Skillet Caramel Brownies

Skillet Caramel Brownies are a decadent dessert of rich chocolate brownies and a center layer of gooey caramel. This delicious recipe tastes amazing satisfying all those sweet cravings and are no ordinary baked brownies.

Need more recipes for your dessert cuisine menu? For brownies try our Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie or if it’s caramel you’re after try our Caramel Apple Dump Cake.

Jump to:

• Why we love Skillet Caramel Brownies
• Recipe Ingredients
• How to make Caramel Brownies
• Adaptations and variations
• Recipe FAQs
• Other Related Cast Iron Dessert Recipes
• Get the Recipe

Why we love Skillet Caramel Brownies

If ‘because it’s brownies and caramel’ isn’t a sufficient reason, these caramel brownies are a family favorite, no, a beloved family recipe.

It’s extra special because my grandma used to make these for the family and it was something we all looked forward to.

This isn’t your average boxed brownie mix recipe. Her brownie recipe starts with a German chocolate cake mix, adds evaporated milk, melted butter, and chopped walnuts.

The chopped walnuts give the brownies a bit of a crunchy texture. In the center of the brownies lies a luscious layer of caramel sauce.

Recipe Ingredients

• Cake Mix — use your favorite brand of German chocolate cake mix.
• Caramel — you can use either chewy caramel candies like Kraft caramels, those individually wrapped squares, or caramel bits.
• Pantry Staples — evaporated milk, semi sweet chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts.
• Butter — we recommend using salted butter for greasing the pan and unsalted for the batter, but either will work

How to make Caramel Brownies

Step 1 — Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch skillet with the softened butter.
Step 2 — Add the dry cake mix, 1 cup of evaporated milk, melted butter, and the walnuts to a medium size bowl.
Step 3 — Mix everything together. The batter will be thick and kind of coarse looking.

Step 4 — Add half the batter to the prepared skillet, smooth it out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.
Step 5— While the brownies are baking, in a medium sauce pan melt the caramels while mixing in ⅓ cup evaporated milk. Stir until well combined creating a thickened sauce.
Step 6 — After baking for 15 minutes, remove the brownies from the oven.

Step 7 — Evenly sprinkle chocolate chips over the half-baked brownies.
Step 8 — Pour the caramel sauce evenly over the chocolate chips, smoothing it out creating a complete layer.
Step 9 — Spoon the remaining brownie batter on top of the caramel layer in dollops. There’s no need to smooth it out. Bake for 25 minutes. Once done, allow it to completely cool before serving.

Adaptations and variations

• Cake mix — you could use a chocolate cake mix, devil’s food, or even a dark chocolate cake mix.
• Chocolate chips — Swap out the semi-sweet for milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips.
• Salt — For salted caramel, sprinkle a bit of kosher salt or flaky sea salt over the caramel before adding the rest of the brownie batter.
• Caramel drizzle — you’ll have a tablespoon or two of evaporated milk left in the can, so reserve a couple of tablespoons of the caramel sauce when creating that layer. Add the remaining evaporated milk to that leftover caramel to thin it. This will make it perfect for drizzling over the cooked brownies, especially when topped with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe FAQs

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