Salted Butter Caramel

Ready to explore the fabulous salted butter caramel sauce with its smooth, sweet, and irresistible hint of salty that takes all your favorite desserts to the next level.

With just 3 ingredients and no candy thermometer needed, you can make this delicious salted caramel spread at home.

Why you must try this recipe

Salted caramel sauce also called "salidou" in its native region of Brittany in France, is a delicious French caramel sauce recipe that flavors all our favorite desserts and that we also use in all our homemade pastries and baked goods.

This delicious "caramel au beurre salé" recipe that we don't present anymore needs only 3 main ingredients in its preparation, granulated sugar, salted or unsalted butter, and heavy cream.

• This salty caramel is a must-have in your kitchen with this simple recipe, which requires no equipment such as a candy thermometer.
• Perfect for drizzling over desserts, apple pies, cheesecakes, cupcakes, crepes, in bread pudding and pancakes, or enhancing beverages.
• Delectable balance of sweetness and saltiness, creating a divine flavor that lingers on the palate.
• Much better than the store-bought ones you can find in supermarkets and for much less.

More Caramel Recipes

Ingredients and substitutions

Here is an overview of the ingredients needed to make this easy recipe for homemade caramel sauce, scroll down the page to see the quantities in the recipe card.

• Sugar: Use white granulated sugar, which you can easily substitute with whole sugar such as brown sugar or cane sugar for a flavored caramel.
• Butter: Preferably salted butter, but don't panic if you only have unsalted butter, it works with it too.
• Cream: Use full-fat heavy cream with at least 30% fat content, heavy whipping cream, preferably at room temperature or slightly heated in a pan or in the microwave, it should not be cold.
• Salt: Essential, especially if you are using unsalted butter, use fleur de sel (flaky sea salt) like Maldon sea salt flakes or kosher salt or even just regular table salt.
• Vanilla: As an option, you can add vanilla beans previously infused in the cream or pure vanilla extract to flavor the caramel.

⚠️ You will find the quantities and instructions in the recipe card below in this page.

How to make Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

Melt the sugar

1. Place granulated sugar in a medium saucepan.
2. Heat over medium-high stirring constantly until the sugar cooks and is completely melted and turns to a deep amber color.

Tip: Slowly whisk from time to time with a wooden spoon and be careful not to overcook the sugar or it will burn and have a bitter aftertaste.

>> To cook the sugar you can also use the wet method which consists in adding a small quantity of water to the sugar, it will melt more easily but the caramel will take more time to be made the time that all water is evaporated.

Add butter

1. Add the semi-salted butter or unsalted butter cut into pieces to the saucepan containing the melted sugar mixture.
2. And mix with a wooden spoon until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
3. Add sea salt for a more salty caramel sauce or if using unsalted butter.

Stir in cream

1. Add the room temperature cream in 2-3 additions while stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
2. Reduce heat to low and cook the caramel for 3-4 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the caramel thickens with a smooth consistency.
3. Place the salted butter caramel in a glass jar with a lid and keep it at room temperature.

Tip: Off the heat, run a hand blender through the salted caramel to smooth it out, and blend out any sugar residue.

Serving Suggestions

Salted caramel sauce is so good you could eat it with a spoon. It brings a delicious caramelized sugar flavor to any recipe and goes well with all kinds of fruits, especially with apple slices.

It is perfect both for adding a layer of deliciousness to all desserts with cooked fruit but also for flavoring basic recipes.

As a topping for buttermilk pancakes, waffles, French crepes, on a New York Style cheesecake, in apple desserts, like an apple galette, an apple pie, puff pastry apple tart, apple crisp pie, French apple tart.

To flavor a frosting like vanilla buttercream, cream cheese frosting, Swiss meringue Buttercream, White chocolate ganache, to flavor vanilla ice cream, in you coffee, milkshake, smoothies...

As a filling in a tart like in my chocolate tartlets, in a layer cake, to fill macarons,

Make a brown butter caramel sauce, by first following my recipe for homemade brown butter which will give a nutty caramel flavour.

Storage and Tips

How long does it last? You can keep the salted caramel sauce recipe in a glass jar with an airtight lid for about 1 month both at room temperature or in the fridge.

>> In the refrigerator its texture will become firmer, you will have to warm it up a bit in the microwave before using it.

Can I Freeze butter caramel? You can also store salted caramel in the freezer for up to 3 months. Place it in small containers or an ice cube tray to thaw small amounts more easily.

Tip 1 "caramelization stage": Always keep an eye on the caramelization of the sugar, it should have a dark golden color but if it burns it could be a complete failure and have a bitter caramel taste.

Tip 2 "Room temperature cream": Use room temperature cream to avoid changing the texture of the caramel and beware of splashes.

Tip 3 "Let it cook slowly": for a few more minutes to thicken the caramel and get a perfect texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

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• Strawberry compote

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