Caramel is a staple of the dessert world for good reason. It adds not just sweetness, but richness and depth, to whatever it's cooked into, mixed with, or drizzled on. From nutty brittles to decadent cakes to fruity pies, we've rounded up our favorite caramel recipes.
The most basic way to enjoy caramel is as a sauce that you can serve on ice cream, pie, or anything else you want. Making your own caramel sauce is incredibly easy—in just 20 minutes you can whip up a batch of our salted caramel sauce. The salt intensifies the sweetness of the caramel. If you want something more adventurous try our fried chicken caramel—yes, it's really made with chicken skin, fat, and stock. It might sound weird, but the sweet-savory combo is totally delicious.
Mix buttery caramel with nuts, let it cool, and you have brittle. This crunchy dessert is a great gift, though you might want to keep it around to snack on yourself. Our pecan pie brittle uses broken peanuts and vanilla to evoke the Southern classic. A little more savory is our pine nut brittle scented with rosemary.
We love the combination of bananas and caramel. In our banana tarte tatin, tart Manzano bananas are set on a layer of rich caramel, covered in puff pastry, and baked. Glacéed bananas are an addictive treat. To make them, bananas are quartered, deep-fried, and dipped in caramel. Shocking them in ice water hardens the caramel into a crispy shell.
Find all of these dishes and more in our collection of caramel recipes.
Literally named “crunch in the mouth,” croquembouche is an edible monument of caramelized pastry.
Coffee Honeycomb Crunch
Adding baking soda to molten sugar creates bubbles that get trapped once the mixture cools. The hardened result has an airy, honeycomb-like structure. Morgenstern’s of New York City adds honey and instant coffee to its version of this candy, which, when crushed up, becomes a bittersweet, crunchy topping that offsets the sweetness of ice cream. Get the recipe for Coffee Honeycomb Crunch »
Apple Pie Ice Cream Pie
A crust of finely ground gingersnap cookie crumbs adds delicious crunch to a pie of caramel-drizzled, maple-apple ice cream. Get the recipe for Apple Pie Ice Cream Pie »
Classic Caramel Corn
Crunchy, sweet homemade caramel corn can be made even better with the addition of nuts or chocolate chips. This recipe first appeared in our Jan/Feb 2013 issue along with our article Caramel Corn. Get the recipe for Classic Caramel Corn »
White Truffle-Pistachio Caramel Corn
A combination of earthy white truffles and salty pistachios puts a decadent twist on classic caramel corn. Get the recipe for White Truffle-Pistachio Caramel Corn »
Coconut Milk Caramels
Chewy, pleasantly salty caramels are flavored simply with coconut milk and sugar.
This sweet riff on the Indian yogurt drinks known as lassis comes from Lingaraj Lassi, a popular refreshment stand in Bhubaneshwar in the east Indian state of Odisha. Its honeyed taste and caramel hue come from the sugars in the milk, which caramelize as the milk reduces, deepening and intensifying it in color and flavor.
Lavender Earl Grey Caramel
Lavender and Earl Grey tea lend this caramel sauce a citrusy, floral note—serve it warm on top of ice cream.
Caramel-Apple Pie
A cinnamon-spiced sauce of butter and melted caramel candies poured over apples makes a wonderfully sweet, gooey pie filling.
Glacéed Bananas
Inspired by a dessert from Beijing’s China Club restaurant, chef and restaurateur Cecilia Chiang coats fried bananas in a thin, delicate shell of caramel. Get the recipe for Glacéed Bananas »
Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
A veil of luscious caramel sauce cloaks a gooey, indulgent bread pudding from Canada’s Prince Edward Island. Get the recipe for Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce »
Banana Tarte Tatin
Try using tart, apple-like Manzano bananas for this delicious take on the classic French dessert, which is traditionally made with apples. Get the recipe for Banana Tarte Tatin »
Rose's Famous Caramel Cake
This buttery cake slathered with rich caramel icing has earned local fame on Chicago’s South Side—it’s one of our favorites to make for special occasions.
Pecan Pie Brittle
This twist on traditional pecan pie provides a snack-able ending to the holiday feast. This recipe first appeared in our November 2012 issue along with Ben Mims’s story Sugar and Spice. Get the recipe for Pecan Pie Brittle »
Banoffee Pie
An irresistible British dessert, banoffee pie has its share of fanatics on this side of the pond, too. Banana slices, sticky toffee, and whipped cream are arranged in layers over a cookie-like crust, resulting in a dense, cool treat. Get the recipe for Banoffee Pie »
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
This decadent take on an iconic New Orleans dessert, from Mat & Naddie’s Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, gilds the lily, pan-frying white chocolate-enriched bread pudding, and plating it with satiny caramel and brûléed bananas. Using caramelized white chocolate gilds it even more.
Peppermint Caramels
Chewy caramel topped with crushed peppermint candies is one of many versions of kola, a kind of semisoft toffee adored all over Sweden.
Salted Caramels
Michael Laiskonis, executive pastry chef at New York City’s Le Bernardin, gave us the recipe for these caramel candies. Be sure to wrap them individually in wax paper to store them. Get the recipe for Salted Caramels »
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