Vegan Butterscotch Syrup

I have been on a search for a good vegan butterscotch syrup. A thick vegan caramel sauce works in lots of recipes, but to meet one of my goals this month, I need a butterscotch syrup recipe.

What’s the difference? I’m so glad you asked. It had me confused too. Traditionally caramel uses white sugar, and butterscotch is made from brown sugar.

I looked to my good friend Jenni, the Pastry Chef Online, for more details. She is not a vegan so she defines it like this: butterscotch has no milk/cream in it but caramel does. Caramel may or may not contain butter but butterscotch does.

Butterscotch has salt and caramel typically doesn’t (but often does). Confused yet? Let’s start making it a cleaner food and see if that gets you tripped up.

This is one of those lines that gets blurry when you veganize and use modern sweeteners. I would think coconut sugar would count as brown, but I plan on using it in my caramel too.

I decided I didn’t want to use Earth Balance in my syrup so that it would become a whole foods syrup, hence I’m missing the traditional butter element too.

I freely admit I’m a rebel in the kitchen, but this is my view on the recipe. The fat in the coconut milk is standing in as the butter/fat element and the coconut sugar for the brown sugar.

It would be nice to add in some vegan butter flavor, but I haven’t found a whole food sub for that yet. If you have one that you use feel free to add a tiny bit and let me know what you think.

Does anyone use a vegan butter extract? What brand do you use? Please let me know in the comments. I am planning on making a traditional butterscotch with Earth Balance too. I think it will make Jenni happy.

5 from 2 votes

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Homemade Vegan Butterscotch Syrup

Servings 16 servings

Calories 67 kcal

Author Kathy Hester

Ingredients

• 1 can 14 oz/400ml light coconut milk
• 2 cups coconut sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt to taste

Instructions

1. Add coconut milk and sugar to a sauce pan. Mix well and cook over high heat whisking often.
2. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 to 10 minutes to thicken and whisk the whole time so nothing burns on the bottom. If you cook it 5 minutes your syrup will be thinner than if you cook it for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla and salt. Cool and store in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

The syrup will thicken as it cools and even more in the fridge.

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