This is an easy, one ingredient dairy-free and vegan dulce de leche or caramel sauce recipe that has a rich, sticky-sweet caramel flavor.
This delicious dairy-free and vegan dulce de leche has a rich, sticky-sweet caramel flavor and only requires 1 ingredient. Yes, ONE ingredient!
All you have to do is boil a can of vegan sweetened condensed milk for about 3 ½ hours and it makes sweet, caramel-y goodness ?
If you're not familiar with dulce de leche, it's a Spanish phrase that pretty much means sweet milk or candy of milk. It's very similar to caramel and is super easy to make.
Here are the details:
Easy vegan dulce de leche
Just like you can boil a can of sweetened condensed milk to create dulce de leche, using the vegan version works just as good!
The only difference I noticed with the vegan version is that is has a thinner, more sauce-like consistency than traditional dulce de leche - even though it thickens some in the fridge.
However, it still has that great, rich caramel flavor that the kids and I just LOVE! In fact, I found both of my kids licking their bowls (and maybe me too, lol?) and asking for more.
While I still love and make my original Caramel Sauce Recipe I was excited to try something new and am now happy to have 2 recipes for caramel!
Which do I like better you say? It's hard to pick since there are pro's and con's to each recipe so here's the rundown:
Dulce de leche vs. caramel sauce
- If I had to pick totally off of taste I would pick the Dulce de Leche. Since it's made with white cane sugar that is then caramelized, it has a bit of truer caramel taste.
- My Caramel Sauce Recipe, however, can be made paleo and keto-compliant.
- Caramel is also a lot faster to make. If you don't care about it thickening up, it can be ready in 10 minutes. The Dulce de Leche, however, takes over 3 hours.
- The Vegan Dulce de Leche would not work in recipes calling for thick caramel sauce. It's thinner than caramel (especially before it's refrigerated) but would work perfect drizzled over dessert.
What about you, which do you think you will try it? Do you prefer Dulce de Leche or caramel? Let me know what you think!
Easy instructions
This recipe really only has one step: Simmer the can of vegan sweetened condensed milk for around 3 ½ hours!
There are few things to keep in mind though:
- You don't need to have the water at a rapid boil for 3 ½ hours. After you bring the water to a boil, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.
- The water will evaporate! Because of this, you'll need to top off the water every 30 to 45 minutes to keep the can covered.
- And most importantly: Do not open the can while it's hot! If you do this, it may explode! And I'm not looking for anyone to go to the ER.
Looking for more recipes?
I think you'll love my Keto & Vegan Turtles and these gluten-free Scotcharoos from My Gluten-Free Kitchen!
If you’ve tried this Vegan Dulce de Leche or any other recipe on the blog please let me know in the comments below!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
- 1 Can Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk - or as many as you would like
Instructions
- Place the can or cans into a large pot on their sides and cover with 1 to 2 inches of water.
- Bring to a boil, then immediately turn down to Medium-Low or Low until you have a nice, gentle simmer or light boil.
- Let simmer 3 ½ hours.
- *Important step* Top off the water as it simmers to keep 1 to 2 inches of water over the cans at all times.
- Halfway through the simmering processes, very carefully rotate the cans with tongs.
- After the simmering time, carefully remove the cans with tongs and allow to cool before opening. DO NOT open cans when they are hot, there is a potential for an explosion!
- Dulce de Leche can be stored in a sealed mason jar in the fridge for up to a month. It will thicken slightly in the fridge.
Notes
- DO NOT open the cane while they are hot! Let them cool before opening, otherwise, they may explode!
- This recipe this thinner than traditional Caramel Sauce, but will slightly thicken in the fridge.
- Keep at least one to two inches of water over the cans at all times. Add more water as needed as it simmers.
- The longer you boil the cans, the richer the caramel. Feel free to boil the cans an additional 30 minutes to an hour if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate and may vary.
Looking for more information on the keto diet? Check out these resources:
Alma Read says
It did work for me... BUT... I used the 6 Qt Slow Cooker. Put 2 cans with water, making sure water was about an inch higher than the cans, also...the cans need to be on their side. Turned on slow fot 15 hours. Turned it off and left them rest in the water until cooled off. Opened them, and transferred them to a glass container. It was quite thick. I kept in the fridge. Delicious.
I will be making again, tomorrow..
Brenda says
This did not work at all. I cannot figure out what I did wrong, the instructions are so simple. I simmered the unopened can, same brand you have pictured. I simmered for 4 hours covered by 1" of water, removed the can from the water, let cool for 4 hours, & opened the can. When opened, I still had just warm sweetened condensed milk. ???
Cassidy Stauffer says
Oh no Brenda!!! This has always worked great for me!?! The only thing I can think of is that the water wasn't hot enough. When it simmers the water should be hot enough that steam is coming up from the pot with an occasional bubble or two and you frequently need to add more water to keep the cans covered. If that's not the problem, I'm sure simmering it longer would fix the problem. I'm so, so sorry it didn't work for you!!! I hope you try it again with better results!
-Cassidy
Mina Eaves says
Great recipe- exactly what I was looking for after discovering Nature's Charm condensed coconut milk in my local store (Scoop & Spice, Yatton, SW England- so it's available this side of the pond too!). I have missed banoffee pie since turning vegan so bought two cans, looked up recipes for coconut milk dulce de leche and found your website. I boiled it as per your instructions (cooking for three and a half hours with the unopened tins under water), but found it a touch too runny for banoffee pie even when cool, which was as expected given your advice in the recipe that it is runnier than the dairy version. So, experimenting, I added four heaped tablespoons of cornflour to a small amount of coconut milk and stirred this in while heating it up. It actually seemed to get runnier as it heated and I simmered it for a while. It cooled again but still seemed quite runny so I decided to heat it for longer and try to get rid of some of the water content to thicken it. This time as it heated it became thicker and I kept it simmering for about five minutes, stirring all the time, and it became much thicker, even when heating and now seems much firmer even before putting it in the fridge! I'll be making the banoffee pie tomorrow (for my birthday!) and I'm very hopeful it will work out well, especially reading that it becomes thicker anyway in the fridge in your response to another post. Other websites mention that agar-agar can be used to thicken it (but I don't have any so cornflour was my only option). Tastewise, it is absolutely delicious- just like coconut toffees. Thank you for sharing how to make dulce de leche 🙂
Summer says
Where did you find the coconut sweet condensed milk?
Cassidy says
Hi Summer!
I found mine at Sprouts and I think it's on Amazon too 🙂
-Cassidy
Valerie Szymanski says
Could you use this in a recipe if it is cooked on the stove top and then baked to make it set? Want to make a salted caramel tart that requires sweetened condensed milk but cannot use any dairy.
Cassidy says
Hi Valerie!
Hummm, I'm not sure I would have to look at the recipe. If the recipe has instructions to make caramel, just skip the instructions and substitute this caramel. I'm sure you can bake this caramel recipe but it's fairly thin and only thickens after it's been in the fridge for awhile. Depending on the recipe, you could completely make the tarte (I'm assuming it has apples or something else in it?) then drizzle the caramel over the top when it's finished? Sorry, I just can't say without looking at the recipe but maybe I gave you a few ideas 🙂 Let me know how it turns out!!!
-Cassidy
Regena Mcnatt says
OOh Yum! Will definitely try!