Whether you’re after the ideal sauce to slather over a sticky date pudding or atop a bowl of vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce is a great option. And my recipe doesn’t use cream and can easily be made dairy-free with a few swaps!
Complex, sweet and just a little bit salty, it’s also achingly simple to make and you can have the sauce finished in about ten minutes.
How to Make Cream-Free Butterscotch Sauce
It’s tough to make a butterscotch sauce without using any butter, so I do call for it in the recipe, but you can easily swap in the vegan butter of your choice or even coconut oil if you want to ensure that the sauce is dairy-free.
In general, this is an incredibly simple recipe that takes just a few minutes once you have everything in the pot, and you will be astounded by how delicious it is once you’re through.
To get started, add some dark brown sugar, some butter, some golden syrup (or use maple syrup if you don’t have this!) and a bit of coconut milk to a small saucepan.
The coconut milk is the cream substitute here and it works very well – provided you use a full-fat version.
The flavour of the dark brown sugar is also powerful enough that the final sauce doesn’t taste much like coconut at all, if you’re worried about that.
Set the pan over medium heat and, stirring occasionally, melt the butter and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Once simmering, stir the sauce constantly to avoid it scorching and cook for about 5 minutes. This will ensure that the sugars get a nice caramelised flavour and also help with the sauce’s final viscosity.
After this, remove the pan from the heat and stir in a bit more coconut milk. And that is it!
You can transfer the sauce to a heatproof dish and use it right away, or you can let it cool to room temperature and refrigerate it in an airtight container for a couple of weeks!
Butterscotch Sauce Without Cream
Ingredients
- 120 ml (½ cup) full-fat coconut milk divided
- 100 g (½ cup) dark brown sugar
- 25 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter (see note 1)
- 15 g (1 tbsp) golden syrup or maple syrup
- 3 g (½ tsp) salt (see note 2)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine 60ml (¼ cup) of the coconut milk, the brown sugar, butter, golden syrup and salt. Set the pan over medium heat and, stirring frequently with a silicone spatula, bring the mixture to a boil. Allow the mixture to bubble, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remainder of the coconut milk. Transfer to a heatproof dish and serve as desired.
Notes
- If you want to make this recipe dairy-free, simply swap in a vegan butter here. You can also use coconut oil (virgin coconut oil will lend a more “coconutty” taste; if you want to avoid this, use refined coconut oil).
- For best results, measure salt by weight, as different salts vary in crystal size and density.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is automatically generated and provided as guidance only. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Making butterscotch sauce without using cream is super simple and the sauce will be the stuff of dreams.
Are you after a great recipe for butterscotch sauce? Have any questions? Let me know in the comments!
