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Why You’ll Love My Recipe

This is the perfect addition to ice cream or paired alongside an apple pie. Who doesn’t like salted caramel? It’s one of my personal favorites. You can even pour it over your popcorn!

Making caramel sauce at home can feel like a pretty daunting task due to how easy it is to accidentally burn or crystallize your sugar. However, this recipe takes a lot of the risk out of the process by starting you out with light brown sugar!

This sauce is pairs perfectly with my Classic Apple Pie, or for a fun movie night snack, you can even use it to make a quick and delicious Caramel Popcorn!

A glass jar filled with caramel sauce, with some sauce dripping down the side and a spoon inside. The jar sits on a marble board, with brown sugar and butter blurred in the background.

Karlynn’s Recipe Notes

Skill Level: This recipe is so easy to make that you can get your kids into the kitchen to help!
Total Time: With 1 minute of prep and 5 minutes of cooking time in the microwave or on the stove top, we bet you’ll be making up reasons to whip up a batch of this caramel sauce!
Variations: Looking for a little something different? Try adding a small amount of red chili flakes (not chili powder!) to your caramel along with the salt for a little added kick! For something reminiscent of a coffee shop treat, you can also add a few drops of strong coffee extract or highly concentrated espresso for a caramel latte vibe!
Tools For This Recipe: You’ll need a whisk and a pastry brush (to help keep your sugar from crystallizing) for this recipe.

A whisk with thick, golden caramel dripping from it is held above a saucepan, with butter and a jar of brown sugar visible in the background on a white kitchen counter.

What You’ll Need for Ingredients

Light Brown Sugar: We like using light brown sugar here because it provides that rich, caramel flavour without needing you to watch your pot like a hawk. You can also use dark brown sugar if you want a richer, sweeter, more molasses-y taste!

Heavy Cream: Also known as heavy whipping cream, you’re looking for 33-36% milk fat. This adds a rich, smooth, and creamy texture to your sauce and fat that will keep the sugar from crystallizing in the fridge!

Salt: In general, it’s a good idea to add a little salt to caramel to bring out its full depth of flavour. Since this is a salted caramel sauce, you want enough to really get that savoury-sweet punch.

Three small bowls on a marble surface: one with packed brown sugar, one with melted butter, and one with cream. A measuring spoon of salt and a white towel with a red stripe are also visible.

How To Make Easy Salted Caramel Sauce

This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.

A saucepan containing melted butter and packed brown sugar sits on a marble countertop next to a metal whisk and a white towel with a red stripe. — Combine butter, sugar, and cream together in a medium pot and whisk until blended.

A metal whisk rests in a stainless steel bowl filled with smooth, light brown caramel sauce on a white marble surface. A white towel with red stripes is partially visible in the bottom left corner. — Combine butter, sugar, and cream together in a medium pot and whisk until blended.

Stovetop Method

Combine the butter, sugar, and cream together in a medium sized pot and whisk until well blended.
Heat over medium high heat on your stove, whisking well until thickened.
Remove from heat and use on desserts.

Microwave Method

Combine the butter, sugar, and cream together in a large microwave safe bowl and whisk until well blended.
Microwave for 2 minutes and stir, then microwave for another 1-2 minutes until thickened.
Remove and use on desserts.

Salted Caramel Sauce in a jar with a spoon inside

Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Easy Salted Caramel Sauce

Texture Talk: Fresh out of the pot or microwave, this sauce should be glossy, thick, and pourable; perfect for serving on top of ice cream when cool. If you’re looking for something with a slightly thinner consistency, so that you can drizzle it more freely, add just a little more heavy cream!
Season Strategically: While this is a salted caramel sauce, it’s important to start with just a little and adjust the salt levels as you go—after all, you can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away once it’s there!
Silky Smooth: To avoid unwanted crystallization, make sure that you whisk the sauce thoroughly as it cooks. If you start to notice sugar crystals developing along the side of the pan, wipe the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to melt them back into your caramel.

Storage Instructions

We don’t recommend that you freeze this recipe; however, you can store your salted caramel sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month—perfect for adding a touch of sweetness to your choice of treats!

More Delicious Sauce Recipes

Why not jazz up your next holiday meal with my Homemade Cranberry Sauce?
Try my Raspberry Sauce as a topping for cheesecakes and ice cream!
Check out my guide for How To Make Ganache to get all the tips you need to make a velvety, dreamy topping for baked goods!

This salted caramel sauce comes together so quickly and painlessly that I’m sure you’ll be adding it to your list of condiment staples! Try it out as an accompaniment to your next coffee or dessert, and tell me how it turned out in the comments below!

Happy Cooking!

Karlynn