Aunt Val's Caramel - the Best Ever Homemade Caramel Recipe (2024)

This is the best caramel recipe ever! The soft caramel is perfect for caramel popcorn, drizzling over ice cream, or apple dipping! You will love it!

Okay folks, this is my go-to homemade caramel recipe. I almost want to keep it a secret. It is that easy and delicious. If you haven't figured this out about me yet I am a sucker for things that are awesome and easy. Does that make me lazy? Probably. Will I ever change? Doubt it.

If you are looking for other super easy and delicious treats try our easy homemade brownies or our chocolate crinkle cookies. Or you can find our entire dessert gallery here.

Anyway back to the topic at hand!

Homemade Caramel

Every fall we make this homemade caramel sauce and it is one of my kids favorite traditions! For good reason too because this stuff is to die for good.

You can use this homemade caramel in a multitude of ways. My two favorites are caramel popcorn and caramel ice cream sundaes. Not your thing? Cake? Brownies? Dip for apples? Yes, yes and yes.

Ingredients for Homemade Caramel

• Brown Sugar
• Butter
• Karo Syrup
• Sweetened Condensed Milk

It really is so simple! Like most of the recipes I post on this blog, it is cost effective. I always have all these ingredients on hand (granted, the Karo syrup is only on hand for this very recipe, but still.)

All you do is melt the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Once caramel is boiling cook for approximately two minutes stirring constantly.

It doesn't get any easier than that!

How to Make Caramel Popcorn

• Pour caramel over popcorn immediately after removing it from the stove. This recipe will cover three or four bags of microwave popcorn thoroughly.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week.
• This caramel is soft and so it will make soft, gooey caramel popcorn (my favorite kind). If you prefer a crunchier, harder caramel popcorn you can spread your caramel covered popcorn out on a greased baking sheet and bake at 250 for about an hour, turning every 15 minutes or so.

How to Make Caramel with Condensed Milk

You ready for the best and easiest caramel recipe?

If you make and love this recipe we would love for you to leave us a comment and let us know, we appreciate them so much!

I think it would be so cute to put this in the baby canning jars to give as gifts, just enough for a few bowls of ice cream once opened.

This post was originally published in September of 2012 and has been updated with new photos, video and more detailed text.

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