Easy Caramel Sauce (Printable)

Rich and silky homemade caramel made with sugar, butter, and cream. Perfect topping for desserts.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Main Ingredients

01 - 1 cup granulated sugar
02 - 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
03 - 1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature
04 - 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
05 - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

# How-To Steps:

01 - Heat sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly with heat-resistant spatula or wooden spoon as sugar melts, clumps together, then transforms into golden-brown liquid.
02 - Once sugar completely melts and caramel reaches deep amber color, carefully add butter cubes. Mixture will bubble vigorously—keep stirring until butter fully melts and incorporates.
03 - Slowly pour heavy cream while stirring. Mixture will bubble up again; continue stirring until smooth and fully combined.
04 - Remove from heat. Stir in salt and vanilla extract.
05 - Allow sauce to cool for 10–15 minutes before using. Caramel will thicken as it cools.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • This comes together in just 15 minutes with ingredients you already have in your pantry
  • The texture is impossibly smooth and glossy, nothing like the grainy stuff from a jar
  • You can customize it from classic vanilla to salted caramel with one tiny adjustment
02 -
  • The sugar will go from perfect to burned in seconds, so have all your ingredients measured and ready before you start
  • If your caramel seizes into hard lumps when adding cream, put it back on low heat and stir until it melts back down
03 -
  • Use a light colored pan so you can accurately judge the caramel color as it cooks
  • Have a bowl of ice water ready in case you get any hot sugar on your skin

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