Recipe This | Slow Cooker Caramel (2024)

How to make slow cooker caramel and the art of turning your cans of sweetened condensed milk into dulce de leche in the Crockpot.

You will love how easy it is to make caramel sauce with cans of condensed milk and what amazing desserts you can make with your dulce de leche.

Condensed Milk Into Caramel

I don’t know how it passed me by in childhood, but it wasn’t until I met my hubby in my late teens that I learnt about condensed milk into caramel.

He was a chef and was telling me that these cans were like magic how they went from sweetened milk to thick creamy caramel spread from just boiling them.

I was in love, and it soon gave me plenty of recipe ideas of ways that I could use these magic caramel cans.

Fast forward to getting our first instant pot in 2016, and you guessed it, we made instant pot caramel.

It became our go to.

So, when one of our readers recently asked us to transform condensed milk to caramel using the Crockpot, we were ready for the challenge.

And now whether you call it slow cooker caramel, slow cooker dulce de leche, or crockpot dulce de leche, lets make this Mediterranean 1 ingredient dessert hack.

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Can You Make Dulce De Leche In A Crockpot?

Yes, you can, but don’t expect it to happen at the same speed as instant pot caramel. You see the point of instant pot dulce de leche is that it can be done in JUST 40 minutes compared to 4 hours on the top of a stovetop in a pan of boiling water.

When you make Crockpot caramel it will have a similar cook time to the stovetop. But unlike on the stove, you can walk away and leave the caramel and not have to worry about it.

What Is Dulce De Leche In A Crockpot?

Dulce de leche in a crockpot, or slow cooker caramel is a Spanish dessert staple. Whilst in the UK we use a lot of biscoff in desserts, dulce de leche is the first choice in Spain.

It will often be found in desserts such as dulce de leche cheesecake and also in biscuits, cakes etc.

If you have not had it before, its like a thick caramel spread and tastes so good, that you just want to grab a spoon and eat it directly from the can once cool enough to touch.

You can turn it from sweetened condensed milk like magic, into dulce de leche using the Crockpot.

Will Condensed Milk Turn Into Caramel?

Yes, it will. The condensed milk into caramel trick has never failed on me before. Just make sure you use sweetened condensed caramel and there is no reason why it will go wrong.

You also boil the cans of condensed milk using the Crockpot and its so easy.

What Is The Trick To Making Caramel?

The trick to making caramel is to use cans of sweetened condensed milk. Its so much easier and then you don’t have to mix up any ingredients.

You simply use cans of condensed milk and then let it work its magic.

Or if you live in a hot country like Spain or Portugal, you can leave the cans out in the sun, and they will convert without boiling!

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1 Ingredient Crockpot Caramel

Milk – This caramel in a Crockpot is literally a 1 ingredient recipe. You just need as many or as few cans as you can fit into your slow cooker or that you want to cook. We used just two cans of sweetened condensed milk, but you could probably fit 5 in an average slow cooker.

Water – You also need enough warm water from the hot tap to cover your cans of condensed milk.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this dulce de leche crockpot recipe it has just been our Crockpot Slow Cooker. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of slow cooker recipes and also great for dessert.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our slow cooker recipes category as we have more than 100 tried and tested slow cooker recipes and have been using slow cookers for 18 years.

How To Make Slow Cooker Dulce De Leche?

• Peel. Remove the paper packaging from around your cans of sweetened condensed milk.
• Dump. Add to the slow cooker your cans of condensed milk upright, then cover with water from the hot tap until the cans are just submerged.
• Cook. Slow cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
• Remove. Then remove the cans from the slow cooker carefully without burning yourself and once cool enough to touch open the cans.
• Serve. Then your Crock pot caramel is done and you can serve it however you want!

And I am sure you can see why caramel in slow cooker is a true favourite of mine.

Dulce De Leche Slow Cooker Mason Jar

You don’t have to, but you can transfer your dulce de leche into a mason jar. I do this because then I can keep it in the fridge without worrying that the kids will cut themselves on the side of the milk can.

Then its also easier to scoop some out and then use it in some desserts.

How Long Does Condensed Milk Caramel Last?

In the Milner kitchen, caramel sauce lasts about 10 minutes. Though if we did have willpower and there was not four people wanting to eat it straight away, it would last up to 4 days.

I recommend if using the slow cooker caramel for a dessert, that you make it the day before, fridge it overnight and then cook with it the next day.

Dulce De Leche Slow Cooker Recipe Ideas

So, you have just made crockpot caramel sauce and now you want a really good recipe to make with your new magic ingredient.

Well, I have a few delicious recipe ideas for you!

Let’s start with instant pot banoffee pie which is my all time favourite use of it. Then for other ideas why not try caramel chew chew ice cream, or an instant pot homemade rolo yoghurt.

Your crockpot dulce de leche recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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