Skip the store-bought sauces and whip up a quick and easy recipe for Homemade Butterscotch Sauce.
I had grand plans today to share a recipe starring nutrient-packed leafy greens. Instead, my lack of willpower has resulted in Easy Homemade Butterscotch Sauce. Leafy greens. Butterscotch sauce. Same thing, right? Keto-lovers, shield your eyes.
In researching what goes into a successful—and incredibly simple—butterscotch sauce, I discovered countless discussions across the interwebs about butterscotch versus caramel.
To summarize: Butterscotch sauce is made with brown sugar, while a traditional caramel sauce is made with white sugar.
I’ve caramelized sugar a million times and a thousand different ways—white sugar, brown sugar, butter, no butter, bourbon, whiskey, cream, vanilla. This recipe is hands-down the winner when it comes to a fast (10 minutes!) and easy sauce for ice cream sundaes.
I tested the recipe with light and dark brown sugar, and the dark variety inevitably won out for its deeper molasses flavor and intense amber color. I also opted for large-flake sea salt to balance out the sweetness. And the texture? Silky smooth, and totally eat-it-with-a-spoon-worthy.
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Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon large-flake salt
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan (not non-stick) over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar, salt and heavy cream and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until it's well blended. Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping down the sides occasionally, and boil it for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the butterscotch sauce to a container to cool. (See Kelly's Notes.)
Kelly's Notes:
- The butterscotch thickens significantly as it cools, so it's important to not over-boil it or you'll end up with chewy butterscotch caramels rather than a pourable sauce.
- If you want to add a kick to your butterscotch sauce, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of your choice liquor (think bourbon, whiskey or cognac) at the same time you stir in the vanilla extract.
- ★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
Video
Got 10 Minutes? Make the Best Butterscotch Sauce (Easy Recipe!)
Want to make butterscotch sauce that's way better than anything from a jar? It's easy! You can do it with just five simple ingredients and 10 minutes. Dark brown sugar, heavy cream, butter, vanilla, and sea salt come together for a rich, thick, molasses-packed sauce with zero weird preservatives.
Nutrition
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Recipe by Kelly Senyei of Just a Taste. Please do not reprint this recipe without my permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please rewrite the method of preparation and link to this post as the original source.
Delicious, but not what I think of as butterscotch flavor. I wonder if that’s because I didn’t make it correctly, or because my idea of butterscotch flavor doesn’t come from real butterscotch. I *think* the individually-wrapped, hard butterscotch candies my grandma kept in a dish on on her coffee table got their flavor the old-fashioned way, and not from chemical flavorings. I haven’t had those candies in ages, but they tasted different from butterscotch-flavored baking chips (which do get their flavor from chemicals). So that makes me think the candies were real butterscotch. Maybe? Anyway, this didn’t taste like that. It tasted (surprise!) like caramel made with brown sugar. That caramelized sugar, browned butter, reduced cream flavor + molasses. Tasty, but not butterscotch. Or at least, not the butterscotch I know and was hoping to replicate.
Nomnomnom
I make a dry recipe for caramel. I’ve made it hundreds of times. So when I decided to make some Butterscotch I watched this video. It’s perfect!!! Love it.
So glad you enjoyed it, Kimme!
Absolutely delicious. A big hit with the family. Five stars!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Marnie!
Absolutely delicious. A big hit with the family.
Worked really well with coconut and date slice
Glad you enjoyed it!
It was easy to make and great
I’m thrilled you enjoyed it, Shreya!
Easy peasy, thanks it was delicious
You are so welcome, Suzanne! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe!
Super easy and delicious. My granddaughter thinks I’m an ice cream god!
Ha! Love reading this, Norm!
Butterscotch sauce. Why measure in cups, its so imprecise. Cups come in many different hights widths and shapes. Wouldnt it be better using pounds and ounces? I made the sauce but I used too much sugar and cream due to figuring out what exactly a cup size is, otherwise the sauce would have been lovely.
A cup is a standard measurement, 250ml in metric. She is not referring to a drinking glass
A cup is a precise unit of measurement … in America .. hope that helps.
One cup = 8 oz.
16 oz = 1 lb.