Dulce de Leche made in a crock pot is the easiest way to make caramel sauce ever. Only one ingredient needed – sweetened condensed milk. All it takes is 8 to 10 hours in the crock pot and you have dulce de leche that’s milky and smooth, much better than store bought.
Making homemade caramel sauce is also much cheaper than store bought. I used 2 (14-ounce) cans of sweetened condensed milk and filled 3 mason jars with it. Note: some people make dulce de leche by putting the unopened cans of sweetened condensed milk in the crockpot, but it is much safer to transfer the sweetened condensed milk to mason jars.
Screw the lids on tightly and place them in your crock pot. Cover with 1 inch of hot tap water, place the lid on, and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. How easy is that?
My jars were a little on the tall side and I could only get the water up to the top of the lid. I ended up cooking two of the jars upright and 1 on its side to compare and they both came out perfectly. It is best to use mason jars that are short and wide like these Jarden Home Brands 1/2Pt wide Mouth Jar Canning Jars
.
Cook them for 8 hours for a lighter, more pourable sauce and closer to 10 hours for a darker, thicker dulce de leche. I did mine for about 8 1/2 , but you can get the sauce much darker and almost custard-like if you cook it longer.
The jars should be cooled on the counter to room temperature and then stored in the refrigerator where they will keep for at least a few weeks. It probably won’t be long before it’s all gone though because Crock Pot Dulce de Leche tastes good on so many things. Use it on ice cream, cheesecake, or as a dipping sauce for fruit. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing an apple fritter recipe that it tastes wonderful with.
Crock Pot Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
- 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
- 3 (8-ounce) Mason jars
Instructions
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the Mason jars, filling to the top. Tightly screw lids on.
- Place upright in a large crock pot. Pour hot tap water into the crock pot to cover the jars. There should be about 1 inch of water above the lid of the jars.
- Place lid on crock pot and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, depending on how dark and thick you want it.
- Carefully remove jars from crock pot using tongs. Place on counter and let cool to room temperature. A little rust may form on the lids. If so, wipe it off with a paper towel.
- Store in the refrigerator. It will keep for at least 2 weeks. Reheat in the microwave to make it pourable.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Turned out perfect following your very good directions. Enjoying some in my morning coffee at this very moment. Yummy!
Ih I’m jealous you had some in your morning coffee! That sounds incredible!
Yes, it is. It really is!
Could bakers cocoa powder be added to the condensed milk and make it a chocolate dulce de leche?
I’ve never tried that before and I googled it and didn’t come up with anything. It sounds like a good idea though. If you try it, let my know if it works. 🙂
I’ve got them in my crock pot now, but the jars are floating…I don’t know how to keep them down. Hope it doesn’t affect the cooking process.
Ok, this looks so delicious and so easy to make, am certainly going to try it…thank you….One question thou, how in the heck does the milk turn to the carmel sauce???
It has lots of sugar in it that caramelizes as it heats.
How beautiful and inviting! Awesome tutorial! Pinning!
Thank you 🙂
You can just put an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a potful of boiling water on the stove and boil away for two hours. Don’t let the water evaporate. Open carefully–it will boil out like hot lava.
hello kathy was lol cause i was just about to post what you did putting the can in boiling water make sure it stays under for two hours my mother in law is from argentina and grandmother in law is from italy and thats how i was taught much faster
Really want to try this.. is it possible to do it without a crock pot?
I’ve never done it this way, but here is a recipe for doing it in the oven – http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/11/dulce-de-lechec/
I love dulce de leche but have never made it myself before. This recipe is just the perfect excuse for my to pull out and use my slow cooker.. you definitely can consider I will be recreating it!
I have a question……if you’re just re-canning this basically….why wouldn’t it be shelf stable like it is when in the can ?
I would very much like to include this in my gift baskets…..
Thanks for the help
I’m by know means a canning expert but I have researched this question and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information. I would err on the side of caution and refrigerate it. That being said, it would be fine to leave out for a number of hours so I would put it in a gift basket with a note to refrigerate as soon as possible.
Gahhhh this sauce looks so so cozy and comforting! I’ll bet it makes your house smell totally amazing while it’s slow-cooking! Gorgeous photos, Christin!