Learn how to make a simple and delicious caramel sauce made with only sugar, milk, and sea salt. No cream or butter needed!
Quick Note: This is an updated version of a post that originally appeared on Bright-Eyed Baker in 2012. Updates include new text and photos, as well as some details added to the instructions for clarity.
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Back in the day, when consuming copious amounts of sugar at once didn't seem like an awful idea, my coffee drink of choice was a caramel frappucino. I later moved to a skinny caramel frap, and then to caramel macchiatos, but my love of all things coffee + caramel persisted. It's for that reason and that reason only that I developed this recipe for making caramel sauce with milk.
I tried multiple other recipes - some using a dry method, some a wet method; some with heavy cream, and some with butter. But here's the thing: they were all problematic for one reason or another. One burned. Another was so thick you definitely couldn't pour it into a latté. And every recipe using cream or butter along with the requisite sugar just seemed a little too heavy for an every-morning drink.
So here we are now, after *many* failed batches, with a very simple caramel sauce made without any cream or butter. Making caramel sauce with milk is extremely unconventional, and there's a reason for that: milk has a lot less fat than heavy cream, which makes the process trickier. But it can work, it's still delicious, and after a little practice it's really not difficult at all.
What is dry-method caramel?
Like I mentioned before, there are two basic methods for making caramel: a wet method and a dry method. The wet method involves mixing sugar with water before cooking it; as the sugar melts, the water evaporates. With the dry method, the sugar is heated by itself until it starts to caramelize and turn liquid. Some people find the dry method more difficult, but I personally prefer it.
Ingredients
There are only three simple ingredients you need for this recipe: sugar, milk, and sea salt. I've personally tested this recipe with 2% and whole milk, but readers have shared in the comments that they've used all sorts of other milk. See the recipe notes for other types of milk that I've been told work.
Tips for making caramel sauce
This recipe can be tricky until you get the hang of it. Here are some tips I highly recommend you read before starting:
Start with clean tools. Make sure your pot and spatula are clean and dry. Your sugar should also be completely pure; if it has come into contact with bits of flour, etc., that could effect how well it liquifies. Clean conditions help prevent the sugar from crystallizing.
Use a heavy-bottomed, TALL pot. Trust me on this one! A thin pan will lead to burnt caramel, and a pan that's too shallow can lead to a dangerous mess, since the hot caramel will steam and bubble vigorously when you add milk to it.
Wear an oven mitt. Even with a tall pot, I recommend wearing an oven mitt on the hand that you'll use to stir in the milk. You need to keep the caramel stirring constantly once the milk has been added, but the steam can get so hot that this can become close to impossible with a bare hand.
Don't multi-task. Don't try to make caramel at the same time as you're doing something else. The process moves quickly and is extremely time-sensitive. If you're not paying close attention you'll most likely burn your caramel or cause it to seize or curdle, and nobody wants that!
Don't stir the sugar. I can't stress this enough: while the sugar is heating up and starting to liquify, DO NOT STIR. The only thing you want to use your spatula for at this point is to push the liquid sugar on top of the solid sugar so it doesn't burn. Hold off on any stirring until all of the sugar has liquified.
Don't burn the caramel. I realize this seems obvious, but it also needs to be said. Once the sugar turns to liquid, continue to cook it just until it turns a rusty golden-brown color. Then STOP.
Don't give up! Real talk: your first attempt at making caramel might not be a complete success. BUT, I can tell you from my own experience (and that of so many readers who have commented on this recipe!) that the second attempt is usually much better.
For more helpful pointers, check out my top ten tips for making caramel without cream!
Troubleshooting caramel
There are two main issues you might run into while making this caramel sauce:
The milk curdles: One issue with using milk in a caramel sauce is the possibility of it curdling. This can be caused by a few things: the sugar getting too dark or burnt (and acidic) before adding the milk, using old milk, and/or not stirring the caramel constantly once the milk has been added. In any case, you can usually save a curdled caramel sauce by using an immersion blender to smooth it out again.
