These Fudgy Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies are rich, chewy and intensely chocolatey with big chunks of luscious, silky salted caramel studded throughout.
Out of all the gooey, decadent chocolate recipes on this website, these Salted Caramel Brownies are the most requested by my family and friends!
Why this recipe works
- Only 8 ingredients
- Made with unsweetened chocolate and no cocoa for an ultra rich, fudgy brownie
- Gooey homemade caramel adds toasty sweetness and a nice chew
- A little bit of sea salt on top balances the sweetness and makes these crazy addictive
- Can be made ahead and frozen
- Adapted from the wonderful Deb Perelman
Essential Ingredients
- Unsweetened Chocolate - Use the best quality unsweetened chocolate you can find. I typically use Ghiradelli unsweetened chocolate bars because that’s what my grocery store stocks.
- Sea Salt - Maldon is the best salt for the job, but fleur de sel, sel gris or any other flaky sea salt will work great.
Step by step instructions
Make the Caramel
- Line a small pan or plate with a sheet of parchment paper and butter or spray with cooking spray, then set aside.
- Melt the sugar by placing it in a medium, dry sauce pan over medium heat. Try not to stir the sugar as it melts to avoid forming large chunks of crystalized sugar.
- After about 5 minutes, the sugar should be mostly melted. Give a good stir to break up any large pieces.
- Once the sugar has totally melted, it should be copper in color, and if not, continue cooking until it is.
- Lower the heat and stir in the butter first, then the heavy cream. Be careful - it will bubble rapidly. Stir continuously until the butter and heavy cream are fully incorporated.
- Turn the heat back up to medium and cook for about 2-3 minutes more or until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or use the water test (see notes) to determine the right texture.
- Immediately remove the caramel from the stove and pour onto the parchment lined pan, then transfer to the freezer until solidified, about 30 minutes.
Make the Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then line an 8×8-inch square baking pan (or 9x13 inch pan if doubling) with parchment, then rub with softened butter or spray it with cooking spray.
- Fill a medium saucepan with about 1-2 inches of water (I use the same dirty pan I made the caramel in - the boiling water will actually help clean it) and set it on the stove over high heat. When the water starts to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and place a medium heatproof bowl over top.
- Add the butter to the bowl and allow it to melt.
- Once melted, add in the chocolate and give it a quick stir. Turn the heat off and let it sit for 2-3 minutes, then stir until it's totally smooth.
- Remove the bowl from the pot of water and add the sugar and whisk until incorporated
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, being sure to fully incorporate the first before adding the second.
- Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Add the flour and use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until fully incorporated.
- When the caramel is firm, remove it from the freezer and chop or break it into pieces about 1 inch in size. It may be brittle from the freezer - this is normal.
- Fold ⅔ of the caramel bits into the batter. The cold pieces of caramel will cause the batter to seize up - this is normal.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread out until even.
- Arrange the remaining caramel bits evenly on top, then sprinkle all over with flaky sea salt.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the brownies to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serve warm, or chill in the refrigerator for several hours and serve cold. Cold brownies will be easier to cut into clean squares.
Tips for success
- If using iodized table salt, reduce by half to ¼ teaspoon.
- A candy thermometer is the most accurate way to get the caramel to the perfect consistency, but if you don't want to bother with that your caramel will still turn out fine even if it's not "perfect."
- This recipe yields 1 8×8 pan of brownies, which can be cut into 16 squares. It can easily be doubled and baked in a 9x13 inch baking dish (highly recommended).
- If doubling the recipe, make sure the saucepan for the caramel is on the wider side so there's more surface area for the sugar to melt.
Faq about Fudgy Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies
Why did my caramel turn hard and brittle?
If you cook the caramel too long or over too high heat, it can make the caramel hard like toffee. Add ½ teaspoon heavy cream to bring it back to the correct consistency.
Why did my caramel separate?
Sometimes this can happen when you add a fat, like butter, to the melted sugar. The caramel should come back together when you add the heavy cream. Keep it on low heat and continue stirring until it reforms.
How should I store these brownies?
It's best to keep them refrigerated for up to a week. Technically they will keep longer, but they start to lose their freshness around the 7 day mark.
Can these brownies be frozen?
Yes! They freeze beautifully for up to 3 months.
Related Recipes
Did you make this recipe and LOVE it? Please leave a star ⭐️ rating and/or comment to help other readers. I absolutely love hearing from you and do my best to answer all questions and comments. I love seeing when you make my recipes, so please tag me @ColeyCooks on Instagram and I will repost!
PrintFudgy Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies
These Fudgy Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies are rich, chewy and intensely chocolatey with big chunks of gooey salted caramel studded throughout. This is the most requested recipe by my family and friends!
