Instant Pot Homemade Caramel Dulce de Leche is a rich, creamy caramel sauce made with just one ingredient: sweetened condensed milk. This easy homemade treat has a smooth texture and delicious caramel flavor that’s perfect for drizzling over ice cream, cheesecake, pancakes, and other desserts.
“Just a quick note to say that this recipe turned out fabulous, and we used it to make your banoffee pie recipe, yum, yum, thanks!”
Why I Love This Recipe
How to Make Instant Pot Dulce de Leche
Prepare the Caramel: Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a Mason jar.
Pressure Cook: Place the jar on a trivet in the Instant Pot and completely cover it with water. Cook on High Pressure for 30 minutes.
Cool: Allow the pressure to release naturally and let the jar cool completely before opening.
Tips I Found Helpful
- Use the Right Milk: Sweetened condensed milk is essential. Evaporated milk won’t work the same way.
- Allow Time to Cool: Let the caramel cool completely before opening the jar.
- Stir Until Smooth: Give the cooled caramel a good stir for a creamy texture.
- Store in the Refrigerator: Keep leftover dulce de leche in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
More Recipes that Use Dulce de Leche
Instant Pot Homemade Caramel Dulce de Leche
Rich, creamy Instant Pot Dulce de Leche made with just one ingredient: sweetened condensed milk.
Ingredients
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a Mason jar.
- Place the jar on a trivet in the Instant Pot and completely cover it with water.
- Cook on High Pressure for 30 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Let the jar cool completely before opening. Stir until smooth.
Notes
**Safety Note:** Check your pressure cooker's instructions and the jar manufacturer's guidance before using this method. Standard Mason jars are not necessarily approved for this type of pressure cooking. Never open the jar while hot or pressurized. This recipe is not a shelf-stable canning method. Refrigerate the finished dulce de leche.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 15Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 6mgCarbohydrates: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 0g
This looks delicious. Everyone would just love this for one of our holiday suppers.
Oh My Gosh, I Absolutely Love Caramel Dulce De Leche So Thanks So Much for Sharing This Awesome Recipe! I First Heard About Dulce De Leche About 3 Years Ago and I Bought Some & Made a Caramel Pie with Graham Cracker Crust and Everyone Loved it! I’m Always Looking for New Recipes Where I Can Use Dulce De Leche So if You Know of Any I Would Appreciate it if You Could Maybe Post One! Well Thanks Again for Sharing, Have a Blessed Day! – Jana
If doing 2 cans do I just increase cook time?
same time
Made this last week and the kids and husband loved it so much I didn’t get a chance to actually use any lol. They ate every last drop right out of the jar!
Holy Hannah Montana, this looks sooooo good. *sigh* Let me run to the store…
Brilliant! If I want to do 2 4oz mason jars should I reduce cooking time?
should still be the same time
One other question: Since this will be sterilized by the cooking process, and assuming the jar seals, would it be safe to store this in the pantry at room temp or included it in a gift that will not be refrigerated?
I’m wondering this too. I’ve found myself in possession of hundreds of 4oz mason jars and was thinking of making a few every week to save as holiday gifts. Theoretically, it’s pasteurized product that you are re-sterilizing in clean jars. The ones I’ve made fully seal as soon as the iPot lid comes off. I certainly don’t want to make anyone sick, but you could say the same about any home-canned product.
This might be a ridiculous question but I am new to the IP. How does this process not cause the mason jar to explode? I would be so scared to put glass in the instant pot!
Sorry, my last post had my old email address on it!
This might be a ridiculous question but I am new to the IP. How does this process not cause the mason jar to explode? I would be so scared to put glass in the instant pot!
@Cindy K. – Mason jars are primarily canning jars. They are NOT canners and DO NOT reach 15 psi. Most Instant Pots, except a very few high-end models barely reach 11 psi. Thus, Mason jars as well as Pyrex glass jars can definitely safely deal with Instant Pot Steam and Pressure Cooking. However, you must NEVER overtighten the jar lids. Actually, I suggest you NEVER use lids over jars inside the IP insert if you are unsure of what you’re doing. Should you feel bad about this, you can always cover your jars with aluminum foil as long as you make sure the jars DO NOT knock against each other, also place the jars over a steamer rack (with your usual 250 mL [1 cup] of water). Unfortunately, this will limit the height capacity at 500 mL (±16 liq oz) Mason jars (four jars at a time in an IP 6-qt if I remember correctly). Once the IP has fully depressurized, remove the hot jars vertically to a cooling rack (wear good oven gloves or use a canning jar lifter). Then screw on the jar lids and rings immediately. The lids will start popping downwards within ±10 minutes as they start to cool down. Once all the lids have popped down, you can safely remove the rings from the jars as they have accomplished their mission and won’t serve any further. A concave jar lid (surface will be curved inward at the middle) indicates that the jar is properly sealed and can safely be stored at room temperature for quite a while unless otherwise indicated. A convex jar lid (surface is curved outward at the middle) means that the jar lid is NOT sealed, thus the IP process must be redone from the beginning unless you choose to store it in the fridge. When placing lids over Mason jars, always make sure that the jar rims are spotlessly clean and the glass edge is NOT dented or cracked or sealing will NEVER occur.
does it need to be kept in the frigde?
Yes, if it has been opened (unsealed).
We used to make this when I was little, by boiling the can — not even opening it first.
i dont underrstand where is the caramel?
@Cynthia Desimone, The sweetened condensed milk carmelizes during the process. I used to do this by gently boiling the can itself for three hours. Then quickly taking it from the pan, placing a thick dish towel over the top and an oven mitt on my hand & opening the can with a can opener. You could pour the caramel right into a prepared pie shell, top with toasted pecans. Let it cool and then serve with Cool Whip topping.
You could do the same with this but let the jars seal naturally. Then when you open one up, just make a pie!!!