Search
This 6-Minute Small Batch Salted Caramel Sauce is so easy and makes just enough!!! Made with just 5 simple ingredients, you’ll want to make this all the time!
Easy Caramel Recipe
It’s that time of year where I want salted caramel EVERYTHING. It’s such a cozy treat! Be it drizzled over your coffee… or straight into your mouth. If you’ve been looking for an easy way to slip into the salted caramel game, this recipe is here for you. No thermometer needed, No fancy ingredients, and No hours of waiting and waiting and waiting. All you need is six minutes and five ingredients!This recipe calls for:
- sugar
- water
- butter
- cream
- and salt.
You can add a splash of vanilla or bourbon at the end, but if you’re watching money and not trying to spend a lot, the sauce will be just as dreamy minus the vanilla. And that’s a promise!
That said, I sometimes add a little splash of Madagascar bourbon vanilla and HOLY SMOKES. It’s so good.
This recipe makes a VERY small batch of caramel because as much as I love salted caramel, it’s one of those things I would rather make fresh and use up all in one shot. Trust me when I say having a giant sticky jar of seductive sweetness lurking in the back of your fridge isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. Have you ever tried getting cold caramel from the depths of a mason jar? Not a fun way to spend the evening. No no no. Lucky for us, I’ve got a solution. Six minute small batch salted caramel sauce.
So now you can have warm, sticky, sweet and salty caramel sauce ready in just SIX minutes! And it makes just enough for two hearty servings! We like to drizzle this over ice cream… or brownies… or lattes… or well, basically anything! So, what will you drizzle your batch over?! Let me know! xo
P.S. This sauce cooks REALLY fast so I don’t recommend leaving it unattended while it’s on the stove. No one wants burnt caramel if their life… I know this from experience 😉
This recipe was updated on 10/22/2018!
I hope you love this quick salted caramel sauce as much as we do!!! If you make it, let me know below!
More Salted Caramel Recipes:
6-Minute Small Batch Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- Dash of vanilla or bourbon, optional
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat whisk together sugar and water and bring to a boil. Cook until sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute.
- Reduce heat to a simmer. Add in butter and whisk until combined. Simmer until the mixture turns a deep amber color, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and carefully whisk in the cream (it will bubble up ferociously after you add it!). Whisk until well combined. Whisk in salt.
- Pour caramel into a heatproof jar. Allow it to cool a few minutes before using.
Can I just double this for a larger batch?
I was wondering the same thing! I made it this morning and it only filled a small jar about 3/4 full. Have you ever doubled it?
Super easy! I tripled the batch and filled a 12 fl oz jar to the top. Thank you for a great recipe! Merry Christmas!
So happy to hear it! Merry Christmas, Selina 🙂
Hi Kristin. While I have never doubled it myself, a few readers have let me know it worked for them. If you try, I’d love to hear your results. Happy holidays!
Hi Mary. While I have never tried doubling this recipe, a few readers have with success. If you try it, I’d love to hear about the results 🙂 Happy holidays!
I just made a large batch and it worked out fine
I can I use this receipe for frosting for carmel cake?
Hi Ann. I’ve never tried incorporating this caramel into frosting, so I’m unsure. We typically use it for drizzling over ice cream, scones, cookies, etc. It does need to be reheated after sitting a while, as it does “set”, so that may be an issue in your frosting. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Can I use regular sugar instead of brown sugar? My brown sugar is very coarse, i wouldn’t want the end result to be gritty!
Hi Mie. Yes, using granulated sugar should work just fine.
Hello,
So I just tried the recipe but my Carmel came out very thin and runny, any suggestions as to what I did wrong? It did take 3 or so minutes longer to get it to boil even on medium-high heat. Could that have been my issue?
Thanks for any pointers
Hi Elizabeth. I’m sorry to hear your caramel didn’t turn out. It sounds like it didn’t cook long enough, although it’s hard say exactly what the issue was without being there myself to see it. Your burner may run a little cold, so next time I would recommend boiling it a little longer.
Happy holidays!
This also happened to me and I added a 1 tsp of cornstarch with one tbsp of cream, then added it to the mixture. I also tripled the recipe because I wanted a lot of caramel 🙂
Amazing though and turned out spectacular, I could drink it!!!
Super yummy and super quick!
Thank you for a great, no fuss caramel sauce.
Cheers!
So happy to hear it, Lisa! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Hi, i dont have bourbon, but i do have some dark rum or even Bailey’s. Have you ever tried it with one of these?
H Kim. While I’ve never tried using dark rum or Bailey’s, I think it may work. Please keep me updated if you try it!
Hey Ashley, just thought I’d let you know that I tried this with the vanilla cinnamon Bailey’s and it was awesome. Served it with some apple pie fries and whip cream and it was a hit at my potluck. Thanks for the recipe!
Kim – thank you so much for letting me know 🙂 And I’m thrilled to hear it was a hit. I need to try it with Bailey’s asap!
Do you use light brown or dark brown sugar?
Hi Shenetia. I use light brown sugar in this recipe.
I made this the other day…fabulous! I included a link in my new post for a salted caramel apple crumb bars. Thanks for sharing!
Can I can this? I’d love to give it with the apple pie filling I made for gifts
Hi Kristin. While I’ve never tried canning itself, I don’t see why you couldn’t can it.
Trying this with coconut milk. Wonder how it’ll turn out. Just really wanned to try it and only had margarine and coconut milk 😛
Update! It is fabulous! Super yummy still though I imagine butter would be better.
Hi Jacki. How adventurous! I’ve never experimented with this recipe using coconut milk, but I’m happy to hear the results were yummy 🙂