Name: Simple Southern Praline Sauce
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup heavy cream; 1 cup butter; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 1/2 - 2 cups pecans (halves or pieces)

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.

jar of praline sauce with pecan halves on top.

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❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
What You'll Need for this Recipe
More Favorite Southern Dessert Recipes
Tips & Tools
How to Serve Praline Sauce at Home
Favorite Recipes with Praline Sauce
How to Make Praline Sauce at Home
📖 Recipe

❤️ 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

brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, unsalted butter, and pecan halves on wooden cutting board.

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!

pecan praline sauce ingredients on cutting board on counter top.

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

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie

Cranberry Apple Spice Bread Pudding

Fresh Peach Cobbler

Sweet Tea Pound Cake

butter melting in small stainless steel saucepan.

mixed praline sauce in small stainless steel saucepan with wooden kitchen spoon sticking out.

brown sugar pecan praline sauce in small stainless steel saucepan.

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.

mason jar overflowing with praline caramel sauce.

puddle of pecan praline sauce around overfilled jar sitting on wooden cutting board.

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

glazed pecans cresting out of jar full of southern pecan 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