Thick, gooey and deliciously sweet Date Caramel. No cooking and ready in minutes! This easy raw caramel is healthy, refined sugar-free & you can customize the thickness to make it as thick or thin and sauce-like as you want!
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Date Caramel? Really? Who would have thought you could make caramel from dates? Well, you can with just four ingredients, and it is rich, thick and incredibly delicious.
In fact it is so good that you might well find yourself standing in front of your blender with a spoon for an extended period of time. This caramel is not messing around!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you need to make your own delicious, naturally dairy-free and gluten-free vegan date caramel sauce:
You could technically make this raw date caramel with just one ingredient (that would be Medjool dates) and a drop of water, but I really like to add a little extra richness in the form of some nut (or seed) butter, coconut milk (or other creamy plant milk such as oat, cashew or almond milk), vanilla and sea salt. These additions not only make the caramel richer, they also make it taste incredible!
Peanut butter is delicious in this, but if you prefer a less obviously "nutty" flavour, use almond butter or cashew butter. Sunflower seed butter or tahini are great alternatives if you need to keep the recipe nut-free.
Success tip - Don't skip the pinch of salt. It enhances the caramel flavour and sweetness!
How To Make Date Caramel?
Making vegan Date Caramel is incredibly easy. Here's how:
- Add dates plus the nut/seed butter, vanilla and salt to a food processor or high powered blender.
- Blend whilst adding coconut milk gradually until you get the texture you want. The consistency is customizable. Adjust it to suit whatever you plan to do with it by adding more or less coconut milk.
Success tip - If your dates are dry and hard or you have a less powerful blender or food processor that you think might struggle a bit, you can soak the dates in warm water for ten minutes prior to blending everything. That will make it easier and give you much smooth results.
Storing Date Caramel
Date Caramel will keep in the refrigerator for up to 14 days and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Freezing in an ice cube tray makes it quick and easy to defrost a small portion.
Serving Suggestions
Serving SuggestionsUse date caramel sauce just as you would regular caramel sauce. It's great for drizzling on just about anything. Some ideas include:
- Healthy Caramel Cookie Cups
- Caramel Chia Seed Puddings
- Vegan Caramel Eggs
- On pancakes or waffles
- Drizzled over oatmeal or on toast
- With ice-cream
- Used as a dip for fresh fruit like apple slices, banana or strawberries, or even some salty pretzels.
- In brownies or cakes
- Swirled through Dessert Chocolate Hummus - Remember Rolos? That's what this combo tastes like!
Recipe FAQS
Medjool dates are really sweet and sticky with a deep caramel taste. When blended up in this recipe with the added richness of coconut milk, nut butter and salt, the resulting sauce is intensely sweet, nutty and caramel-like. If you didn't know it was made from dates I don't think you would guess. It's just really, really delicious and I highly recommend you try it!
Medjool dates are best because they are the softest, stickiest and most caramel-like. They also blend easily. Other varieties are harder to get completely smooth and won't make such a sweet , gooey caramel. If you have to use a different variety, I recommend soaking in hot water for 10 minutes to soften them before proceeding with the recipe.
Recipe
Date Caramel
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 packed cup (175 grams) Medjool dates , measured after pitting (about 10 to 11 dates)
- 2 tablespoons nut or seed butter , or tahini
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Approximately 8 tablespoons creamy plant milk , I like to use canned coconut milk
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the dates, nut/seed butter, vanilla and salt to a food processor or high powered blender. Blend until completely smooth, while gradually adding the plant milk to get the caramel to the thickness you want. The more milk you add the thinner the caramel will become.
- Scrape the caramel from the bowl and into a jar with a spatula.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on February 16th, 2018. The post has since been rewritten and republished. The recipe remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Josephine says
Delicious, turned out amazing. Could live off the date caramel sauce.....definitely will make again.
Arlene says
Why is salt important? I am on a low sodium diet.
Melanie McDonald says
Salt enhances flavour and sweetness.
Patty says
The best date caramel!! Delicious!!
Margarita says
Mmmm the best caramel!!!
Thanks Melani😍😍😍
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.
Absolutely delicious. I'm book marking this as a keeper. Thank you so much!
A Virtual Vegan says
So pleased you enjoyed it Vanessa!
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!
Kendra says
I had some dates to use up. Such a good recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Kendra. Glad you enjoyed it!
Khadijah says
I have a question if I am allergic to almonds can I use different milk for example cows or is that a bad idea.
Btw I am not allergic to almonds I just don't like them. But
Love this recipe
Jeannette Nussbaumer says
Amazing and delicious! I tweaked it a little for my taste, by adding more vanilla and used vanilla paste instead. I also used coconut cream with some h20. Almond butter lends a nice texture and mild flavor as well. So happy I found this recipe! Thank you for sharing :-) look forward to adding to smoothies, oats, and homemade yogurt!
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you enjoyed it Jeanette!
Sue Williams says
Could you freeze this ??
A Virtual Vegan says
You can. It freezes really well and stays quite soft in the freezer.
Sue Williams says
Thank you for that :-) Dates purchased now look forward to making it x
Holly says
Whoa. I just made this and it is SO DELICIOUS!! Thank you! I can't wait to share it with my family.
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! That's awesome. So glad you like it!
mar says
What can you substitute the coconut cream with?
Sarah De la Cruz says
Yum! We loved it!!!
Sarah McMinn says
Yum! This date caramel sauce is so good and I am eating it on everything!
Mary Ellen says
Such an awesome idea to use dates Mel! I made a big batch for Easter and my family put it on everything!
Becky Striepe says
Oh my gosh, I need this over my next bowl of ice cream!!
Vanessa Cassani says
Wow, looks great to enjoy with some apples and bananas! I can't wait to try this snack for my kids, I know they would love it.
Louise says
Lovely flavour. My food processor is not the most powerful, so the texture wasn’t totally smooth, but it didn’t matter. Will definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Louise. I'm so glad you like it. Did you try soaking the dates in warm water for a little while before? If you didn't try it next time as it will get them really soft and make it easier to get a smoother result.
Louise says
The dates I used were very soft, but I will soak them next time and see if that makes a difference.
Freya says
This looks AMAZING and I literally love all the suggestions you gave to use it with. I think I'd have to try it on pancakes first! :)