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 brownies 1x
- Category: bars
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Ingredients
Scale
For the Caramel
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt*
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
For the Brownies
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
- 3 ounces good quality unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped (recommended: Ghirardelli)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt*
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt, for sprinkling, more or less to taste (recommended: Maldon)
Instructions
Make the Caramel
- Line a small pan or plate with a sheet of parchment paper and butter or spray with cooking spray, then set aside.
- Melt the sugar by placing it in a medium, dry sauce pan over medium heat. Try not to stir the sugar as it melts to avoid forming large chunks of crystalized sugar.
- After about 5 minutes, the sugar should be mostly melted. Give a good stir to break up any large pieces.
- Once the sugar has totally melted, it should be copper in color, and if not, continue cooking until it is.
- Lower the heat and stir in the butter first, then the heavy cream. Be careful - it will bubble rapidly. Stir continuously until the butter and heavy cream are fully incorporated.
- Turn the heat back up to medium and cook for about 2-3 minutes more or until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or use the water test (see notes) to determine the right texture.
- Immediately remove the caramel from the stove and pour onto the parchment lined pan, then transfer to the freezer until solidified, about 30 minutes.
Make the Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then line an 8×8-inch square baking pan (or 9x13 inch pan if doubling) with parchment, then rub with softened butter or spray it with cooking spray.
- Fill a medium saucepan with about 1-2 inches of water (I use the same dirty pan I made the caramel in - the boiling water will actually help clean it) and set it on the stove over high heat. When the water starts to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and place a medium heatproof bowl over top.
- Add the butter to the bowl and allow it to melt.
- Once melted, add in the chocolate and give it a quick stir. Turn the heat off and let it sit for 2-3 minutes, then stir until it's totally smooth.
- Remove the bowl from the pot of water and add the sugar and whisk until incorporated
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, being sure to fully incorporate the first before adding the second.
- Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Add the flour and use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until fully incorporated.
- When the caramel is firm, remove it from the freezer and chop or break it into pieces about 1 inch in size. It may be brittle from the freezer - this is normal.
- Fold ⅔ of the caramel bits into batter. The cold pieces of caramel will cause the batter to seize up - this is normal.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread out until even.
- Arrange the remaining caramel bits evenly on top, then sprinkle all over with flaky sea salt.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the brownies to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serve warm, or chill in the refrigerator for several hours and serve cold. Cold brownies will be easier to cut into clean squares.
Notes
- If using iodized table salt, reduce by half to ¼ teaspoon.
- A candy thermometer is the most accurate way to get the caramel to the perfect consistency, but the "water test" really works just as well. To do this, have a bowl of ice water next to the stove as you're making the caramel. After adding the butter and cream and placing back on the stove, allow the caramel to cook for about a minute, and then drop a small amount into the water. It will immediately firm up and tell you what consistency it's at. If it stays loose like a caramel sauce, keep cooking and testing until it has the perfect amount of chew (use your discretion). If it hardens to a hard candy consistency, turn off the heat and add ½ teaspoon of heavy cream, then test again. Continue adding more heavy cream in ½ teaspoon increments until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Makes 1 8×8 pan of brownies, which can be cut into 16 squares. This recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9x13 inch baking dish (highly recommended).
- If doubling the recipe, make sure the saucepan for the caramel is on the wider side so there's more surface area for the sugar to melt.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 289
- Sugar: 25.2 g
- Sodium: 184.4 mg
- Fat: 16.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.5 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 63.8 mg
Keywords: salted caramel, fudgy brownies, caramel brownies, chocolate, homemade caramel
Jessie {Life As A Strawberry}
These look amaaaaaaaazing!
Coley
Gurrrrl. They are BEYOND! Put it on the "must try ASAP" list, for reals!
Danielle
Oh dear. Those photos are so beautiful I could almost taste them.
Coley
Thanks!! The light was coming in just perfectly when I photographed these. Never hurts to have such a pretty subject, too 🙂
lizzy
Okay, I was being soooo good this morning - had my oatmeal, a pear for a snack, drinking water.... then I saw this post and had to run downstairs to get a kit kat LOL - this looks unreal and literally made my mouth water!!!!!! Can't wait to make this recipe!!
Coley
Haha! Thanks, Lizzy! You MUST try these brownies, but I recommend making them with intentions of bringing them to a gathering. Keeping them at home is very, very dangerous. Thanks for commenting!! 🙂
Anony
So.... you kind of own me a medium sauce pan. Waited for a copper color (or anything close to it) and not only did it not arrive and everything was burnt, now nothing cleans my pan.
But the photos look amazing!
Nic
These are absolutely insane. Easily my favorite dessert
★★★★★
DB
These turned out great. I was a little unsure of the caramel but it was perfect. They are like fudge. Rich, not too sweet. Yum
★★★★★
Coleen
These are insane! I wasn't sure if the caramel was going to be ok, but it was amazing
Coley
SO glad you enjoyed them!