10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (2024)

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ByLindsay D. Mattison

Taste of Home's Editorial Process

Updated: Mar. 16, 2023

Become a caramel making pro in no time! Just avoid these caramel mistakes to make the perfect caramel candy or caramel topping for desserts.

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10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (2)

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Using a thin pot

You make caramel by melting sugar, and thin pots heat unevenly. This can cause portions of the sugar to burn before the rest of it has melted. Instead, choose a sturdy, heavy-bottomed metal pot (like stainless steel) with tall sides. You also want the bottom be light-colored so you’ll notice the caramel’s precise color changes.

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10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (3)

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Cooking with a dirty pot

Cleaning pots and pans is a dreaded chore, but it’s important to have a sparkling clean pot when making caramel. If there are any leftover crumbs or burnt bits, they’ll be pulled into the caramel mixture, ruining its texture and consistency.

Choosing the wrong sugar

Don’t get fooled into making caramel with a fancy sugar. Granulated white refined sugar is definitely the way to go. It’s made with either sugarcane or sugar beet, so it melts easily and makes the caramel super smooth. It also won’t clump together like other sugars.

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Stirring the sugar

If your caramel becomes gritty or grainy, the sugar probably crystallized. If the melting sugar splashes up onto the sides of the pan, it quickly loses its moisture content and forms back into crystals. That can set off a chain reaction that can cause caramel to seize up, ruining the entire batch.

Instead, gently swirl the pan as you go and use a wet pastry brush to wipe down any sugar that sticks to the sides of the pot. Read up on more tips for preventing crystallization, too.

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Skipping the candy thermometer

Temperature is key when making candy. The difference between a soft caramel and one that’s hard and overcooked is all in the temperature. Candy thermometers—like this instant-read thermometer—let you know exactly what stage the caramel is in (thread, soft-ball, firm-ball, hard-ball, soft crack or hard crack). It’s an easy way to prevent soft caramel that won’t set, which happens if the caramel doesn’t reach a high enough temperature.

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Overheating the mixture

Be very careful as you heat your caramel. Follow the recipe carefully, and never melt your caramel on your stove’s highest setting—it will cause the caramel to scorch and taste burnt. Once it gets a burnt or bitter flavor, it can’t be saved. Luckily, sugar is inexpensive, so you can always start over!

(Here’s how to store leftover caramel!)

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Fearing a dark color

The darker the caramel, the richer the flavor. It’s tempting to get the caramel off the stovetop before it burns, but it will become more flavorful if you let it achieve a darker color. Just keep the flame low to keep it from going too far. If the temperature gets too hot and the caramel becomes too hard as it cools, you can put it back in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of cold water to try and save it.

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10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (9)

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Forgetting safety precautions

Many recipes finish by adding water, cream or butter to add rich flavor to the caramel, which can cause the melted sugar to spit and jump out of the pot. A splatter guard or mesh strainer is a necessary safety precaution. Melted sugar is extremely hot, and sugar burns are not sweet! Place the mesh strainer over the pot before pouring in any of these liquids. While you’re at it, make sure to wear long sleeves, shoes and heavy-duty oven mitts.

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10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (10)

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Scraping the pan

It’s only natural to try to get every ounce of caramel goodness out of the pan, but resist the urge to scrape the bottom of the pan. There may be some lingering crystallized sugar down there, which can ruin the whole batch. Better to just pour the caramel out of the pan and get what you get.

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10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel (11)

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Pouring caramel into an ungreased pan

Caramel is sticky business, and if you’re making candies, pouring it into an ungreased pan is a huge mistake. It will be difficult (or maybe impossible) to get out! Make life easier by lining your pan with parchment paper and coating it with a layer of baking spray to keep the candy from sticking. Ready to get cooking? Here are our top homemade caramel recipes.

Originally Published: December 03, 2020

Author

Lindsay D. Mattison

Lindsay has been a food writer, recipe developer and product tester for seven years. She’s a culinary school graduate who specializes in sustainable food and seasonal ingredients. She draws on her professional chef background to develop recipes and help home cooks gain confidence in the kitchen. When Lindsay isn’t writing, you’ll find her coo...

FAQs

10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Caramel? ›

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test with a cold water test. Details on how to use this method can be found here.

Why does my caramel keep separating? ›

If the butterfat separates out then usually this is due to the mixture being either heated or cooled too quickly, which "shocks" the mixture and causes the fat to separate out. It can also be caused by the mixture being heated unevenly (if the pan has a thin base and has hot spots).

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How do you know if you overcooked caramel? ›

Burnt Caramel: 392°F

There's no mistaking when your caramel begins to burn. It looks blackish-brown, smells burnt and has swirls of rising smoke that sting your eyes. The caramel is a loss at this point—it will taste bitter and burned no matter what else you add.

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Why does my homemade caramel taste burnt? ›

Once the sugar has melted, continue cooking it until it turns into a rich amber color. It should be removed from the heat source when it begins to smoke and foam a little around the edges. Burning most commonly occurs when the caramel is left for too long on the heat source or when the temperature is too high.

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