Salted caramel sauce is easy and quick to make, and it is the perfect way to elevate your desserts. Sweet, salty, rich and creamy, this five ingredient caramel syrup is a must-have recipe!
It’s one of those toppings that works on an incredible variety of desserts. Pair it with apples and pears in the fall, drizzle it over chocolate desserts, or add it to your ice cream.
However you use this salted caramel sauce, you’re sure to love it!
I’m into everything salted caramel these days. This salted caramel sauce is wonderful in coffee, over ice cream, over waffles… really, just about anywhere.
Call it a salted caramel syrup or sauce… whatever you call it, it is decadent, creamy, and probably a little too easy to make. Don’t judge me if I eat it right off the spoon, okay?
Salted Caramel Syrup
I love caramel – so much so, that I’ve brought you some fabulous caramel toppings, icings, frostings and more! Don’t skip caramel icing, salted caramel frosting, and these fabulous caramel rolls.
Why Fleur de sel for this salted caramel? Well, it’s a type of salt that forms on the surface of sea water. It is more delicate and less salty than regular table salt and with less bitterness, so it makes this salted caramel sauce feel special.
It’s a French sea salt, hand harvested with a higher mineral complexity. It is available at specialty cooking stores, including Williams Sonoma.
If you don’t have fleur de sel, you can substitute it with freshly cracked sea salt.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Easy to Make
- Only Five Ingredients
- Perfect as a Dessert Topping
- Keeps well
Shopping List
- Brown Sugar
- Heavy Cream
- Butter
- Fleur de Sel (or any bigger flakes of salt for cracking)
- Vanilla Extract
Tips
- One of the keys to making this sauce so smooth is to warm all ingredients together slowly so that there isn’t a temperature gap (which encourages curdling).
- Continually whisk the sauce as it heats up.
- The recipe is easily doubled to make a bigger batch.
Serving Suggestions
Frequently Asked Questions
Once the caramel syrup cools, it will thicken, so don’t worry if you think it is too thin. If, once it has cooled you still find it too thin, you could reheat it for slightly longer. If it is too thick, you can stir in a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream.
This delicious sweet and salty sauce will keep for up to two weeks. Once it has fully cooled, transfer it to a clean and sealable glass gar and keep it refrigerated.
It’s perfect to make ahead of time if you are planning a dinner party and great to keep in the fridge to effortlessly elevate a dessert.
How to Store
- Room Temperature – You can leave this salted caramel sauce at room temperature for up to two hours. After that, it must be refrigerated.
- Refrigerator – This easy salted caramel sauce keeps refrigerated for two weeks. Be sure to store it in an airtight container.
More Caramel
Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon fleur de sel or 8+ cracks of large salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium-low, combine brown sugar, cream, butter and salt.
- Whisk for five minutes as it thickens.
- Add vanilla and continue to whisk for another minute. Remove from heat and allow to thicken before serving. Refrigerate to store.
Julie’s Tips
Tips
- One of the keys to making this sauce so smooth is to warm all ingredients together slowly so that there isn’t a temperature gap (which encourages curdling).
- Continually whisk the sauce as it heats up.
- To thin this sauce into more of a salted caramel syrup, add more heavy whipping cream until it’s the consistency you’re after.
- The recipe is easily doubled to make a bigger batch.
Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
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How to Make
It takes just a few minutes to make this salty caramel sauce
- In a saucepan over medium-low, combine brown sugar, cream, butter and salt.
- Whisk as directed, until it thickens.
- Add vanilla and continue to whisk for another minute. Remove from heat and allow to thicken before serving.
I cannot wait to make this for Thanksgiving…..I love your recipes Julie!!!
Thanks, Eileen! Hope you’re pouring it over something good, but Iwouldn’t judge if you ate it with a spoon!
Love Love Love this. I love the little jar you put it in almost more than the recipe! Looks so luxe!
Stopping by from the blog hop! Nice to meet you!
Dannette
http://chillmoms.blogspot.com
I sincerely apologize! I have updated the post. Thank you for letting me know!
You didn’t include the amount of salt you used…..
I have a bit of a caramel salt obsession these days as well, which surprises me as I don’t usually like to combine salt and sweet. I love the little jars you used with the labels on the lids.