Welcome to a complete guide on making the perfect caramel sauce! Homemade caramel sauce is rich, flavorful, and tastes nothing like a store-bought one. And it's very quick to make! I'll be sharing 2 ways of making it: the wet and dry method. Compare the two and decide which one you want to try next time!
📌 2 Ways Of Making Caramel Sauce
Have you ever been confused by finding out there are 2 ways of making caramel sauce? Well, that was me decades ago! - As I continued learning about baking and making more caramel desserts, I noticed some recipes used the wet caramel method while others used the wet caramel method.
Method 1. Dry caramel (The dry method)
Dry caramel is made by heating only sugar initially. Heavy cream is added after the caramel is darkened enough.
Method 2. Wet caramel (The wet method)
Wet caramel refers to caramel sauce made by heating water and sugar initially. The rest of the process is the same as the dry caramel.
And it started making me wonder...
Which one should I use for...what dessert? Are there any differences in the results?
I'm guessing many of you have wondered or will wonder the same things during your baking journey. That is why I decided to make this in-depth tutorial.
I'm sharing everything you need to know about making your own caramel sauce successfully, including troubleshooting tips and step-by-step instructions with detailed images and a video tutorial.
After reading this post, I hope you'll truly feel confident in making it and want to jump into the kitchen to test it out!
Let's get started.💪🏻
📌 Tips For Caramel Sauce Ingredients
- Granulated sugar: Use white sugar, such as granulated sugar and caster sugar, for the best result. Brown sugar or light brown sugar burns quickly and does not work great for making caramel sauce.
- Water: Use it for wet caramel. Omit it for dry caramel.
- Heavy cream (hot): Use regular heavy cream or heavy whipping cream.
- Vanilla beans: Vanilla beans give the sauce incredible flavor. You can also use vanilla extract instead.
- Salt: I used regular table salt. You can also use kosher salt or sea salt instead.
- Unsalted butter: Optional. It adds a rich flavor.
The basic ingredients for dry caramel are granulated sugar and heavy cream.
The basic ingredients for wet caramel are granulated sugar, water, and heavy cream.
To each of them, we add vanilla beans (or vanilla extract) and salt to make it taste even more exceptional.
Butter is optional. I am comparing the caramel sauce with and without it toward the end of the post to compare them.
Can I use milk instead of heavy cream to make caramel sauce?
Although it's possible, I highly recommend making it with heavy cream to get the best result. Milk is not going to give the same richness and smoothness as heavy cream. And the sauce gets much thinner with milk.
📌 The Tools You'll Need
- Medium saucepan: I recommend using a stainless steel pan and avoiding a colored non-stick pan so that you can accurately judge the color of the caramel.
- Pastry brush
- Heat-resistant spatula or wooden spoon
- Knife
- Sieve
- Airtight container
📌 Preparation For Both Methods
- Prepare a clean pot. Any liquid or impurity can affect the final result.
- Scrape off the vanilla beans inside the pod with a knife and add them to the heavy cream in advance.
- Cut butter into smaller pieces. (Omit it if you are not using butter.)
- Heat heavy cream. Ensure it is hot when you add it to the caramel.
Now, let's make caramel sauce using the dry method first.
📌 Caramel Sauce - The Dry Method
- Heat sugar in a saucepan.
- Once it starts caramelizing from the side, mix it gradually with sugar around it to caramelize all the sugar. Remove from the heat once the caramel turns into amber color.
- Mix in hot heavy cream and vanilla.
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time to ensure all the caramel is melted.
Step 1: Heat sugar in a saucepan.
Add sugar to a medium saucepan. Heat it at medium heat.
Do not touch the sugar... yet!
You do not need to move the pot or mix the sugar until the caramelization starts happening. When you touch it too early, the sugar sticks more to a spatula and the edges of the pot, and it’s gonna be harder to take them off later. Time for a little patience here! ☕️
Step 2: Mix gradually and caramelize all the sugar.
Turn down to low heat.
Once you see the sugar has started caramelizing, turn the heat down to prevent the sugar from caramelizing quickly. You might not be able to catch up with the caramelization process when you continue heating it at medium heat, and your caramel might get too dark by the time you finish melting all the sugar.
Mix the caramel and sugar around it little by little to dissolve the sugar slowly. Remove it from the heat immediately once it turns into a deep amber color.
