Thick and sticky Salted Caramel Sauce – Easy and Awesome!

Not much tops a deliciously thick and sticky salted caramel sauce; it is the worlds best combo of sweet and salty! My favourite thing is how it hardens ever so slightly on your ice cream, and then melts in your mouth.. yum!!
This recipe is to die for, it is just that awesome -and incredibly simple!
Get your vanilla ice cream out; it’s time for some serious dessert magic!
You’ll need:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 1/2 tbsp real butter
- 1 tsp coarse salt
Method:
- Pour sugar and water into a heavy saucepan, and let the sugar dissolve into the water over low heat. Do not stir!
- Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, still no stirring. If you succumb to the temptation to stir, you will end up with crystallised sugar and a very lumpy sauce, so just don’t do it!
- Let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes, or until it has reached a lovely golden brown colour.
- Remove from the heat, and carefully whisk in the cream, followed by the butter and the salt.
- Pour the beautiful thick caramel sauce into a container (with a lid), and let i cool down.
Voila, you have the worlds best homemade salted caramel sauce at hand!
This looks so luscious and easy to make. How about some hot fudge?
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Mm.. hot fudge sounds nice! I should try a recipe for that too 🙂
Thanks Pat!
-Kristine
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Miam as we are saying in France. How long can we keep it ?
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Hi Astrid,
You can keep it in the fridge for at least a week. Make sure your container has a tight fitting lid 🙂
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Oh, looks delicious! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
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Thanks Dana! Nice to hear from you 🙂 I’ve been away for a while, but back with bells on now ha
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Hi! I want to ask, will the caramel become hard in the fridge? Is it too runny to be use as macaron fillings?
Thanks!!
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Hi Lina! It will thicken a lot but not go entirely hard. For macaroon filling you can whip butter and mix it half and half with room tempered caramel sauce. That should do it 😊
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Just waiting for my white sugar to turn Brown? Will that actually happen ?
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Hi Sarah 😊 As the sugar is left to melt undisturbed, it will caramelise and turn brown. Voila, you have caramel! Best of luck with the cooking, and thank you for reading the blog! -Kristine
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I am looking for a thick, rich caramel sauce to swirl into cheesecake ice cream with praline pecans. Hope this works.
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Yum! That sounds amazing! This sauce is definitely rich and thick, so it should work just fine 🙂 Thanks for reading the blog! -Kristine
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I tried this and unfortunately it was very thin. Can anyone tell me what i did wrong/
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Hi Bea, thanks for your question 🙂 Either, you’ve used too much liquid, or it hasn’t simmered long enough. Also, it is runnier when it’s hot. Hope that helps! -Kristine
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I made this tonight. It tastes amazing! I’m not too sure, though as it is not very viscous and is cool. Been sitting for about 2 hours in the fridge (after sitting in a jar on the counter until room temp). Will it thicken up to a “scoopable” consistency?
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Hi Mitch, I’m so glad you like it 🙂 It should cool to quite a thick consistency. next time you make it, try to let it simmer for a bit longer so it reduces a bit more. Hope that helps! -Kristine
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When I took the sugar syrup off the heat and added cream, I got a hard lump of toffee!
Was tempted to throw it out and start again, but persisted. After re-heating and whisking like a mad woman, got it to a smooth consistency. I was thinking “this shouldn’t be so hard”.
Has this happened to anyone else?
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Hi Wendy, thanks for sharing. I’m guessing that the cream you added was cold, and it might have quickly dropped the temperature of the sugar which in turn hardened.. Does that sound right? Kindly, Kristine
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Yes, that sounds right Kristine and thanks for your prompt response.
I live in the tropics with high humidity (it’s summer here) and we leave NOTHING out of the fridge lest it should spoil very quickly. Cream left at room temperature here would quickly go sour. I’m just glad all that mad whisking paid off.
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I’m glad we worked it out though 😊😊 But, rather than leaving it out of the fridge, you could gently warm it first so that you won’t have to do all that whisking. All in all, I hope you were happy with the result though!
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