Jump to Recipe
Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce: If you’ve never made caramel sauce, you haven’t lived! It’s a MILLION times better than store-bought caramel and takes less than 15 minutes to make!
Hide your spoons, people!
This vanilla bean caramel sauce is completely impossible to resist spooning over everything! If it weren’t such a sacrilege to tempt children with sugar in exchange for eating their vegetables, this would be the ultimate temptation.
You may need to keep this stuff on the top shelf of the fridge tucked way in the back if you plan to actually use it for anything. Otherwise you run the risk of it mysteriously disappearing.
I’m even having a hard time keeping it away from myself!
How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce
To make this homemade caramel sauce recipe, you only need 5 simple ingredients: sugar, heavy cream, vanilla beans (optional), vanilla extract, and salt.
You’ll heat the sugar in a saucepan until it turns to liquid and cook the liquid sugar until it turns amber in color. You don’t need a thermometer for this caramel recipe. Just keep your eyes on the sugar to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Then you’ll whisk in some of the cream and vanilla beans (if you’re using them). The mixture will bubble up furiously in the pan so be careful! Whisk in the rest of the cream and vanilla beans, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla extract.
And that’s it! The sauce will look really thin but it will thicken as it cools into the luscious caramel sauce you see here.
This sauce is no joke! It’s rich and smooth and hits on every single reason why you fell in love with caramel sauce as a kid in the first place. When chilled, it’s a thick sauce that can be dolloped or swirled into brownie batter.
When slightly warmed, it’s pourable or spoonable for drizzling over ice cream (brownies a la mode anyone?), peach cobbler, or a slab of warm apple pie and it can be added to frosting for genius creations like these caramel frappuccino cupcakes.
If you’ve still never made homemade caramel sauce, what the heck are you waiting for? Please make this your first attempt! It takes no more than 10 minutes to make and I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll never ever go back to buying jarred, store-bought caramel sauce again.
And wouldn’t it go just awesomely on an ice cream sundae with some of that hot fudge sauce that you’re making at home now?
Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce Recipe
Yield: about 1 ¼ cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Cooling Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Vanilla bean caramel sauce is a must-have recipe in your kitchen repertoire. Pour it over ice cream, brownies, and pie, or swirl it into cupcakes and cheesecake. It's a MILLION times better than store-bought caramel and takes less than 15 minutes to make!
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar or vanilla sugar
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (in addition to the ½ tsp below) if you don't have a vanilla bean
- ¼ tsp coarse salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Measure the heavy cream in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and add the seeds of the vanilla bean; set aside.
- Spread the sugar out in an even layer in the bottom of a heavy saucepan.Heat the pan to medium-low and when the sides of the sugar begin to liquefy, start slowly stirring the sugar together until all of the sugar has melted and only liquid remains.(Lower the heat to low if the sugar or liquid sugar begins to brown too quickly. If the sugar clumps, turn the heat to low and let it melt - try not to stir it so it has a chance to heat up slowly.)
- Once the liquid reaches a deep amber color (you can check this by dropping a little onto a white plate), remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour half of the heavy cream and vanilla been seeds down the side of the pan and whisk it vigorously into the hot liquid.Take care - the hot liquid will bubble violently!Whisk in the remaining heavy cream and seeds and then the salt and vanilla extract and whisk the mixture until the cream has fully incorporated itself. If the sugar rehardens into clumps at this point (like mine did - lots of sugar clumping went on that afternoon), put the pan back over medium-low heat and whisk the mixture until the sugar melts back into the sauce and the sauce is completely smooth.This may take a couple of minutes but it will come together - be patient.
- Let the sauce cool for a few minutes on the stove then transfer it to a heatproof container (mason jars work great for storing this sauce).Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Recommended Products
As a member of the Amazon Associate affiliate program, I earn a small percentage from your qualifying Amazon purchases when you click the Amazon links on this page. I'm not informed of who purchases what, just of what products are purchased.
How much do you love this recipe?
Follow Smells Like Home on Pinterest and click that little Pin button at the top of this recipe card to save this recipe and share with your Pinterest followers!
FAQs
Add more sugar to the sauce.
Most caramel sauces are made by caramelizing sugar and adding milk and a little salt. If you increase the amount of sugar in the recipe you'll end up with a thicker caramel. Try increasing the sugar by about 1/3.
