From her roast chicken to her viral brownie pudding, Ina Garten’s recipes are about as iconic as her denim shirts, her house in the Hamptons and her decades-long marriage to her husband, Jeffrey. That’s why I couldn’t wait to try Ina's salted caramel brownies, a beginner-friendly recipe that offers an elevated way to enjoy brownies (without a whole lot of extra effort).
Like many of Ina’s best desserts, this brownie recipe is relatively simple and straightforward, and relies on a handful of high-quality ingredients. I had a feeling it would become my new favorite dessert when I saw that she calls for two kinds of chocolate for an even richer, more complex flavor. Plus, she offers a recommendation for a good-quality jar of caramel sauce for topping the treat, which saved me the time and effort of having to make a batch from scratch.
The recipe comes from Ina's Barefoot Contessa Foolproof cookbook, which was published in 2012, when salted caramel was a hot culinary trend. The combination of rich, buttery caramel and flaky sea salt is a perfect Ina pairing: it's special and sophisticated, but also super easy to pull off. If you can open a jar and buy some fancy salt, you're good to go. As Ina would say, "How easy is that?"
Keep reading to find everything you need to know about Ina Garten’s salted caramel brownies, including what ingredients you’ll need, how to make them (including a few tips and tricks) and what reviewers (myself included) have to say about the recipe.
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Ina Garten’s salted caramel brownie recipe has been around for more than a decade, and people are still talking about it. This recipe, which you can find on the Barefoot Contessa website and Food Network, has 77 reviews and an average of 4.1 stars. In the Food Network recipe's comment section, there are a combination of positive reviews, negative critiques and some in-between baking skeptics.
“This recipe is a keeper," one commenter wrote. "Have made them several times and they are so decadent, especially with the caramel and salt." Another reviewer had a similarly good experience with the brownies but chose to omit an ingredient: “I really enjoyed the brownies. I didn't use the coffee, but they were so good."
And the praise doesn't stop there. "These brownies are insanely good—seriously, out of this world!" says one pleased reviewer, with another simply dubbing these "the best brownies ever."
However, not everyone fell head over heels with Ina’s salted caramel brownies. Multiple reviewers complained about the texture of the brownies, with some mentioning that they were too hard, and others ending up with brownies that had to be eaten with a fork because they were so moist.
Others critiqued the pricy ingredients, which include a jar of fancy caramel sauce, two varieties of chocolate, extra-large eggs and instant coffee granules.
Related: 25 Classic Ina Garten Recipes to Make All the Time
Ingredients Needed for Ina's Salted Caramel Brownies
This brownie recipe calls for two types of chocolate: unsweetened chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips. All of the unsweetened chocolate and a little more than half of the chocolate chips are melted down to create a rich and fudgy batter, while the remaining chocolate chips are folded into the batter just before baking.
Ina also calls for instant coffee granules, which are folded directly into the batter to enhance the flavor of the chocolate (but if you don’t like coffee, don’t worry—these brownies don’t end up tasting much like coffee, and you can always omit the ingredient).
For the topping, Ina recommends skipping homemade caramel sauce and using a jar of high-quality caramel sauce like Fran’s, which is about $25 on Amazon. I, of course, bought it for the sake of science (or whatever you call baking brownies on a Saturday night), but I’m sure these brownies would still be delicious with a slightly less expensive caramel sauce (and you could, of course, make your own caramel sauce instead).
In addition to these ingredients, you’ll need basic baking ingredients like butter, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder and kosher salt. A note on the eggs, though: In this recipe, as is the case with most of her recipes, Ina calls for extra-large eggs. These weigh more than regular large eggs, which are what most people stock in their fridge, so double-check your carton before you start cracking.
Related:I Tried Ina Garten’s Super Simple Meatloaf and It’s an Instant Classic
How To Make Ina's Salted Caramel Brownies
Courtesy Kelly Vaughan
Ina’s salted caramel brownies start in a double-boiler on the stovetop. You’ll melt the butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate together in a bowl set over simmering water. Ina notes that it’s important to let the chocolate mixture cool a bit before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients to avoid cooking the eggs. Once the mixture is cool, you’ll fold it into a mixture of the eggs, coffee, vanilla and sugar.
Courtesy Kelly Vaughan
Then comes another bowl (hope your dishwasher is working)—sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients to create the batter.
Next, you’ll toss the remaining semi-sweet chocolate chips with some flour (which will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of your brownies) before folding them into the batter. Then it's into a pan and into the oven the brownies go, for just over 30 minutes or until set (be sure not to overbake). Once the brownies come out of the oven, Ina recommends immediately topping them with a generous drizzle of warm caramel sauce and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt before cooling and serving.
Related: I Made Ina Garten’s ‘Outrageous’ Garlic Bread and It’s Rich, Buttery and Impossible To Resist
Ina's Salted Caramel Brownies: My Honest Thoughts
Courtesy Kelly Vaughan
There's basically no such thing as a bad brownie, so long as the baked good is cooked properly and consists of the right ingredients. There are good brownies and then there are really good brownies and then, occasionally (if you’re so lucky), there are life-changing brownies.
Are Ina Garten’s salted caramel brownies the best I’ve ever made? To put it simply, no. The recipe is a bit fussy and requires buying a few somewhat pricey ingredients. Even though these were fudgy, for the amount of chocolate required, I wish that these tasted even more chocolatey. And the texture wasn’t my favorite; some reviewers complained that these brownies were crumbly, which led me to think that they’d be dry. They were moist and fudgy, but I do agree that the texture left something to be desired. They didn’t have a great structure and are definitely the type of brownie that requires a fork for eating.
I also expected a bit more from the salted caramel element, too. Essentially, these are regular chocolate brownies that have jarred caramel sauce drizzled on top, followed by a sprinkle of flaky salt. You could easily recreate these brownies with your favorite homemade or boxed brownie mix. Still, it’s a fun way to jazz up basic chocolate brownies, and caramel lovers will definitely enjoy them.
Make them for a gathering when you want a crowd-pleasing dessert that’s sure to impress, or anytime you want to enjoy a fresh batch of brownies (which, if you’re like me, is pretty much all the time).
Related: I Tried Ina Garten’s Potato Galette and It’s the Perfect Easy but Elegant Brunch Dish
Advice for Making Ina Garten’s Salted Caramel Brownies
Courtesy Kelly Vaughan
There are few things that taste as good as a warm brownie. However, with this recipe, to create clean slices that don’t crumble, I think it’s important that you let these brownies cool completely before slicing and serving them. One reviewer added that they lined the baking pan with a parchment paper sling to make it easier to remove and cut the brownies. While I didn’t try this particular technique (since Ina didn’t tell me to), I do think it would be helpful.
Another tip is to carefully measure out the ingredients and follow the recipe exactly as-written, so as not to end up with a crumbly mess like some reviewers did. Also, though it may be a splurge, it's worth it to opt for higher-quality ingredients so that your final dessert does come out as tasty as possible.
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