Salted vanilla caramel sauce
The BEST vanilla caramel sauce recipe
Homemade vanilla salted caramel sauce that has a silky smooth texture, intense caramel flavor and long shelf life, plus one that’s easy and quick to make. This is has been my go-to caramel recipe for years. It’s so quick and easy to make and it is suitable for almost anything. Drizzle it on a slice of apple pie or cake, use it to make a caramel iced latte, add it to your smoothie, eat it with ice-cream, drizzle it over your breakfast granola, or spoon it directly from the jar …it‘s just so indulgent!I used this caramel sauce recipe to drizzle over this indulgent apple pie recipe and it was insanely good! 🤤
Why you’ll love this salted vanilla caramel:
easy and quick to make
It has the smoothest texture and most delicious intense caramel flavor
It has a long shelf life and can be kept for weeks in the fridge or even frozen for 2 months
Why make homemade caramel:
Nothing beats the flavor of homemade caramel sauce. It‘s made with minimal ingredients which you most likely have at home and it requires little effort to create something so rich, velvety in texture and simply amazing in taste. Adding vanilla to the caramel gives you a wonderful aroma and flavor and the salt just balances out the sweetness.
What I also like about making caramel sauce at home is that you can adjust the flavor of the caramel yourself depending how dark or light you caramelized the sugar. So you can either have a really light caramel flavor or go dark and have a richer more bitter notes of caramel. (Just make sure not to go too dark otherwise you‘ll have a too bitter tasting caramel)
Ingredients you’ll need to make salted vanilla caramel:
(Scroll down for the full recipe card)
Sugar: use white cane sugar for this recipe
Butter: use unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
Cream: use a heavy crem with 35% fat content
Vanilla: use good quality vanilla pods for this recipe. I use the vanilla from “Vanilla Dream”
Salt: you can add either table salt or sea salt looked Maldon
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Heat the cream
Start by heating the heavy cream and the scraped out vanilla pod in a small saucepan. Bring to almost a simmer, take it off the heat and allow to infuse for about 15-20 minutes
2. Caramelized the sugar
In a medium-large saucepan/pot start by caramelizing the sugar little by little. Add the sugar step by step, adding more only once the sugar is caramelized and lump free. Caramelized the sugar until you achieve a dark golden brown color.
3. Deglaze the sugar
Your cream will still be hot at this point and now you add the hot cream in 3 steps. CAUTION! With this step as the caramel will really splatter a lot and the mixture is VERY hot. Once all the cream has been added, lower the heat to a medium low and allow the caramel to simmer for about 3-5 minutes so any lumps can dissolve.
Make sure to use a whisk with a long handle!
Once the caramel has been simmering for about 5 minutes remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve into a heat proof container
4. Sieve & blend
Once the caramel has been simmering for about 5 minutes pass it through a sieve into a heat proof container. Add the cold butter cubes and hand blend until smooth and shiny. Try not to incorporate too many air bubbles into the caramel. It is important to hand blend the caramel as this will give the caramel its smooth texture as it incorporates all the ingredients together, especially the fat from the butter into a homogenous sauce.
Allow to cool down at room temperature and then place into a heat proof container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (normally even longer) you can also freeze the caramel in a container or plastic ziplock bags.
Salted Vanille caramel sauce
This caramel sauce is so versatile and can be used for so many dishes. I use it for drinks, to add into patisserie and cakes and simply to add on top of ice-cream or a slice of apple pie.
Tips for making salted vanilla caramel sauce:
Ingredients: make sure to use good quality ingredients when making the caramel, especially the vanilla and the butter.
Adjustable: in this recipe you can adjust the flavor by adding in other spices such as cinnamon, tonka bean or cardamom, amongst others. You can also adjust the flavor of the caramel depending on how dark you caramelize the sugar. So you can have a milder tasting caramel or a deep caramel flavor.
Watch the sugar carefully: this step is very important as the caramelization of the sugar will define the overall flavor of the caramel. Light golden caramelization gives you a sweeter and milder/ less bitter flavor whereas the darker caramelization will give you an intense caramel flavor with more bitter notes.
Adding the butter last: I always add my butter last once the caramel has cooled down slightly. Use cold cubed butter. This results in a glossy and smooth caramel.
Hand blend: when I add in the cold, cubed butter I incorporate this with the help of a hand blender. This results in a super smooth and silky caramel.
Storing the caramel: you can store the caramel in the fridge for up to 3 weeks in an airtight container or even freeze it for up to 3 months. This caramel has a long shelf life if stored correctly.
FAQ:
1. What kind of salt should I be using the caramel?
In this recipe I use Maldon Sea salt or another type of flaky sea salt but you can also use regular table salt. As the caramel is hand blended it doesn’t make much of a difference. The table salt will just distribute more evenly.
2. Can I use vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean?
I wouldn’t recommend using vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean. You don’t get the same flavor as when using vanilla beans. Alternatively you can use vanilla powder.
3. Why did my caramel seize up when adding the cream?
This is a common occurrence when making caramel. Because you have the difference in temperature of the caramelized sugar and the cream that create. Continues simmering and whisking on low heat until most of the clumps dissolve.
4. Why is my caramel too thick?
This normally occurs when the caramel has been cooking for too long once the cream is added. The longer it boils the more water evaporates from the caramelized sugar resulting in a thicker caramel. With this recipe I recommend only simmering it for about max. 5 minutes once all the cream has been added.
6. How long does salted vanilla caramel sauce last?
This salted vanilla caramel recipes can last up to 3 weeks in the fridge but I recommend storing it for 2 weeks to make sure it stays fresh.
7. Can I freeze this caramel sauce?
Yes, absolutely! I recommend freezing the caramel is small portions that you can defrost easily. It can be frozen for up to 2 months.