Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies are a supremely decadent dessert that never fails to satisfy! They have a simple brownie bottom, a thick salted caramel middle and a soft, rich chocolate ganache topping.
Craving more caramel?! Some of my favorites include 3 Ingredient Caramel Sauce, Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce and Vegan Salted Caramel Skillet Cookie.
*Originally, I posted this recipe with the caramel swirled throughout the brownie batter and then baked, but multiple people had problems this way. I changed the recipe to make it even better, and so you can have more consistent results.
Enjoy one of these sticky sweet brownies all by itself or pair it with a scoop of Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream for an even more drool-worthy treat! No matter when or where you plan on serving these brownies, everyone will LOVE these dairy free delights.
Why you’ll fall in love with these salted caramel brownies
- The salted caramel is dreamy! Seriously, you may start having dreams about this sauce! It’s oh so sweet with just a touch of mouthwatering salty flavor. The way it pairs with the homemade brownies is absolute perfection!
- This is a strictly homemade recipe. But don’t worry, they are quite easy to make! Both the brownies and caramel sauce are made from scratch and with lots of love!
- Ready for fall! The salted caramel really seals the deal on the fall flavor. They’re delicious all year round too.
While you could make the brownies, then drizzle with a caramel sauce (like my latest Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce), I went with a caramel similar to the one in my Vegan Millionaire Shortbread, which firms up.
How to make vegan caramel brownies
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
First, make the brownie batter. This is all done in one bowl! See the recipe card for the exact instructions. Stir the melted vegan butter and sugar together, then add the vanilla and milk. Next, add the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir.
Dump the brownie batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top looks done. Don’t over bake or they will get very hard once they cool. Cool the brownies most of the way before topping with caramel.
Next, make the vegan salted caramel on the stovetop. Pour immediately over the brownies, then place in the refrigerator to set for an hour.
Once the caramel is set and chilled, make the ganache topping. You could also just leave off the chocolate topping, if you prefer.
Pour the ganache over the caramel and return to the refrigerator to set. Once set, sprinkle with coarse sea salt, cut into squares and serve.
Frequently asked questions
- How long will Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies stay fresh? In an airtight container at room temperature, these vegan brownies will stay fresh for about 3 days.
- Can I make them gluten free? Yes! You can easily make these brownies gluten free by swapping the all purpose flour for gluten free flour.
- Can I add chocolate chips to these vegan brownies? Yes, just double check the label and make sure they’re vegan before tossing them into the batter. I’ve had luck at Trader Joe’s – their semi-sweet chocolate chips are inexpensive and vegan.
Want more brownie recipes?
- Best Ever Vegan Brownies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
- Gluten Free Vegan Brownies
- Ultra Fudgy Crackle Top Brownies
- Raspberry Brownies
Vegan Salted Caramel Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies
- 1/2 cups vegan butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup soy milk
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Salted caramel
- 3/4 cup vegan sweetened condensed milk 1 recipe or store bought
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Chocolate ganache topping
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1 cup coconut cream or full fat coconut milk, the white part
For serving
- coarse sea salt, for sprinkling the tops
Instructions
Make the brownies
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the hot melted butter and sugar until well combined, then stir in the vanilla and milk.
- To the bowl with the wet ingredients, add the flour, cocoa (sift it in if chunky), baking powder and salt. Stir until just combined, but do not over mix. The mixture will be quite thick, but just keep going and it will come together.
- Dump the thick brownie batter into the pan and smooth it out with a spatula or your hands. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top looks done. Do not over bake or they will become hard!
- Remove from the oven and let cool most of the way before topping with the caramel layer. You can speed this up by moving them to the refrigerator.
Make the salted caramel
- In a medium saucepan, add the vegan condensed milk, vegan butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Turn the heat to medium-high and stir frequently until the butter is melted and everything is well combined.
- Continue to stir constantly until the mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Stir gently for 12-15 minutes until it looks like rich caramel and starts to pull away from the sides of the pot.
- Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Pour immediately over the cooled brownies and place in the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour before topping with the chocolate ganache.
Make the ganache topping
- Add the chocolate chips to a medium sized bowl. Place the coconut milk in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 1 minute.
- Pour the warm cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 3 minutes. Don't stir it yet.
- After 3 minutes, whisk together until smooth and creamy. Pour over the caramel topped brownies and return to the refrigerator to firm up.
- Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, if desired. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Notes
- May use another dairy free milk, such as oat, coconut or almond.
- Substitute a gluten free flour mix for gluten free brownies.
- You can make your own sweetened condensed milk or buy a vegan version. I like this oat milk brand.
I noticed the ganache for this recipe is different than the millionaire ganache, is that intentional? My ganache didn’t fully firm up with this one.
It was good regardless but just wondering if I redo this recipe.
Thank you!
They are just slightly different ganache recipes. You can use either for the chocolate ganache topping. If you prefer a firmer ganache, go with the one from my millionaire bars.
I LOVE these brownies! I made the 3 ingredient carmel because I didn’t have the corn syrup. I made the homemade butter first. LOVE! The pure whole foods ingredients make your recipes home runs…and it is only when I deviate that I run into inconsistencies… I have to give most of these brownies away or I will devour the whole pan myself!
We loved these. I used maple syrup instead of corn syrup, unsweetened vegan condensed milk and almond milk. An easy recipe and tastes delicious.
Hi Nora! Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes – I know I can always trust your recipes to be great 🙂 For these brownies, how should they be stored once fully made? I made them one day ahead and not sure if I should stick them in the fridge? Thank you!!
