This Paleo Caramel Sauce is made with coconut milk and coconut sugar for a delicious, silky smooth sauce that’s refined sugar free and vegan! It’s perfect as a Paleo substitute for caramel sauce in any recipe.
I’ll totally fill you all in on the trip and how beautiful that place is, but today I have something delicious to talk about: caramel sauce. But this one has NO refined sugar. Instead, I subbed one of my new favorite ingredients: coconut sugar.
It has a caramelized flavor naturally, and it just so happens that that flavor works absolutely perfectly when you’re making caramel. This recipe is a little different than a traditional caramel sauce recipe where you first melt and caramelize the sugar and then add the heavy cream. That process usually takes less than 10 minutes.
I also added a scraped vanilla bean to the caramel to add a hint of delicious vanilla flavor to my caramel sauce. A similar flavor could be achieved with vanilla extract, but you won’t get the gorgeous vanilla bean specks in your caramel! If you don’t want to splurge on a vanilla bean to use in this recipe, I love using vanilla bean paste to get vanilla bean flecks without having to use a whole vanilla bean. One jar will last you a while.
- 1 14-oz. can full-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ vanilla bean, split or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon salt (I recommend a flaky salt like fleur de sel)
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the coconut milk and coconut sugar. Scrape the insides of the vanilla bean and add the seeds and pod to the mixture, if using.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and let the mixture boil slowly. Stir frequently, scraping the bottom to make sure it doesn’t burn. Continue boiling until caramel has reduced and thickened to thick, syrupy texture, about 30-35 minutes. Remember that the caramel will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Remove from heat and stir in oil, salt, and vanilla extract if using. If you used the vanilla bean, remove the pod and discard.
- Let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally to keep the fat incorporated. Pour into a glass container.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Hungry for more? Check out some of my similar recipes!
Vanilla Bean Crunch Almond Butter Bark Paleo Magic Cookie Bars Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies Apple Cider Poached Pears in Cinnamon Sugar Puff Pastry Yellow Cake with Caramel Buttercream Salted Caramel Filled Dark Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie