

STEP FOUR: Remove the caramel from the heat and pour it into a jar to cool.

side view of a mason jar of homemade salted caramel sauce

Tips for Success

When stored in the fridge, the caramel sauce will become pretty thick, so to make it pourable again, pop the jar into the microwave and heat it for 10 seconds at a time.
If you know you like your caramel sauce on the thinner side, you can add 1-2 tablespoons more heavy cream when first making the sauce.
Always cool the caramel sauce before using it. The sauce is boiling while cooking and will be too hot to enjoy immediately.
When the heavy cream is added, the sauce will bubble up, so using a pot with high enough sides is essential so the sauce doesn’t boil over the side.

spoonful of salted caramel sauce drizzling back into the jar

What is the difference between white sugar and brown sugar when making caramel?

Caramel can be made using either white or brown sugar, but the process is much faster when using brown sugar. Brown sugar contains molasses, giving the sugar a caramel flavor, so it doesn’t need to be caramelized like white sugar to reach this flavor. White sugar risks burning when caramelizing due to the high heat and length of time it needs on the heat to caramelize. Both sugars have been used to make incredible-tasting caramel sauces, but using brown sugar is considered a little easier and a faster process overall.

homemade salted caramel sauce being spooned over a bowl of vanilla ice cream

How do I store homemade caramel sauce?

Once the caramel sauce has cooled in the jar, it can be sealed and kept in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. To soften the sauce and make it pourable again, microwave it for 10 seconds until it reaches your desired consistency.

Homemade caramel sauce can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Completely cooled caramel sauce can be transferred to a freezer-safe container and enjoyed later. Avoid storing your caramel sauce in a glass container in the freezer, which could shatter as the sauce expands. The sauce can be thawed in the fridge overnight or left on the counter for a few hours and then warmed in the microwave if you like.

homemade salted caramel sauce drizzled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream

More Ways to Love Salted Caramel!

*This post was originally posted on 10/04/2014.