A homemade caramel sauce recipe for fans of Starbucks caramel sauce. This sauce is as delicious as a famous brand. I wrote this recipe for cold drinks in summer but this easy caramel sauce is great not only for drink but also dessert. And dipping apple slices into homemade caramel sauce will be a wonderful treat in fall.

And there is one thing to remember when making caramel: it’s very important to have all the ingredients prepared just next to the stove-top because everything happens so fast over medium high heat. The ingredients are sugar, cream, butter, vanilla and salt.

Luxurious butter caramel sauce with a hint of vanilla flavor. Caramel sauce for drink is thinner than my caramel sauce for dessert.

To make caramel sauce, first melt the sugar. People who are not familiar with this, it would be less scaring adding some water. But I always melt sugar without water over high or medium high heat. Just let it melt until it partially melt and just starts browning and quickly stir with a wooden stick. That’s enough. Your sugar won’t get crystallized.

Like this.

Then add in butter. Add in cold butter to stop caramelization. And don’t be surprised. The caramel will fervently bubble up.

And stir in cream. Be ready for a lot of steam when adding cream. Caramel lumps will form.

Finally stir in vanilla and salt.

That simple. Enjoy!

Voila! Caramel sauce. Enjoy this rich caramel sauce for your coffee, milk, milkshake, ice cream, popcorn, cake, etc. Which one do you prefer for your coffee: chocolate sauce or caramel sauce? That’s not an easy question for me at all. But now definitely it’s caramel.

How to Make Caramel Sauce

Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 1 1/3 cups 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Instructions

In a thick-bottomed sauce pan, add in 1 cup of granulated sugar. And over medium-high heat, cook the sugar. Sugar will melt and then turn into golden. When it starts to turn into amber, remove the pan out of heat.
Quickly add in 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter and whisk until the butter is melted and incorporated with the caramel. Always be cautious because sugar burns easily.
Then carefully add in ½ cup of heavy cream and whisking fast until homogeneous. Don’t be intimidated by bubbles and foams. It’s only natural when making caramel. And finally stir in ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
Transfer to a heat-proof bottle and let cool.