This Vegan Caramel Sauce will turn any dessert into an incredible one. It’s sinfully indulgent, and will forever change the history of your vanilla ice cream. Use it as an apple pie topping, make a dairy-free caramel macchiato, or even a vegan salted caramel frappuccino! You really can’t go wrong with this silky smooth dairy-free caramel sauce. In fact, I think you’ll want to put it on everything.
Years ago, when I created this recipe, I aspired to create a non-dairy caramel sauce that would taste like the original dairy-filled one. I didn’t know what using maple syrup and coconut sugar would produce, but I was very determined to give it a try and find out.
The first couple times I tried developing this recipe, the batches were a little sweet – too sweet. So I scaled back on the maple syrup and coconut sugar, and eventually found the “sweet spot” (pun intended).
Tips for making this vegan caramel:
- I highly, highly recommend using coconut sugar in this recipe. Coconut sugar has a wonderful caramel-like flavor, so it really adds to the richness of the sauce. I tried making this recipe once using cane sugar and didn’t care for it. Trust me, use coconut sugar!
- When you first bring the coconut milk, coconut sugar and maple syrup to a boil, don’t leave it unattended on the stove. It can (and will) boil over if you aren’t careful. Keep an eye on it.
- To those of you with small children in your home, please use caution when making this. I use the back burner on my stove and tell my girls to stay out of the kitchen (just to be safe)!
How to use this Vegan Caramel Recipe:
- Spoon over ice cream
- Add a few spoonfuls to your morning coffee (you can thank me later!)
- Drizzle over cakes and pies
- Hide it from your family and sneak spoonfuls straight from the jar when they aren’t looking
Try drizzling this dairy-free caramel sauce over this decadent vegan cheesecake!
This Vegan Caramel Sauce will turn any dessert into an incredible one. It’s sinfully indulgent, silky smooth, and perfectly sweetened! This caramel sauce is just that – a sauce. It is fairly runny and won’t get really thick like a dairy-filled caramel will. I’ve tried simmering it for longer periods of time (40 minutes) just to test it. It does get slightly thicker, but I actually prefer the ease of a 15 minute simmer time. If you would like to simmer it longer for a thicker consistency, I suggest reducing the amount of coconut sugar used to 3/4 cup. I highly, highly recommend using coconut sugar in this recipe. Coconut sugar has a wonderful caramel-like flavor, so it really adds to the richness of the sauce. I tried making this recipe once using cane sugar and didn’t care for it. Trust me, use coconut sugar! When you first bring the coconut milk, coconut sugar and maple syrup to a boil, don’t leave it unattended on the stove. It can (and will) boil over if you aren’t careful. Keep an eye on it. To those of you with small children in your home, please use caution when making this. I use the back burner on my stove and tell my girls to stay out of the kitchen (just to be safe)! We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Vegan Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
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Riley
Friday 28th of December 2018
Any idea how to fix this if its very crystallized?
Megan
Friday 18th of January 2019
Hi Riley, I've never had it crystallize on me before, so I'm not sure! Did you change anything in the recipe?
Gina
Monday 16th of October 2017
I made this recipe using chaokoh coconut cream. And replaced the oil with soy free earth balance "butter". I didn't have palm sugar, so I used coconut sugar. This is Amazing! This recipe is not going to get thick where you can make caramel apples, but this can be drizzled over chopped apples or anything really. I like to chop apples, sprinkle with chopped cashews and drizzle with this caramel. Thank you Megan!!☺️
Megan
Monday 16th of October 2017
So happy to hear you enjoy it, Gina! Thanks for coming back and leaving me a comment with your thoughts and experience! I love it when readers do that!
Tina
Monday 14th of August 2017
This recipe sucks its literally a liquid
Megan
Monday 14th of August 2017
Wow! Thank you so much for your very kind and helpful comment!
Lynn
Sunday 20th of November 2016
I tried a different recipe today with awful results, so want to try your recipe. Is the coconut milk a full fat milk? Do you recommend any particlar brand? The recipe I tried was just the coconut cream, honey and coconut oil, and I opened 2 cans of coconut milk to get enough cream. I had 2 different brands and one had double the amount of cream as the other. Anyway, cooked, and cooked mine and ended up with a small blob of gelatinous brown stuff under a thick layer of oil.
Great tip on back burner, also keep pets out of kitchen! I was making homeade caramel at Xmas a few years back. My cat came out and was rubbing myeg, as I bent to pet him, I accidentally hit the wooden spoon, which flew up in the air spinning wnd over end, my Winston ran and the spoon landed on his head. Of course it was freezing rain that I had to drive thru to get him to the vet. They were waiting for us and raced him back. They shaved the spoon and caramel off my poor boy and the Vet said if he had not been a long haired cat he would have had severe burns on his head, neck and back. Thankfully all he lost was fur, and he gained the nickname carmel winnie!
Connie Barlow
Saturday 14th of January 2017
Hi, that is a HORRIBLE STORY. I can so relate to you. Poor Baby !! And dont you know he was So Embarrassed to have his hair gone!
Megan
Tuesday 22nd of November 2016
Hi Lynn, I LOVE Aroy-D coconut milk! And yes, please use full fat.
Vivien
Wednesday 25th of November 2015
Hi, I really like your recipes and web site. Does your carmel sauce taste like coconut?
Megan
Friday 27th of November 2015
It has a mild coconut flavor, Vivian, but it's very, very mild. My husband is not a coconut fan and he loves it!