Homemade Dulce De Leche In Your Instant Pot

If you love caramel sauce, you totally need to make this homemade dulce de leche in your Instant Pot. You'll wonder how you survived so long without making this super easy homemade caramel sauce.

It's so much better than anything you'd buy at the grocery store!

I am obsessed with caramel. I love it in my hot chocolate. I love it on ice cream. I love dipping pretzels into it. I love caramel apples. I like regular caramel sauce, salted caramel sauce, chocolate caramel sauce, etc.

I garnish my Instant Pot Banana Bread recipe with caramel and pecans. I sometimes drizzle caramel sauce on my homemade cinnamon rolls instead of using frosting to make them taste more like sticky buns. I sometimes spread caramel sauce on crackers when I'm craving something salty and sweet.

This Homemade Dulce De Leche Recipe is a foolproof way to make dulce de leche EVERY SINGLE TIME! You won't believe how easy it is to make this smooth, creamy sweet homemade caramel sauce using your electric pressure cooker.

Before we get too far and I share this easy dulce de leche recipe and you all decide to leave a zillion comments saying “Have you ever been to South America?” and “Do you know that dulce de leche is not the same thing as caramel?”, let's talk about the difference between dulce de leche and caramel sauce.

What is the difference between dulce de leche and caramel sauce?

Dulce de leche is a popular South American dessert made by cooking milk and sugar together. The name of the dish translates to “milk candy” or “honey of milk.” It is also often called milk jam.

Caramel is usually thicker and made with sugar, cream, butter, and salt.

I've used traditional methods to make caramel sauce with sugar, cream, butter and salt. It's delicious, but it's definitely not fool proof.

I've had many caramel making disasters when cooking it on the stove. And burnt sugar and butter are not a pleasant smell. The first time I made dulce de leche in my electric pressure cooker, I was totally shocked!

This instant pot dulce de leche tastes almost exactly like the homemade caramel sauce I used to make on the stove AND it's foolproof!

And while I know that dulce de leche and homemade caramel are technically different, the taste is virtually indistinguishable, so I'll use the terms interchangeably.

Instant Pot Dulce De Leche Ingredients

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Yep…that's it. In order to make this amazingly delicious homemade caramel sauce, you only need 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. You'll also want to have some mason jars to store your dulce de leche in.

If storage space is tight, these Nesting Jars are a total-game changer! I picked up a bunch the other day for the cottage and I'm in love!

Optional Ingredients

• Vanilla Extract
• Sea Salt
• Milk or Cream

I prefer to add vanilla and sea salt to make the flavor absolutely to-die-for. You can also add milk or cream if you want a thinner sauce, but I rarely add that.

Options for Making Homemade Caramel Sauce In Your Instant Pot

There are multiple ways you can make dulce de leche in your Instant Pot.

1. You can make it in the sealed can the sweetened condensed milk comes in.
2. You can open the can of sweetened condensed milk and cover it tightly with aluminum foil.
3. You can pour the sweetened condensed milk into an airtight jar with the lid on tight.
4. You can pour the sweetened condensed milk into a mason jar and cover it with aluminum foil.

I've tried them all and I think the easiest way is either making it in the sealed can or making it in a mason jar with the lid on it.

While it is possible to do with aluminum foil, I found that even thoughI put the aluminum foil on tightly, water still managed to get in.

I found the results to be good when I made dulce de leche by putting the sweetened condensed milk in a mason jar and putting a lid on and leaving the sweetened condensed milk in the unopened can. But I think the best results came from the unopened can of sweetened milk.

Both of my preferred methods take about the same amount of work…one just requires it on the front end and the other requires it on the back end.

If you opt to make it in the sealed can the sweetened condensed milk comes in, you will need to pour it into a mason jar when it's done cooking so you can store it.

If you opt to make it in a mason jar, you will need to pour the sweetened condensed milk into the jar before you add it to your electric pressure cooker.

How Long Do You Cook Dulce De Leche In Your Instant Pot?

I tried a variety of lengths and found that 35 minutes was perfect for making homemade dulce de leche in an electric pressure cooker.

