Southern Bourbon Caramel Sauce with Toasted Pecans

This post has been updated for recipe, photos and content since it’s original publication in 2014. It’s as awesome as ever!

If you’re looking for a rich, creamy homemade Southern pecan caramel sauce like no other, you’ve found it. This decadent dessert sauce is quick and easy to make with only 6 ingredients and about 10 minutes of active cook time.  Trust me, your ice cream is naked without a spoonful of bourbon caramel sauce with toasted pecans.

Ingredients for Southern Bourbon Pecan Caramel Sauce

This caramel sauce comes together quickly, so before you begin making it, it’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped, measured and ready to go. 

That’s because the transmogrification (transitioning from a solid {sugar} to a liquid {caramel}) occurs rapidly and you need to pay attention so it doesn’t burn.

Watch the video to see for yourself… you don’t want to be toasting nuts while that’s happening.

Start with the pecans

To bring out the full flavor of the pecans and give them a satisfying crunch, you need to toast them.

1. Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to a preheated 325° oven for 8-12 minutes or until the nuts are fragrant and browned.
2. Roughly chop the nuts and keep them at the ready. They’re the last thing you add to the bourbon caramel sauce, but the first thing to prep.

The process of making caramel sauce from scratch only takes about 10 minutes total, which makes it an easy dessert topping, but definitely one that stands out from the crowd. 

How to make bourbon caramel sauce.

1. Heat a heavy, medium sized skillet over medium high heat. 
2. Add the sugar and corn syrup. Don’t stir.
3. Let the sugar begin to melt on its own without touching it. The sugar crystals that are in contact with the pan will start to dissolve and caramelize. Let it cook for a minute or two before stirring.
4. Continue to cook until all of the sugar has dissolved and the color of the caramel is deep, tawny and burnished. (Add the heavy cream to the center of the pan. It will bubble furiously. Stir with a wooden spoon until the caramel sauce is evenly combined and smooth.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bourbon, sea salt and chopped pecans to the caramel sauce.
6. I know it’s tempting to take a taste right now, but don’t. It’s HOT. Like “lava-hot”.
7. Transfer to a storage container (I like to use a glass jar with a screw on lid) and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, you can store the bourbon caramel in the refrigerator.

Difference between sea salt, kosher and iodized

I call for fine sea salt in this recipe because it’s softer and less harsh than other salts.

Sea salt is less processed because it literally comes from dehydrated sea water. The flakes are uneven, and the color isn’t pristine white.

In fact, it can be gray, or sandy colored, depending on where it’s harvested. I used sea salt for this recipe and it gives a pert saltiness with no aftertaste. This recipe doesn’t use a lot of sea salt, but the impact is noticeable.

If you don’t have sea salt, you can substitute kosher salt (preferably Diamond brand). Morton and Diamond brands have equal saltiness by weight, however if you’re using traditional measuring spoons, Morton will measure out more salt than Diamond. If using Morton, use half the amount of salt.

Avoid using iodized table salt in this bourbon caramel recipe.

Pro-Tips:

• Caramelized sugar is like molten lava — hotter than hell. Do not touch it with your fingers, hands and definitely NOT YOUR MOUTH.) No matter how much you want to taste, let it cool first.
• Make sure your little kids are NOT IN THE KITCHEN when you’re making this sauce — you don’t want anything distracting you — and you definitely don’t want them getting hurt.
• Caramel sauce will harden as it chills. To make it soft and spoonable, microwave the sauce for 20-30 seconds before serving.
• Cleaning the pot can be a bit of a pain, because the sugar has melted and fused to it. To make it easier, fill the pot with warm water and place it on the stove over high heat. As the water heats, the stuck on caramel lifts away.

Substitutions and Swaps

• You can use other types of liquor in place of the bourbon. Try it with rum, whiskey or cognac.
• Use different types of nuts like slivered toasted almonds, pistachios, walnuts or macadamia nuts.

Brainstorming flavor combos

Once you feel comfortable making the caramel sauce, there’s no reason you can’t come up with some other fun and tasty combos. How about rum and macadamia nut? Frangelico and hazelnuts? Amaretto and almonds?

Troubleshooting caramel sauce:

A reader has been struggling with making homemade caramel sauce (not just my recipe, but many, many others. In case you’re in the same boat, ask yourself these questions.

1. What type of stovetop do you have (gas, electric, induction)? Does it run hot or behave inconsistently in any way? Mine is a gas cooktop and it runs very hot, so I have to watch it very closely. Electric stoves may take a bit longer to melt the caramel and induction cooktops tend to heat more quickly. Know your equipment and anticipate its tendencies.
2. What type of pan are you using? I recommend a really sturdy, heavy-duty saucepan. (I use All Clad), but Calphalon or other heavy bottomed skillets work well too. A heavy pan will hold the heat in at a more even temperature, so the sugar will dissolve more evenly and is less likely to develop hot spots that can start the sugar burning.
3. When you add the sugar to the pan, the key is to NOT TOUCH IT for a few minutes. Let the sugar sit in the pan for several minutes, so that it begins to melt and caramelize. When you finally stir it, half of the sugar will already be caramelized.
4. It’s ok if the caramelized sugar gets a little dark (that’s not necessarily burnt — and in fact, makes it really intense and delicious sauce).
5. If the sugar is truly burning, remove the pan from the heat for 30 seconds to a minute (so that you don’t continue to cook it over the heat) and give the pan a few assertive shakes back and forth. This will cool the caramel a bit from the ambient air and keep the sauce moving so no one spot will burn.
6. My reader said she had “wrecked” her pan with the burnt sugar… I know it might seem that way, but if you add 1-2 cups of water to the pan and bring it to a boil, the burnt on sugar will dissolve into the water and make it easy to clean.

What to serve with bourbon pecan caramel sauce:

• Vanilla, Maple, Butter Pecan or Peach Ice Cream
• Plain cheesecake
• Baked apples
• Baked pears
• Apple turnovers

More dessert sauces you might like on your ice cream:

• Balsamic Caramel Dessert Sauce – delicious with strawberries and ice cream.
• White Chocolate Peppermint Magic Shell – with real bits of peppermint stick.
• Dark Chocolate Mint Sauce – rich and fudgy with a bright mint finish.
• Espresso Fudge Sauce – my grandmother’s recipe. So thick it’s almost like pudding.
• Spiced Cider Rum Sauce – this one is great for fall made with an apple cider reduction.
• Luscious Stout Caramel Sauce – if you have a can of Guinness in the fridge, make this one.

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