Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

PinSaveJUMP to RECIPE

This post may contain affiliate links.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels are rich, buttery, creamy, sweet, and softly flavored with vanilla and incredibly easy to make!.

Some recipes sound absolutely too good to be true and this is one of them. But it works.

And they’re the best caramels I’ve ever had. And I’m not just saying because they’re made in the microwave in seven minutes without a candy thermometer.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

I love caramels and my mom used to make them when I was growing up but there was nothing quick and easy about them. I remember pots of boiling hot liquid, molten sugar, candy thermometers, and just thinking about the absolute precision required stresses me out. I don’t like making things where a few degrees can turn a pound of butter and sugar into a hard worthless rock. I like to have fun in the kitchen and not worrying about soft ball and hard crack stages is why this easy microwave recipe is perfect.

Theoretically I knew it was possible to make caramels in the microwave and did some digging and saw this recipe, but there wasn’t enough butter in it. I fixed that problem by doubling the butter. I recently doubled the butter in these, too. I guess Butter does make everything better, especially in caramels, which are nothing more than sugar, cream, and butter.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Once you begin this is a fast-moving recipe and with any candy-making, in the microwave or traditional stovetop methods, the resulting liquid gets incredibly hot and using caution and common sense is necessary. Have the small children go play in their room so you can concentrate fully, put your phone down and stop texting, and have all your supplies lined up and ready to go, including oven mitts. And clear a space out in advance in your refrigerator to place the screaming hot pan to cool.

Also, this is not a time to shave calories. Don’t use lite anything here. Use real butter not margarine, real corn syrup and not honey or agave or lite corn syrup. Don’t use fat-free or lite sweetened condensed milk. The recipe is designed for full-fat ingredients and making substitutions will adversely effect results. Eat fewer caramels or do more cardio, but don’t use substitutes.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Begin by lining an 8-by-8-inch square pan with aluminum foil, spraying with cooking spray, and setting the pan aside. It’s mandatory to line your pan and don’t even think about not doing it. In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt the butter, about ninety seconds. I use unsalted butter but for saltier caramels, salted butter is fine. Make sure the bowl you select is large, probably the largest size that still fits in your microwave, because over the next seven minutes, there will be lots of bubbling and you’ll need the depth. Also, make sure it’s truly microwave-safe. I’ve used bowls in the past for other microwave projects that were a little iffy and they melted. The bowl will get extremely hot so make sure it’s up to the task.

To the melted butter, add one-half cup of each of the following: white granulated sugar, light brown sugar, light corn syrup (light in color, not lite in calories), sweetened condensed milk, and stir until smooth. The recipe uses about half of one standard-sized 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and rather than wasting 89 cents worth of sweet milk, use the remainder to make either No-Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Chocolate Truffles or Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge (in the microwave), both of which use partial cans. I hate to waste and if I can make more candy or chocolaty treats in the process of making caramels with spare sweet milk, life is good.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Place the bowl in an 1100-watt microwave and heat on high power for three minutes and thirty seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes). Likely your microwave is 1100 watts, most are these days; if it’s not, you may need to tinker with the cooking times by 15 or 30 seconds in either direction if your microwave is lower or higher wattage.

Using a hot pad, remove the bowl from the microwave, scrape down the sides, and stir. You may wonder why I say to scrape down the sides because it won’t appear that much of anything is on the sides. Well, this is key. If there is sugar or sugar granules that are not dissolved and fully incorporated into the bubbling mixture and they remain uncooked, they can cause graininess or crystallization in the finished caramels. Uncooked sugar crystals have regrowth that spreads and can take over a whole pan, rendering it a grainy and gross mess over time.

I hate to use this analogy but it’s like a wart or a rash that starts out small and in a tiny place but if you don’t treat it, it will spread and pretty soon it takes over. The solution to heading off potential graininess and crystallization is to make sure each and every sugar granule that’s on the side of the bowl is cooked. So scrape down the bowl well with a spatula, making sure no chunks of sugar are clinging on the sides. My Chocolate Saltine Toffee is one of the most popular recipes on my site and the overwhelming majority of people make it with great success, but when there’s an issue, it’s usually one of crystallization, which can happen in any candy-making endeavor unless you’re careful.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Return the bowl to the microwave and heat it on high power for another three minutes and thirty seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes). While cooking, the mixture will foam, bubble vigorously, and become very active. I recommend standing in front of the microwave and watching it the whole time, just on the very unlikely chance you had to power off the microwave immediately.

Seven minutes total cooking time is perfect for me (two rounds of 3 and 1/2 minutes), but if your caramels turn out a bit too hard, reduce cooking time by 30 seconds; and if your caramels are too soft, increase cooking time by 30 seconds or so. Microwaves and ingredients vary and although seven minutes is perfect for me, some minor tweaks may be necessary.

