Featured comment
How this just worked and tasted so good is blowing my mind. But I wonāt question it and Iām saving this recipe. Thank you!
LUSHHHH! ā”
You guys, I’m so glad you’re here today because this magic vegan caramel is legit silky, creamy, and luscious.
Wait, I know -> vegan. Which is interesting since I’m not a vegan (remember how the last recipe I posted was, um, a LOADED MEATBALL PIZZA?) and lots of you aren’t vegan either, but one of my favorite food terms is Everythingtarian. Right? s/o to Holly way back in the day for introducing me to that term with her funky blog. Since then, you and I and our POY food corner of the internet have totally identified ourselves with the Everythingtarian food culture, which to me means that you basically eat all the things. It’s a little bit meatball pizza, a little bit vegan caramel, and a little bit detox lentil soup. It’s Everythingtarian, Flexitarian, Food Eatertarian. It’s yummy. You down?
HOW TO MAKE OUR VEGAN CARAMEL (30 SEC):

Like 99% of recipes in my life, this magic vegan caramel was a happy accident that was inspired from making Angela’s Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars – the ones with the juicy, sticky jam? Yeah, those ones.
I was just following the recipe, doing what Angela instructed, and all of a sudden I looked down at the mixture I was whisking and I thought: hey, that looks like caramel. A really BOMB caramel. A really BOMB VEGAN caramel. I wonder if we could make a version of this that would just be straight vegan caramel sauce for eating?
We could and we most definitely did.


Uses of this sauce in my life have included:
- Drizzling on oatmeal
- Spreading on toast – don’t knock it till you try it
- Stirring into yogurt (not vegan! but #everythingtarian)
- Dipping with apples and other fruit
- Pouring over ice cream (could be coconut ice cream for the Vs)
- Mixing into no-bake batters – like energy bites
- Topping for breads, muffins, and cakes
- Stirring into coffee and tea
- Straight spoonful snacking during Netflix binges, for those of us with no boundaries
But we’re in the heart of October now, so highest on my agenda is generously bathing all my gorgeous fall Honeycrisp applies in this liquid gold and repeat, and repeat, and repeat. It’s too good for words.

This is fall magic! ⨠Make it and love it.
Print
5 Minute Magic Vegan Caramel Sauce
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: about 1/2 cup sauce (4–6 servings depending on how you use it) 1x
Description
Magic Vegan Caramel Sauce made with coconut oil, real maple syrup, and almond butter. Microwave for one minute. SO GOOD!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- sea salt, vanilla, or cinnamon to taste
Instructions
- Melt the coconut oil and maple syrup together in a glass container for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the almond butter for about 30 seconds until fully incorporated and very smooth.
Notes
I’m not saying you HAVE to, but using cookie butter in place of almond butter is so dangerously good. And cookie butter is vegan (at least the one I bought is). Who knew.
- Prep Time: 3 mins
- Cook Time: 2 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: vegan caramel sauce, vegan caramel dip, vegan caramel, caramel sauce recipe
MORE VEGAN TREATS:
Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars
Peanut Butter Cup Nice Cream
Raw Salted Chocolate Snack Bars
Peanut Butter Pretzel Energy Bites
Iced Matcha Green Tea Latte
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best dip recipes. Check it out!








