Vegan Caramel Sauce (2024)

FAQs

What is vegan caramel made of? ›

The base for this 5-ingredient caramel is coconut cream, dates, and arrowroot starch, which are blended until creamy and smooth. This makes up the liquid ingredients, which are added to a bit of coconut sugar and cooked until glossy and just bubbly.

Because caramel is essentially just sugar, in its purest form, it is vegan. However, it is often mixed with dairy cream, butter, or milk, which is why it's important to always check the back of store-bought caramel candy.

Vegan caramel is created from a mixture of coconut milk and brown sugar simmered down until it forms a thick syrup. It may be a different take on caramel but, for those with food restrictions, it is a dream.

The ingredients list tells us that classic caramel is one of the most non-vegan foods around. The butter and heavy cream are both sourced from cows, and vegans omit dairy from their diet. White sugar is a hit or miss for vegans - some choose to consume it, while others prefer to avoid it.

Caramel becomes grainy when the sugars crystallize, a process that happens when the melted sugar splashes up onto the cold sides of the pan.

There is a bit of a silver lining, though… it's only the caramel sauce they put on top of the drink that isn't vegan. It has some kind of dairy in it. So technically, you can still have a soy Caramel Macchiato. You just have to remember to tell them not to put any caramel sauce on it.

However, not all Starbucks syrups and sauces are dairy-free, and it can be confusing. Case in point: the caramel syrup is vegan but the caramel sauce is not. Here is everything you need to know about these flavor-enhancers so you can order with confidence the next time you stroll up to a Starbucks.

You can use whole milk, almond milk, or evaporated milk in place of heavy cream. You'll need to cook it for a couple more minutes longer after you add it so it can thicken up a bit. Try adding vanilla extract to your caramel sauce for a boosted flavor.

Usually caramel sauce is made with sugar, water, cream, and a bit of vanilla. Three of those ingredients are usually in the house. Cream: not always. However, eggs are usually on hand.

Granulated or white sugar comes from the stalks of sugarcane, which makes it vegetarian, but the mixing of this processed sugar with animal bone char to give a perfect white colour changes the entire game, which is why vegans around the world consider refined sugar to be a non-vegan food product.

Can you substitute condensed milk for caramel? ›

There are 2 ways to make this superb caramel made from a can of condensed milk. You can boil a can in a saucepan for 3 hours or do it in a slow cooker. As a can of Dulce de leche will happily keep unopened in the pantry for months (as if!), I like to do a big batch – 4-6 cans at a time.

Chocolate and caramel syrup contain dairy. So Caramel macchiato, Cappuccino, Latte, Iced Latte, and Frappé aren't vegan. Mocha Frappé, Latte, and Iced Mocha are also only vegetarian. Hot chocolate also contains the same chocolate syrup which has dairy in it.

It's easy to assume maple syrup is naturally vegan, but the truth is not so simple. This is because the sap from maple trees isn't the only ingredient used to make maple syrup. Sugar houses also add defoamers and many use filtering agents.

Water, Natural Flavouring, Stabiliser (E466), Preservative (E202), Sweetener (E955), Acidity Regulator (E330), Colour (E150a). For allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see ingredients declaration in BOLD. Suitable for Vegans & Vegetarians.

This product has 4 ingredients with dairy and 2 ingredients that may have dairy.

The main ingredient in caramel is sugar. However, depending on the recipe you use, you may have to incorporate butter, heavy cream, water, or corn syrup as additional ingredients. High-quality, real caramel is always made with three basic ingredients and those are sugar, heavy cream, and butter.

Caramel is not dairy free. Caramel is typically made from milk or heavy cream. Caramel is not safe for those with a milk allergy. Fig's dietitian team reviewed this note on caramel.

Caramel Colour

This is another name for the food ingredient E150, which is used to color everything from brown bread to beer, rum, vinegar… even soy sauce. Thankfully, it's created from carbohydrates derived from plants (and frequently by-products of sugar refinement), so it'll virtually always be vegan-friendly.