How Much Water Do You Need To Make Dulce De Leche In Your Instant Pot?

If you are using an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk, you'll want to completely cover the can with water. If I was guessing I'd say 6 inches of water.

If you're using a mason jar with a sealed lid, you'll want to fill the instant pot almost to the lid of your jar.

If you're using a can covered with foil, you'll want the water to go halfway up the side of the can.

If you're using a mason jar with foil on top, you'll want the water to go above the level of sweetened condensed milk in the jar.

How To Make Creamy Dulce De Leche In Your Instant Pot

As I mentioned, I this the easier way to make dulce de leche in a sealed can, so I'm going to give you directions for that. I'll also include some helpful hints if you want to try one of the other methods.

Remove the label from your can of sweetened condensed milk. {I totally forgot to do this and the labels were floating in the instant pot when the dulce de leche was done cooking.} 🤦🏼‍♀️

Place your can (or cans) on a trivet in the inner pot of your electric pressure cooker. I have found that I can do 3 cans at once in my electric pressure cooker without my cans touching.

Pour water into your Instant Pot until the water completely covers the top of the can. Make sure that you have at least 1.5 inches at the top of your pan that doesn't have water in it. {If you're in a hurry and want your caramel sauce to be finished more quickly, start with warm water so it doesn't take as long to heat.}

Place the lid on your electric pressure cooker and turn it to lock. Make sure that the pressure release is sealed as well.

Set the timer to pressure cook for 35 minutes.

Wait….and while you're waiting make things like homemade pretzels to dip into your dulce de leche.

When the timer goes off, manually release the pressure. You'll want to wear a heat resistant glove or use a long pair of tongs as hot water and steam will shoot out and you don't want to get burned.

Allow can to cool before trying to open. {You do NOT want extremely hot caramel to burn you}

Pour dulce de leche into a mason jar and stir well. {It will start out lumpy looking, but will become smooth and creamy with lots of stirring.}

Add optional ingredients to get desired flavor. I regularly add vanilla and sea salt to make a delicious salted caramel sauce.

What Do I Do With My Homemade Dulce De Leche?

1. Use it as the middle layer of a sandwich cookie. I use this homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe and put some creamy caramel between 2 cookies for a homemade treat that is to-die-for.
2. Add some whole milk or skim milk and mix well to create a thinner but equally delicious caramel sauce that is perfect for adding to coffee, hot chocolate, or ice cream.
3. Use it as a cake filling. Make a layered cake and spread the delicious thick sauce between the cake layers.
4. Make banoffee pie.
5. Dip things in it! I love dipping homemade pretzel sticks in it. It's so yummy!

FAQ {Frequently Asked Questions}

Why have I never heard of dulce de leche?

Dulce De Leche is super popular in both Latin America and in the US, but it's not always called dulce de leche. Here in the US, you'll also hear it called caramel sauce and milk jam.

The Peruvian version of dulce de leche is called manjar blanco (while it has some of the creamy caramel flavor, it lacks the rich brown color because it also uses evaporated milk).

In French, it's often called confiture de lait which translates to milk jam.

Some countries make dulce de leche with goat's milk and referred to as cajeta. I am totally grossed out by goat milk so that's a hard pass from me!

I don't have an Instant Pot. Can I make it in my slow cooker?

Yep. You sure can! I prefer to pour the sweetened condensed milk into mason jars with the lid on tightly when I make them in my Crock Pot.

You'll want to place you mason jar (or jars) in your slow cooker and cover them completely with water. I prefer to have the water level be an inch above the top of the mason jars.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Stir well when the jars have cooled.

If you make your dulce de leche in your slow cooker, I highly suggest using wide mouth half pint mason jars as they are shorter and fit better in the slow cooker.

Can I make dulce de leche in my oven?

Honestly, I don't know. I've heard rumors that you can put an opened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pie plate or roasting pan that is filled with water, but honestly, it's so easy to make in the Instant Pot, that I never want to try it because I don't want to heat up my house or waste my cans of sweetened condensed milk.

My dulce de leche is lumpy. What did I do wrong?

Chances are you didn't do anything wrong. Often times you just need to stir…and stir…and stir some more!

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