Easy Vegan Caramel Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is vegan caramel made of? ›

The base for this 5-ingredient caramel is coconut cream, dates, and arrowroot starch, which are blended until creamy and smooth. This makes up the liquid ingredients, which are added to a bit of coconut sugar and cooked until glossy and just bubbly.

Combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan and bring ingredients to a boil. Remove thickened mixture from heat before adding (optional) vanilla extract. Let the caramel cool slightly before using. The result is an impossibly rich sauce that is guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Still, non-vegan ingredients like milk, cream, and butter give caramel its fat and protein content and provide caramel with its signature rich, velvety texture. You can find dairy-based caramel in an assortment of forms, including candies, sauces, puddings, and baking chips.

For those who are uncertain, Caramel Sauce is not the same as Caramel syrup. The syrup is sweeter and thin, the sauce is richer and thick. (The sauce is the one we use to make our signature Caramel Macchiatos.)

Because caramel is essentially just sugar, in its purest form, it is vegan. However, it is often mixed with dairy cream, butter, or milk, which is why it's important to always check the back of store-bought caramel candy.

Grainy caramel is caused by crystallization, which is easy to avoid (and can also be fixed). Caramel becomes grainy when the sugars crystallize, a process that happens when the melted sugar splashes up onto the cold sides of the pan.

Wet caramel is made by combining sugar and a liquid and cooking them together, while dry caramel is made from just sugar, heated in a dry pan until it liquefies and browns.

Once cooled entirely, place the caramel sauce in an airtight glass container (a mason jar is perfect) and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Microwave for 20-30 seconds to bring back to drizzling/dipping consistency.

So, is maple syrup vegan? Pure Canadian maple syrup is 100% vegan and has a range of additional health benefits! Packed with vitamins and minerals, maple syrup is an ideal replacement to honey, as well as some sugars and artificial sweeteners that aren't always vegan.

However, not all Starbucks syrups and sauces are dairy-free, and it can be confusing. Case in point: the caramel syrup is vegan but the caramel sauce is not. Here is everything you need to know about these flavor-enhancers so you can order with confidence the next time you stroll up to a Starbucks.

What is the difference between caramel syrup and caramel drizzle? ›

While the terms may cause a little confusion, there's no difference between the two, as the caramel drizzle consists of caramel sauce. Your decision really comes down to where you want the extra sugary goodness: Incorporated in your beverage or drizzled on top.

There are many different kinds of caramel, including soft caramels, hard caramels, and chewy caramels. Soft caramels are made with a high proportion of milk or cream, which gives them a soft, creamy texture. Hard caramels, on the other hand, are made with very little milk or cream, and have a harder, crunchier texture.

Caramel sauce results either from cooking sugar until it browns or by thinning melted caramel candies. When a recipe calls for melting caramel candies, you can use a homemade caramel sauce to replace the melted caramels.

Stirring the sugar

If the melting sugar splashes up onto the sides of the pan, it quickly loses its moisture content and forms back into crystals. That can set off a chain reaction that can cause caramel to seize up, ruining the entire batch.

However, not all Starbucks syrups and sauces are dairy-free, and it can be confusing. Case in point: the caramel syrup is vegan but the caramel sauce is not. Here is everything you need to know about these flavor-enhancers so you can order with confidence the next time you stroll up to a Starbucks.

The main ingredient in caramel is sugar. However, depending on the recipe you use, you may have to incorporate butter, heavy cream, water, or corn syrup as additional ingredients. High-quality, real caramel is always made with three basic ingredients and those are sugar, heavy cream, and butter.

Kraft Americas Classic Individually Wrapped Candy Caramels Bag. This product contains 3 ingredients that are not vegan and 4 ingredients that may not be vegan.

Is there dairy in caramel? Yes, traditional caramel sauce is made using butter and heavy cream.