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What’s The Difference Between Caramel Sauce And Syrup? Read Here!

Caramel sauce is made from sugar, water, and milk. On the other hand, the syrup is made from sugar, corn syrup, and water.

Both sauces are used for cooking, but they taste different.

Caramel Sauce Vs. Caramel Syrup – Differences

Caramel syrup

It is made by boiling sugar until it reaches a specific temperature. Then it is poured into a container and allowed to cool. It is ready to be used as a topping or drizzled over ice cream when cooled.

This recipe calls for:

  • 1 cup of water,
  • 2 cups of sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt.
  • Bring the water to a boil, then add the sugar and salt.
  • Stir constantly until the mixture reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let it cool completely before using.

Check out this recipe using caramel syrup, Starbucks Iced Caramel Brulee Latte!

Caramel sauce

It is made by adding butter to brown sugar until the desired consistency is reached. It is usually served warm over vanilla ice cream.

This recipe uses:

  • ¼ cup of unsalted butter,
  • 3 cups of granulated sugar,
  • and ¾ cup of heavy cream.
  • Heat the butter and sugar together in a medium-sized pot over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
  • Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.
  • Once the sugar turns golden brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream. Serve warm.

Caramel sauces are made by mixing sugar with water or milk. Then, you add other ingredients such as vanilla extract, butter, salt, and corn syrup.

This mixture is cooked until it reaches a certain temperature. Once this happens, you pour it into a mold and let it cool.

The final product looks like a thick liquid caramel.

You can also make caramel syrup by adding more sugar than usual. However, you’ll need to cook the mixture longer than normal. When you remove it from the heat, you’ll be left with sticky sweet syrup.

Uses for Sauces and Syrups

You can request syrups and sauces in Starbucks espresso drinks, such as the Caffe Americano, Doppio, Macchiato Latte, Flat White, Cappuccino, etc.

Good to know: What Is An Upside-Down Caramel Macchiato?

Syrups and sauces work well in their regular coffees. People use them to improve the taste and smell of their drinks. If you’re tired of your usual routine, you might want to experiment with syrups and sauce.

You can always try different Starbucks coffee grounds or non-dairy options for those who like their coffee without added flavors. Starbucks usually offers almond milk, oat milk, and coconut milk.

Starbucks Coffee Sauces add flavor and body to your drink. They pair well because they distribute evenly. Sometimes coffee shops use the sauce to coat a glass mug for aesthetic purposes, but Starbucks uses them to make their coffee taste better.

You can find the sauces in your local Starbucks menu. They are available as hot or cold drinks. There are three different sauces available: Mocha, Caramel, and White Chocolate Mocha. Each specialty drink uses a specific sauce.

Starbucks has seasonal sauces, such as pumpkin spice, caramel brulee, white mocha, and mocha. These sauces are made out of cow’s milk or honey. Only the mocha sauce is made out of soy milk. All other sauces are thick and dense. Baristas usually squeeze these sauces into your drink, but sometimes they need to be pumped up by hand.

Starbucks sells tons of syrup flavors on its website. You can buy them through external vendors.

Caramel Sauce vs. Caramel Syrup Comparison

Caramel sauce and caramel syrup are both sweet sauces made from sugar and milk or cream. However, caramel sauce is thicker than caramel coffee syrup.

You might use caramel sauce as a dip for fruit while caramel syrup as a caramel drizzle for ice cream. Plus, they can be used to make the salted caramel. Find out here some Salted Caramel Starbucks Drinks!

Difference Definition

Caramel sauce is a kind of syrup that tastes like caramel. Depending on the sugar used, it could be very sweet, rich, or even soft.

Caramel syrup is a type of syrup that contains sugar. It is often used to top off desserts. The difference between syrup is that caramel sauce is thicker than syrup.

Both sauces have similar properties. Both contain sugar, milk, and cream.

However, caramel sauce is thicker and richer compared to caramel syrup.

Both sauces can be used interchangeably.

