Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce
Homemade salted caramel sauce is pure magic! Forget store-bought caramel – once you taste the rich, buttery, perfectly salted flavor of caramel made from scratch, you'll never go back. It's easier than you think, and the reward is a smooth sauce ready to elevate your ice cream, cakes, and fruit to superstar status.
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 350kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 m water
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preparation: Remove the butter from the refrigerator and cut in into 4 pieces. Let the butter come to room temperature (65°F) before you start making the caramel. Make sure you have an instant-read thermometer or a candy thermometer on hand to take the temperature of the caramel.
- Prepare the Heavy Cream: Right before you start making the caramel, pour the cream into a measuring cup and heat for about 45 seconds in the microwave, or until it reaches 100°F. You don’t want to add cold cream to the caramel.
- Combine sugar and water: In the saucepan, combine the granulated sugar and water. Place the saucepan over high heat. As the mixture heats up gently and slowly stir the water and sugar together to help dissolve the sugar. Only stir a few times. Avoid splashing the mixture to avoid crystallization against the sides of the pan.
- Cook the sugar syrup: Bring sugar syrup to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook the caramel until it turns a dark amber color and reaches the temperature of 340°F (hard crack stage). As the sugar syrup darkens gently swirl the pan to even the cooking if the sugar syrup is noticeably darker in one area. It will take about 10-15 minutes to reach this stage.
- Whisk in the cream: Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream and then whisk to incorporate the cream. The mixture will bubble up, but keep whisking until subsides. Return the pan to low heat and continue whisking making sure to scrap the bottom to ensure all the caramel is melted and smooth. Continue to whisk until the caramel reaches the temperature of 230°F.
- Carefully add butter: Remove the pan from the heat. Slowly whisk in the butter, one piece at a time until fully incorporated.
- Stir in vanilla and salt: Let the caramel cool for 5 minutes, then slowly whisk in the vanilla extract and kosher salt.
- Cool and store: Pour the caramel sauce into a heatproof jar or container with a lid. Let it cool completely at room temperature. The caramel will thicken as it cools. Cover the jar with the lid and store the caramel in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. It may actually last longer.
Nutrition
Calories: 350kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 474mg | Potassium: 28mg | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 643IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.1mg