Make this easy vegan date caramel sauce within minutes in your blender using just 4 simple ingredients! Perfect for drizzling, dipping or making healthy and decadent desserts.
Sticky Medjool dates meet creamy nut butter in this easy and healthy treat! Our vegan date caramel sauce is rich, nutrient-packed and really versatile.
We love it with crispy apples, ice cream, crepes or to make raw caramel slices!
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Your next week of eating is planned out with these quick and delicious vegan bowls, meal prepping steps & full grocery list.
Created with 100% whole food plant-based ingredients, this addictive vegan condiment is perfect for pouring, dipping or enjoying by the spoonful!
No refined ingredients like oil, sugar or butter needed. Plus, kids love it, too!
Here’s why you need to make this easy recipe.
Recipe overview
- Creamy, thick and delicious
- Fully whole food plant-based
- Creamy, thick and delicious
- Kid-approved & meal prep-friendly
- Silky, luscious and undetectably vegan
- Super versatile & caramel-y
Only a few minutes and a handful of pantry staples are needed to make this delicious treat!
Ingredients needed
- Dates — use Medjool variety for the perfect caramel flavor!
- Almond butter — this adds a silky, luscious touch!
- Almond milk — helping the ingredients to stick together; use more for a runny caramel sauce and less for a creamy dip.
- Vanilla & salt — optional, to bring the flavors together.
Find the exact amounts and adjustment ideas below. All you need in terms of equipment is a blender to make this date caramel sauce!
How to make date caramel sauce
- Soak your dates in hot water for 30 minutes if you don’t have a high-speed blender. Drain before making the caramel.
- Place dates and almond milk in a blender. Blend until a loose paste forms.
- Add the remaining ingredients and pulse or blend until you achieve a smooth consistency without any chunks left.
- Stop and scrape down the sides if needed and add more liquid if the mixture doesn’t come together!
- Adjust with any components to create your desired texture and taste.
Storage & serving suggestions
Satisfy your vegan sweet tooth by having a batch of healthy caramel sauce stored in the fridge! It keeps well in an airtight container for up to a week.
Fair warning: this dreamy caramel sauce is too finger-licking good to hold yourself back for this long!
Apart from enjoying it by the spoonful (no judging), you can top waffles, brownies, cakes or cinnamon rolls with it or use it for apple pie.
We like it with fruit and pretzels, ice cream or a slice of toast. There are so many ways to use date caramel!
Tips & adjuments
- Make low-fat caramel sauce by blending dates with almond milk and omitting any nut butters!
- Make it richer by using coconut milk instead of almond milk.
- Use cashew butter or even peanut butter in place of almond butter if you like!
- If you don’t have a blender, you can make this date caramel in a food processor instead but it probably won’t turn out as smooth.
- Warm your caramel sauce in a microwave for some hot-sauce-on-cold-ice-cream experience!
Is caramel vegan-friendly?
Traditionally, caramel is made with dairy products such as butter and heavy cream. Therefore, it is usually not vegan-friendly!
Follow our easy recipe for a fully vegan and refined sugar-free version.
More vegan treats
Enjoy healthy vegan desserts all year long with our selection of treats!
- Pumpkin Brownies
- Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates
- Edible Cookie Dough
- Cinnamon Nut Rolls
- No-Bake Fruit Tarts
Did you make our date caramel sauce and like it? Let us know in the comments below, rate the recipe and Pin it here!
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup almond butter 60 g
- 1 cup dry dates pitted (120 g)
- 4 tbsp almond milk 60 ml
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- If you don’t have a good-quality blender, soak your dry dates for at least half an hour in warm water and drain them before making your vegan date caramel.
- Put the pitted dates and almond milk in a blender jar and blend until a loose paste forms.
- Add almond butter, vanilla extract and salt, then blend or pulse until you achieve a smooth consistency without any chunks left. Stop and scrape down sides as necessary.
- Adjust with any components to create your desired texture and taste.
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- We highly recommend using Medjool dates for this vegan caramel sauce but if you cannot get a hold of them, simply use another variety.
- Cashew butter, sunflower butter, soy milk, coconut milk and oat milk can be used for this recipe.
Alena Schowalter is a Certified Vegan Nutritionist who has been a vegetarian since childhood and vegan since 2012. Together with her husband, she founded nutriciously in 2015 and has been guiding thousands of people through different transition stages towards a healthy plant-based diet. She’s received training in the fields of nutrition, music therapy and social work. Alena enjoys discussions around vegan ethics, walks through nature and creating new recipes.
Tastes amazing ????, awsome sugar-free substitute. Gonna use it a lot from now on.
Nice recipe. Turned out well. I soaked my dates with my almonds then used that for my milk base. I think blended the soaked dates with some of the milk. I needed more milk to get the blender spin, even in a small vitamix container. I used extra vanilla since it was not a super pure one, that really gives it the caramel smell and taste. I used cashew butter instead of almond it gives a lighter color and smoother taste. Very good flavor and texture. Not completely smooth but that is because when i strained my almond milk it was so fine that i didn’t have any leftover goop — basically had solid dates and almonds so very healthy and no waste. Recommend and would make it again.
I loved it on my baked sweet potatos!
Very nice recipe chef 👍👌👏. Thank you for your effort 🌞😎
Wow wow wow. Absolutely amazing and delicious. I made stickyish cinnamon rolls and used this as the filling!! I ended up adding a bit of maple syrup to amp up the sugar for our buns. We also used pecan butter and cinnamon, again to keep with our attempt at “healthy” sourdough stickyish buns. Thanks for sharing this!!
oh my, that sounds epic!! thanks so much for sharing and giving me huge cravings now, haha :) very happy you enjoyed our date caramel.