Homemade Buttermilk Caramel Sauce is rich, thick and delicious. This sticky, buttery sauce uses real butter and buttermilk for a decadent dessert condiment. Pour it over your ice cream, cheesecakes, and cookies; use it to make caramel desserts, finish your chocolate cocktails, and top your iced coffees.
Buttermilk Caramel Syrup is easy to make and a fantastic way to enjoy caramel with a healthier edge than what you will find in store bought brands.
What is Buttermilk Caramel Sauce?
Buttermilk Caramel is a type of caramel sauce that is made with buttermilk and sugar. It is typically made by cooking sugar until it reaches a golden brown color, then adding buttermilk and butter and continuing to cook until the mixture thickens. The resulting sauce has a rich, creamy texture and a tangy flavor from the buttermilk.
If you need a thicker, more spreadable caramel sauce, try Inger’s Single Ingredient Caramel Spread. It is made with condensed milk and yields a heavy, butter like spread perfect for cookies and caramel tray bakes.
What does adding butter do to Caramel?
The use of butter, cream, and buttermilk in caramel creates a chemical reaction due to the proteins they contain. This reaction happens when they mix with the hot sugar, creating a noticeable depth and flavor to the caramel sauce. The texture of the sauce will also be improved as the added fats yield a thick, creamy consistency.
Why is my Caramel Sauce grainy?
Caramel Sauce that has a grainy consistency is caused by sugar crystallization. Fortunately, it is a simple fix and can be completely avoided by using proper technique when cooking caramel. Heating the sugars evenly and slowly will prevent it from burning, it will also keep it from crystallizing which happens when the heated sugars come in contact with cool temperatures, causing them to loose moisture and turn back into sugar crystals.
How do I keep my Caramel Sauce from hardening?
There are a few things you can do to help prevent your caramel sauce from hardening, we are sharing a few tips for you to try if you are encountering this problem.
- Adding lemon juice will aid in preventing the sugars from crystallizing and forming a hard, thick sauce. The use of butter and cream will also help to keep caramel sauce soft and creamy because the proteins act as a barrier, keeping the sugars from crystallizing.
- Use a lower cooking temperature. This can help to prevent the sugar from caramelizing too much, which can cause it to harden. To do this, reduce the heat slightly while cooking the caramel and be sure to stir it frequently to help prevent it from burning.
- Caramel sauce can harden when it is stored in the refrigerator, especially if it is allowed to cool too quickly. To help prevent this, make sure to store your caramel sauce in an airtight container and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating. You can also store the sauce in the refrigerator in a heat-proof container, such as a glass jar, and warm it up in a pan of hot water before serving.
What can I serve with Buttermilk Caramel Sauce?
This sauce is creamy and decadent making it a fantastic dessert condiment and sweet treat. Here are some of our favorite ways to enjoy it
- As a topping on ice creams, cheesecakes, and cookies
- Enjoy with crepes, waffles, muffins and other breakfast pastries
- Serve as a fondue sauce with fresh fruits, pastries, or cookies
- Use to finish Kahlua, chocolate or espresso based cocktails
- Drizzle over iced coffees and hot chocolate drinks
Here is your printable recipe:
Homemade Buttermilk Caramel Sauce
Homemade Buttermilk Caramel Sauce is Rich, thick and delicious. This sticky, buttery sauce uses real butter and buttermilk. The flavor is outstanding! You won’t buy syrup for ice cream, desserts or pancakes after tasting this delectable sauce!
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 Cups sugar
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 2 Tablespoon corn syrup
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Measure out buttermilk, sugar, butter, corn syrup and baking soda into a very large pot
- Heat to medium high and gently stir together until it boils
- After it bubbles, reduce heat to low and maintain a simmer
- Stir another 8 or so minutes until the caramel turns deep golden brown and slightly transparent. It will be slightly foamy
- Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and let cool
- The foam will form a skin on top. Remove that foamy skin for best, prettiest syrup
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 136Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 16mgSodium 148mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 0gSugar 21gProtein 0g
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Recipe from: our best bites
Heather
Monday 13th of November 2023
I make caramel often and this was one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I’ve made. It will be my go to recipe now.
Diane
Monday 13th of November 2023
Hi Heather, How nice of you to come back and let us know you find this recipe easy and delicious! Thanks for the great review and have a wonderful holiday season!
Rachel Shutty
Sunday 22nd of April 2018
I made this for the coffee cupcakes and it was SO good. Creamy, drizzled perfectly. I made a half batch today and for some reason after it cooled it got all granular and chunky and I’m not sure why. It was creamy before when it was still warm. Any thoughts?
Diane
Sunday 22nd of April 2018
Hi Rachel, I'm so happy you loved this sauce on your cupcakes. I'm sorry your second batch did not turn out for you. Try doing a full batch again and following the directions precisely. I have noticed sweet sticky sauces like this one are tricky to get right when the measurements change. It sounds like you over cooked it and that makes sense for this smaller volume.I'm sure it overheated. That would cause the results you describe. I hope that helps and thank you for reaching out with your question.
Sara Whipple
Wednesday 2nd of August 2017
Hi, and thank you for the recipe! It's fantastic! I'm wondering how you store this sauce? I's it safe left on the counter, or do you keep it in the fridge?
Diane
Wednesday 2nd of August 2017
Hi Sara, I'm so glad you're enjoying this caramel sauce recipe. I stored it covered in the fridge in an airtight container. It will last several days if you keep air out of the container. Enjoy and have a great day!
Mel
Tuesday 14th of March 2017
Is there a way to get around the corn syrup?
Diane
Tuesday 14th of March 2017
Hi Mel, You can omit the corn syrup and still get a caramel sauce. I would love to know if you enjoy the syrup that way. I'm sure you are not alone in looking for a beautiful rich result without corn syrup. I found this link for you. This is good post that includes some information about the science in making caramel sauce. Good luck and let us know your results! Remember she is not using buttermilk. Hers is a very different recipe so I can't say the results will be as good.
Kim
Tuesday 10th of May 2016
would this recipe work if I wanted to seal the jars to use for future gifts?
Diane
Tuesday 10th of May 2016
Hi Kim, Home canning chocolate and caramel sauces is not recommended by the USDA. They are both very low acid content and therefore unsafe to can. That said: Go ahead and make this sauce for gifts. It will be stunning in a gift baskets or by itself and well loved. I found this link for you on ChowHound.com. This is a discussion of this issue. Caramel sauce will keep for ages in the fridge. Just put a tag on the jar that tells them to store in it the fridge. This is a great gift idea! Good luck!