Butterscotch Sauce

Butterscotch Sauce is quick & easy to make with only five common ingredients. Richly flavored, it's great poured on ice cream, drizzled on fruit pies & tarts, and stirred into whipped cream. So much better than store bought sauce!

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Why this recipe works
Recipe Ingredients
How to make butterscotch sauce
Storage and reheating instructions
Ways to use butterscotch sauce
Questions asked and answered
More dessert sauce recipes to try
Recipe
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Why this recipe works

Super easy to make
Uses commonplace ingredients
Can pour on ice cream, stirred into whipped cream, or drizzled on fruit pies & tarts

When you think about ice cream toppings, what comes to mind? The usuals are hot fudge sauce or caramel sauce, right?

If you look on grocer's shelves near the ice cream, you might see those, plus maybe a bottle or jar of butterscotch ice cream topping next to the maraschino cherries.

However, that butterscotch is made with preservatives, additives, and other things with names I can't pronounce. No, thanks.

What if I told you that you can make a quick and easy Butterscotch Sauce (aka butterscotch topping or butterscotch syrup) using common and easy-to-pronounce ingredients, and it's better than what's the commercially made stuff?

No trip to the store necessary!

This butterscotch topping is silky smooth with a rich flavor of buttery caramel with hints of molasses.

With so many ways to use butterscotch sauce, move beyond hot fudge or caramel sauce. This quick and easy butterscotch sauce is on the menu!

Recipe Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make this butterscotch sauce recipe:

Butterscotch Sauce ingredients portioned into glass bowls.

Ingredient Notes

Brown sugar: Dark brown sugar gives a deeper, more molasses flavor, but you can also use light brown sugar if you'd prefer.

Flavorings: Use vanilla and sea salt to round out the flavor. Kosher salt can be used instead if you'd prefer. Sea salt flakes are large, so if you're going to substitute kosher salt, use ¼ teaspoon, or to taste.

For a boozy kick, you can also add 1 to 2 tablespoons of bourbon or your favorite liqueur with the vanilla. With bourbon, the sauce will have a stronger, spicier component.

See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

How to make butterscotch sauce

Making a butterscotch sauce recipe is really easy. It's mostly just dump and boil.

Step 1: Combine the ingredients

After melting the butter, stir in the brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt until the sugar has melted and the mixture is smooth (photo 1).

Melted butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt in a saucepan from overhead. — Mixing together the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt

Step 2: Boil the sauce to your desired consistency

As you bring the mixture to a boil, you can decide how thick you'd like the finished butterscotch topping to be (photo 2).

A shorter cooking time, say 4 to 5 minutes (or to 227°F on a digital thermometer), will have the consistency like chocolate syrup. Cooking it longer, maybe 6 to 7 minutes (or to 238°F), will make the consistency more like the aforementioned caramel sauce.

Boiling butterscotch sauce in a saucepan. — Boiling the mixture with the finished consistency in mind

Step 3: Add the flavorings

After the mixture has reached your desired consistency, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and bourbon, if using (photo 3).

Adding vanilla to boiled butterscotch sauce in a saucepan. — Adding the vanilla to the boiled mixture

Step 4: Pour the sauce into a jar to cool and store

A clean mason jar is perfect for storage. Just pour the sauce into the jar and allow it to cool (photo 4).

Pouring Butterscotch Sauce into a glass jar. — Pouring the finished sauce into a jar to cool

Storage and reheating instructions

Storage Instructions: Store the butterscotch syrup, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Reheating Instructions: If the sauce separates after it's been cooled, warm it gently in the microwave (20 second increments at 40% powder) and stir until it's smooth again.

Ways to use butterscotch sauce

There are many ways you can use butterscotch sauce. Here are but a few ideas:

Ice cream topping: What's pictured here was boiled for 7 minutes (238°F) for that thicker consistency. When the warmed sauce is poured on vanilla ice cream, the texture is that of a very soft caramel candy.
Pies and tarts: A bourbon-spiked thinner butterscotch topping is also delicious drizzled on fruit pies, galettes, or crisps (like an Apple Galette or Apple Crisp).
Milkshake mix-in: Use to flavor a Butterscotch Milkshake
Whipped cream add-in: Mix butterscotch syrup into whipped cream for hot chocolate or to use to make your own Butterbeer (yes, like from Harry Potter)!
Gift giving: You can even wrap a ribbon around the jar and give this homemade butterscotch sauce as a gift!

Questions asked and answered

Here are some questions that you might have...

What's the difference between caramel and butterscotch sauce?

While made in similar ways, caramel starts with cooking granulated sugar until it has browned and...uhm...caramelized. Butterscotch uses brown sugar, eliminating the need for the caramelization step. Plus, the molasses in brown sugar adds another flavor dimension to the sauce.

What's the difference between toffee sauce and butterscotch sauce?

Again, these sauces are made almost the same. The difference is that toffee sauce (the sauce that's poured over Sticky Toffee Pudding) has the addition of golden syrup and is cooked for less time. This gives toffee sauce a consistency of runny honey, and the flavor has that honey undertone as well.