Salted Caramel Sauce

Rich, buttery Salted Caramel Sauce made with heavy cream, quick, easy, and perfect for drizzling over desserts or using as a sweet dip.

Course Dessert, Sauce

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword caramel-sauce-recipe, salted-caramel-sauce

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 20

Total Time 21

Servings (2 Tbsp servings)

Calories 116kcal

On the stove, add water and sugar to a large pan or deep medium size heavy bottomed saucepan. Combine using a whisk.
Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until it turns amber in color. (Don't stir).
Turn heat down to medium-low. Warm cream for 20-30 seconds in microwave. It needs to be warm just enough to take the chill off.
Whisking constantly pour the warm cream into the melted sugar mixture. Allow to simmer over medium-low for 2 minutes or until smooth..
Turn off the heat. To the saucepan add butter and salt. Stir until butter has melted and salt dissolves. (You may still see tiny flecks).
Remove pan from heat and add vanilla extract, mix well.
Let stand 5-10 minutes to cool slightly, then drizzle over ice cream, with fruit or any of your favorite desserts. (Makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Sugar - You could use half brown sugar and half white sugar for a stronger molasses flavor.
Flavorings - You could add a dash of bourbon or rum extract to change the flavor profile.
Adjust the Texture - If you'd like to thin the caramel sauce more, you can. You can add one tablespoon of cream (or two) mixing in thoroughly until you reach your desired consistency.
Caramel Sauce Solidifies - Storing this sauce in the refrigerator will cause it to set and be a bit firm. It's easy to remedy, you will need to remove the amount you need for serving placing it into a microwave safe bowl. If you need a full batch, place the entire container into the microwave and heat it on 50% power. This is assuming the container is microwave safe. You can heat it in 30 second increments (more or less, depending on the wattage of your microwave) then stop and stir. Repeat until it's the texture you like. Heat it just enough for the sauce to warm up and thin out again.
Does this Caramel Sauce Recipe Have to be Salted? No, if you can opt to leave out the salt at the end you'll still end up with a delicious homemade caramel sauce.