Easy Vegan Caramel Sauce
This Vegan Caramel Sauce is made with just 3 all-natural ingredients! Homemade caramel sauce goes perfectly with ice cream, cheesecakes, apple crisp, and more.

Easy, creamy, thick, and dreamy. That’s the catchphrase for today’s recipe, which is Vegan Caramel Sauce! If you can’t tell through the screen, I’m very excited about this post.
Caramel sauce is one of those things that everybody needs in their life. You can put it in pretty much anything. Of course, vegan ice cream is the most common culprit, but coffee is a close second. Short of a slice of rich chocolate cake, can you think of a better thing to wake up with in the morning than caramel-infused caffeine?
Though I could rave forever about the addictive nature of this easy caramel sauce, it has other good qualities too. For starters, this recipe uses all-natural ingredients and is so incredibly easy to make. I’d venture to say you’ll definitely make it more than once after you try a taste!
All I can think to say to wrap this up is that salted caramel really is the best. So, make a batch, grab a spoon, and treat yourself!
Notes on Ingredients
I wanted to keep my vegan caramel sauce somewhat neutral so that you could alter it to your liking – feel free to experiment with add-ins if you feel inspired. For now, though, here are the 3 main ingredients that you’ll need:
- Sugar: Use the all-natural sugar of your choice. That can be coconut sugar, cane sugar, organic brown sugar, sucanat, date sugar, etc.
- Coconut Milk: This 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.
- Sea Salt: A pinch of this helps to elevate the sweet effect of the first two ingredients.
How to Make Vegan Caramel Sauce
Making vegan caramel sauce requires a lot of stirring… and (im)patient waiting… but it’s not difficult at all. It takes about 25 minutes total, and then you can put it in the fridge to set. That is, after you try some, just to see if it’s up to your standards. 😉
Here’s the step-by-step guide:
Heat a Pot Over Medium-High Heat: Add the sugar and stir it around the pot for about 1 minute to heat it through. Add the coconut milk and and sea salt stir to combine.
Bring to a Boil: Reduce your mixture to a simmer at low-medium heat, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes (until caramel has thickened), stirring occasionally. It should be sticking to the back of your spatula or spoon.
Remove the Pot From Heat: Allow it to cool slightly for 10 minutes then transfer the caramel sauce to a jar with a lid. Cover the jar and place it in fridge to cool further for at least two hours.
To Use: Simply remove it from the fridge, and pour it over anything you want. I use this for holiday pancakes, and over ice cream and cakes. Enjoy!!
Tips for Success
Caramel sauce is almost too simply made for its own good. Once you start making it, it tends to become a household staple because it can be incorporated into so many things!
Here are some tips that will help you prepare some of the best caramel sauce you’ve ever tasted:
- 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!
Serving Suggestions
There are about a million ways to enjoy caramel sauce, and they’re all delicious. It can be used as fruit dip, or drizzled over pancakes or vegan ice cream… you can even stir it into your coffee or oatmeal!
I also like to add it to the batter in this Pumpkin Muffin recipe and this Banana Bread recipe, for a swirl of sweetness. Oh! And you can also use it in this Salted Pretzel Caramel Bark, too. The possibilities are truly endless!
How to Store Leftovers
Refrigerate your caramel in a jar – or some other kind of airtight container – for 7 days. Mine always disappears long before then, and I imagine yours will too!
Can I Freeze Caramel Sauce?
Yes. You can freeze this caramel sauce for a month or so in a tightly-sealed jar, or airtight container.
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
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
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!!
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.
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
This is beyond delicious! Fat content of the coconut milk you used?
Thanks Angie!! I actually used regular coconut milk, not full fat! I imagine full fat would probably taste even creamier, though!
Hi Angie,
I should clarify! I used regular coconut milk from the tin, not the carton box!
Thanks for clarifying about canned coconut milk not coconut milk beverage from the carton…..this is very helpful 🙂
Hey Angie,
I tried it again with full fat and definitely making it with that from now on! Just as tasty, but definitely creamier!
Watching Elf several times is essential during Christmas!! And this caramel sauce … holy moly I want some!
Thanks Ashley!! It was so yummy and YAY to Elf!
I love Caramel and Coconut Milk! I mean this caramel is heaven for me
Thanks Carlos!!
Allergic to nuts and coconut. Any suggestions?? So frustrating sometimes. I miss caramel.
