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.
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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.
Hi Kelly would this butterscotch sauce be good for a caramel apple? If so how can it be made?
Hi Priscilla! Yes, it should work fine as a caramel apple topping :)
I would love to gift this for Christmas. Homemade gifts are so special. Have you tried preserving it with a water bath? I want tips.
Hi Karla! I’ve never tried that so I can’t say with certainty what the results would be.
You shouldn’t can anything with milk in it, esp with a water bath. Sorry. I give these as gifts anyway – just make sure it goes straight from your refrigerator to theirs!
Thanks for your note, Lindsey!
Wow! I am going to make this. Which salt do you prefer and do you refrigerate this after cooling or store it in the pantry? Thanks.
Hi Jerry! Any brand of large-flake salt will work and I recommend storing it in an airtight container in the fridge. It’ll last up to two weeks.
Hard to believe something so simple to prepare would so delicious .
This is what I love to read, Fernando! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi I’m thinking about making this but how much does it make? Is the serving size 1 cup or the yield 1 cup?
thanks
Hi Alis! The yield is one cup. :)
This is by far the best butterscotch or caramel sauce I’ve ever tasted
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Mindy!
I used this recipe to make tasty butterscotch sauce, then used the sauce as an an ingredient for butterscotch pudding. Delicious stuff.
YUM! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Tim!
Absolutly delicious.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Brad!
This has become a family favorite, and the last thing kids request before heading back to college. A little bittersweet, but that’s family, right? Thank you for the excellent recipe.
I’m so thrilled your family has been enjoying the recipe, Renee!
Hi Kelly! May I know if I could substitute the brown sugar with honey or coconut nectar and the heavy cream with milk? Would love to try out your recipe exactly if I hadn’t run out of these in my pantry.
Hi Liyana – I haven’t made this recipe with those substitutions so I can’t say for certainty what the results would be.
This was the first time I ever made butterscotch sauce and it turned out so perfectly. I couldn’t get enough of it. Half of it went directly from the saucepan onto freshly made popcorn and it was devine! I will definitely make this recipe every time I need… or should I say want butterscotch sauce. Thanks for sharing your recipe
Amazing! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Bee!
Delicious I’m curious though what the purpose of using flake salt is since it’s just being mixed in. Seems like any salt would do, albeit in different measurements.
That’s correct! I originally developed the recipe with large-flake sea salt, but you can use any variety of salt (as long as you adjust the quantity based on the granule/crystal size).