Homemade Vegan Toffee is the easy, make ahead, insanely delicious buttery/chocolatey treat you need in your life. Perfect for the holidays (but almost too good to share with friends and family)!
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🍫 Why We Love This Recipe
- Perfect holiday treat: 'Tis the season for treats like peppermint bark, brittle, fudge, a whole lot of cookies, and of course, this vegan toffee! This recipe has become an essential addition to our holiday spread.
- No dairy? No problem! This vegan toffee is (obviously) free from any dairy products, and we promise nobody would ever know. It tastes just as delicious as the classic version, and it has that same satisfying crack and chewiness.
- Make ahead dessert: This vegan toffee can be made several days before serving. You can store in the freezer for long term storage or the refrigerator for up to a few weeks.
- Truly addictive: We're warning you now...this vegan toffee is majorly addictive. We've already made it upwards of five times this holiday season and it has quickly become a family favorite. If sharing with a large group, you may want to make a double batch!
🌰 Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this vegan toffee:
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Vegan butter: not sponsored, but we have tried this recipe with several vegan butters and by far the best we've tried is Miyoko's. Some of the other vegan butters we've used have made this vegan toffee have a strange aftertaste due to the high heat that's needed to form a soft crack. The recipe will still work with other vegan butters, but we can't testify to any differences in flavor.
- Choice of nuts: We used chopped pecans in this recipe, but you can use whatever nuts you prefer. Peanuts, walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts would all be delicious. If you want to keep it nut free, you can top with a seed of choice, or just keep it plain with chocolate!
- Chocolate chips: We used dairy free dark chocolate chips. Feel free to use the chocolate of your choice, but make sure you're using small chips, as they melt more easily than their larger counterparts.
- Candy thermometer: While it's not an ingredient, a candy thermometer is a key component to this recipe. Why? We want to reach the "soft crack" stage, which happens when the sugar heats up to 270-290˚F. It's pretty hard to guess the temperature without a thermometer, and if it's off, this vegan toffee won't turn out like it should.
- Brown sugar: We prefer dark brown sugar in this vegan toffee, which has higher molasses content and a richer flavor that tastes great.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
PREP: Line a rimmed sheet pan with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Pro tip: Have all of your ingredients measured ready since you'll need to work quickly.
(1) Melt butter over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Once the butter is melted, stir in both sugars and clip the candy thermometer to the side of your pan.
(2) Stir butter and sugar mixture often with a silicone spatula, whisk or a wooden spoon to prevent burning during the 10-15 minutes it will take for the mixture to reach the soft cracking point, which is 270-290˚F (~135˚C). We typically stop the cooking process around 275˚, which means it will have a bit more chew. If you want to heat up to 290˚ for a harder crack, that's perfectly fine.
(3) Once the vegan toffee mixture reaches 270-290˚F, remove from heat and immediately stir in vanilla extract. Carefully pour the mixture onto your sheet pan and use a spatula to spread it out into an even layer.
(4) Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top of the hot toffee, and let sit for a few minutes until they melt. Use a spatula to gently spread the melted chocolate into a smooth layer. Sprinkle with chopped nuts of your choice and some flaky salt (optional). Refrigerate for at least one hour, or until completely set, then break apart with your hands or a sharp knife.
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Make sure to use a candy thermometer. The sugar needs to reach a temperature of 270-290˚F in order to reach the "soft crack stage", which determines the texture of the finished toffee.
- Candy thermometer tips: When you clip the thermometer to the side of your pan, make sure the bulb at the bottom of the thermometer is not touching the bottom or the sides of the pan. This can cause inaccurate temperature readings, which will affect the final result of this vegan toffee.
- Be careful when pouring or mixing the hot sugar. Not only is it hot, but it sticks to the skin, making it a bad combination to spill!
- Use the smallest chocolate chips you can find to ensure they melt easily when you sprinkle them atop the vegan toffee mixture.
- Make sure to add the chocolate chips right away while the toffee is still super hot! If you wait too long, the toffee will cool and the chocolate chips won't melt.
- Flaky salt is an optional topping, but we love the hint of saltiness it adds to this vegan toffee.
- Avoid making this vegan toffee on a humid day. If it's too hot and humid, the toffee won't set well. It's best to make this in cooler weather.
- Storage: after you break up the toffee, we suggest storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator to prevent the chocolate melting. You can store in the refrigerator for about two weeks.