Tips for mixing the sugar
- Mix inward: The caramelization often starts from the edges - from the edges toward the center. Blend caramel and sugar inward (like in the photos below).
- Try not to let the sugar touch the sides of the pan since it's gonna be harder to take it off later once sticking to them.
Step 3: Add hot heavy cream and vanilla.
Add vanilla beans (or vanilla extract), the pod, and about ⅓ of the hot heavy cream. The caramel is going to bubble hard after adding the cream. Wait for seconds until it calms down slightly, and add the rest of the heavy cream. Mix until blended roughly.
Tips for the heavy cream
- Use hot, heavy cream so that it does not harden the hot caramel. It also prevents the cream from bubbling too hard. Today, I heated it with the microwave while heating the sugar. Heat it with your own timing!
- Add heavy cream immediately while the caramel is extremely hot before it starts getting hardened.
Step 4: Add salt (& butter).
Add salt (and butter) and mix until evenly blended.
Step 5: Heat the caramel sauce one more time.
Heat the saucepan again at medium to medium-low heat to ensure the caramel is dissolved. You don't need to heat it for a long time. Remove it from the heat as soon as you see that all the caramel has melted and the sauce is nice and smooth!
Right after it’s made, you’ll see a lot of bubbles like in the image below, but it’ll soon calm down and turn into a shiny sauce.
Right after it's made:
After the bubbles calm down:
Strain it with a sieve to discard the vanilla pod and any solids, such as unmelted caramel or sugar crystals, in case they are mixed in.
And that's it! Use it right away or store it in an airtight container, such as a mason jar.
Next, let's make caramel sauce using the wet method.
📌 Caramel Sauce - The Wet Method
- Heat water and sugar in a saucepan.
- Once it starts caramelizing in one spot, swirl a saucepan to even out the color. Remove from the heat once the caramel turns into amber color.
- Mix in hot heavy cream and vanilla.
- Add salt (& butter) and mix.
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time to ensure all the caramel is melted.
Step 1: Heat water and sugar.
Add water and sugar to a medium saucepan and heat it at medium to medium-high heat. Brush a little water on the sides of the saucepan at least once or twice while heating it to prevent the sugar from getting crystallized.
💬 Compared to dry caramel, wet caramel takes much longer until the caramelization starts happening.
Do not touch the sugar yet.
Just like the dry method, do not shake the saucepan or mix the sugar until the caramelization starts. Mixing/touching it too early can cause sugar crystallization.
The bubble sounds tell. 👂🏻
At the beginning stage, you can hear the bubbling sound, which is high and loud. That means caramelization does not happen in a minute yet.
Once it gets lower and quieter and the syrup is much thicker, the caramelization happens quickly. Don’t go anywhere, and pay extra close attention!
How to prevent the sugar from getting crystalized
Sugar crystallization is the worst enemy of wet caramel! It occurs when the heated syrup cools down, turning into unclear sugar flakes. Here are my tips to prevent it.
- Shake a saucepan before heating the sugar and water to ensure the sugar is wet completely.
- Brush the edges of a saucepan with water at least 1 -2 times while heating the saucepan. (You can also place a lid on top for the same effect; Water falls from the side due to the steam and wash off the sugar.)
- Do not touch the sugar or shake the saucepan while heating until the sugar starts caramelizing in one spot.
- Do not remove the saucepan from the heat after the syrup starts bubbling.
Step 2: Once it starts caramelizing in one spot, swirl a saucepan to even out the color.
Turn down to low heat.
Turn the heat down to low heat when you see the light caramelization in one spot. Like the dry method, the caramel gets dark very quickly when you keep heating it with medium heat. By turning down the heat, you can avoid accidentally caramelizing the sugar too much.
Swirl a saucepan.
As soon as you see the light caramelization, swirl a saucepan to make the color even to judge the color accurately.
Remove it from the heat immediately once it turns into a deep amber color.
Step 3: Add heavy cream and vanilla.
Do the rest the same as the dry caramel: Add vanilla beans (or vanilla extract), the pod, and about ⅓ of hot, heavy cream. Wait for a second for the bubbles to calm down slightly, add the remaining cream, and mix.
Step 4: Add salt (& butter).
Add salt (and butter) and mix until evenly blended.