I whipped the sauce on high in my stand mixer for a few min (didn’t think about timing it) and it thickened up and it was so creamy and yummy. Added a little pink salt/table salt mix and a little vanilla.
Hello, I was just wondering if this will set if I put it in the fridge because I’m going to use it in a layered pie.
I love this recipe, so easy and delicious! Iāve tried many other recipes and I canāt make it work. Question, any chance youāve used this to make millionaire shortbread? I know the caramel needs to set but not sure if this would work for that. I did notice it becomes more solid when refrigerated which might help?
I see there is peanut butter in it, does it leave a peanut taste?
Omg itās great!! The possibilities are endless. Many thanks for this jewel of a recipe
How long is the shelf life on this sauce ? Also do you store it in the fridge?
It’s best the day you make it, but it can be kept at room temp for about a week.
We haven’t kept this more than a day, but it may keep up to a week. We’d just recommend using it all up as soon as possible to keep the consistency just right. This would be okay to be stored at room temperature or in the fridge. It might solidify in the fridge, so you can just warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute.
The flavor of this was good for a sweet sauce, but to me, it was just sweet, not really much like caramel. I was looking for that toasty sugar flavor. It also was a bit too oily and dripped off the apples we dipped in it. Itās not a waste! Weāll use it on fancy pancakes or something, but will not likely make it again.
Followed the recipe to a T. It is outstanding!! My son is allergic to dairy, and this was the first time he had a ” caramel” sauce. Thank you ā¤ļø
Hi there, very nice and will try this fur sure! Maybe one suggestion to leave away the microwave (its written one minute in the microwave, as it is definitely not healthy š
omg this is sooo good!!! pure gold for anything š¤¤š
Quick warning – it IS possible to somehow mess an easy recipe like this up. I tried to do a half recipe (in case I messed it up) and still nuked for the full minute. Do less, it clumped up and separated! Still very delicious just messy
While I don’t think this tastes like caramel and doesn’t have the same texture (maybe my almond butter wasn’t smooth enough), it is absolutely delicious and can probable take the place of caramel in many cases. It’s sweet and nutty. It’s delicious and I will continue to make this when I want a healthier alternative.
Dear Lindsay
Your recipe is incredibly delicious! I have a question… š Do you know for how long can the caramel be kept?
Thank you for your answer and keep going the great work!
Best wishes,
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa! It should last for a up to 5 days!
Hi, i tried making this with organic maple syrup and organic coconut oil and i tried microwaving it together and the two substances are incapable of moving together, the coconut oil just sits on top
Yum! So easy, I just made this and used it as a topping for my raw vegan cheesecake. Itās especially good with a generous amount of sea salt and vanilla Iām my opinion
This looks wonderful, but alas, I found it looking through your “sugar free” recipes. Maple syrup is not sugar free.
This is fantastic! SO happy to find a dairy-free caramel sauce!
Your nutrition calculations are completely wrong.
All oils are 100% pure fat.
Your recipe is almost HALF oil.
Almond Butter is usually about 50% to 70% fat.
Your caramel is about 60% fat.
Please adjust your nutritional values because this misleads people into eat more than they really should.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, James!
Wow I was sceptic when I made this.
My husband came home with a bunch of green apples and I was craving that caramel dipping sauce but had nothing of the sort at home. However, I had all the ingredients to make this recipe and it is so quick to prepare, I thought “what the heck I’ll give it a try”. Turns out it is delicious! Better than the real deal because you aren’t putting all that junk in your body. Really creative recipe!
We love hearing this! So glad you enjoyed it, Julie Ann!
Holy yum!! I made this with cashew butter since that’s what I had in the pantry and added some sea salt… And WOW it was literally caramel! I was tempted to it by the spoonful bc it’s healthier right?! Thanks for an awesome recipe!!
Glad to hear it, Caitlin!
Can margarine be used instead of almond butter? I won’t be able to find that where I live.
Not sure if margarine would be a good substitute for this sauce. Although the flavor would be altered, peanut butter would be a great substitute.
I realise Iām a little late to party on this one but had to comment because this has been a Total game changer !!!! I was craving a magnum ego and so got the vegan magnum almond , smashed into a bowl with this warm syrup on it !!!! So good -thanks for this simple and ridiculously delicious recipe
Glad you enjoyed this caramel sauce, Sharyn. š
This stuff is RIDICULOUS, so yummy and so easy! I first added it on top of a chocolate ‘depression’ cake and have used other times, sometimes I eat more from the bowl than I use ON the item!
So glad to hear this, Jackie!
Can I use honey instead of maple syrup?
How is this best stored and how long is it fresh would you say? PS its so yummy!!
Hi Suzi! Store the caramel sauce in the refrigerator. It should last for at least a week!