I can't help myself when it comes to vegan dessert, and I'm always on the look out for making my plantbased puddings even more indulgent! So when I was thinking about vegan caramel sauce, I had my usual thought - "How can I make this Chocolate!?" Then I thought, of course, vegan chocolate and salt! I present to you this 4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce. It is runny and gooey, perfect for drizzling over vegan pancakes, ice-cream and cake. It's magical ingredients are coconut milk, vegan chocolate, sugar and salt! The salt gives that essential contrast to the sweetness of the sugar. It also keeps in the fridge in airtight container for at least a week, if you haven't eaten it all in one go! It's also gluten free!
I discovered that you could make a super easy vegan caramel sauce by just boiling up sugar and coconut milk. That's coconut milk from a tin; the full fat sort works best (if you only have light coconut milk you may have to add a tablespoon of coconut oil). I had previously tried the method where you melt the sugar in the pan first, then add the coconut milk, but I was often burning the sugar, even with a low heat. It actually works best (and with minimal burn risk!) to put the sugar and coconut milk in the same pan together and just boil until it becomes caramel. This first part of boiling the coconut milk with the sugar needs a bit of patience - it can take longer than twenty minutes for it to start thickening into a caramel sauce. Don't worry - it will thicken!
It doesn't matter what kind of sugar you use for this, but I prefer to use coconut palm sugar (as it's a bit healthier than brown sugar), but whatever is in your cupboard will do.
The type of vegan chocolate you use is up to you. I prefer using a dark, high cocoa solids chocolate for that intense dark chocolaty taste! Mmmmmm, so chocolaty and rich.... sorry, back to my blog post! But you can also use a vegan milk chocolate, or even a vegan white chocolate; up to you. Sainsbury's Free From section in the UK has vegan milk and vegan white chocolate! The amount of salt you use is also up to you. I've used 3 teaspoon sea salt, but you can use more and less depending on your taste.
If you want the sauce a bit more runny, you can always add a little splash of non-dairy vegan milk when you add the chocolate. If you want it extra runny, just add even more non-dairy milk.
This recipe was developed by Vanessa, one of the original co-founders of this site. Vanessa is now working on her plant based health coaching business, Energise and Thrive Plant Based.
She’s also brought out her FREE Guide - 5 Steps to Balanced Plant Based Eating which you’re welcome to download. Of course, all the recipes she has created for The Vegan Larder (like this one!) will remain here for you to access.
The essential part - drizzling this all over your favourite vegan dessert or vegan breakfast food, whether that's pancakes, ice-cream or cake! Or, of course, just eating it on its own straight out the jar is fine - no judgement here!
The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. It is best served just after making as it will be more runny from the heat. If you're using it later on from the fridge you will probably want to heat it in a glass bowl over some boiling water to melt it down again - you can also add a little bit of vegan non-dairy milk here too for more a runny consistency.
Enjoy the 4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce, eaten in whatever you find most indulgent! Some ways you may enjoy it are:
- drizzled all over our Chocolate Banana brownies.
- drizzled over fruit, and perhaps sprinkle over Vanessa's Healthy Gourmet Chocolate Granola.
- over our Tahini pancakes! No judgement if you eat them for breakfast!
Love Louise x
📖 Recipe
4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 400 ml (1⅔ cups) coconut milk (1 tin/can equivalent)
- 100 g (½ cup) brown sugar / coconut palm sugar
- 100 g (1 cup) vegan dark chocolate
- 3 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Place sugar and coconut milk in a heavy-based saucepan. Stirring or whisking continuously, bring to the boil on a medium heat. Once boiled, turn down the heat.
- Let the sugar and coconut milk thicken on this low heat, stirring or whisking as much as possible. This may take around 10-15 minutes. It will be ready when it is a caramel consistency. If you want it to be thicker, boil for longer to let more liquid evaporate.
- Remove the sauce from the heat. Then break up the chocolate into chunks and add to the hot caramel sauce. Stir in the chocolate until it has all melted.
- Optional: if you want a more runny and thinner sauce, add a few splashes of non-dairy milk when you add the chocolate.
- Add the sea salt and stir in (adjust depending on taste).
- Drizzle all over your dessert of choice!
- Store any remaining sauce you don't eat immediately in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for about a week.
Nutrition
Top Tips for Shopping!
- Our favourite pre-mixed pancakes are from Sweet Pea Pantry.
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- We think the best vegan chocolate for cooking is hands down Green & Blacks 70%
- You'll need some jars to store the sauce in. Kilner Self Seal jars are perfect
Natalie Haggar says
Very tasty and true to the flavour.