Step 5: Heat one more time.
Heat the saucepan again at medium to medium-low heat to ensure the caramel is dissolved. Remove from the heat as soon as you see that all the caramel is melted and the sauce is smooth.
Strain it with a sieve to discard the vanilla pod and any solids, such as unmelted caramel or sugar crystals, in case they are mixed in.
From steps 3 - 5, the same instructions and tips for the dry method apply.
📌 How Dark The Color Of The Caramel Sauce Should Be?
I recommend removing it from the heat immediately when it tunes into the deep amber color. Ultimately, you can decide how much you want to color it, but do not make it too dark or too light. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Tips for making darker caramel sauce
- The darker the caramel sauce gets, the deeper it tastes. It's very bitter and sour when it's darkened too much.
- Once you start seeing smaller bubbles on the surface of the heated caramel in a saucepan, that is the sign you need to remove it from the heat immediately - it gets very dark quickly after that.
Tips for making lighter caramel sauce
- The lighter the color is, the sweeter the caramel flavor gets. It'll lose depth in flavor when it's too light.
- The light caramel sauce is slightly thinner than dark caramel.
- The caramel sauce gets grainy when adding heavy cream too early before the sugar caramelizes enough. For some of you who like lighter caramel sauce, add heavy cream when it's about this color:
📌 The Comparisons
Here is the comparisons of dry caramel and wet caramel with and without butter at each temperature.
The consistencies
- Wet caramel is slightly softer than dry caramel, but it is almost not noticeable. The softness of caramel sauce can easily be adjusted by adding more or less heavy cream.
- Caramel sauce with butter is slightly thinner when it's hot and slightly firmer when it's cold.
While they are warm:
At room temperature:
When they are cold:
The flavors
- I did not notice any significant difference in the flavors between the dry and wet caramel.
- The flavor gets milder with butter. The difference is minor if you don't add much butter.
The conclusion
Although there are some differences between the 2 methods, they are not significant and easily adjustable. I encourage you to pick whichever you feel comfortable to work with. If you are new to them, try both and see which one you like better!
📌 The Video Tutorial
Watch the video tutorial to learn how to make the 2 types of caramel sauce visually and have a deeper understanding of each step!
Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it 😉
📌 How To Store Homemade Caramel Sauce
Pour it into an airtight container, such as a glass jar.
What's the shelf life of homemade caramel sauce?
It can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Can I freeze homemade caramel sauce?
Yes, you can freeze it for up to a few months in an airtight container.
How long can I leave homemade caramel sauce at room temperature?
I do not recommend leaving it for more than a half day since it contains heavy cream. Although some people suggest storing it at room temperature for up to a few days, I personally think it's always safer to store it in the fridge. Reheat it before using it if necessary since it gets firmer when it's chilled.
📌 Uses For Caramel Sauce
Enjoy this delicious caramel sauce with various desserts and drinks! Here are some of my favorite ways:
- As a topping for your favorite desserts, such as vanilla ice cream, ice cream sundaes, apple pie, etc.
- As a filling for your cakes and desserts, such as cream puffs, chocolate truffles, macarons, whole cakes, cupcakes, etc.
- Mix it in your favorite frosting as a flavor, such as buttercream, whipped cream, etc.
- For your drink: Enjoy making special drinks, such as caramel latte or caramel frappuccino.
Nothing beats ice cream with warm caramel sauce and toasted nuts! With maybe some sliced fruits like banana and strawberries and warm chocolate sauce?😊 I had it a couple of times this week... It was such a perfect indulgent I needed🤤
📌 More Filling Recipes
📌 Printable Recipe
💬 If you loved this easy homemade caramel sauce recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love hearing how you enjoyed it with your friends and family.
Caramel Sauce (Dry Caramel And Wet Caramel)
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
- Pastry brush for wet caramel
- Spatula Heat resistant
- Knife
- Sieve
- Airtight container
Ingredients
- 200 g (1 cup) Granulated sugar
- 66 g (¼ cup) Water (Only for wet caramel)
- 150 g (⅔ cup) Heavy cream hot
- ⅓ - ¼ pod Vanilla Beans Or use vanilla extract: 1 tsp
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 50 g (3.5 Tablespoons) Unsalted butter Optional
NOTE: For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are designed with weighed ingredients using grams/ounces. Cup measurements (US customary units) are provided for your convenience.