Hey Helen! I’m assuming you’re vegan else you could make this with regular milk. I’ve been searching for ages trying to find a solution for you. The date caramel in this recipe looks promising: http://mygoodnesskitchen.com/vegan-caramel-three-ways/ just use brown rice milk instead of almond milk! I really hope that helps! I’ll let you know if I find anything else.
I would try seeing if you could just use Brown Rice Syrup and vanilla. If it needed thickened, you could also perhaps trying using a TBS or two of sunflower butter (not nuts). I would think that would make an amazing caramel sauce. If you’ve never had Brown Rice Syrup, right out of the jar it tastes almost like a caramel (without the vanilla).
I assume that you’ve found a solution since your comment is old, but in case you haven’t. You can make it with Oat milk (not as creamy) or hemp milk (incredibly creamy). Though, I would add some vanilla to counteract the earthy hemp flavor.
Thank you Jack yes we’ve found a solution but this is really solid advice.
I will definitely be making this! Thank you!
Hi Joan,
You’re so welcome! I hope you enjoy!
If you use the full can of coconut milk, will you also need to add more of the other ingredients?
Hi Molly,
Yes! A full can of coconut milk is about 1 1/2 cups, so you can increase the sugar by like 1/4 cup. Just ensure it’s ALL full fat else the caramel won’t get as thick. I hope you enjoy!!
Hi I made this recipe and came out tasting great!,but the problem is that the sugar kept on crystallizing while it was cooling down, I tried reheating it again and it stopped crystallizing but as it cooled it crystallized once again:( I put it in the fridge and checked on it to see that it was all crystal:( did I do anything wrong what should I do?
Hi Eva,
I’m glad you enjoyed the taste! That’s so weird re the crystallising, it hasn’t happened to me on the occasions I have made this, but it sounds like you may have left it on a bit too long or too high heat (instead of at simmer). Did you use the same ingredients in the post? Reheating it would actually encourage more crystallising which may have just made it worse. I don’t think you can fix it at this point, but try leaving it out on the counter for a few hours. I hope that helps! It may be easier to just make it over since the point of crystallisation sounds way past the norm.
Keeping sugar from crystalizing can be tricky business! Crystalization is a chain reaction and once it begins it causes other crystals to form. The trick is to eliminate all the crystals that could possibly seed crystalization. There are a couple of tricks you can borrow from making fudge.
The first is to make sure all the crystals that you add (sugar) are in the contents of the pot and not ON the pot. This recipe calls for adding the sugar first. With Jessica’s permission, you may want to add the liquid first. If Jessica says no, at least try to get your sugar IN the pot rather than all over the sides.
The second trick is to use the liquid to wash down the side of the pan as you add it in. This would involve tilting the pan and pouring the liquid down the side of the pan as you rotate the pan so that the liquid covers all of the side of the pan. Tricky but doable.
The third trick is to simply take a clean fairly damp cloth and wipe down the entire side of the pan. Do this before it gets too hot! And don’t worry about leaving the pot side a little wet. The coming heat will quickly evaporate the water.
The fourth trick is to put a cover on the mixture for just a minute or two when the liquid is bubbling. The steam from the liquid will collect on the top and sides of the pan and will wash down the side of the pan. Yoiu will know it has been long enough when you remove the lid and there is moisture on the side of the pan.
The final trick is to be very careful not to stir the contents up along the side of the pan. If there is any undissolved sugar, even just a grain, it will seed the crystalization chain reaction and you will get crunchy sauce.
Hope these do it for you and you can enjoy a nice creamy sauce. Good luck!
I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing these tips! I make caramel frequently and could never quite figure out why sometimes it crystalises and other times not. Now I know and better yet – know how to stop it happening. Thanks again 🙂
You’re so welcome. We’re happy that it was helpful!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful recipes. I used to make a caramel sauce and it included butter. Would vegan butter work in this recipe or does it have too much water?
By the way, I love your motto 🙂
Hey Kathleen,
Aww thank you so much!! Vegan butter instead of coconut milk or in addition to it?
Aww thank you!!! My husband came up with it – it’s so beautiful and he said it reminded him best of the food I make!! 🙂
I’m using coconut milk but it doesn’t thicken what so ever. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Hannah, how long have you been cooking it for? Did you use full fat coconut milk from the can (it’s kind of thick) or from the box?