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.
Jump to:
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
Kim Robinson
Hello,
I made this tonight & it was delicious.
Thank You for sharing. I bookmarked it
for future reference.
alexandra
So glad! Thanks for taking a second to let me know. :)
mel
Hello,
So is pure cane sugar the best to use or regular granulated sugar?
Also is it possible or ok to can this recipe? or bad cause it has cream?
Anyone know how long they can keep it for in the fridge? I wanted to make some as gifts and for me but don't want to give bad caramel at Christmas, since it is a couple months away...I want to make sure they also have a few months to have it at home too.?
Thanks for all of this I am excited to try it.
alexandra
Usually the granulated sugar you find in stores (like C&H, for example) is pure cane sugar.
I have no idea whether this sauce can be canned, although you might want to note that it uses milk, not cream (although you could use cream if you want to). It will keep for a while in the fridge, but I can't say exactly how long since we always end up finishing it in less than a month. If you were to make the recipe for Christmas gifts, I would suggest waiting until mid-December to start making the caramel, and then when you give the jars away, your recipients should have plenty of time to enjoy it all. If you do can the caramel though, perhaps you could start making it earlier, but I really don't have any knowledge to share with you on that front, unfortunately.
Brttany
I wanted to give this as a Christmas gift. So if I use cream(or even milk), can this be shipped to another state and be okay for consumption? Thanks.
alexandra
I don't claim to be an expert on the subject of food storage, but I think it would be totally fine, especially in the winter months. I leave my caramel sauce (made with milk) out of the refrigerator sometimes and I've never had a problem. Same goes if you make it with cream. :)
Brttany
I, too, thought it would be fine. Going from a very cold state, to another cold state. Just thought I would get your input. Thanks a lot!
Katherine
WOW!!! Amazing recipe and such wonderful helpful hints. I've never tried the dry method before now. You made it so simple. I got a wonderful, astounding looking and tasting caramel sauce on my first try ( didn't expect that ) but I attribute it all to your detailed description of how to handle each step! Thanks so much for sharing and the effort you put out to help others do it right!
alexandra
That's fabulous! I'm so glad it worked out well for you. :)
Jen
I've made caramel where you melt the sugar in water, then let it boil and add butter and heavy whipping cream, and it turned out great. Tonight, I didn't have heavy whipping cream and didn't want to go to the store again, so when I found this recipe, I was so happy. Little tricky, I thought I was doing it wrong at first, until I saw the sugar start to melt. I either let water get in it or just didn't stir it enough, because it was already hard in some parts before I even added the milk (I used vanilla almond milk because that is all I had), so it was a little bit of a pain trying to mix it together. I had to scrape with a knife for a bit to mix it, but the extra 15 minutes did the trick. I let it cool for a bit before I put it in the fridge, but it still seems a bit thin (it's been in for about an hour). I read a previous comment about stirring it at room temp, so I am going to try that, but I did notice that it was a bit thin, even after the 15 minutes extra on the stove. I'm wondering if it was the type of milk that I used or if I used too big of a pot when cooking it. It tastes great though, even if it is a little sweet, but I attribute that to the milk being sweetened. I will totally be trying this again, and experimenting with different ways because I don't really drink milk, but my boyfriend does, and he normally gets almond milk or coconut milk. Thank you!!
alexandra
I tend to think this method of making caramel (the dry method) is easier just because there's no waiting for boiling and so forth, and I like this particular recipe because it's just so simple! You mentioned you had some hard pieces after melting the sugar, and that might actually be because you stirred too much. You really want to move the melted sugar around as little as possible, just to prevent if from burning, until it's all liquid. If it starts to harden or clump, just lay your hands off a bit and it should all liquify. Wait for it all to melt and then cook it just long enough to get it to that deep rust color, which will also help cut some of the sweetness. As far as it being thin, I would just try cooking it longer after adding the milk. I always use a huge pot so I don't think that's much of an issue. Hope that helps and I'm glad you like it!
Laura
Great recipe! I substituted a tablespoon of bacon fat for 1/4cup of milk. It was amazing. Thank you
alexandra
Glad you liked it!
Amy
Very Good! Followed the recipe to a T and it came out beautifully! Thanks so much!
alexandra
Awesome! You're welcome. :)
anita
this was amazing! thank you so much before your blog i was left with a harden gob of caramel that my brother described as sticking to his teeth and a bit sickly (he wasnt the only one, i felt the same lol). i was hoping i could make it pourable so this was great!
alexandra
Haha I know what you mean - that stuff will stick to your teeth like mad! I'm glad everything worked out. :)
Tracy Michaels
I made a sweet potato panna cotta for dessert tonight. I was searching for a caramel sauce recipe to go along with it and came across your recipe. I've never made a caramel sauce. The recipe was wonderful and the sauce is delicious! Thank you!
alexandra
I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know. :) Your panna cotta sounds awesome, and I've never made panna cotta before, so you've beat me on that!
