My praline sauce is a sweet southern staple to keep on hand for all kinds of dessert recipes. Make this easy recipe with just four ingredients in no time!
There's nothing quite like a southern praline, but this sauce comes close. Pecan praline sauce is pure indulgence that's easy to make and great served over ice cream and many other treats. Let's get into the delicious details!
And if you enjoy this recipe, try my easy sweet cherry jam or praline cream cheese frosting, too.
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❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
Quick and Easy: You only need about 10 minutes, from start to finish, to bring this recipe together. No fancy tools or techniques needed.
Spot-on Flavor: As you might guess from the name, praline sauce is basically a liquid pecan praline candy. It tastes buttery, sweet, and rich with nuttiness from the pecans. The texture is smooth, thick, and ooey gooey!
👉🏾 This pecan praline topping recipe is fabulous on roasted candied sweet potatoes, butter pecan sticky buns, pecan baked brie, and sweet potato bread pudding--and it even inspired my Texas pecan praline pound cake.
Featured Reader Review
★★★★★
"I've made this twice; it is so simple and so delicious you'll just want to eat it from the pan!"
-Cynthia
What You'll Need for this Recipe
What are pecan praline sauce ingredients? You'll only need 15 minutes and four common ingredients to make your own praline caramel. This is a versatile recipe so I've outlined easy swaps based on what you may have on hand.
Brown Sugar - What kind of brown sugar is best for praline sauce? Use either dark or light brown sugar. Dark brown sugar will result in a deeper flavor than light but both are perfectly delicious. This is a no corn syrup praline sauce recipe.
Heavy Cream adds creaminess and makes for a silky smooth praline caramel sauce. I don't recommend making any substitutions. I make my praline sauce with heavy cream and no condensed milk and it's just the best.
Butter - Can I use salted butter in this recipe? I typically go with unsalted because it allows for the best control of flavor and sodium content. But salted butter is fine, too. If you have unsalted butter in your fridge but want more of a salted praline sauce flavor, simply sprinkle in a little sea salt.
Pecans - Chopped or whole pecans for pralines? Pecan options are wide open, too. I've made praline sauce using chopped pecans, pecan halves, and pecan pieces before. I like chopped pecans best for my praline bread pudding sauce.
Check out the recipe card below for full ingredients list, measurements, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions!
Will half and half work in this recipe? Heavy cream is the only non-negotiable in this southern dessert sauce recipe. I don't recommend using regular milk or even half and half because the texture just won't be the same. They will work in a pinch but heavy cream is best option to avoid having to add any thickeners.
More Favorite Southern Dessert Recipes
Cranberry Apple Spice Bread Pudding
Tips & Tools
Grab a small saucepan and kitchen spoon. That's really all you'll need. If you plan to chop your pecans, you can also grab a cutting board and sharp knife.
How to store homemade praline sauce? Once cooled, you can refrigerate brown sugar praline sauce in an airtight container, such as a mason jar. It will keep for up to two weeks.
Can I freeze it? Yes, you can freeze praline sauce in an airtight, freezer-safe container. It will keep for about one month this way.
How to Serve Praline Sauce at Home
Eat praline sauce for dessert: You can eat it by the spoonful or serve over bread pudding. I love praline caramel sauce over ice cream, and it's always a hit in my sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting!
Serve praline sauce at brunch: Keep a warm pot or jar of it on hand to top waffles or pancakes, drizzle it over praline sticky buns, or whip up apple praline monkey bread. Your friends will love you for it.
Make an easy praline sauce appetizer: My favorite party trick is pouring praline sauce over baked brie and calling it dip! It gets devoured every. single. time.
Favorite Recipes with Praline Sauce
I can't forget to mention trying praline sauce to give as gifts. It's always welcome. And sharing is caring on the internet, too, so be sure to pin this praline sauce recipe with heavy cream for later and follow me over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
How to Make Praline Sauce at Home
📖 Recipe
Simple Southern Praline Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ - 2 cups pecans halves or pieces
Instructions
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add brown sugar and cream and stir well until mixture is uniform. Bring sauce to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow sauce to thicken.
- Remove praline sauce from heat then stir in pecans. Carefully enjoy as it is best served warm!
- Refrigerate unused praline sauce in a sealed container. Keeps for up to three weeks. Reheat before serving.
Suzanne Clark says
This recipe was delicious and very easy. I made it for a topping on pumpkin cheesecake and ice cream. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you!
Jazzmine Woodard says
Thanks, Suzanne! Glad you enjoyed this one.
Cynthia Blake says
I've made this twice; it is so simple and so delicious you'll just want to eat it from the pan! I rough chopped my pecans and used whipping cream. Decadent
Jazz says
I'm so glad you enjoyed, Cynthia! Love that you made it your own.
Kelly says
Could you use this to put in the middle of a praline ice cream cake?
Jazz says
Hi Kelly! You definitely could use this in an ice cream cake. I recommend making sure the praline sauce has cooled and promptly transferring the cake to the freezer after adding the sauce to help it solidify.
Chris says
I’m making this right now as I am typing “Thank you” for this recipe! This is delicious so far and I’m about to add the beautiful Georgia pecans I have purchased just for this recipe! I’m going to serve this and several other sauces with my purchased a Cotton Blues Original cheesecake for my husband’s birthday today as well as my son’s birthday that was 3 days ago. 😍❤️
Crystal says
Can I use this as a cake filling?
Jazzmine Woodard says
Hi, Crystal! I recommend adding a cornstarch slurry to the sauce if you want to use it as a cake filling, as it's a little to thin for this purpose as-is. For the measurements in the recipe, I'd dissolve two tablespoons of cornstarch in 2-3 tablespoons of cold water then add to the sauce, and stir until thickened to your liking.
mindy says
I would like to give this as gifts. Do you know how long this would stay good in the fridge?
Jazz says
Hi, Mindy. In my experience the sauce keeps for up to three weeks in the fridge. If you are jarring it, it will likely be ok for a couple of months unopened. That's a great question--I'll be sure to update the post!
Britney says
This praline sauce is a game changer. It’s sweet, easy to make, and absolutely delicious! I cannot wait to make this again!
Tamara says
This sauce is AMAZING! We made some to eat with ice cream, even the kiddos loved it! Can’t wait to make it again!
Capri Lilly says
I made this using coconut cream to keep it dairy free and it is so delicious! I love the brown butter flavor with the pecans! So good!