A Delicious Homemade Caramel Sauce Doesn't Need Cream (2024)

Vegetarian Sauces
Ice Cream
Recipes By Diet

Kimberly Kunaniec

A trained pastry chef and food writer who specializes in frozen treats like ice cream and sorbet.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

Updated on 01/18/23

Tested by

Tracy Wilk

Tested byTracy Wilk

Tracy Wilk is a professional pastry chef, recipe developer and chef instructor, and, most importantly, a firm believer in sprinkles.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

Prep: 1 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 16 mins

Servings: 8 servings

Yield: 1 cup

800 ratings

Write a Review

Add a comment

Caramel sauce is a wonderful topping for ice cream, cake, pie, and bread pudding. While a typical caramel recipe calls for heavy cream, what if you don't have any handy? This easy recipe uses milk and butter instead, ingredients you're more likely to have on hand. If you want to make delicious caramel sauce without running to the store, this recipe will do the trick.

The key to creamy caramel sauce is to avoid stirring the sugar and water mixture once it begins to boil. Otherwise, you run the risk of it becoming grainy by incorporating sugar crystals from the sides of the pot into the mixture. Once the caramel forms and you add the milk, whisk to combine. Adding the butter at the end helps keep the texture creamy and soft.

Chocolate Pots de Crème

A Delicious Homemade Caramel Sauce Doesn't Need Cream (3)

"Using milk instead of cream made this caramel sauce more of a household ingredient (plus no leftover heavy cream you don't have a use for!), and the addition of the butter made it luscious and creamy. I love putting caramel sauce on almost anything, so having this ready in the fridge is a complete win." —Tracy Wilk

A Delicious Homemade Caramel Sauce Doesn't Need Cream (4)

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
See Also
Caramel forms when table sugar, C_12H_22O_11, reacts with oxygen. What elements make up caramel? | Socratic
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 pinch kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Put the saucepan over medium-high heat and cover the pan with a lid.
Once the water has come to a rolling boil, remove the lid. Do not stir the caramel after this point. If your caramel is cooking unevenly, you can gently swirl the pot to even out the sauce.
Cook the caramel until it is a golden-brown color. Once it is a dark amber, remove from the heat and slowly add the milk while whisking. Be careful: The milk can boil up quickly when it hits the hot caramel. The caramel can also separate because the temperature changed too quickly.
Once the milk has been added, gently warm the mixture over medium heat. Whisk the mixture together and boil for 1 minute until the sauce thickens slightly. Add the salt and stir the mixture until it is well combined and liquid.
Once the milk has combined with the sugar and becomes completely incorporated, turn off the heat. Add the butter and whisk to combine.
Allow your caramel to cool before serving.

Tips

By covering the sugar and water with a tight-fitting lid, condensation will build up and run down the sides of the pot, cleaning off any sugar that may have collected there. You also can use a wet pastry brush to wash the sides of the pot. If you skip this step, crystals may form on the edges of your caramel, causing the sauce to become grainy.
Before the caramel starts to darken, the bubbles will slow down, and the mixture will look thicker. This is when you should start keeping an eye on it. Caramel goes from light to dark very quickly,and burnt sugar doesn't make a good sauce. Once you can smell the sugar cooking, don’t walk away from the kitchen. At this point, cover the pot one more time for 1 to 2 minutes to ensure there won’t be any crystals.
Adding a pinch of salt to your caramel will actually make it sweeter because the salt counteracts the bitter notes of a deeply caramelized sugar.

Recipe Variation

You can always add more salt to make a true salted caramel. Add 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt for a gentle flavor or 1/2 teaspoon for a bold salted caramel sauce flavor.

What Can I Do With Caramel Sauce?

Use caramel sauce as a topping for ice cream, dunking pretzels or fresh fruit like apple slices, or drizzling on cheesecake, cupcakes, brownies, popcorn balls, and cookies.

What Is the Difference Between Caramel and Butterscotch Sauce?

Both caramel and butterscotch are made by melting and toasting sugar, often with a little liquid like water and/or cream. Caramel is typically made using white sugar, while butterscotch is made using brown sugar for a more pronounced buttery, toasty flavor.

15 Recipes To Use Up That Carton of Heavy Cream

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
117	Calories
2g	Fat
26g	Carbs
1g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories	117
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g	2%
Saturated Fat 1g	5%
Cholesterol 5mg	2%
Sodium 48mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate 26g	9%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Total Sugars 26g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 19mg	1%
Iron 0mg	0%
Potassium 22mg	0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

sauce
caramel sauce
dessert
american

Rate This Recipe

I don't like this at all.It's not the worst.Sure, this will do.I'm a fan—would recommend.Amazing! I love it!Thanks for your rating!