Caramel Corn Recipe

Family movie night is one of my favorites. I love laughing with my kids and spending time cuddled up together. Family movie night watching holiday movies is somehow even more precious.

I think it goes without saying that any great movie night needs to have snacks. One of the greatest movie time snacks is caramel corn! It is far easier to make than you would think, and it was a HUGE hit with my family.

Caramel Corn Ingredients

This homemade caramel corn comes together with simple pantry staples, and there’s no need for a candy thermometers! For sweet, simple caramel corn, here’s all you need (find all the measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post):

• Brown sugar: You can use dark or light brown sugar, and it is the key ingredient to any caramel sauce.
• Corn syrup: Light colored corn syrup will work best here.
• Butter: I like to use unsalted to control the amount of salt flavor, but if you only have salted, that will also work here.
• Salt: I’m using kosher salt here. If you only have table salt, you will want to start with less and then add more to taste.
• Baking soda: This reacts with the acid in the brown sugar and creates carbon dioxide, which creates air bubbles inside the caramel. This makes it softer.
• Vanilla: This creates a subtle and delicious flavor.

How to Make Caramel Corn

Homemade caramel corn can seem intimidating, but trust me, if you can boil water, you can make this easy recipe. Follow these simple steps (or see the printable recipe at the bottom of the post):

1. Pop the popcorn. Then spread all the popcorn out on a rimmed baking sheet, removing all the un-popped kernels.
2. Make the caramel sauce. Mix the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and let it boil for five minutes. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and baking soda.
3. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn.
4. Bake the caramel corn. Bake for an hour, giving it a stir a few times during the baking process so it coats and bakes evenly.
5. Once it cools, break it up and enjoy!

Making Popcorn for Caramel Corn

Measuring out Dry Popcorn

This recipe uses 14 cups of popcorn. One quarter cup of dry popcorn equals eight cups popped, so you’ll need a couple of batches.

You can usually get about 8-10 cups in one bag of microwave popcorn, depending on the brand and your microwave.

How to Pop Popcorn

There are a few great ways to make popcorn for this recipe.

• Microwave Popper: I always make mine with this awesome microwave popper. If you use something like this, you’ll need to make it in two batches.
• Microwave Popcorn: Plain, non-buttered microwave popcorn works great too. As mentioned above, you will need two bags.
• Air Popper: These work well and don’t use any oil.
• Stovetop: You can always make popcorn on the stovetop. Just use a heavy bottomed pan with a lid and some vegetable oil.

TOP PICK

Microwave Popcorn Popper

This is my favorite way to make popcorn! It works so well every time.

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