Using a hot pad, remove the bowl from the microwave, set it on the counter, and very, very, very carefully add the vanilla extract with while standing as far back from the bowl as possible with an outstretched arm. The mixture will still be boiling when you add it, and after doing so, it will bubble up even more. Stir to incorporate the vanilla and the mixture will continue to bubble like a science project. Pour the bubbling mixture into the prepared pan, cover it with another sheet of aluminum foil, and place it in the refrigerator to firm up for at least four hours, or overnight, before slicing caramels.

I made this batch at night and after 16 hours in the refrigerators, this is what it looked like. The color gradient is from the light reflecting wickedly against the aluminum foil, the aluminum pan, and the shiny caramels. In person, it’s all a uniform shade of caramel.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Lift the caramels out using the foil overhang and I flip them over, upside-down-cake style, onto a piece of parchment that’s waiting on a cutting board. You could just slice them in the pan but I don’t want knife marks scratching my pan.

I slice them into 64 one-inch squares, but any shape you desire from logs to triangles is fine. If you have a bench scraper for bread or pasty-making, that’s handy to use for slicing. If your knife is sticking to them, spray it with cooking spray and repeat as necessary to prevent sticking.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Depending on if you’re eating them or giving them away, wrapping them individually in parchment paper is a nice touch. I don’t bother with individual wrapping for something I know we’ll devour soon anyway. I place them side-by-side without touching on top of large pieces of parchment paper inside a large plastic airtight container. They keep at room temperature for many weeks, and in the refrigerator or freezer for months. I store them in the refrigerator because I like them slightly chilled and they never get rock hard like storebought caramels do; they’re firm yet malleable.

Feel free to sprinkle them with coarse sea salt, dip them in chocolate, sandwich a layer of peanut butter or marshmallow fluff in between two of them and dip the whole stack in chocolate, or just eat them as is and savor the luxuriousness.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

They really are too good to be true. They’re the best caramels I’ve ever had and I’ll put them up against Godiva, See’s Candy, or fancy candy-shop caramels. Yes, I really would and I am super picky. I guarantee no one will ever suspect you made them in the microwave and even if you’ve never made candy or caramels, this recipe is the easiest you’ll ever find. I love it when the simplest recipes produce the best results.

They’re creamy, buttery, sweet, and the vanilla adds a special touch and depth of flavor that makes them irresistible. They’re the perfect balance of firm-yet-soft, and after I’ve sank my teeth in, they just melt in my mouth.

What are you doing for the next seven minutes?

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Pin This Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

By Averie Sunshine
This recipe seems too good to be true because the caramels are made in the microwave in seven minutes, and no candy thermometer is required. But I assure you the recipe works and produces the best-tasting caramels I've ever had. They're rich, buttery, creamy, sweet, and softly flavored with vanilla. They're the perfect balance of soft-yet-firm and just melt in my mouth. They're everything I could ask for in a caramel and will put them up against fancy candy-shop caramels. I will never need another candy-shop caramel, or another recipe for homemade caramels, after this easy and fast recipe that produces amazing results.
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 64
Save this recipe to your email
Enter your email and we’ll send it to you!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Ingredients  

  • ½ cup butter, 1 stick, melted (I use unsalted, use salted for saltier caramels)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • coarse sea salted and/or melted chocolate for dipping, optional

