Want your gourmet coffee but don’t want to spend a lot of cash? This Caramel Iced Coffee is just as good if not better & can be made right in your kitchen!
I am a coffee addict, and I’m constantly looking for good coffee drinks I can make at home.
Obviously I adore Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts and I treat myself often. I’m trying to get that under control.
However, with the amount of coffee I drink each day, I’d probably break the bank quickly if I was always drinking out so this Caramel Iced Coffee does the trick! And I cannot tell you how GOOD it is!
It’s a problem, but it’s a good problem to have, honestly.
And I am not much of a coffee snob either, so making something like this at home, just makes more sense to me.
I also love that because I can make it whenever I want and not wait for a store to be open, or even leave my house when I don’t want to. That is always a plus!
What does this iced coffee taste like?
It is incredible. Smooth and creamy. Full of flavor, sweetened to perfection, I used very little sugar, but you may prefer more.
Depending on how much or how little caramel you use, you can get a rich flavor that with a slight caramel flavor or a fully caramel flavor with a little coffee.
Does making my own iced coffee save money?
That is a BIG resounding yes.
Because everyone wants to save money and if you can get a coffee drink for pennies on the dollar at home, why would you need to go spend $5.00 at the local coffee house.
That $5.00 is for ONE coffee. And that’s depending on the size you get. They go up from there.
Though you may spend roughly $10-$20 on all of the ingredients needed to make iced coffee at home, you will be able to make about 30-45 iced coffees or more on one group purchase.
That would basically make the homemade iced caramel coffee about .50-$.75 per cup.
I mean really… let’s just be clear. There is no coffee drink that is worth $5.00 even when they say it is.
What you need
You don’t need a lot to make Caramel Iced Coffee, and thankfully after you buy these things, you’ll have them to make LOTS and LOTS!
- Hot Coffee – The stronger is is brewed, the more flavor you will have in this coffee drink. If you want your drink to taste more like the coffee house coffees, use Starbuck’s, Dunkin’, Tim Horton or McDonald’s (or whoever else you love)
- Caramel sauce – You can use almost any caramel sauce. You can use the kind made for coffee drinks, but to be honest we usually just use normal everyday caramel sauce.
- Sugar, to taste
- Coffee ice cubes or regular will work too
- Milk or half-and-half
- Whipped cream, for garnish (optional)
- Ground cinnamon, for garnish (optional)
Add On Ideas for Iced Coffee
- chocolate syrup or drizzle
- extracts for different flavors
- Torani syrups for different flavors
- Fruit chunks
- chocolate chips or chocolate shavings
- sea salt
- spices like cinnamon, ginger, all spice
Notes for this Caramel Iced Coffee
The coffee needs to be cold when you use it.
You can speed up the process a little by sticking it in the freezer, however don’t forget about it and let it freeze because honestly that’s not the constancy you’re going for here.
Coffee iced cubes are 100% better than using regular iced cubes, but to be fair, they are both equally as wonderful.
Other great coffee drink recipes
- Coconut Vanilla Iced Coffee (Dairy Free)
- Gingerbread Salted Caramel Coffee Martini
- Simple Coffee Milkshakes
- Pistachio Mocha Coffee Floats
- Pumpkin Pie Coffee Milkshakes
Recipe for Caramel Iced Coffee
Creamy, smooth and the perfect flavor of coffee with sweetness. Depending on the strength you have a rich, dark coffee drink or a sweet, smooth coffee drink. Either way it’s excellent.
And the best part?
Customizable and YOU decide how sweet you want it.
Caramel Iced Coffee
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brewed coffee hot and strong
- ¼ cups caramel sauce plus a little extra for garnish
- 2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar to taste
- 1 ½ cups milk can substitute with half and half
- whipped cream for garnish (optional)
- ground cinnamon for garnish (optional)
- ice cubes
Instructions
- After the coffee is finished brewing and is hot and fresh, pour 1 1/2 cups into a measuring cup. Stir in the caramel sauce. If you add the caramel sauce straight into the measuring cup, and you are using a 2 cup measuring cup, pour in the Caramel Syrup until it reached 1 3/4 cup with the coffee. Stir well.
- Add your sugar and stir again until all sugar and caramel sauce is dissolved completely.
- Place in the refrigerator and chill until cold.
- When it’s time to serve, divide your coffee mixture between two chilled glasses filled with ice (hint: coffee ice cubes are excellent here)
- Add your milk or half-and-half to top the glass.
- Garnish with whipped cream and ground cinnamon if desired.
Ok, I HAVE to try this…I spend way too much money on fancy coffee like this at Starbucks! Awesome idea to make it at home instead. 🙂
I am too cheap for Starbucks, but I do enjoy a good coffee drink when I can get one. This looks so good, and I have all the things to make it too. If only the weather was a bit warmer…
I’m definitely trying this soon, though.
I love that you picked a “coffee” recipe to make this month! Coffee is just wonderful. It truly makes me happy. I look forward to trying my hand at this recipe 🙂
Big fan of coffee and a big fan of caramel, so can’t believe I’ve not put the two together before. Looks wonderful.
Okay, just tried this..best coffee ever! thanks!! 🙂 http://sprinkleandglitter.blogspot.com/
Oh, that sounds really lovely. I am always in with caramel.
What caramel sauce do you use?
Hi Debbie, I don’t think it really matters too much what kind you use. We’ve used lots of different kinds. I believe for this one we used a regular old Smucker’s caramel sauce, but I also know there are caramel syrup options for coffee that would work too. Good luck and enjoy!
Im a working mom,I also Love iced coffee,Ibought two pitchers at the $ store.I brew coffee in my keurig,wait for it to cool on the counter,pour it in the pitcher,I brew about 8-9 cups to fill the pitcher,I have coffee for days!!! Its always cold and I can add whatever flavors I want .Ps Ghiradelli caramel is great for iced coffee!!!
I’m a working college student and I’ve always went to Starbucks. I personally think this tastes better and I’d love to try it again! Nice recipe.
I love that you picked a “coffee” recipe to make this month! Coffee is just wonderful. It truly makes me happy. I look forward to trying my hand at this recipe 🙂
I’m a working college student and I’ve always went to Starbucks. I personally think this tastes better and I’d love to try it again! Nice recipe.
I love that you picked a “coffee” recipe to make this month! Coffee is just wonderful. It truly makes me happy. I look forward to trying my hand at this recipe 🙂
I’m a working college student and I’ve always went to Starbucks. I personally think this tastes better and I’d love to try it again! Nice recipe.
I have Tim Horton’s dark roast coffee on me. So how much of it would I use?? Or should I go with the Original roast coffee?? Thanks a lot. Got to try this!!!
I think you can use whatever type of coffee you want. I usually just use the leftovers of my morning cup to make this. The coffee should say how much you would need for a pot of coffee and then you could potentially divide that by cups for this recipe. I usually just make a ton at once and store in the fridge so I am not sure how to really decide that if you’re just making the one cup.