- Freezer storage: for longer term storage (3-6 months), store this vegan toffee in an airtight container in the freezer. Be sure to defrost in the refrigerator for several hours before eating (to prevent any cracked teeth!).
If you don't have a thermometer, there are a few ways you can tell if the vegan toffee mixture has reached the correct temperature. For starters, you'll need to keep an extra close eye on the mixture, stirring often to prevent burning.
You'll be able to tell it's getting close to the correct temperature when you lift some of the toffee and let it drip back into the pot – if it doesn't immediately reincorporate and instead piles up a bit before melting back into the mixture, it should be close to the correct stage.
To confirm it's ready, fill a glass with cold water. Drop a small amount (~1 teaspoon) of the mixture into the cold water. If it gathers into a ball, it's not ready. If it forms flexible, yet not brittle threads, it's at the correct stage.
Note that you'll need to use a new glass of water each time you do a new test. 
Traditional English toffee doesn't contain any nuts, whereas American toffee often has nuts on top. We prefer using pecans, but walnuts, almonds, pistachios all work.
🍽 Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Toffee
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-24 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Homemade Vegan Toffee is the easy, make ahead, insanely delicious buttery/chocolatey treat you need in your life. Perfect for the holidays (but almost too good to share with friends and family)!
Ingredients
- 16 oz vegan butter
- 1 ½ cups cane sugar
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 10 oz nondairy mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- Flaky salt for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Line a rimmed sheet pan with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Pro tip: Have all of your ingredients measured ready since you'll need to work quickly.
- Melt butter over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Once the butter is melted, stir in both sugars and clip the candy thermometer to the side of your pan.
- Stir butter and sugar mixture often with a silicone spatula, whisk or a wooden spoon to prevent burning during the 10-15 minutes it will take for the mixture to reach the soft cracking point, which is 270-290˚F (~135˚C). We typically stop the cooking process around 275˚, which means it will have a bit more chew. If you want to heat up to 290˚ for a harder crack, that's perfectly fine.
- Once the vegan toffee mixture reaches 270-290˚F, remove from heat and immediately stir in vanilla extract. Carefully pour the mixture onto your sheet pan and use a spatula to spread it out into an even layer.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top of the hot toffee, and let sit for a few minutes until they melt. Use a spatula to gently spread the melted chocolate into a smooth layer. Sprinkle with chopped nuts of your choice and some flaky salt (optional). Refrigerate for at least one hour, or until completely set, then break apart with your hands or a sharp knife.
Notes
Make sure to use a candy thermometer. The sugar needs to reach a temperature of 270-290˚F in order to reach the "soft crack stage", which determines the texture of the finished toffee. See the FAQ section for what to do if you don't have a thermometer.
Be careful when pouring or mixing the hot sugar. Not only is it hot, but it sticks to the skin, making it a bad combination to spill.
Use the smallest chocolate chips you can find to ensure they melt easily when you sprinkle them atop the hot butter/sugar mixture.
Feel free to use the nuts of your choice to sprinkle atop the toffee – almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc all work well.
Storage: store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or the freezer for 3-6 months.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Vegan Sweets
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 229
- Sugar: 22.5 g
- Sodium: 201.4 mg
- Fat: 14.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.9 g
- Fiber: 1.3 g
- Protein: 1.2 g
Sara says
I tried this twice. The first time I used Earth Balance Vegan Butter because the Miyokos, recommended, is nut-based and I need to keep this nut free due to allergies. The recipe worked but it has a strong aftertaste...not like toffee, kind of yuck. So I tried it again with dairy-free fleischmann's margarine, which I use for all my other baking and cooking needs. It did not work at all. It is dry and crumbly not smooth like a toffee.
I feel bad that it didn't work because I had such high hopes. Thanks for the recipe potential but I will have to keep looking for a recipe...
Lexi says
Hi Sara, sorry to hear you didn't have success in this recipe. As we noted in the blog post..." Some of the other vegan butters we've used have made this vegan toffee have a strange aftertaste due to the high heat that's needed to form a soft crack. The recipe will still work with other vegan butters, but we can't testify to any differences in flavor."
As for the margarine - margarine often has different ingredients than most vegan butters, which is likely why it didn't work here. It's not always a 1:1 substitute.
Hoping you find a nut free vegan butter that works for you!
Brian says
Amazing. Turned out perfect! I never knew vegan toffee was possible. My daughter has been dairy free for 7 years and was so happy when I made this today. Thank you for the recipe.
Alana says
Could not stop eating this toffee! So dang delicious!!