The caramel seizes: It is not at all uncommon for your caramel sauce to seize when milk is added to it. When this happens, the liquid caramel hardens into a semi-solid clump and you're left with a pot full of milk and a clump of caramelized sugar. Don't panic! Just put the caramel back on the stove and stir it continuously until the clumps melt back into the sauce. It may take a while but it should eventually happen.
Can I double the recipe?
I would highly recommend that you not double this recipe unless you've made it many times already and are 100% comfortable with the process. Too much sugar in a pot becomes hard to cook evenly, and this can lead to all sorts of difficulties.
Making a thicker sauce
If you don't cook the caramel sauce for more than a couple minutes after adding the milk, it will be thin, which is perfect for mixing into coffee. But if you're looking for a thicker caramel sauce, just cook it longer (about 10-15 minutes after adding the milk) while stirring constantly.
Storing caramel
This caramel sauce can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator and should last for several weeks, if not longer. But I have no doubt you'll use it faster than that!
More caramel recipes
Once you've got the hang of making caramel, it's easy to adapt the method to different recipes. Here are some recipes using caramel that you can try:
Caramel Latté Ice Cream - A silky, luscious ice cream that tastes like the frozen version of an ultra-creamy caramel latte. Cannot recommend enough.
Salted Caramel and Candied Pecan Biscotti - Classic biscotti gets an exciting twist with the addition of crunchy candied pecans, a heavy caramel drizzle, and a sprinkle of sea salt to top it all off.
Boozy Chocolate Caramel Cups - Mini chocolate cups filled with rum-spiked caramel. It's homemade candy at its finest!
A final tip
Read through the entire recipe below before you start making this caramel sauce! The process moves very quickly and you'll be much more likely to succeed if you know what to expect.
PrintCaramel Sauce with Milk
A simple and delicious caramel sauce made with only sugar, milk, and sea salt. No cream or butter needed!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (up to 30)
- Total Time: 25 minutes (up to 35)
- Yield: 1 to 1-¼ cups caramel sauce*
- Category: candy
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Low Fat
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cups milk**
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon sea salt***
Instructions
- Heat sugar in saucepan: Place the sugar in a large, tall, heavy-bottomed pot, shaking it so that the sugar is in a thin, even layer. Place the pot over medium-low heat. Set a timer for 8 minutes while the sugar starts to heat up. During this time, leave the sugar untouched.
- Continue cooking: Check on the sugar once the 8 minutes are up. If you're starting to smell it, or see areas where it appears light brown or translucent, it's about to start turning liquid. If this happens, skip to step 3 now. Otherwise, set the timer for another 8 minutes, but this time, keep an eye on the sugar. Around 8 minutes later you should see it starting to liquify.
- Warm milk: Meanwhile, prepare for the next few steps, as they will come quickly. Warm the milk in a microwave-safe container for about a minute, and stir to even out the temperature. Place the warm milk near the stove along with a trivet (where you can quickly place the pot of caramel once ready), and a heat-safe spatula.
- Finish melting sugar: As soon as you see the sugar turning liquid, take your heat-safe spatula and carefully start to scoop the liquid sugar over the solid sugar. Continue to do this as more sugar turns liquid; the idea is not to stir the sugar, but just to keep the liquid parts from burning. Once all of the sugar has turned liquid, stir gently until it turns a rusty golden-brown color. This should only take a few seconds; be careful not to let it burn.
- Add milk to sugar: As soon as the caramel turns the appropriate color, remove it from the stove, place it on the trivet, and quickly stir in half of the warm milk. It's important to keep stirring the caramel during this time. The milk will cause the caramel to steam and bubble rapidly, so be careful as you stir. Continue to stir as the bubbling subsides, and then stir in the remaining milk.
- Return to heat: Some (or much) of the caramel may have hardened when the milk was added. If so, or if you want a thicker caramel, return the pot to the stove. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until any hardened caramel has melted back into the mixture. Be sure to carefully pry any hardened bits off of the bottom or sides of the pot as necessary, melting these pieces back in as well. Be patient; it may seem like they aren't going to melt, but with time it should.