Instructions 

  • This is a fast-moving recipe once it begins. Have everything in place including a large oven mitt because the bowl will be very hot. Also clear out a space in your refrigerator in advance for placing the hot pan to cool. Make sure your bowl is truly microwave-safe because it will get very hot. Do not use lite or reduced fat ingredients; use real butter, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk. Send small children out of the kitchen while making these and fully concentrate on the recipe because the mixture is incredibly hot.
  • Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside. In a very large microwave-safe bowl (nearly the largest your microwave can accommodate because you will need the room and depth for the bubbling-up), melt the butter, about 90 seconds on high power. To the melted butter add the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and stir until smooth. Place bowl in the microwave and heat on high power for 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes).
  • Using a hot pad, remove bowl from the microwave, scrape down the sides incredibly well, and stir. Very important - it won’t appear that much of anything is on the sides but if there is sugar or sugar granules that are not dissolved and fully incorporated into the bubbling mixture and they remain uncooked, they can cause graininess or crystallization in the finished caramels. Uncooked sugar crystals have regrowth that spreads and can take over a whole pan, rendering it a grainy and gross mess over time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl very well making sure no sugar is clung to the sides.
  • Return bowl to microwave and heat on high power for 3 minutes and 30 seconds (3 and 1/2 minutes). During this time, the mixture will foam, bubble vigorously, and become very active. I recommend standing in front of the microwave and watching it the whole time so you could power off the microwave immediately if necessary. Using a hot pad, remove the bowl from the microwave, set it on the counter, and very, very carefully add the vanilla extract, standing at arm's length. The mixture will still be boiling and when you add it, it will bubble up even more. Use extreme caution and stir to incorporate the vanilla. The mixture will continue to bubble quite rapidly.
  • Pour the bubbling mixture into the prepared pan, cover it with another sheet of aluminum foil, and place it in the refrigerator to firm up for at least four hours, or overnight, before slicing caramels. Lift the caramels out using the foil overhang and flip them over, upside-down-cake style, onto a piece of parchment that’s waiting on a cutting board. You could slice them in the pan but I don’t want knife marks scratching. I slice them into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pasty-making bench scraper works well. Spray knife or scraper with cooking spray if it's sticking to the caramels and repeat as necessary until finished slicing.
  • Store caramels by wrapping them individually in parchment paper or by placing them side-by-side without touching on top of large pieces of parchment paper inside a large plastic airtight container. I store them in the refrigerator, but they keep at room temperature for many weeks, and will keep in the refrigerator or freezer for months. Optionally, sprinkle them with coarse sea salt, dip them in chocolate, sandwich a layer of peanut butter or marshmallow fluff in between two of them and dip the stack in chocolate.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 34kcal, Carbohydrates: 5g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 5mg, Sodium: 15mg, Sugar: 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Seven Minute Microwave Caramels

Related Recipes:

Browned Butter Caramel and Butterscotch Bars – Nutty and aromatic browned butter is paired with dark brown sugar, sweet butterscotch chips, and creamy caramel to create a dense, comforting, and rich treat. The bars are moist and packed with an incredible depth of flavor. Between the butterscotch chips and the caramels, there’s plenty of texture in these easy-to-make, buttery bars

Browned Butter Caramel and Butterscotch Bars

Butterfinger Bars (no-bake, vegan, gluten-free) – Made in the microwave in mere minutes and they taste eerily close to real Butterfinger bars

Butterfinger Bars

Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars (GF with Vegan adaptation) – Caramels, more carmaels, and plenty of chocolate and oats are combined in these gooey, sticky, sweet, and texture-rich bars

Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars

Dark Rum Caramel Sauce (gluten-free) – The caramel sauce can be made with or without rum, although I recommend it. A step-by-step guide for easy at-home caramel sauce to be used on everything from ice cream to apples

Dark Rum Caramel Sauce

Raw Vegan Gluten-Free Caramels – Three ingredients and you’ll never believe what they are. Creamy, rich, easy, and fast. Some I filled with peanut butter in the middle f0r peanut butter-caramel sandwiches

Raw Vegan Gluten-Free Caramels
 

 

Caramel Apple Bars (gluten-free with vegan adaptation) – Apples, oats, brown sugar, peanut butter and plenty of caramel sauce are combined for a fast and easy bar that’s full of texture and richness

Caramel Apple Bars

 

Marshmallow Caramel Oreo Cookie S’Mores Bars – An Oreo cookie-crumb and buttery crust is topped with marshmallows, caramels, and chocolate chips for an easy and fast dessert reminiscent of s’mores. As the bars bake, the marshmallows puff and become gooey and the rich and buttery caramels melt, providing plenty of texture and diverse flavors in each bite. The chocolate chips sprinkled on top boost the chocolate intensity

Marshmallow Caramel Oreo Cookie S’Mores Bars with piece cut out showing marshmallow pull

Do you like caramels? Have you ever tried making your own?

I love them for all the buttery, creamy, sweet, and rich glory and this is going to be my go to recipe forever. I feel that strongly about it.

If you have favorite tried and true recipes, feel free to link them.

Thanks for the Valentine’s Day Treats Giveaway entries

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

Get the latest recipes via email!

Leave a Comment

Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. I’ve made these with no problems and I have a 1300w microwave combi. As she says adjust the time for a more powerful microwave.

    I did the first cook at 3min and the second at 2.40min after scraping and stirring.

    Even with those times it came out slightly dark. CAUTION – Vigorous is the word, it bubbles like crazy. Fortunately I have some industrial heat and acid resistant gloves that come halfway up the arm.

    1. TIP.
      To rescue a batch if it is too dark return to microwave and soften DO NOT BOIL once molten pour some condensed milk in and try setting it again.
      This is a bit tricky I lost two batches before getting it right. Well not lost as they were edible (tasty as well) if a bit chewy.

  2. I had a total failure with this recipe. I followed the directions to the letter and ended up with dark brown cement. The spoon, I used to stir in the vanilla, is stuck to the bottom of the bowl and I fear I will break the bowl trying to get it out. Not sure what happened because I make caramels on the stovetop quite often and have never had such a mess….

