4-Ingredient Date Caramel Sauce
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Published Oct 12, 2017, Updated Oct 19, 2021
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A quick and easy recipe for 4-ingredient date caramel sauce made from Medjool dates. Perfect as a dip or topping for healthy treats.
We all know I love Medjool dates. You can eat them plain or stuffed with nut butter as a snack but I also love to use them in both sweet and savory recipes.
The Perfect Healthy Dip for Apples
This date caramel is sweet and delicious. It definitely still has sugar, but I love that the dates are able to provide the rich sweet caramel flavor along with fiber and a host of other vitamins and minerals. Medjool dates are a great source of potassium, copper, magnesium, vitamin B6, niacin, calcium, iron and vitamin K.
4 Ingredient Real Food Caramel
It’s too good to resist. And I love that it’s made with real food, simple ingredients. Added bonus, there’s no heavy cream or butter involved so this caramel is dairy-free and vegan. Boom!
- medjool dates – make sure you get Medjool dates, which are a fresh fruit, not dried! You’ll find them in the produce section of your grocery store. Your dates should be soft, not hard. If they are dry or hard, you can soak them in water for about 30 minutes, drain and then use them in the recipe.
- sea salt – just a touch, to bring the flavors together!
- vanilla extract – a flavor enhancer.
- unsweetened almond milk – you can use store-bought or make your own almond milk.
Ways to Use This Date Caramel
- Apple Nachos
- Salted Caramel Oatmeal
- Chocolate Caramel Ice Cream Bars
- Apple Samoas with Date Caramel
- Samoa Baked Oatmeal
- Baked Apples
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
4-Ingredient Date Caramel
Ingredients
- 16 medjool dates, pitted*
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ -1 cup unsweetened almond milk, store-bought or homemade
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (starting with ¾ cup almond milk) into a high powered blender or food processor and blend until mixture is smooth and there are no date chunks detectable.
- Add more almond milk, 1-2 Tablespoons at a time, if needed to help the blending process or to thin the caramel.
- Use immediately or store in the fridge for later.
Notes
- Recipe works best fresh, soft medjool dates. If dates are dry or hard, you can soak them in water for about 30 minutes, drain and then use them in the recipe.
- If you’re using the smaller deglet noor dates, you’ll need to use more! This is something you can play around with to get the caramel sauce thickness you’re looking for.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! I am making your 4-ingredient date caramel sauce for Christmas as a gift. How long is it good for in the fridge? Does it freeze well also?
Thanks!
Hi Olivia – This will last about a week in the fridge. I have never tried freezing this recipe, but I imagine it would freeze just fine. Enjoy!
This is so delicious. Where has this been been my whole life. I can’t wait to put this in my coffee tomorrow!
YUM! Loving the idea to add this to your coffee, sounds delicious. I am glad that you are loving this recipe. Thank you so much for your review + star rating, I so appreciate it!
Everything is perfect about the colour, how did you get such a dark caramel colour ???
I added normal milk and it is very light caramel colour not like yours.. and definetly not so glossy.
Hi Daniel – Did you change anything about the recipe other than the milk?
This turned out amazing. I used halawy dates instead of medjool. They have a caramel-esque flavor already and they’re super soft. Since they are smaller I had to use 30 of them. I switched out the almond milk (I’m allergic) for walnut milk. Put it in the Nutri Bullet which worked great. We dipped apples in it and my mom just started smearing it on graham crackers. We’re going to try it in coffee tomorrow.
WOO! This sounds delicious, I am so happy you are loving this recipe, Becky. Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
Perfection! Used as a raw vegan cheesecake topping.
YUM! That sounds delicious, Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing your review & star rating, I really appreciate it.
Very yummy! I’ll see if my non DF GF guests like it tonight. Will serve on Guittard dark chocolate sorbetto. Recipe notes: I found an immersion blender to be easiest and most successful blending option (no high speed blender here). Also do not tolerate nuts, so subbed 1/2 cup oat milk and 1/2 cup coconut milk for almond milk.
So glad you loved this recipe, Frances. Thanks for making it and for coming back to share your notes. I so appreciate it!!
This is amazing! I made oatmeal with spiced roasted apples, pepitas and walnuts, and oh my gosh…. It was a next level bowl of oats!
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this caramel sauce, Jaimee. Thanks so much for trying it out and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
I would love to try this but don’t have almond milk. Would regular cow milk work?
Hey Kelly- yes, regular milk will work.
It was absolutely amazing. I wold defintly make this again. Thank you!
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed this caramel sauce. Thanks for the review, Mark!
How long will this last in the refrigerator? Thank you
It should last about a week in the fridge!