Do you stir constantly when making caramel? ›
Instead of stirring, you gently swirl the melted sugar around in the pan to keep it moving and avoid burn spots. The agitation of stirring can cause the sugar to grab on to any unmelted crystals on the sides of the pan, and crystallization, or chunks of sugar, form in your caramel and they won't melt.
Why is my homemade caramel so hard? ›
This is usually caused by sugar crystals stuck to the side of the pan that didn't get fully dissolved. It only takes one to set off a chain reaction, and before you know it you have crunchy caramel.
Why isn't my caramel going brown? ›
Once the sugar is melted, the liquid will turn a golden color. However, to caramelize it, you want that shade to darken, so you need to keep it on the heat for around another six to eight minutes. Be aware that if you've used brown sugar, the liquid will darken faster than if you've used white sugar.
How do you fix caramel that didn't set? ›
you simply haven't cooked it enough-- possibly your microwave is less powerful (the original recipe doesn't specify a wattage for cooking the caramel) or the butter you used has a higher water content. You could try cooking the mixture for a little longer, and seeing if it sets up firmer.
When should you not stir caramel? ›
Like dry caramel, you want to gently move the sugar mixture in that same side-to-side paintbrush-like fashion until the sugar dissolves. Then, as soon as the mixture comes to a boil, it should not be stirred, as the agitation can cause crystallization.
What happens if you stir caramel too much? ›
Stirring the sugar
If the melting sugar splashes up onto the sides of the pan, it quickly loses its moisture content and forms back into crystals. That can set off a chain reaction that can cause caramel to seize up, ruining the entire batch.
How do you know when homemade caramel is done? ›
The caramelization process happens quick, and you want to be there when it's time to remove it from the heat. From golden, the mixture will continue to darken. Pull you pan off of the heat when you see the mixture turn to the color of a shiny copper penny. That's how you know it's done!
Should you stir sugar when making caramel? ›
Editor's Tip: After incorporating the sugar into the water, it's important not to stir or the sugars can crystallize and cause the caramel to seize up. Instead, swirl the pan from time to time to ensure the sugar melts evenly.
Why does my homemade caramel taste bad? ›
You're Not Watching the Pot and the Syrup Got Too Dark
Caramel isn't one of those things you can set and forget—once the sugar starts to brown, the caramelization process happens quickly. If you're not careful, the sugar can burn and take on a bitter, unpleasant taste.
To thicken a caramel sauce, use one tablespoon of cornstarch or tapioca starch (sometimes known as tapioca flour) and one tablespoon of water per cup of caramel. Then simmer the caramel, stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick.
Why is my caramel still white? ›
If it starts to simmer and your sugar is still in granules and has NOT dissolved, that can crystalize your caramel. You can swirl the pot — or at this point, you can go in with a clean spatula and stir it. Once all the sugar is dissolved, THEN you can turn up the heat and allow the mix to simmer.
Is caramel just sugar and water? ›
Just to recap: dry caramel is made with just sugar. This makes dry caramel more difficult to make because it burns quite easily and the sugar crystals can clump together, resulting in grainy caramel. Wet caramel is made by first dissolving the sugar in a little water and then allowing it to caramelize.
Can you remelt caramel? ›
After the caramel cools down, pour it into a glass jar or container. Refrigerate for up to 1 month. The caramel solidifies as it cools, but you can reheat in the microwave or on the stove so it's liquid again.
How long does it take for homemade caramel to thicken? ›
If the caramel is too thin, simmer the caramel on medium heat for 5-10 minutes to thicken it (the caramel will not continue to darken). Keep in mind that the caramel will thicken significantly once cool. Likewise, if the caramel is too thick, thin by stirring a tablespoon or two of heavy cream.
Why did my caramel sauce harden? ›
The water evaporates, leaving sugar crystals behind. If even one sugar crystal falls back into the pan of cooking caramel, it starts a chain reaction of sugar crystals and the entire pan will harden. The result? Gross, grainy caramel that is unusable in most recipes.
What happens if you add butter too soon to caramel? ›
If you add the butter too early while the caramel is still pale yellow, the sauce will be too sweet and lack flavor. and if you wait too long and the caramel turns brown, the sauce will taste bitter and burnt.
Why is my homemade caramel liquid? ›
The consistency of caramel comes down to the cooking temp. The higher you go, the more water you are cooking out. When I want a consistency that I can pipe into bonbons but that won't run out, I dry caramelize sugar and glucose, then deglaze with cream (vanilla infused), cook to 106 and add butter.