    1. I’m sorry that this recipe didn’t work for you. Just soak the bowl in soapy water for a long time to get the spoon out. It sounds like your microwave runs very hot and that this reached a very high internal temperature long before the 7 minutes had passed. Thanks for trying the recipe and all microwaves vary, and I’m sorry this didn’t work for you in your microwave.

      1. I am wondering if I halve the recipe, will cooking time need to be modified? Or should it still work fine at 7 minutes?

        Thanks!

      2. I’ve never tried it so I am not sure. Maybe slightly less, but I haven’t tried it personally this way.

  3. I love caramels! I stumbled across this recipe and had to give it a try. I made them exactly as written and these caramels are every bit as good as the ones at Harry London’s. These recipe is on my Christmas make to give away list.

    Thank you!!

    1. That’s wonderful that you loved them, they turned out perfectly, and they’ll be on your Xmas gift-giving list – love that!

  4. LOVE LOVE LOVE These!!!!!
    Made twice already.
    Works like a charm in mine micro for 7 min.
    The only problem I have …
    These caramels are SUPER addictive.
    :)
    Thank you for sharing.

  5. I made these last night and followed recipie to a “t” by no means am I an amateur. So I’m confused that they came out dark, not near the blond color if yours, and are hard as a rock. What did I do ?

    1. Dark & hard would seem to indicate they were overcooked. You can’t always follow a recipe ‘to a T’ when you’re talking about microwaves; all of them vary. So yours must run hotter than mine. Simply cook for less time next time – easy fix!

  6. Hi! I was wondering exactly what kind of bowl you use in the microwave. I started to buy a glass Pyrex bowl at the market, and stopped because it had some crazy warning about not putting microwave popcorn packages in the bowl due to heat and so on. I’m at a loss for what to use.
    ???
    Thank you,
    Sue

      1. Love those bowls! I have melamine bowls and use them for everything. Only problem is they get super hot in the microwave. The Amazon listing you provided clearly states “not suitable for microwave use”.

        I was hoping to find some microwave safe bowls, since i know my melamine ones shouldn’t be used in there (this is the only recipe I use them for in the microwave).

  7. Have you used these in place of store-bought caramels in baked goods? I want to make these for some caramel apple crumble bars, but wanted to see if you had tried something of the sort first. I was hoping for a soft caramel. (The candies are melted with a bit of heavy cream and poured over the apple layer.)

    1. I haven’t actually subbed these for storebought caramels but if all you’re looking for is a melty, runny, caramel sauce, I think that if you cooked for 5 to 6 mins rather than the full 7, and just poured that over your items in the pan, that it would make just fine caramel sauce. LMK how it goes!

      1. I think the caramel is supposed to firm up a little but to keep bats together. (Recipe is from Annie’s Eats) I will play with it. I did, however, just make this at 5-6 minutes for my bf’s ice cream. HE IS SO HAPPY! Thanks!!!

      2. Glad that 5-6 mins worked great for ice cream sauce and your bf is happy! If you figure out what you’re doing with the bars and use this recipe, LMK how it worked!

      3. Yikes, more questions. Would a splash (2 tsps. maybe?) of bourbon work? Also, doubling recipe, has anyone tried it? There is a similar recipe on Food.com that people have doubled successfully, but I like and trust yours (double the butter!)

      4. You could sub bourbon for vanilla and no I haven’t tried doubling it. Why don’t you just give 1 batch a go and then after you have the hang of the recipe, you can start customizing and tweaking it :)

  8. I am a diabetic but sometimes you got to have a small bite of something. These will just fir that bill to satisfy that wicked sweet tooth of mine Ty for the recipe.

  9. I am a diabetic but having a wicked sweet tooth you got to have a little sweetness in your day These will fill the bill. Ty so much for the recipe

  10. These look fantastic!! Can’t wait to try them! One question that I haven’t seen anyone ask yet is other flavors. I have a couple of tiny bottles of various oils that I was wondering if I could use to make up different flavor combos. Would you recommend trying those, or sticking with extracts? I stumbled on your site a few days ago & am loving everything I see. Thanks, Averie!

    1. I have only ever used vanilla extract and have never tried any other extract or oils. I am not sure how oils would work. I think with other extracts, you’d be safe – just not sure about oils. LMK if you try and thanks for finding me and reading my site!

  11. Hi :)
    I really like this recipe but I am not from America so I don’t know how much a cup in this case is.
    I already looked it up online but I don’t know which source to trust.
    So could you maybe tell me the measurements in grams?
    It would be absolutely lovely if you could write me a message on tumblr because I don’t know if I’ll get a notification or anything if you answer this and I don’t know if I would see it on here but I really want to try this recipe! :)
    Thank you in advance :)