Liquid whey is the byproduct of yogurt making. Whey contains proteins, enzymes, and minerals, and can be used in many recipes. I am sure it can be used in many health-forward recipes, but my favorite way to use it is to make caramel sauce using whey.
flavor + ingredients
This caramel sauce is not the exact flavor of the caramel sauce you may be used to. The sauce is sweet, of course, due to the sugar. But whey is sour, so it imparts a tangy flavor. The pinch of salt brings out the sweetness and the butter makes it nice and creamy.
how to use whey caramel sauce
This caramel sauce is perfect to stir into a latte or drizzle on brownies or ice cream. I especially enjoy a little scoop of it stirred into a bowl of yogurt for dessert. It can be substituted for store-bought caramel sauce in any recipe. Just keep in mind that the flavor is different from what you would find in a store-bought sauce. A cute half-pint jar of this delicious sauce would also be a wonderful gift. It is so good that if you choose to eat it one sneaky spoonful at a time, right out of the jar, you will get no judgement from me!
cooking the sauce
The sauce takes a while to cook down because you want to cook it low and slow so as not to burn the sugar. You can start the sauce as you prepare dinner so that you can keep an eye on it. Then by the time the dinner dishes are done you will have a delicious sauce to drizzle over vanilla ice cream for dessert!
The first 45 minutes (approximately) are spent allowing the whey to cook down until halved. After you have added the sugar, the rest of the time will be spent allowing the sauce to caramelize. It is important to stir it regularly and keep an eye on the color so that you can stop the cooking once you get it caramelized to your liking.
If you like this post, check out this recipe of whey caramel sauce made with maple syrup.
caramel sauce made with whey
This sweet and tangy sauce is a great way to use up whey!
Ingredients
- 4 cups (1 quart) whey
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium or large pot, bring whey to simmer over medium-high heat
- simmer until halved, about 45 minutes, stirring every ten to fifteen minutes
- once the whey has halved, stir in 1 cup sugar, whisking until it is completely dissolved, making sure no sugar gets stuck to the bottom
- turn down the heat to just above low
- check every ten minutes, whisking until halved again, about 45 minutes more; watch the color- you want an amber-brown color as it caramelizes (see photos)
- turn off heat and stir in butter, vanilla, salt, and heavy cream (if using)
- remove from heat and let cool; store in a glass mason jar
I’ve made this twice using Kefir whey and while delicious it is a bit tart – almost lemony . Any ideas how to neutralize that ?
Hi Allyson! I totally agree- it can be quite tart! Which is fun because it is a bit different from normal super-sweet caramel, but can be overpowering, especially if you are wanting a sweet caramel. Your question made me go scrounging around in my fridge to see if I had a mason jar of whey caramel to experiment with. I don’t have any currently, but I am going to make some and then try a couple of things to see if I can counteract the tartness. I will report back soon! Thanks for reading!
I made this yesterday for the first time and I replaced 2 T of the granulated sugar with dark brown sugar and it masked the lemony taste hope this helps
Hi Allyson! I tried it with maple syrup instead of sugar and the result is much less tart than the original. Also, the maple syrup flavor is delicious!
https://aboringhome.com/how-to-make-caramel-sauce-using-whey-and-maple-syrup/
Wondering if you could use a natural sweetener, like maple syrup or honey instead of sugar
Hi Tonya! I am wondering the exact same thing! I have been researching making caramel sauce with maple syrup, and it seems totally doable… I have yogurt going in my instant pot- I will strain out the whey tomorrow, attempt to make some caramel sauce with it using maple syrup, and report back ASAP! 🙂
Hi again Tonya! I tried it and it is even better than the original! https://aboringhome.com/how-to-make-caramel-sauce-using-whey-and-maple-syrup/