I would recommend storing them at room temperature, they will get pretty hard in the refrigerator. One day ahead room temperature is fine. If you have a lot leftover you could store them in the fridge or even freezer, just warm to room temp before eating or the caramel will be super hard. Hope that helps!
Yet again, a Nora recipe that is amazing!
I used a full cup of vegan condensed milk (the store-bought can was a cup and I didn’t want to waste the last little bit) and just stirred the caramel for about 7 minutes longer and it turned out perfectly.
So tasty. Thank you Nora!
Wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for your feedback and review!
This is the best vegan dessert that I have ever made! 😋
Hi! Is it possible to make this recipe in a 9×9 square pan?
If so, what should I adjust the cook time to be?
Thanks 🙂
Yes, that will work. You may need to bake for just a few minutes less is all. Hope you enjoy!
I guess for future reference I need to read comments before trying a new recipe, Like others have said, I have loved Nora’s recipes and she is my go to for most new things I want to try. I haven’t had a recipe fail me until this one and most recently had a fail with her shortbread cookies in which I will leave a more detailed comment. I had made sweetened condensed milk from scratch prior to even trying this recipe in which i added to Nora’s chocolate cake recipe and it turned out really good as far as sweetened condensed milk goes, so I used that same recipe (which calls for a can of coconut milk (the fat cream stuff)) to then make the caramel for this recipe. I read that someone had bubbling going on during baking and mine did the same thing. It never truly cooked and was a big oily non edible mess. I’m wondering if part of my issue could have been that I used my homemade condensed milk right away from the pan i cooked it in and added the remaining ingredients for the caramel. The caramel still turned out and thickened up, but Im wondering if it would have been different if I would have chilled the condensed milk first and then made the caramel and then chill the caramel before using it in this brownie recipe. I’m just wondering Nora, if your caramel was already cooled off quite a bit or chilled before using, maybe you could specify in more detail for that part in the directions..?
Please help ! I made your vegan salted caramel brownies today… but 1st I made your vegan sweetened condensed milk. I let it simmer for 45-50 minutes while whisking and stirring every 5 minutes.. then I put it in the fridge, covered for an hour. When I took it out… I had a puddle of oil/water… please help me know what’s going on.
I pressed on and drained it before continuing with the brownies… which came out VERY gooey and I would up baking them for a significant amount of time more.
I used coconut cream to make the condensed milk.
Did you actually make the vegan salted caramel or just try to add the condensed milk to the brownies? I can’t tell based on your comment. I’m not sure why the condensed milk separated in the refrigerator, but if you carried on and made the salted caramel from it it should have worked out anyhow. Hoping I can help!
I made you vegan condensed milk from your recipe then used that to make the salted caramel recipe. After-an hour in the fridge, there was a lot of liquid…water/oil. I’m not sure why. I will try it again soon…..
Can you substitute ground almonds/almond meal for GF flour?
Thanks
Malinder
No, that won’t work unfortunately. Almond meal/flour does not absorb liquid like other flours, leading to a wet, bubbly mess.
I just made this tonight and followed everything just as it says. However, the brownies were bubbling in the middle after 20 minutes and they never fully cooked in the middle. Any way to fix this?
Bubbling doesn’t sounds quite right; did you make any substitutions at all?
It’s all clear! I dug my coconut cream tins out of the recycling and they are SAVOY brand, but when I looked at the ingredients, they are also part WATER. I am sure that was the problem!
I always check the brand because of monkey labor, but it never occured to me I had to check the ingredients because they didn’t all contain the same thing.
SO EVERYONE BEWARE!
I had exactly the same thing happen to me as Lisa. I made the coconut cream recipe (which was FANTASTIC) and then embarked on the caramel, which ended up taking 35 minutes instead of 12-15 to achieve something approaching caramel, but when it cooled, it promptly separated. I used it on top of the brownies anyway, but the pan is, as Lisa put it, “an awful oily mess”. This would also be the very first time any of your recipes haven’t worked for me, and you are always our very first go-to. What did I do wrong?
PSA: DO NOT USE BLUE ELEPHANT BRAND “COCONUT CREAM” (using quotes because it’s only 75% coconut and 25% water and various additives)
I had trouble from the get-go with keeping the cream homogenized. Then in the oven, the caramel separated and turned the entire pan into an awful, oily mess. ?
Your recipes never fail me and I am certain this terrible product caused my problems. I will give it another try next weekend with a quality brand of coconut cream.
Hi Liza, yes I can imagine it was quite the mess because even if it was quality coconut cream, that’s not what the recipe calls for. 🙂 You need vegan sweetened condensed milk, not coconut cream. The sweetened condensed milk can be made from oat milk, coconut milk or nearly any other milk, but it’s very very different than coconut cream. Hope that helps so you can have success with this recipe!
Oh, yes, I made the sweetened condensed milk first (forgot to mention that). I probably should have given up at that point, tbh. ? It took twice as long as called for to achieve the right reduction and didn’t stay homogenized unless I vigorously mixed it every 5 minutes or so. Ugh. Awful stuff ?
The recipe on your blog and the printed recipe are not alike. The printed version says 1 1/2 cups vegan butter (for the brownies). Unfortunately I did not notice this until after making the printed version (and trying to recover from the printed version, lol). Just wanted to let you you so you could correct. Your recipes are fabulous!!! This is the first glitch I’ve run into, and not a bid deal. Thanks!! Have a great evening.
Thanks for letting me know Rhonda, and so sorry about that! I’ll make sure they two are the same, it looks like it’s all fixed now. I hate when glitches happen and appreciate you reaching out! Sorry again, and thanks for enjoying my recipes!