Instructions
Preparation (For Both Methods)
- Prepare a clean pot. Any liquid or impurity can affect the final result.Scrape off the vanilla beans inside the pod with a knife and add them to the heavy cream in advance.Cut butter into smaller pieces. (Omit it if you are not using butter.)Heat heavy cream. Ensure it is hot when you add it to the caramel.
Dry Caramel
- Heat sugar in a saucepan:Add sugar to a medium saucepan. Heat it at medium heat. You do not need to move the pot or mix the sugar until the caramelization starts happening. When you touch it too early, the sugar sticks more to a spatula and the edges of the pot, and it’s gonna be harder to take them off later. Time for a little patience here!200 g Granulated sugar
- Mix gradually and caramelize all the sugar:Once you see the sugar has started caramelizing, turn the heat down to prevent the sugar from caramelizing quickly. You might not be able to catch up with the caramelization process when you continue heating it at medium heat, and your caramel might get too dark by the time you finish melting all the sugar.Mix the caramel and sugar around it little by little to dissolve the sugar slowly. Remove it from the heat immediately once it turns into a deep amber color.Tips for mixing the sugar* Mix inward: The caramelization often starts from the edges - from the edges toward the center. Blend caramel and sugar inward (like in the photos below).* Try not to let the sugar touch the sides of the pan since it's gonna be harder to take it off later once sticking to them.
- Add hot heavy cream and vanilla:Add vanilla beans (or vanilla extract), the pod, and about ⅓ of the hot heavy cream. The caramel is going to bubble hard after adding the cream. Wait for seconds until it calms down slightly, and add the rest of the heavy cream. Mix until blended roughly.Tips for the heavy cream* Use hot, heavy cream so that it does not harden the hot caramel. It also prevents the cream from bubbling too hard. Today, I heated it with the microwave while heating the sugar. Heat it with your own timing!* Add heavy cream immediately while the caramel is extremely hot before it starts getting hardened.150 g Heavy cream, ⅓ - ¼ pod Vanilla Beans
- Add salt (& butter):Add salt (and butter) and mix until evenly blended.¼ teaspoon Salt, 50 g Unsalted butter
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time:Heat the saucepan again at medium to medium-low heat to ensure the caramel is dissolved. You don't need to heat it for a long time. Remove it from the heat as soon as you see that all the caramel has melted and the sauce is nice and smooth!Right after it’s made, you’ll see a lot of bubbles like in the image below, but it’ll soon calm down and turn into a shiny sauce.Strain it with a sieve to discard the vanilla pod and any solids, such as unmelted caramel or sugar crystals, in case they are mixed in.And that's it! Use it right away or store it in an airtight container, such as a mason jar.
Wet Caramel
- Heat water and sugar:Add water and sugar to a medium saucepan and heat it at medium to medium-high heat. Brush a little water on the sides of the saucepan at least once or twice while heating it to prevent the sugar from getting crystallized.Just like the dry method, do not shake the saucepan or mix the sugar until the caramelization starts. Mixing/touching it too early can cause sugar crystallization.At the beginning stage, you can hear the bubbling sound, which is high and loud. That means caramelization does not happen in a minute yet. Once it gets lower and quieter and the syrup is much thicker, the caramelization happens quickly. Don’t go anywhere, and pay extra close attention!How to prevent the sugar from getting crystalizedSugar crystallization is the worst enemy of wet caramel! Here are my tips to prevent it:1. Shake a saucepan before heating the sugar and water to ensure the sugar is wet completely.2. Brush the edges of a saucepan with water at least 1 -2 times while heating the saucepan. (You can also place a lid on top for the same effect; Water falls from the side due to the steam and wash off the sugar.)3. Do not touch the sugar or shake the saucepan while heating until the sugar starts caramelizing in one spot.4. Do not remove the saucepan from the heat after the syrup starts bubbling.200 g Granulated sugar, 66 g Water (Only for wet caramel)
- Once it starts caramelizing in one spot, swirl a saucepan to even out the color:Turn the heat down to low heat when you see the light caramelization in one spot. Like the dry method, the caramel gets dark very quickly when you keep heating it with medium heat. By turning down the heat, you can avoid accidentally caramelizing the sugar too much.As soon as you see the light caramelization, swirl a saucepan to make the color even to judge the color accurately. Remove it from the heat immediately once it turns into a deep amber color.
