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    Home » Desserts

    Date Caramel

    Published: Nov 24, 2015 Updated: Aug 9, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe
    Date Caramel

    Date caramel is made with 3-easy ingredients and perfect to use as a pie filling, ice cream swirl or topping. Or just eat it with a spoon!

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    Date caramel is the absolute best thing ever.

    It tastes decadent and divine but it’s actually super healthy! Fruit I tell you. Fruit. That’s all there is to say about that.

    Dates are known as ‘nature’s candy’ and oh my, they do taste like candy.

    Date caramel is extremely versatile and can be used in a number of desserts. Or you can just use it as a sweetener for your oatmeal or vegan yogurt or wherever you need a sweetener.

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    How To Make Date Caramel

    You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

    • Place your pitted dates and vanilla extract in the food processor and process on the S blade.
    Dates in a food processor.
    • The dates will initially form a giant ball of toffee. Continue to process beyond this point until the giant ball begins to break up. You can also stop the processor and break it up with your hands, and then start it up again. The ball will get smaller as more of it sticks to the sides. Switch off the processor, scrape off the sides with a spoon and switch it back on.
    • While the processor is running, begin adding coconut cream slowly until it has all been added. Process for a minute or so and then stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Continue to process until it is smooth and creamy.
    Date caramel in a food processor, freshly made.

    Ingredient Notes

    Dates. Your dates need to be moist and soft for best results in this recipe. If they are not, then you can either soak them first or do another little trick that works great which is to put them in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute, the heat softens them up nicely.

    Coconut cream. This recipe uses the separated (hardened) cream from one 14-ounce can of coconut cream, chilled overnight in the fridge.

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    How To Use Date Caramel

    Use it in your pies, your sundaes, your ice creams, on your oatmeal, wherever you may think to yourself: ah….some caramel sauce would be so nice right now….THIS is the caramel you need.

    It’s beyond delicious.

    It’s so rich, creamy, smooth and caramel-y, you just can’t beat it.

    Vegan caramel pie anyone? This is the caramel you need! Need a caramel swirl in your vegan cheesecake ice cream? This is the caramel you need!

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    Storing Instructions

    Keep it stored in an airtight container in the fridge and it will stay good for up to 7 days! But really if it lasts that long I would be amazed, you’ll probably find yourself eating it by the spoonful.

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    More Awesome Vegan How-To Recipes

    1. How To Make Coconut Butter
    2. Homemade Vegan Butter
    3. Vegan Dulce De Leche
    4. Vegan Nutella
    5. Vegan Caramel Sauce
    6. Vegan Heavy Cream

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Date caramel in a glass jar with a spoon.

    Date Caramel

    Date caramel is made with 3-easy ingredients and perfect to use as a pie filling, ice cream swirl or topping. Or just eat it with a spoon!
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert, How To
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Servings: 10
    Calories: 152kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups Pitted Dates (350g) Packed
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • 1 ¼ cups Canned Coconut Cream (300ml) hardened cream only from one 14-ounce can, chilled overnight in the fridge
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Place the can of coconut cream in the coldest part of your refrigerator and leave there overnight.
    • When you're ready to make your date caramel, remove from the refrigerator, open the can and scoop out only the cream section that has risen to the top, leaving the water behind. You will use only this cream portion in your date caramel.
    • Place your pitted dates and vanilla extract in the food processor and process on the S blade.
    • The dates will initially form a giant ball of toffee. Continue to process beyond this point until the giant ball begins to break up. You can also stop the processor and break it up with your hands, and then start it up again. The ball will get smaller as more of it sticks to the sides. Switch off the processor, scrape off the sides with a spoon and switch it back on.
    • While the processor is running, begin adding the coconut cream slowly until it has all been added. Process for a minute or so and then stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Continue to process until it is smooth and creamy.
    • If you want it completely smooth, then once you have got it as smooth as it will go in the food processor, transfer to your blender jug for a quick blend to make it completely smooth.
    • Processing time is around 12-15 minutes.

    Notes

    1. Two packed cups of dates is approximately 20 pitted medjool dates.
    2. Dates should ideally be soft and moist before you begin. If they are not you can soak them in hot water first, or heat them in the microwave for a minute or so to soften before you begin.
    3. Keep it stored in an airtight container in the fridge and it will stay good for up to 7 days!

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Serve | Calories: 152kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 284mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 44IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
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    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Tanya says

      December 07, 2022 at 7:35 pm

      Hi Alison, can date syrup be made from this by adding a little more liquid? I so appreciate your recipes – thank you!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        December 08, 2022 at 10:05 am

        Hi Tanya, date syrup is usually made with dates and water so it’s a little different. I haven’t tried making it, but there are some good recipes for it!