- To make a thicker caramel: If you want a thicker caramel, better for drizzling onto baked goods, cook the caramel, stirring constantly, for an additional 10-15 minutes after adding the milk. Be careful not to let it come to a boil. It will not look very thick while it's hot, but as it cools, it will thicken substantially.
- Add salt and cool: Once all hardened pieces of caramel have melted (as needed) and the caramel has cooked longer (as desired), remove the pot from the heat. Whisk in the sea salt. Pour the caramel into a heat-proof container (if using glass, you can put a metal spoon in it to prevent shattering). Cover and place in the refrigerator to store; it will thicken as it cools.
Notes
*A thinner caramel sauce will yield about 1-¼ cups, while a thicker caramel sauce (cooked longer) will yield about 1 cup.
**I typically use 2% milk or whole milk. Readers have told me that the following will also work: 1%, skim milk, rice milk, goat's milk, almond milk, soy milk, and lactose-free milks such as Lactaid. (I haven't tested these alternatives myself.)
***For more of a "salted caramel", use ½ teaspoon of sea salt. Otherwise, ¼ teaspoon should do it.
Basic Recipe Adapted From: The Perfect Scoop via Annie's Eats
Vanessa
Just made this last night and I am pleased with the results for a first attempt. When the recipe says "be patient" while waiting for the hardened caramel to reconstitute, believe it! I was stirring for about 30 min before I got too impatient and decided to just deal with a few small pieces of hardened caramel in my jar. I used lactose free milk and it resulted in a beautiful, creamy caramel. Hopefully my next attempt will be even better! Thanks for persevering and providing a butter-free, cream-free alternative!
alexandra
I'm so glad it worked for you! It never takes 30 minutes for me, but it might have something to do with the lactose-free milk you used. Either way, if it works, it works! And I bet you'll get better every time. I've gotten to the point where the caramel usually doesn't even harden once I add the milk, so I can say from experience that practice makes perfect. :)
Alice
Help!!! I tried making this and it turned out horribly!! I did exactly what you wrote, well almost. After the second time my 8 min timer went off the sugar turned a tiny bit brown in one spot but it wasn't melting so I thought that it wasn't hot enough. I turned up the heat and it started melting immediately. I still had some hard chunks of sugar in the middle once it all melted so I waited for it to melt but it didn't. The caramel was soo thick too, more like oatmeal than liquid and when I poured the milk in, the caramel became a rock hard layer at the bottom of the pot with the milk floating on top. I poured the milk back in the cup and put the caramel back on the stove to melt it again. It was a deep amber color so I didn't want to burn it but it was still really thick. The second time I tried pouring the milk in it bubbled up but the caramel was still a big glob at the bottem. I gave up so now I have a hardend piece of caramel candy and a cup full of caramel flavored milk. Please help!!! Thanks.
alexandra
Well firstly, did you use only one cup of sugar with each attempt? If you tried to double the recipe, that could be the cause of your first problem. Otherwise, I think you probably shouldn't have turned up the heat the first time. If the caramel hasn't started to melt by the end of the 16 minutes, it's okay to let it sit longer. Just make sure that you're watching it closely, because once it gets brown like you mentioned, it won't take long for it to start melting.
The next thing I would recommend is that you try to keep stirring the caramel a bit while you move it off the stove and pour the milk in. Make sure the milk is warm, as mentioned in the recipe, and that you pour it in right away after you take the caramel off the heat. The reason for this is that if the caramel sits too long in the pot without liquid, it will continue to cook and harden. Also, if the liquid isn't warm, it can cause the caramel to seize. Even if the caramel globs, keep the milk in the pot, put it back on the stove, and just stir until the caramel melts back into the milk. In my experience, it always will.
This isn't the easiest recipe to master but once you get it down, it becomes pretty easy. I know other readers have tried it with success, so I hope you give it another go! Let me know if you have any more questions. :)
Kris
Have you thought of tempering the milk before adding it to the sugar. I would heat the milk for a minute first or add some of the sugar to it.
alexandra
Hi Kris! I do heat the milk for exactly that reason. :) It's included in the recipe instructions.
lorraine
Its my first time making caramel and it turned out perfectly! Thanks so much for posting this detailed recipe! :)
alexandra
I'm so glad to hear that! This is one of those recipes where I tried to just lay it out as best as possible since it is a bit complicated, and then I just have to hold my breath and hope that everyone can be successful with it. Yay for another success!
