How to Make Homemade Caramel Apples (Only 7 Ingredients)

Sweet, crisp apples dipped in a silky-smooth, glossy caramel and your choice of toppings—they’re the perfect festive fall treat or Halloween dessert!

When I was little, I distinctly remember how much I loved our church fall festival, but just because of one thing—the caramel apples. Especially as a kid, there was nothing more delicious than a perfectly crisp apple and sweet caramel dipped in M&Ms. I’d been wanting to make them myself for a while now, and after a few failed attempts, I stumbled across a foolproof recipe for perfect caramel apples every time!

What You’ll Need

These apples are pretty simple to make—you only use 7 ingredients! To make them, here’s what you need.

• Apples. The best apples to use are Granny Smith and honeycrisp, since they’re tart and crisp enough to balance the sweetness of the caramel.
• Unsalted butter. Butter will help to thicken the caramel and give it a richer flavor.
• Light brown sugar. Compared to granulated sugar, light brown sugar has a bit of molasses added to it, which gives it a darker color and deeper flavor.
• Sweetened condensed milk. Instead of heavy cream, we’re using sweetened condensed milk, which, as the name suggests, is a type of milk that is sweetened and has had excess water removed. This more viscous dairy will let the caramel set up quicker and produce a more stable end result.
• Light corn syrup. Light corn syrup is an invert sugar and is technically a liquid sweetener. Like the sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup will prevent the sugar from crystallizing as it cooks and produces a chewy caramel. In short, light corn syrup takes a lot of the hassle out of caramel and will make your life easier!
• Vanilla extract. A simple addition, but vanilla will enhance the caramel’s flavor.
• Kosher salt. Don’t skimp on the salt—caramel is already incredibly sweet (especially with the apples), so a nice pinch of salt will help keep everything in balance.

How to Make Caramel Apples

To make these apples, there are four basic steps to complete:

1. Prepare the apples. When you buy apples from the grocery store, most of them have a thin layer of food-grade wax on their outer peel. While okay to eat, this wax isn’t great for dipping—any caramel you get on the peel will just slide off! To fix this, all you need to do is blanch the apples in boiling water to melt the wax and pat them dry.
2. Chill the apples. Once all of the apples are cool, we’ll prepare them for dipping by sticking a skewer through their core. While we make the caramel, we’ll let the apples chill in the fridge, which will help the caramel set and cool quicker when we dip them.
3. Make the caramel. Melt the butter, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and light corn syrup in a pot. Once it reaches 248 degrees Fahrenheit, you’ll remove the pot from the heat and add your vanilla and salt.
4. Dip the apples. After the caramel is made, grab your apples from the fridge and dip them into the caramel and any toppings of choice. If you want to dip them in melted chocolate, wait until the caramel layer is completely set, otherwise the caramel will melt and ooze everywhere.

Tips and Tricks

Making homemade caramel is something that scares a lot of home bakers, but don’t worry! As long as you follow my tips and tricks for this recipe, you’ll be well on your way to making the perfect caramel apples.

1. Have everything for the caramel measured out beforehand. Making caramel is a slow process until it’s not—it can go from slowly cooking to rapidly burning in a moment. The real key to making caramel is to have everything prepped beforehand; that way, you’re not rushing to measure any ingredients or get a utensil and risk burning your caramel.
2. Use a thick-bottomed pot. A good-quality pot with a thick bottom will cook the caramel evenly and will prevent any hot spots from burning the sugar.
3. Stir often. Most of the times, you don’t want to stir caramel, since this will make the sugar caramelize and harden. Since the corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk will stabilize the caramel, you actually do want to stir for this recipe, otherwise the sugar will burn.
4. Use a candy thermometer. Candy and caramel is all about temperature. This recipe cooks the caramel to 248 degrees, which gives is a thick, glossy, and chewy end texture. Using a candy or instant-read thermometer just makes your life a whole lot easier.
5. Thoroughly chill the apples before dipping. Using cold apples will help the caramel set quicker (and it honestly makes the process go a lot faster).
6. Be careful. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but please heed my advice. Caramel is hot. Like, second-to-third-degree-burns kind of hot.

Caramel Apple Topping Ideas

• Melted chocolate. I personally think dark chocolate is the way to go—it has a nice bitterness that balances the sweetness of the caramel and apple.
• M&Ms.
• Peanuts or pretzels. Salty-sweet is never a bad idea, so this is one of my favorite pairings!
• Sprinkles. If you want to make it Halloween-themed, use black and orange sprinkles.
• Crushed Oreos, Butterfingers, or Reese’s pieces.
• Marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate chips. S’mores, anyone?

Caramel Apple Troubleshooting

1. Why isn’t my caramel sticking to my apples? There are many reasons, but here are the primary contenders. You might not have removed all of the wax from the apple, so the caramel will slide off of the peel. You also might not have cooked the caramel for long enough, resulting in a thin, almost sauce-like consistency. In this case, just cook your caramel for longer.
2. What if I don’t have a candy thermometer? No worries! You can do something called a cold water test. While you make the caramel, be sure to have a bowl or glass of cold water nearby. When you think the caramel is done cooking, drop a bit of the hot caramel into the water—it should harden into a firm yet malleable ball. If it forms a thin line that dissolves into the water, cook the caramel for longer. If it forms a rock-hard ball, you’ve most likely cooked it for too long.
3. Why is my caramel too thick? You might have cooked the caramel for too long, or it could have cooled too much while you’re dipping the apples. If this is your problem, reheat the caramel on the stove for a minute or two, then continue dipping.
4. Why are there air bubbles on my apples? Sometimes the caramel will have a few residual bubbles from cooking, and these can transfer onto your apples. To fix this, use a hairdryer to blow air onto the caramel’s surface, and this will pop the bubbles and give you a smoother-looking apple.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments—be sure to follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date on my new recipes!