Tracy Michaels
Made the caramel sauce again tonight to go with some apple pie burritos I was making. Good grief...............I'm addicted!!!
alexandra
Dang girl, apple pie burritos?! Talk about creative and tasty-sounding!! Send me some? ;D
So glad you like the sauce!
nicole spoden
Thanks soo much for the easy recipe for the carmel sauce. I also use coco powder just to give it some flavor and color. Is it ok if I feature you and your recipe on my blog?
Come and follow me and I will do the same for you.
creatingmomof4.blogspot.com
alexandra
Hi Nicole! You can feel free to share the recipe on your blog, but if you do so, please write it in your own words and link back to the original recipe on my blog. Thanks so much for asking!
nicole spoden
Love visiting your blog. Can you tell me where you upload your photos? Do you do them yourself? If you your blog pictures yourself, great work!!!
alexandra
Thank you so much Nicole! I'm not sure what you mean by where I upload them, but I do take all the photos myself.
Kassie
I am currently sipping a hot cup of salted caramel mocha made with this sauce, and it is delicious! I did have to return it to heat in order to melt some chunks, but the chunks did melt and it turned out wonderful. Other recipes I've tried, turned my lattes oily, but this one is perfect and the liquid form makes it easy to work with. Thanks for sharing!
alexandra
Yay! I'm so happy to hear that. I haven't made salted caramel mochas with it, so I'd love to hear what you did!
Mary Michael
Used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and it turned out great! I cannot wait to make a homemade caramel macchiato and maybe just maybe kick my starbucks habit! Thanks for the recipe!
alexandra
That's awesome! I've definitely become happier with my homemade lattes since figuring out how to make this caramel! :)
Emmy
Hi! I made this today and the flavor is delicious. Just to make sure, it turned out as it should, it is supposed to be rather thin, right? I've had it in the fridge for several hours and it has thickened up some, but not as much as I thought it would. I'm not complaining! I, like you, like to put it in my coffee. I just want to make sure that it came out right. Thanks!
alexandra
Yup, sounds right! If you want it to be really thick, you can cook it longer while stirring. You can also reduce the milk to 1 cup to get a head start on the thickening, but you'll still need to cook it longer.
Treena
Ok so I posted a comment asking for the quantities of Sugar and Milk in either Grams or Ounces, but Me being Me couldn't wait for a reply, You see my big problem is I have NO PATIENCE! So I consulted the Oracle that id Google and found an online converter which worked out at 200 Grams Sugar and 250 Grams Milk. I set to work, got everything I needed and HOPED for the best, after the first 8mins (as stated in the instructions) nothing had happened, by the end of the second 8mins I noticed the sugar on the bottom seemed to be colouring and as I scooped the melted sugar over the un-melted sugar it turned into "Globs" of hard caramel, and I debated throwing it out :-( However I remembered the warning Not to PANIC, just in time and lowered the heat and it soon all melted together :-) Of course as soon as the milk hit it, everything seized up and I ended up with a pan of caramel coloured milk and a huge Glob of hard caramel on the bottom of my pan, but because I had read the instructions AND comments before I started I knew exactly what to do, stir, Stir and STIR some more! Once it all came together I returned it to the heat, as I like a thicker Caramel 10 mins later and now in a jar I have THE MOST AWESOME, Home made Caramel which will be used to make Banoffee Frapeé's ( Strong Coffee blended with Milk, Ice, Banana and Caramel) later with my Closest Friend, who I will be sharing this recipe with :-D THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING X X
alexandra
Hi Treena,
Sorry I couldn't get back to your comment sooner, but it was 3AM my time when you commented, so that would be why haha. Anyway, I'm so glad everything worked out for you! The good news is, caramel is pretty flexible in that if you increase or decrease your sugar:milk ratio, it'll just make a thinner or thicker sauce. I just worked out the conversion, and you actually used less milk than stated in the recipe, but that would work out better for you since you wanted a thick sauce anyway. Sometimes I cut it down to one cup of milk, which is about what you did by my calculations. I do all my recipes in weight measurements now too, so if you ever want to check out some other recipes on the blog, you won't have to convert the newer ones!
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe, and for your funny and sweet comment. And if you want to send me a Banoffee Frappe, I'll be happy to accept! LOL
Treena
Hi there, I'm hoping you can help me, I absolutely LOVE Caramel Frappé's and after finding your recipe for a No Cream Caramel and all the comments from people who have tried it and had it turn out Perfectly I am desperate to try your recipe myself. The problem I have is I live in the UK and we don't measure in Cups :-( Please could you tell what quantities I need in either Grams or Ounces many thanks Treena
Eleora
Before, I keep trying the wet method of caramel making and... failed miserably. BUT right after I see your post, I set off to the kitchen and work on another batch of caramel sauce. And.....it works on my first try!! I'll never thought about adding milk into caramel. You are my caramel hero. ;D
alexandra
That's amazing!! I'm so happy to hear that. And I'm pretty happy to be someone's caramel hero too haha. :D