Vegan Caramel Sauce – 3 Ingredients
By Jessica Hylton -
- Updated
This Vegan Caramel Sauce is made with only 3 ingredients! Healthier, all natural ingredients, and goes perfectly with everything you pour it over!!
The Christmas season means many things. Several viewings of Elf. Lots of eggnog and hot chocolate drinking beside the Christmas tree. Most prevalent it seems, is the lots of sweets – and I mean lots. ‘Tis the season for overindulging in sweet things! So when you feel like you’re in need of a sweet craving this holiday (you will), make this Vegan Caramel Sauce.
Easy, creamy, thick and dreamy. Also? All natural ingredients, way healthier than store-bought caramel, and so incredibly easy to make, you’ll definitely make it more than once.
What is Vegan Caramel Sauce?
So, what exactly is this Vegan Caramel Sauce made up of? All-natural sugar of your choice. That can be coconut sugar, cane sugar, organic brown sugar, sucanat, date sugar.
Honestly, the possibility are endless. This recipe is so customisable that it’ll fit your every needs.
Next on this list is the coconut milk. Yes, I said coconut milk friends. It helps to get the caramel thick and creamy, while keeping it vegan. There are a million amazing things to say about coconut milk but I’ll stick to one for right now: perfect heavy cream substitute.
Lastly, sea salt. It’s that pinch that helps to elevate all of the previous ingredients. I added only a ¼ teaspoon, but feel free to add up to ¾ teaspoon of sea salt if you desire a salted caramel.
Salted caramel really is the best. I wanted to keep mine neutral so that you could alter it to your liking.
How to Make the Best Vegan Caramel Sauce
You could add vanilla extract, or scrape a vanilla bean for a heightened flavour. You could also add ground lavender, or even use fleur de sel instead of sea salt. That last one sounds divine!
Ways to Use Sauce
You can use it as fruit dip. You can drizzle it over pancakes. You can stir it into your coffee or oatmeal. Even your batter for muffins or cupcakes at the top for a sweet swirl or banana bread. You can use it in this Salted Pretzel Caramel Bark. The possibilities are endless!
Enjoy friends! If you make this 3 Ingredient Vegan Caramel Sauce, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Vegan Caramel Sauce
This Vegan Caramel Sauce is made with just 3 healthy, all-natural ingredients! Homemade caramel sauce goes perfectly with ice cream, cheesecakes, apple crisp, and more.
Ingredients
Vegan Caramel Sauce
- 3/4 cup coconut or cane or brown sugar
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk from the can - the thick white part
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
Instructions
Vegan Caramel Sauce
- Heat a pot over medium high heat.
- Add the sugar and stir around the pot for about 1 minute to heat through.
- Add the coconut milk and and sea salt stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer at low medium heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until caramel has thickened, stirring occasionally. It should be sticking to the back of your spatula or spoon.
- You can stir in up to ¾ teaspoon extra sea salt at this point if you want salted caramel.
- Remove pan from heat. Allow to cool slightly for 10 minutes then transfer to a jar with a lid.
- Cover jar, and place in fridge to cool further for at least two hours. The sauce WILL thicken up much more upon cooling and also upon placing in the fridge, even if it doesn't look very thick after removing from the stove.
- To use, simply remove from fridge and pour over anything you want. I use this for holiday pancakes, Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark and over ice cream and cakes. Enjoy!!
Video
NOTES
Notes:
- For Salted Caramel: You can stir in up to ¾ teaspoon extra sea salt before you remove the pot from the stove if you want salted caramel.
- Should My Caramel Sauce Look Thin? It's okay if it does. The sauce WILL thicken up much more upon cooling, and also upon placing it in the fridge, even if it doesn't look very thick after removing it from the stove.
- Wash Your Pots/Utensils: The sugar/caramel can stick to the pan if you let it sit there for too long, so I recommend washing it pretty soon after you finish cooking, or filling it with water to sit in the sink.
- Can I Halve this Recipe? You can easily half this recipe, or even double it!
- Coconut Milk vs Coconut Water: Ensure that you’re using all coconut milk and not coconut water, or else the sauce will not thicken up as much, and it will separate while cooling.
- Possible Add-Ins: You could add vanilla extract, or scrape a vanilla bean for heightened flavor. You could also add ground lavender, or even use fleur de sel instead of sea salt. That last one sounds divine!
- Storage: Refrigerate your caramel in a jar - or some other kind of airtight container - for 7 days. You can also freeze this caramel sauce for a month or so.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Tbs | Calories: 52kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 53mg | Potassium: 31mg | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg
by Jessica
Hi, I’m trying to switch to vegan. I thought it would be best to start with my favorites such as Carmel macchiatos. Instead of sea salt would regular salt work?
It would Millie but use less of iodized or kosher salt. I hope this helps!
Hi! This sauce looks delicious. Do you think it could be thinned with some more coconut milk/other non-dairy milk to make a glaze for sticky buns? Thanks!
Hi Melissa, thanks for reading after it’s made you can definitely thin it out with some more coconut milk. I hope this helps!
I just made this. This recipe is superb! The caramel is delicious and not nearly as coconutty as I worried it might be. Oddly, it actually kind of tastes buttery?!?! Amazing. 5 stars!
I used white sugar in my recipe because I was out of my usual golden cane sugar, and the flavour was not ruined or anything, but it did NOT look very tasty! Haha. It’s kind of a weird almost grey colour instead of the beautiful golden caramel colour that I’m used to. 100% my bad and I’ll make sure to use a golden or brown sugar in future, but I wanted to mention it in case anyone else was considering this particular foolishness. 😉
Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe!
Oh wow, thank you so much for this amazing and kind review, Lia! We’re so happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
can you use coconut cream insted of milk
Hi we haven’t actually tried it yet so I can’t give you an answer about alternatives.
I used coconut cream and it came out amazing. Very thick and tacky like caramel. I used for caramel apples
This is yummy! I used 1 cup coconut cream and added a dash of butter extract. The coconut sugar made it very dark so mine looks like molasses but tastes great!