Tammy
I tried this recipe and my caramel got kind of "chunky". It's almost like the milk separated. I will admit that I was in a hurry and didn't add salt. I made it in a cast iron pot and had to cook it longer than 16 mins to get it heat through and begin melting. Can you tell me where I might have gone wrong?
alexandra
Well firstly, the salt isn't mandatory... your caramel can turn out perfectly without it. If you only used 1 cup of sugar (as the recipe calls for), it usually takes around 16 minutes in my experience for the caramel to start melting, but if it hasn't, just wait until it has to start moving it around with the spatula. Do make sure that the sugar isn't piled up high, because then the sugar on the bottom will start to melt long before the sugar on top.
I think your caramel may have gotten chunky if you added the milk, put it back on the stove, and then didn't stir it continuously. It will get too hot and this causes that chunky texture. Make sure that once you add the milk, you stir the caramel constantly until you're done cooking.
Let me know if you still have any questions. I'm happy to help if I can! I hope you give it another try... this is one of those things that you certainly get better at with practice. :)
Julie
Hello. I made this today and found that mine split and went what I believe to be what you are calling chunky. It tasted delicious, but the texture wasn't great.
However, I allowed it to cool down and gave it a good stir several times as it was cooling. As the caramel reached room temperature, it seemed to have become completely smooth!
I suggest to anyone who finds theirs goes chunky or splits a bit that they give this a go and certainly not to discard it immediately.
It is possible that it has something to do with too much of a temperature difference between the milk and sugar, although I did warm the milk. I don't know, but I hope this helps someone save their awesome caramel sauce!
Thank you for the recipe and your great instructions!
alexandra
Wow, that's great to know! I've only had the caramel split on me once, but I have had other readers end up with the same issue, and I would love to be able to tell them that their caramel isn't ruined! The temperature difference can be a cause, but there are also a few other things that can happen. If the milk is getting old, it will be more likely to curdle, or if the sugar gets too dark (and therefore acidic), that can cause the problem. Make sure you use pure cane sugar as well!
Darian
Wanting to try this for the caramel lattes at home! I bought Starbucks iced coffee for the keurig so will be using that and adding my milk and caramel sauce. Glad I read the comments! I was getting ready to try this recipe out but has regular sugar in mind not cane
alexandra
The typical granulated sugar you find in grocery stores actually is cane sugar. :)
Lionie
My first time making this dry method. I followed every steps carefully including stirring continuously after adding heated milk. The texture turned a bit grainy when it cools. So i heat up a while and stirred again even after it got off the heat. Turns out stirring continuously until it cools helps to make the texture smooth. The grains are all gone! Hope it helps for those having grainy/curdled issue. Thanks for the recipe Alexandra :)
alexandra
That's a great tip! Thanks so much for sharing, and I'm glad the recipe turned out well for you! :)
ShellyMarie
I am so excited to try this!!! I just made apple cinnamon rolls with my 6 year old today and we decided we wanted something on top of them! So... Wish me luck and thank you for posting a recipe with milk! I was getting worried...
alexandra
Those rolls sound A-MAZING! I hope the caramel sauce went well for you!
Nikki
Thank you SO much for this recipe! I just made it and it came our perfectly! Sugar can be very temperamental but you nailed it with this recipe. Thank you a TON for sharing! <3
alexandra (brighteyedbaker)
Awesome! I really tried to explain the process as well as possible because it is so temperamental. I've found though that it gets much easier after you do it a few times. :) So glad it worked for you!
Danelle
So I tried and failed twice yesterday with a different recipe. I am in the process with this one and also failing! My caramel was beautiful until I poured the milk in. Now it's hard as a rock in a pool of milk. Put it back on the heat and hoping it works!
brighteyedbaker
Please let me know how it went after returning to heat. I've literally had a ball of solid caramel before that melted back just fine. It's a matter of keeping it on heat and stirring constantly! Let me know!