        Reply
    2. Mary L says

      September 04, 2020 at 7:13 pm

      Hi Alison,
      Do you think it would work to process this from the first step in a Vitamix?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 07, 2020 at 11:27 am

        Hi Mary, I find a food processor works much better for this. It’s very thick, and even with a Vitamix, it can be too tough to get this to break down in a blender.

        Reply
    3. Anna says

      May 27, 2020 at 7:58 pm

      Just made it for the first time, it’s perfect !!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        May 28, 2020 at 11:30 am

        Thanks Anna!

        Reply
    4. Darrian says

      September 23, 2019 at 6:57 pm

      Hi, first off, I’m obsessed with dates, though being they are dried, making them calorically high, I gotta eat them sparingly, haha.
      Do you think instead of coconut milk (for those watching fat content) you could use a Japanese Sweet Potato or Garnet Sweet Potato that has been baked well?
      Just a suggestion, of course, though I’ve been experimenting adding sweet potatoes to oatmeal or adding cacao or carob powder for a sort of ‘ice cream’ texture!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 24, 2019 at 8:22 am

        Hi Darrian, I haven’t tried using sweet potato but that would definitely be an interesting experiment, let us know how it goes if you try it like that! 🙂

        Reply
    5. Freya Drake says

      November 22, 2018 at 4:18 am

      Hello Alison, I was wondering how the date caramel might hold up if it were baked, like inside of a shortbread cookie bar. Have you ever tried baking it?
      Also, I am totally enchanted by your dessert recipes! They all look so tasty and high quality, I just want to make everything – and I’m a long time pastry chef. 🙂 Thanks for sharing with us.

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        November 22, 2018 at 1:10 pm

        Hi Freya! I don’t think I have baked with this actually, was just wracking my brain but I don’t think I have. I have baked desserts using date syrup as the sweetener and that was fine and date syrup only has one ingredient which is dates. And I’ve baked with coconut cream of course which is the other ingredient here, so I’m thinking it might be fine…. though it may get quite runny? That would be my only worry, that the heat would make it quite runny. But definitely worth a try! And thanks so much, I’m thrilled you like the recipes! 🙂

        Reply
    6. Angela says

      September 13, 2018 at 8:53 am

      Hi Alison! Your vegan food blog is absolutely amazing. You have got a wonderful collection of vegan recipes. I have a query regarding the above recipe – will the coconut cream add a coconut flavour to the date caramel? If yes , then is there a way to omit the coconut flavour by adding something else in the place of it?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        September 13, 2018 at 9:49 am

        Hi Angela, thank you, so glad you like the blog! I don’t think it adds a coconut flavor, the flavor is very much ‘caramel’ but you can also try a version with a different kind of vegan cream, or you could just use a little hot water, only as much as needed to get the dates nice and smooth, the dates themselves have all the flavor so that also works great! 🙂

        Reply
    7. Karen says

      August 04, 2018 at 12:24 pm

      Utterly divine!5 stars

      Reply
    8. Ginniegirl2 says

      April 02, 2017 at 12:49 am

      Soooo…I’ve never soaked dates before. What are the instructions? Pour boiling water over them and let them sit an hour, or something else?
      I’m thinking soaking them too long may cause some of the natural sugar to escape.
      Let me know??

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        April 02, 2017 at 11:34 am

        Hi there! I’ve since discovered a great trick for softening your dates if they’re a little hard. You just blitz them in the microwave for a minute first. This softens them perfectly. If you don’t have a microwave or don’t want to microwave things then another thing you can do is heat the coconut cream first before adding it in. All these things are really to shorten the time it will take to turn this into a lovely caramel. If the dates are hard, it just takes longer. Yes, you are right – soaking them first does result in some of the sugar going into the water. However, it doesn’t impact the end result, dates are so sweet that there is plenty of sweetness left. If you were going to soak them first, then an hour would be plenty and you can soak them in cold water. They soften fast. You can soak them and then just check them as they go until they feel soft and then go for it.

        Reply
        • Ginniegirl2 says

          April 02, 2017 at 4:23 pm

          Thanks!! My dates are soft-“ish” so I’ll use your tip to warm the coconut cream. I’m churning my CARAMEL-SWIRL CHEESECAKE ICE-CREAM right now!❤️

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            April 03, 2017 at 9:19 am

            Ooooh yum!! 🙂

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    Hi I’m Alison Andrews! I love making delicious vegan food and creating delicious vegan versions of all your old favorite dishes, so you can have your vegan cake and eat it too!

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