Homemade Dulce de Leche (1 Ingredient Caramel Sauce)
Learn how to make your own Dulce de Leche with one simple ingredient and a few super simple steps. You will be using this thick and luscious caramel sauce on everything! Keep reading for some easy and delicious ideas for your caramel.
Dulce de leche directly translates as ‘caramel sauce’, which felt like the perfect name for this 1 ingredient caramel.
With origins in Argentina, dulce de leche is a thick caramel originally made with reduced sugar and milk.
If you consider yourself a dessert person, you’ve probably tried dulce de leche in some form before.
Today we’re making it from scratch, using sweetened condensed milk, a super popular ingredient to use in Puerto Rican recipes.
Use it to make these buttery dulce de leche thumbprint cookies or dulce de leche ice cream. Or keep things simple and use this sweet sauce as a sweetener in coffee drinks or dip for desserts like these homemade churros.
How to Make Dulce de Leche
Prep the can of sweetened condensed milk. Remove the label and clean any residue off the can before submerging on it’s side in a pot filled with boiling water, making sure it’s covered completely with a several extra inches of water. The can must be covered with water at all times or it can explode.
IMPORTANT: make sure to keep your can of sweetened condensed milk covered with a few inches of water at all times as it can explode if the water level drops below the can.
After 1 minute, turn the heat to medium low and cover the pot. Set the timer for 4 hours, making sure to check the pot regularly to make sure the can is fully submerged with water, adding more if needed.
Let the can cool before opening. Use a pair of tongs to carefully move the can from the hot water to a heat resistant surface to cool. This will take several hours (at least two), so be patient. Once it’s cooled to room temperature, open the can and enjoy the dulce de leche anywhere you enjoy using caramel! Store in your fridge in an airtight jar for up to 2 weeks
Where to use Caramel Sauce
Here are some of my favorites ways to use dulce de leche:
- make tres leches cake
- use as a filling in cookies and pastries
- as a sauce/sweetener in coffee drinks
- spooned over ice cream
- as a cheesecake topping
- to make caramels
- use it to make candied candy
- as a substitute in all of your favorite recipes that use caramel
Buen provecho,
Homemade Dulce de Leche (1 Ingredient Caramel Sauce)
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Latin
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Learn how to make your own Dulce de Leche with one simple ingredient and a few super simple steps. You will be using this thick and luscious caramel sauce on everything! Keep reading for some easy and delicious ideas for your caramel.
Instructions
- Prep the can of sweetened condensed milk. Remove the label and clean any residue off the can before submerging on it’s side in a pot filled with boiling water, making sure it’s covered completely with a several extra inches of water. The can must be covered with water at all times or it can explode.
- After a minute, turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Set the timer for 4 hours, making sure to check the pot regularly to make sure the can is fully submerged with water, adding more if needed.
- Let the can cool before opening. Use a pair of tongs to carefully move the can from the hot water to a heat resistant surface to cool. This will take several hours (at least two), so be patient. Once it’s cooled to room temperature, open the can and enjoy the dulce de leche anywhere you enjoy using caramel! Store in your fridge in an airtight jar for up to 2 weeks.