- Add heavy cream and vanilla:Do the rest the same as the dry caramel: Add vanilla beans (or vanilla extract), the pod, and about ⅓ of hot, heavy cream. Wait for a second for the bubbles to calm down slightly, add the remaining cream, and mix.150 g Heavy cream, ⅓ - ¼ pod Vanilla Beans
- Add salt (& butter):Add salt (and butter) and mix until evenly blended.¼ teaspoon Salt, 50 g Unsalted butter
- Heat the caramel sauce one more time:Heat the saucepan again at medium to medium-low heat to ensure the caramel is dissolved. Remove from the heat as soon as you see that all the caramel is melted and the sauce is smooth.Strain it with a sieve to discard the vanilla pod and any solids, such as unmelted caramel or sugar crystals, in case they are mixed in.From steps 3 - 5, the same instructions and tips for the dry method apply.
Video
Notes
How to store caramel sauce:
Store in an airtight container. In the refrigerators: for up to 2 weeks. In the freezer: for up to a few months.Nutrition
📌 Pin It!
Pin this easy caramel sauce recipe to make it later, and find many other delicious recipes on my Pinterest page!
Jody says
Hi Aya,
I just made your caramel sauce today using the wet method and it turned out great! Caramel sauce has a been on my "to bake list" for over a year. I decided today is the day. I would also like to try your slice and bake cookies with the design inside but that might have to wait till next Christmas. I really enjoy your videos and love seeing the joy on your daughter's face when she is enjoying one of your beautiful treats.
Thank you for great content and sharing your knowledge.
ayacaliva says
Hi Jody!
Thank you for watching my videos and visiting this blog as well. It means a lot to me.
I'm glad the caramel was a success, great job!!💪🏻
Joao says
Hi Aya!
Joao from Denver! I was lucky to find your channel amid zillions of youtube videos! Your recipes, videos and explanations are made with carefulness and perfection!
I’ve made your caramel sauce using the wet method, and it was great!
I’d appreciate if your could answer four questions:
1. My sauce resulted in tiny liquid pale dotas, not a solid ambar color like yours. I used butter, but I think was not the main reason… would you have seen this before, and if yes, what differently should I do next time?
2. I’ve got some crystallization (even using a wet brush to clean the pan side). I used a fine strainer to get a smoother sauce, and it’s ok. Can the dry method lead to crystallization as well? What do you think about using cream of tartar and/or corn syrup/inverted sugar to avoid crystallization?
3. Which temperature should the sauce reach before turning off the heat and adding the cream? 330-340 F (165-170 C)?
4. Which sauce pan you suggest to use? 2 qt, 3 qt, a 10 inc skillet, other? It seems it can influence crystallization due to contact area with sugar.
Thank you very much!
ayacaliva says
Hi! I'm sorry for the late response,
Thank you for watching my videos, I'm so glad you found me there!! (& thanks for visiting here as well🙏🏻💕)
About your questions,
1. Do you mean the color was more pale? If so, cook it for a little bit longer time next time. Or do you mean you saw brown pieces in the sauce? If so, the caramel was probably not entirely melted - it happens often when the cream was not hot enough or the sauce was not heated enough at the end to dissolve them. Simply reheat it for a little longer time until the pieces melts in the liquid completely.
2. The crystalization happens especially when the sugar was not caramelized enough. So if the caramel sauce looked very pale, that would be the cause. Or, dried sugar may be stuck to the side of the pot without completely melted in - they can cause the crystalization when being mixed in the finished sauce. Try not to let the dried sugar stick to the side while caramelizing the sugar. Or try not to mix it in the sauce when that happens.
I've never used cream of tartar or inverted sugar for caramel sauce, but they might work!
3. The caramelization slowly starts from around 160°C (320°F) and gets dark brown at around 180°C (355°F). I normally do not check it with the thermometer but judge with the color instead. I personally like darker caramel sauce.
4. I'm not sure about qt, but mine was a 8-inch saucepan.
Hope that helps!
Aya
Sue says
I made the wet caramel today with butter. It’s so tasty.
ayacaliva says
Thank you for making it and sharing the result!!