Difference Taste

Caramel syrup is made up of different types of sugars. Some are sweeter than others. Bitter caramel syrup may be made out of molasses or honey.

Caramel sauce is made up of granulated sugar. This makes it sweeter and less bitter.

The caramel sauce has a stronger taste compared to caramel syrup. It is not as sweet as syrup.

The sweetness level of caramel sauce depends on how much sugar is used when making it.

The thickness of caramel sauce also affects its taste. A thinner sauce tastes sourer.

When adding caramel sauce to coffee, the sweetness levels should be balanced. Too much sugar will overpower the coffee.

When adding caramel sauce to coffee beans, you need to balance the sweetness levels. If the coffee beans are too sweet, the caramel sauce will overwhelm the coffee beans. 

Difference Consistency

Caramel syrup is thicker than caramel sauce. It is similar to honey.

Caramel syrup has a consistency similar to maple syrup.

It is important to note that caramel syrup is not as thick as caramel sauce.

Caramel sauce tends to drip down the sides of the cup.

This does not happen with caramel syrup.

Difference Uses

Caramel syrup is used as a sweetener in many drinks and foods. It is also drizzled over desserts such as granola, yogurt, French toast, pancakes, ice cream, whipped cream, etc.

Caramel sauce is often topped for ice cream, waffles, French toast, pudding, and pie. It is also mixed into whipped cream, peanut butter, chocolate, and other recipes. It is sometimes used in a meat marinade. It is also dipped for popcorn, pretzels, nuts, cookies, fruits, and pumpkin cake.

Difference Ingredients

Caramel sauce is mostly made up of sugar. Sugar is one of the main ingredients in caramel sauce.

Caramels are usually made by cooking sugar with cream and butter. They do not contain any dairy products.

Caramel syrup contains sugar and milk.

Is caramel sauce the same as caramel syrup?

Caramel sauce is made by adding sugar to milk and cooking until it reaches the desired thickness. This type of sauce is usually served with desserts.

Caramel syrup is made by boiling down sugar until it reaches the desired honey-like consistency.

This syrup is often added to whipped cream, ice cream, or poured over cakes. Caramel sauce can also be mixed into the dessert, drizzling it over ice cream, or dipping bread into it.

Customizing a Drink with Sauces and Syrups

You can make drinks from the secret menu by adding ingredients to your coffee. For example, you’ll get a cinnamon latte if you add cinnamon. If you add nutmeg, you’ll get a mocha. If you add cloves, you’ll get a clove latte.

Tall-sized frappuccinos should be made using 1/2 cup milk and 2 cups ice. You can add any flavorings or syrups you want.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

White chocolate mocha sauce frappuccino. 1pump regular or sugar-free cinnamon dolce syrup. 1 pump hazelnut syrup. Blend with cinnamon sugar. Top with cinnamon sugar and whipped cream.

Red Velvet

This drink contains half white chocolate mocha sauce and regular mocha sauce frappucino. You can add raspberry syrup to this drink. Then you can top it off with whipped cream.

Butterbeer

Creme Frappuccino with whole milk. 3 pumps caramel syrup. 3 pumps toffee nut syrup. Top and line with caramel drizzled. Add a few pumps for a less sweet drink.

Last words

Starbucks ‘ sauces and syrups do different things despite their names. Sauces have a thick consistency, while syrups are thinner. Syrups work well in cold drinks, while sauces are better in hot drinks.

You can also use syrups in other non-coffee applications, like baked goods and ice cream toppings. A classic caramel coffee sounds great, but your favorite specialty coffee shop has many more options! Try something new. Whether you like a sweet fruity flavor, Starbucks has drink choices.

Find out here What Are The Best Starbucks Caramel Drinks

Ellie Patchen

Ellie Patchen

I love a good cup of coffee on Monday mornings for that pick-me-up, also love them in the afternoon, and on Tuesdays. In fact, it's fair to say that I love coffee all day everyday! So much so that I created a whole site to blog about it, answer questions and to just have a place for my frequent ramblings on the wonder that is.. coffee!

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