This healthier homemade peanut butter caramel sauce is a new take on dairy-free caramel. It consists of only 2 simple ingredients, comes together in 5 minutes and can also easily be turned into a salted caramel sauce.
This homemade caramel sauce is not only super easy to make but also highly customizable.
For more caramel recipes try our Healthy Caramel Smoothie, Salted Caramel Chia Pudding or Iced Caramel Macchiato.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- It's a healthier caramel sauce without heavy cream or butter included.
- It's also made without granulated sugar.
- You'll only need 2 ingredients.
- It's ready in 5 minutes.
Ingredients & Substitution Notes
- Peanut Butter: The first ingredient you'll need is natural peanut butter. For this recipe to work, your nut butter should have a runny consistency and consist of 100% peanuts without any additives like oil.
- Maple Syrup: Make sure to use pure, high-quality maple syrup.
- Salt (optional): To create a salted caramel sauce, simply add a tiny pinch of salt as well.
Step by step photo instructions
Since there's only two ingredients involved, preparing this vegan caramel sauce is really easy.
STEP 1: Whisk together. Add maple syrup and peanut butter to a small bowl. Stir well with a whisk until both ingredients are well combined and you end up with a thick caramel-like texture.
STEP 2: Adjust texture to personal preference. Add more maple syrup for a thinner consistency or add a tiny pinch of salt for a salted caramel sauce.
Top Tips
- Natural Peanut Butter: For this recipe to work, it's important that you use natural peanut butter without any additives.
- Warm Peanut Butter: Work with peanut butter that has been stored at room temperature to facilitate the mixing of the 2 ingredients.
- Be patient- the sauce becomes thicker and thicker the more you stir.
Variations
The texture of this easy caramel sauce is super customizable.
- Thick Caramel Sauce: You can create a thick textured sauce, perfect for recipes that ask for caramel layers for instance.
- Thin Caramel Sauce: Or create a thinner consistency, perfect to drizzle over some pancakes or oatmeal.
- Bigger Batch: Feel free to double the recipe if you need more caramel sauce.
Optional Add-Ins
- Sea Salt: By adding a tiny pinch of salt you can also create a delicious salted caramel sauce.
- Vanilla Extract: Or add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Serving Suggestions
- Dessert: Enjoy this 2 ingredient caramel sauce in a scrumptious dessert recipe such as our Chocolate Caramel Tarts.
- Breakfast: Try our Salted Caramel Chia Pudding.
- Topping: Use it as a topping on our 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Brownies or Banana Milkshake.
- Healthy Snack: Use it as a dipping sauce for some apple slices or other fruit of choice.
Storage
Store any leftover caramel sauce in an airtight container or a glass jar with a lid in the fridge for up to 5 days.
FAQs
This recipe also works with natural almond butter but the taste will be different. I recommend using peanut butter for best results.
The pb flavor is still present but the maple syrup does a pretty good job of "disguising" it. If you don't like the taste of peanut butter at all though, then this recipe is probably not for you.
More caramel recipes
📖 Recipe
2-Ingredient Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Thick Caramel Sauce
- ¼ cup smooth, natural peanut butter *see notes
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- tiny pinch of salt (optional) *see notes
Thinner Caramel Sauce
- ¼ cup smooth, natural peanut butter *see notes
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- tiny pinch of salt (optional) *see notes
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter & maple syrup until the sauce resembles the texture of caramel (see step-by-step pictures).
- Be patient- the sauce becomes thicker and thicker the more you stir.
- Gradually add more maple syrup for a thinner sauce.
Notes
- Servings: The thick caramel sauce yields ⅓ cup (100g), the runnier caramel sauce yields ½ cup (140g).
- Natural Peanut Butter: For this recipe to work, it's important that you use natural peanut butter without any additives.
- Warm Peanut Butter: Work with peanut butter that has been stored at room temperature to facilitate the mixing of the 2 ingredients.
- Be patient- the sauce becomes thicker and thicker the more you stir.
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