Irna
I tried this today 3 times, everything went smooth till I poured the milk, then it looked separated, didn't look good at all
alexandra
That's normal... as long as it's not clumpy like curdled milk, all you need to do is keep stirring until the sugar melts again.
Kiani
This recipe is great!! Thank you :) It was just like you said. After adding the milk it became hard, but put it back on the stove and kept stirring and it all came back together. It's been in the fridge for a couple of hours now and has thickened nicely. I'm thinking of making salted caramel ice-cream with it :)
ana
hello :) do i keep the leftovers in the fridge? and how long can i keep it for?
brighteyedbaker
Yes; keep the leftovers in the fridge. I don't know exactly how long it will last, as it gets consumed in a week or two at my house, but certainly for quite a while.
Beth Reel
When do I add the salt ? I keep reading the recipe n don't see when to add it. Also how tall of a pot?
Thanks
brighteyedbaker
Right after you remove the caramel from the heat, you whisk in the salt. I checked to make sure it's in the directions; it's one little sentence so I can see how it's easy to miss! I use a big 6 quart pasta pot. Here's a link if you want to see a visual.
Ciara
Hi going to make your caramel sauce how big a pot would you use I looked at the lind to the pot and it looks hugh. Is this what you use for single amount. Thanks
alexandra
I recommend a pretty large pot because the caramel bubbles up quite a bit.
Momo
So I tried this recipe using rice milk instead of regular. It made the most beautiful flowing caramel ever! I did leave it on for an extra half an hour so it could get thicker and it tasted as if i had used regular milk. I did also try it with regular milk and for some reason the milk curdled. But I'm glad I finally found a caramel recipe with only a few ingredients! Probably the only caramel recipe I will use from now on.
brighteyedbaker
I'm so glad you let me know that rice milk works! I never would have thought about trying that. That's really neat. :)
As far as your problem with regular milk curdling, did you stir it continuously once you added the milk, as you were cooking it longer? If not, that could have been the problem, especially if the mixture started to boil.
I hope you continue to enjoy the caramel!
Ella-Home Cooking Adventure
Love it. I must try it too. Thanks for sharing.
brighteyedbaker
You're welcome! I think I'd be selfish to keep it all to myself, although it sure is good enough to warrant that! ;)
Riley
I've definitely got to try this! Yum!
brighteyedbaker
You should! I make this stuff so much now it's crazy.
Lauren
Hi, there! I am trying to make caramel apples. I have both 2% and half & half available to me. Which would you recommend I use for coating the apples? I want the caramel to be thick enough to stay in place, but not hard to bite into. Thank you!
alexandra
The more fat, the thicker the caramel will be, so I'd say go with the half-n-half! Hope it works out well for you. :)
Tamara
It worked! This was my first time making any kind of caramel and I was really shocked that it worked so well. The end product is thick and sweet and rich and took about half an hour in total. My tips are to be very very patient; the caramel will do its own thing! But the instructions are very detailed and walk you through any problems. Made this for my caramel apple porridge. Would make again!
alexandra
I'm so glad it worked well for you! Happy to hear that the instructions were helpful. :)
Alyssa (Everyday Maven)
Wow, this is such an amazing post! Thank You :)
brighteyedbaker
You're welcome! I hope everyone finds it helpful.
Lubeck
I made this twice today the first time the milk really curdled but the second i totally nailed it this is an amazing recipe and i love it
alexandra
Yay! Thanks so much for your feedback; so glad it worked out!
Heidi @ Food Doodles
Mmmm, gorgeous!
brighteyedbaker
Thanks :) It tastes even better than it looks.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Ok, I have to try this because I've definitely gone the sugar-water route and gave up after oh, 7 attempts in one day. Needless to say I haven't tried again but I also want a caramel sauce without heavy cream!
brighteyedbaker
Oh my gosh; I can't imagine how miserable that day must have been! You should definitely try this out and let me know how it goes. It's well-tested, I promise!