Thick, luscious, creamy & sweet Date Caramel. No cooking is involved & it can be ready in minutes. It's refined sugar & gluten-free & you can customize the thickness to make it as thick & spreadable or as thin and sauce-like as you want!
Healthy caramel? Really? Who would have thought you could make caramel from dates? Well, you can.
This Date Caramel is so rich, thick and luscious and it's made from only four ingredients (plus salt). You could technically make it with just one ingredient (that would be dates), but I like to add a little extra richness to it in the form of some nut butter, coconut milk and vanilla. Salt is also kind of important. You wouldn't think it, but it makes such a difference.
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How do you make date caramel?
Making Date Caramel is incredibly easy. Here's how:
Step 1 - Add dates plus the nut/seed butter, vanilla and salt to a food processor or high powered blender.
Step 2 - Blend whilst adding coconut milk gradually until you get the texture you want. It's totally customizable and you can adjust it to suit whatever you plan to do with it.
That's it!
It's so simple and it tastes way better than you would imagine Date Caramel would taste. It is so good!
What equipment do I need to make this?
To make this date caramel you ideally need a high-powered blender but a good food processor should be ok too. I use my Blendtec.
If you have a less powerful blender or food processor that might struggle a bit, you can soak the dates in warm water for ten minutes prior to blending everything. That will make it much easier for your appliance and give you smooth results.
How to use date caramel
How to use date caramelTry it in my Healthy Caramel Cookie Cups:
Or my Healthy Caramel Chia Seed Puddings:
Or in my Vegan Caramel Eggs:
Or in any other way you would regular caramel like:
- On pancakes or waffles
- Drizzled over oatmeal
- On toast
- With ice-cream
- Use as a dip for fruit like apple slices, banana or strawberries
- Over cakes
- Swirled into brownies
- Swirled through my Dessert Chocolate Hummus - Remember Rolos? That's what it tastes like!
- Spread in a banana sandwich - Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!
This caramel is:
- really quick and easy to make
- healthy
- refined sugar & gluten-free
- versatile
- naturally sweet
- incredibly smooth, creamy and rich
But if you aren't a fan of dates then why not give this 5 Minute Vegan Caramel Sauce a try instead? It's rich and decadent but not quite as healthy!
📖 Recipe
Date Caramel
Author:Ingredients
- 175g / 1 packed cup Medjool dates , measured after pitting (about 10 dates). *
- 2 tablespoons nut butter, sunflower seed butter or tahini **
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt , plus more to taste if you want a salted caramel effect
- around 8 tablespoons canned coconut milk , or as much/little as you need to get the thickness you want ***
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the dates, nut/seed butter, vanilla and salt to a blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth, while gradually adding the coconut milk to get it to the thickness you want. The more you add the thinner the caramel will become.
- Scrape the caramel from the bowl and into a jar.
NOTES
If you did, be a ☆ and let me know what you think by rating it and commenting below. Tag me on Instagram too. I am @avirtualvegan and my hashtag is #avirtualvegan ________________________________________________________
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
Arlene says
Why is salt important? I am on a low sodium diet.
Melanie McDonald says
Salt enhances flavour
Patty says
The best date caramel!! Delicious!!
Eric says
Looove this recipe for all kinds of uses !! Healthier cups #1 of course but a close #2 is to dip apples in but I put it on ice cream, in cookies and a bunch of other stuff
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it Eric, and thanks so much for leaving a review. It's much appreciated!
Shucheeta says
How long can i store this sauce in the refrigerator ?
A Virtual Vegan says
It keeps for about 2 weeks. It also freezes well.
Vanessa M. says
OMGosh.
SO. GOOD.
As soon as I read tahini was an ingredient option, my mouth started to water because I was thinking of hakva.
I only keep deglet noors on hand, because of lower calorie content, but it never leaves me sad about flavor differences when blending.
Absolutely delicious. I'm book marking this as a keeper. Thank you so much!
A Virtual Vegan says
So pleased you enjoyed it Vanessa!
Miche says
Is the coconut milk used from a can or is it the drinkable milk (like almond milk)?
Melanie McDonald says
Either will work but canned makes it richer and creamier so I recommend using it if you can.
Linda says
This is so good! Thanks for this sweet nutty salted caramel. Just made it. Great and so easy to make.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it Linda!