Five Ingredient Homemade Caramel Dip (or Syrup)
With just five ingredients, and ready in 10 minutes, this homemade caramel dip is perfect for dunking apples or topping ice cream or pancakes. Happy fall! 
I first made homemade caramel dip a few months back when I tested out my Caramel Apple French Toast. ‘Cause what goes better with apples than caramel!
In the end, when I finished breakfast, there was leftover caramel. Yup, poor me 🙂
Perfect for apple dunking!
I ended up dunking apple slices, topping ice cream, even eating it straight with a spoon… And I learned how much fun it is to have homemade caramel dip around!
Now that it’s officially, fall, I figured it was time to make my homemade caramel dip again and post the recipe.
Boiling sugar, water, butter
Almost ready!
There are two things that I like about this version. First, it doesn’t require a candy thermometer, something that I know can be intimidating. And second, it only uses ingredients most people have at home: sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. No running to the store for cream or corn syrup! 
The recipe ends up giving you about a half cup of syrup, though you can double it if you need more. Of course since I finished my first leftovers with a spoon, I’ll be sticking with the smaller batch!
P.S. For a non-dairy/vegan version I just tried this with coconut oil instead of butter and coconut milk (the runny part from the can) instead of dairy milk. It was just a little harder to mix in the “milk,” and the sugar went from white to brown faster, but it was delicious. My husband and I just finished coconut caramel ice cream sundaes 🙂
- 1 Tablespoon butter (or coconut oil)
- 1 Tablespoon water
- ½ cup sugar
- pinch salt (about 1/8 teaspoon)
- 3-4 Tablespoons 2% milk or other milk (see note)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add sugar, salt and water, then stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then cook without stirring until sugar turns dark gold (it will be lighter gold around outside of pan). Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn.
- Whisk in milk and continue to whisk until any sugar that hardens is re-dissolved. Remove pan from heat, then stir in vanilla.
- It will be very hot, so let it cool at least a little. Serve warm or cool.
- Note: Go with 3 Tablespoons of milk for a slightly thicker caramel sauce or 4 for one that will run freely off a spoon (as in pictures)
- For a non-dairy/vegan version I tried this with coconut oil instead of butter and coconut milk (the runny part from the can) instead of dairy milk. It was just a little harder to mix in the “milk” (stir longer on the heat) and the sugar went from white to brown faster. But still nom!
This recipe is fantastic!
Thanks Diane. Isn’t it so much easier than anyone would expect?!
swoon! i only need a spoon, thanks. 🙂
This will be a perfect topping for the ice cream topping my apple pie!
Can I use coconut milk? (the refrigerated kind, not the canned kind)
Okay, I think I’m going to have to try it as a non-dairy recipe and post back 🙂
Really delicious ! I love dips!
Thanks Gloria!
Do you (or does anyone reading this) know if this will work with almond or soy milk? (lactose intolerant)
I haven’t tried it, but my guess is that it would. The milk is used primarily to dilute the caramelized sugar (and maybe add a little flavor) which would be solid without it.
If you try it, let me know. Someone asked the same question on Facebook and may also be testing it 🙂