Dairy free caramel candy is a delicious treat to make and give! These caramels are chewy, sweet, and a little salty.
Are you intimidated by candy making? I totally understand…I used to feel the same way. I would see people making perfect batches of brittle, and colorful lollipops, and wonder how on earth they made that happen.
Candy thermometers? Soft ball, hard crack, and other unfamiliar terms? Never mind. I will just buy my candy.
But then food allergies came along, and it was difficult to find caramel that was safe. So I had to try my hand at homemade dairy free caramel, and then at homemade vegan buttercrunch toffee. And I’m glad I gave it a try! Homemade caramel and toffee is SO delicious.
Some tips for making delicious dairy free caramel:
- use a heavy bottomed saucepan, to help prevent burning
- keep stirring the caramel
- keep your eyes on the thermometer – it’s important to have it reach exactly the right temperature
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Recipe
Dairy Free Caramel Candy.
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan buttery spread
- 2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup light organic corn syrup
- 11 ounces full fat coconut milk I used So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk
- ⅓ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Attach a candy thermometer to a heavy bottomed pan so that the end is near the bottom, but not resting on it. Place the vegan buttery spread in the pan and melt over medium high heat. Add the light brown sugar and stir until incorporated and melted.
- Add the light organic corn syrup and full fat coconut milk.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook, stirring constantly until a candy thermometer reads 235 degrees F, the soft-ball stage. (Be patient, this process could take around 15-20 minutes).
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sea salt.
- Pour the caramel on the prepared cookie sheet. It should spread out, but if needed, you can use a rubber spatula to help smooth it out.
- Let the sheet of caramel cool completely before slicing. Wrap each caramel in squares of parchment paper or waxed paper. (Waxed paper wraps tighter, but sometimes the caramel sticks to it a little bit. Parchment paper never sticks, but won't wrap tightly).
Notes
Nutrition
These will last for at least a week. If you want to have them last longer, store in the refrigerator. This will make them quite firm, so you will want to bring them to room temperature before eating.
Erika G.
Can I substitute coconut milk for oat milk?
Patricia Christensen
I have pecan trees, so gonna make turtles, I can use butter but no cow milk, so I will try thickened coconut milk. comes in a can in forengin section of grocery store, (use it in my East Indian recipes) let you know how they turn out closer to Christmas 2023.
Shia
The flavor is pretty good if kinda bland and I agree there was a lot of extra butter that gave it an oily consistency. Even though it did solidify.
Jennifer
I made this a couple years ago and it was fantastic. Tried again today and it won’t solidify- even after 6 hours in the fridge. Any suggestions as to what happened? Thanks!
Audra Powell
I would recommend cooking longer. I like my caramels a lot closer to hard ball than soft ball. You can get up to 240 degrees, or do a cold water test and dump a little in a glass of ice water while cooking to check the texture. If it doesnt come together in the cold water it wont cone together in the fridge.
Sara
I never could get the butter to fully incorporate into the mixture. Cooling on the pan, the oil is pooling on top and around the sides. Is there any saving it? Any tips on what I did wrong?
marci
I’ve made this caramel many times. It’s very simple and absolutely delicious. Thank you for the vegan recipe!
Karen Norris
Can you tell me where you get your culinary coconut milk at?
ev johnson
you can’t not because it is no longer produced
Patricia Christensen
You can get it where they sell food to make East Indian food, comes in a can.
Karen Norris
Do you have a yummy recipe for almond roca candydairy-free? Thank goodness someone who has a recipe for people who csn’t have dairy. ? Thank you.
A
Will these melt in the oven?
Kelly Roenicke
I would think so. Are you going to put them on cookies or something?
Katie
Delicious recipe!
Lindsey
I’m looking to make a DF caramel drizzle on chocolate covered fruits – if I use this recipe (while still warm/hot) do you think it will firm up so it’s not running off the treat?
Kaitlyn
Since I dont keep coconut milk in my home, I tried to make this with almond milk and it worked!! Very delicious thank you!
Elizabeth
I am not a big fan of the coconut flavor. Do these have a coconut flavor? Is there something else you could substitute for the coconut milk?
Kelly Roenicke
It does not have a strong coconut flavor.
Tina
Omg I miss two things since going vegan… caramel and flan. I will make this for sure. I want to cover a with chocolate too. Any suggestions?
Kelly Roenicke
I think I would make the caramel, shape it how you want, and then cover with melted chocolate. I am working on a chocolate caramel recipe, but I don’t have it published yet.
Lee Ann Traeger
Do you have a preferred brand of buttery spread? I tried a a similar recipe and was unhappy with a smell/after taste that I thought might be the butter substitute I used.
Thanks for the help
Kelly Roenicke
I usually use Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread.
Sharon
Wow!!!! What an extraordinary recipe, I would have never guessed it’s possible to make dairy free caramel!
Karin MacDonald
That sounds absolutely delicious! I have tried my hand at coming up with a caramel recipe like that before and failed miserably! I am looing forward to giving this a go!
Kelly Roenicke
I hope you love it!
Nicole
These look delish! Do they have a coconutty flavor?
Kelly Roenicke
No they don’t!
Karen Olayo
Can you use honey in place of the corn syrup? Or make syrup?
Thanks!
Sarah
Is there a substitution for the corn syrup?
Kelly Roenicke
I don’t know of one, I’m sorry!
Beth Dupree
For 1 cup of corn.syrup in a recipe you can use any of these
1 cup sugar, dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
1 cup honey
1 cup light molasses
1 cup maple-flavored syrup (pancake syrup)
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup brown rice syrup
Daniel L
The best sub for corn syrup in caramel is golden syrup. It’s invert cane sugar syrup. British recipes use tons of it. Also, rice syrup can’t be counted on to be gluten free.
😊
Hi! So, my favorite candy is chewey caramel, but with celiac it’s so hard to find them GF, and when I found this recipe I was super excited to try it! But when I made them, they ended up really hard. I made them with almond milk. Any ideas as to why they’re so hard?