This easy plant-based caramel recipe uses simple ingredients and a traditional method for a caramel sauce that’s perfect for caramel apples and as a topping for your favourite desserts.
This post came about thanks to Martha Stewart, as many good things do. 🙂 I was watching a random video of a Facebook live she did a few years ago where she was sharing some different ideas for a Halloween party and of course homemade caramel apples were one of the recipes. She showed how simple it was to make homemade caramel and I wondered if I could follow the same method for a plant-based version. I’ve seen a lot of different plant-based caramel recipes that use healthier ingredients, which always intrigues me, but when I’m making something really indulgent and just for fun, I usually try to follow traditional methods to get the most classic flavour and texture possible, and just substitute plant-based versions of traditional ingredients. It doesn’t always work, but it very often does! And in the case of this easy plant-based caramel, it definitely did.
Ingredients Needed for the Easy Plant-Based Caramel Recipe
You’ll need:
- Granulated sugar
- Plant-based butter substitute
- Light corn syrup
- Oat cream (either the one for coffee or cooking will work)
That’s it! Just four simple ingredients and about 15 minutes are all you need!
Notes on Preparing the Plant-Based Caramel
To make this recipe, you’ll combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan on the stove, and cook it until it reaches just the right point. The only challenging thing is that you need to know when that point is. There are a couple of different methods that you can follow.
One, you can clip a candy thermometer onto your saucepan and continue cooking until your caramel reaches 245 degrees, OR if you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can just place a little dish in the freezer.
When you think that your caramel is starting to get close to done based on the amount of time you’ve been cooking it for and the color it has become, take about a half teaspoon and place it on the cold dish to see if it solidifies to the perfect caramelly texture. This is pretty much the same thing that you do when you’re cooking down maple syrup. The only difference is that this takes just a few minutes instead of 6-10 hours.
I found the dish-in-the-freezer method worked really well for me and it didn’t require me to clutter up my drawers with something I would probably only use once a year.
When your caramel is done, remove it from the heat and use it to drizzle over anything you like.
If you find that you want to save your extra caramel in the fridge and it gets too solid to use, it can be softened pretty easily by putting it in the microwave for a few seconds.
Here’s the full printable recipe!
This easy plant-based caramel recipe uses simple ingredients and a traditional method for a caramel sauce that's perfect for caramel apples and as a topping for your favourite desserts.
- 1 cup Oat cream (versions for coffee or for cooking both work)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/4 cup Light corn syrup
- 2 tbsp Plant-based butter substitute
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Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a low boil over medium heat.
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Continue cooking, stirring frequently for 13-15 minutes, until a candy thermometer reads 245 degrees, or when a small amount of caramel placed on a cold ceramic dish turns to the desired consistency within thirty seconds.
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Remove from heat and let stand for about 5-10 minutes. Use immediately or refrigerate and reheat as needed when ready to use.
MORE IDEAS LIKE THIS
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- Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Fingers
- Easy 3-Ingredient Banana Bread
- Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix
- The Creek Line House Food and Recipe Archives
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.