Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce (Vegan + Paleo)

This healthy homemade salted caramel sauce is so incredibly silky, smooth and sweet, yet is completely vegan and Paleo! Made with dates and coconut milk, this vegan caramel sauce makes the perfect topping!

If you’re not making your salted caramel sauce from scratch, well, my friend, you’re about to start!

This homemade salted caramel sauce is so incredibly easy, requires only 4 ingredients, and comes together in less than 20 minutes…I mean, that’s sooner than a trip to the store AND to heat up the sauce!

And get this? This caramel is actually made with dates, so it’s completely Paleo and vegan, thanks to the coconut cream!

I know that traditional caramel sauce can sometimes be…well…a sticky hot mess, and requires some skill. This date caramel sauce is quite the opposite! Newbies and seasoned Top Chef-ers alike (or should I say, Great British Bake Off, because I literally am OBSESSED with that show!) will fall in love with this easy peezy vegan salted caramel sauce 🙂

The only real difficult part of this whole process is, ya know, not snacking on the ingredients throughout making the recipe haha! But hey, that’s also the fun of cooking!

Vegan salted caramel sauce ingredients

Medjool Dates: dates will be the base of this vegan salted caramel! To make this homemade salted caramel, you’ll need pitted dates. I find these the easiest to work with, and the most time efficient option! My favorites are Joolie’s dates, but any at the grocery store will do! This is what makes the recipe completely Paleo too- not even any added coconut sugar or maple syrup here!

Coconut cream: traditional caramel sauce uses heavy cream, but for this recipe, we’ll be swapping in coconut milk! Don’t worry though, it won’t taste coconut-y at all. Making a date caramel sauce with coconut milk helps to make this date caramel sauce thick and creamy in texture! Like how you wouldn’t use skim milk for traditional caramel sauce, don’t skimp on the fat with your coconut milk. Go for the cream- it will yield a much richer taste and texture!

Vanilla Extract: most homemade salted caramel sauce recipes don’t call for vanilla extract or say that it is optional, but because we’re using dates, I think using vanilla is a must here! The vanilla will help to yield a more neutral tasting date caramel sauce.

Sea Salt: well, it wouldn’t be a vegan salted caramel sauce without the sea salt! Just a pinch goes a long way, and I highly recommend using sea salt over table salt here- much better flavor, and you get some awesome added benefits!

That’s literally it! How easy of a recipe is this?!

How to make homemade salted caramel sauce

Now that we’ve gone over the ingredients (only 4 ingredients, like how crazy!?), let’s go over how to take those ingredients and turn them into a delicious and silky date caramel sauce!

Making this homemade salted caramel sauce is as easy as 1, 2, 3! I’ve made this date caramel sauce with coconut milk countless times, and it is quite literally no fail!

Cooking the dates

With most date recipes, you’ll need to soak dates, but not with this recipe! This homemade salted caramel is easy for a reason. All you’ll need to do first is cook the dates for a few minutes.

Bring a medium saucepan to a boil with your dates and about a 1/4 cup of warm water. Then you’ll reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot for about 10 minutes. This will instantly steam your dates so that they’re soft and pliable before we throw them in a food processor!

Once your dates are cooked, remove them from the stove to cool for a few minutes, and then we’ll add all of the remaining ingredients to a food processor!

Blend away!

After you’ve allowed the dates to cool for a few minutes, it’s time to throw them into a food processor!

Add the dates to a food processor, along with the coconut cream, vanilla extract, and sea salt. Blend the dates until they’re smooth and then add in about an extra 1/4 cup of water at a time until you have a drippy and delicious caramel sauce.

And that’s it! The whole process will take you max 20 minutes, but closer to 15 minutes 😉

Easy, right? And now you get to enjoy the best part of the recipe process…drizzling your vegan salted caramel sauce onto delicious desserts!

How long will this vegan caramel sauce keep?

If you put this caramel into an airtight container, it will last for about a month in the fridge, and several months in the freezer!

What to use this date caramel sauce with?

I mean…you could eat this homemade salted caramel sauce with a spoon…I mean, I wouldn’t judge haha! But I have a few delicious options that you could drizzle this vegan caramel on!

Of course, we can go with the classic options, like drizzling the sauce onto a freshly sliced Honeycrisp apple or drizzled over sliced banana with chocolate chips!

This article has a bunch of wonderful ideas, but personally, I love this date caramel on top of ice cream, like my Paleo vegan vanilla ice cream, or this vegan double chocolate peanut butter ice cream!

Another delicious option would be to smear a little on the bottom of a cookie ice cream sandwich, like with these vegan ice cream sandwiches! Or reheat this vegan caramel sauce to be drizzled over brownies, like these Paleo sweet potato brownies, these peanut butter swirl brownies, or even these Paleo blondies.

The possibilities are endless!

I hope you love this homemade salted caramel as much as I do! It’s just so easy to make and even easier to eat 😉

If you try this caramel sauce, I would love to hear how it goes in the comments down below! I can’t wait to see what you top with this date caramel sauce on Instagram and Pinterest as well 🙂

Happy caramel sauce dipping and drizzling!

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