How to Make Dulce de Leche Sauce Using One Simple Ingredient

Have you ever heard of dulce de leche sauce? Simply put, it’s the Latin version of caramel but prepared a little differently. My homemade dulce de leche recipe is made in the oven with just one ingredient. The sauce can be used to pour over cheesecake, ice cream, tres leches cake, or just eaten by the spoonful. Come join me in my kitchen and learn how to make dulce de leche sauce using one simple ingredient.

With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, I wanted to create something that would satisfy my sweet tooth for the upcoming fiestas. Sadly, I have nowhere to go for the holiday or any plans of hosting a party of my own, but I figured I could always use a little dulce de leche sauce in my life.

I literally just finished whipping up a batch of the above-mentioned homemade dulce de leche sauce with a side of roughly 64 churro donut holes. Or is the dulce de leche sauce the side?! Who knows, and frankly, who cares!

I’m being honest when I say I can’t even think straight at the moment. I think I put myself into a food coma and ate about 15 churro donut holes too many. I dunked them in the homemade dulce de leche sauce for “taste testing purposes” and might’ve gotten a little carried away.

That’s what happens when you’re trying to eat more healthy and you make something like this. Your will power goes straight out the window, my friend!

I’d like to state for the record that it was totally worth it and I have no regrets! My waistline might see it a little differently but that’s her problem, not mine…

What is dulce de leche?

Like I mentioned earlier, dulce de leche is a Latin treat that can easily be compared to what we know as caramel in the United States. Caramel is typically made by heating up water, butter, and sugar until it crystalizes. This process is usually done on a stovetop and happens rather quickly.

Dulce de leche, on the other hand, is made by slowly heating up sweetened condensed milk until it caramelizes. Different Latin cultures might add some additional flavors like cinnamon or nutmeg to their dulce de leche but the base is almost always the same: cream and sugar.

How should you serve this homemade dulce de leche sauce?

The possibilities for this are endless. Besides using it as a dipping sauce for some delicious churro donut holes, I can easily see this poured over a beautiful slice of cheesecake. Better yet, swirling it inside a cheesecake before baking would be mind-blowing! It would also be delicious over some vanilla ice cream with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon too.

Where ever you would normally use caramel, try substituting this dulce de leche recipe and see what you think. My mouth is watering just thinking about all the possibilities!

How to Make Dulce de Leche Sauce Using One Simple Ingredient

The one and only ingredient you need for this recipe is a can of sweetened condensed milk. I used a 14 oz. can but you can use any size you’d like. Just note that the cooking time might increase with a larger amount of sweetened condensed milk.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

We will be pouring the sweetened condensed milk into a pie pan, but before we do so, we need to find another pan in our kitchen that the pie pan can fit inside of. The pan must have sides because you will be placing boiling water inside of it to create a water bath for your dulce de leche sauce.

With the pan situation figured out, empty the can of your sweetened condensed milk into your pie pan.

Cover the pie pan with aluminum foil and place it inside your larger pan. Fill the large pan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the pie pan.

Carefully place the pans in the oven and set a timer for one hour.

After the hour is up, look underneath the foil to see if your sweetened condensed milk has caramelized. It should look like this. If the milk isn’t quite done caramelizing, cover it up and place it back in the oven checking every 5 minutes or so.

Let the dulce de leche sauce cool for a few minutes and then transfer it to the bowl of a standup mixer. You can also use a handheld mixer as I did.

Mix the dulce de leche sauce on medium speed until the sauce is completely smooth.

Transfer the homemade dulce de leche sauce into a mason jar and place it in the fridge. The sauce will keep just fine in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Note: To use the sauce after it has been refrigerated, simply place the mason jar in the microwave (minus the lid!!) for 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until it’s warm enough to pour.

I truly hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to make this homemade dulce de leche recipe as much as I loved eating it! I’d honestly be totally content just sitting home on Cinco de Mayo snacking on my 7 layer dip and eating a homemade Tex Mex lasagna. Of course, it all must be followed with a heaping tablespoon of this dulce de leche recipe drizzled all over a piece of tres leches cake. What can I say, that’s my kind of fiesta!

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