Easy 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.
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 (halfway healthy) 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, is way healthier than store-bought caramel, 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.
I make homemade caramel as a special gift at the holidays, but my boss is vegan, so I tried this recipe.
While it is delicious, it doesn’t taste anything like caramel, but rather tastes like a very sweet coconut sauce.
Did you try making it using the traditional method of caramelizing sugar with water and a tiny bit of lemon juice, then adding the coconut milk?
Hi Margie! Thank you for commenting. We’re sorry you were not as satisfied with the caramel taste as we are. Trying the method you mentioned may cause crystallisation. If you do try we would be happy to hear how it turns out!
Thank you so very much….I had a craving for caramel this afternoon to have with Digestive biscuits. I had all the ingredients using the creamed coconut I’d created as double cream over Christmas (been infused cinnamon, cardamon and vanilla. A little cocoa and I’m super excited about how this caramel fusion will be with my cup of tea. Thank you in advanced.
You’re so welcome Natasha! We really hope that you enjoyed this recipe!
It’s super delicious, but mine came out tan in color and then separated in the fridge. Any idea why? I used full fat coconut milk from the can, brown sugar, and sea salt.
Hi Erin I’m so sorry it didn’t work out perfectly for you. I want ask this so we can solve this issue together. Did any of the coconut water from the can get into the sauce when making it?
Nope.
Hmm. The only other thing I can think of is the cooking time ( It separates when it is heated too long) or a not up to snuff batch of coconut cream. It sounds like you did a great job sticking to the instructions. My only suggestion would be to try a different brand of coconut milk. The one we use that we found to be pretty consistent was the Thai kitchen coconut milk https://www.amazon.com/Thai-Kitchen-Coconut-Milk-13-66/dp/B000GZSDZI . I hope this was somewhat helpful.
I figured it out. I didn’t cook it long enough. In my worry to not overcook it, I undercooked it. Thanks so much for the help though. My daughter loves caramel but has developed a bunch of allergies this past year. She is loving being able to have good tasting caramel again.
My teenage daughter needed to bring a vegan dish for a potluck with friends tonight. We decided to make this for a dip with Granny Smith apples. I used regular sugar which I caramelized before adding the thick coconut milk. The sugar ended up seizing this way but I just kept stirring at a low boil and it dissolved turning out delicious. This was my first time using coconut milk. One question though – any recommendations on what to do with the thin coconut milk left from the can?
Hi Jody I’m glad you enjoyed our recipe! You could definitely add it to a chickpea curry recipe or our tikka massala recipe. I hope this helps!
Do you think i could make chocolate carmel eggs out of these if put chocolate in egg moulds and fill them with the carmel? Would it be thick and gooey enough?
Hi Meadbh you could definitely use it in you chocolate caramel eggs. They would definitely be thick and gooey enough. I hope this helps.
Let me add that if you want it thicker, you can also cook it down for an extra 10 minutes!
It’s pancake day and the only caramel sauce I could find, that I needed for the pancakes, bananas and vegan ice cream I am craving contains condensed milk ?
So after googling a recipe came across this. Now I didn’t have any coconut milk in my cupboard and only a small amount of brown sugar. I only needed a small amount for my pancakes and I did have some soya cream, so I used 3 level desert spoons of brown sugar to 4 desert spoons of soya cream and the result – Amazing caramel sauce ? Happy pancake day!
Hi Ellie,
Yay! That’s so amazing and I’m so happy to hear! Happy Pancake Day to you too!!
I’m not on a paleo or vegan diet but my family needs a sugar with a lower GI, and coconut sugar is my best option. What do you think I could use other than coconut milk?
Hey Gabriel,
I’m honestly not sure what else would work here other than coconut milk, since the fat from it is needed for this to thicken up like dairy caramel sauce. Sorry I couldn’t have been more help!
I used this recipe in order to make banoffee pie for my vegan daughter. She loved it and I was amazed how easy it was to make. Thank You.
Thank you so much for reading and leaving a positive review Sally. We feel really happy that you were able to use this to make a dish for your daughter.
Sounds yummy. Can I use coconut cream instead of milk?
Hi Minoo! You should definitely be able to use the coconut cream. I this recipe it asks for you to use the cream that settles at the top of the can so it’s essentially the same thing!. We just know that the can is more readily available! I hope this helps! Thank you for reading!
I’m so excited to try this! I know it wouldn’t be vegan, but could you replace the coconut milk with regular milk and still have it work?
Hi Brittany we haven’t tested this replacement but it should be able to work. I hope this helps!