I loved being in Europe for this holidays this year. But one of the traditions I missed back in the States was my annual dose of holiday caramel corn. It seems like everywhere you go around the holidays, there are those big tubs with butter, cheddar and caramel corn a’plenty. And ever since I was a kid, the caramel corn definitely gets the most love from this foodie. ;)
So when I arrived home in January, I decided it was high time in my 29th year of life to learn how to make my own homemade caramel corn. Granted, I make stovetop popcorn all the time, so the idea of learning how to add in the extra sweetness didn’t sound like too many extra steps. But little did I know — homemade caramel corn is so easy!!! I was thinking it would be a complex process with candy thermometers, and 500 steps, and sticky caramel everywhere. But it turns out that this sauce is totally easy and pretty foolproof (as caramel sauces go), and the oven pretty much does all of the work. And within an hour, a huge batch of caramel corn is ready to go!
My biggest surprise, though, was realizing how much better homemade popcorn tastes than store-bought! I don’t if it’s the freshness, or the flavor, or the double-bonus of having your entire house smell like sweet caramel. But my friends agreed that this version is a definite winner, and they have been happily helping me eat the (um, three?) batches I’ve already made this month.
What do you love most about caramel corn?
Homemade Caramel Corn
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Description
A simple recipe for delicious homemade caramel corn.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup 1 stick salted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 12 cups popped popcorn (about 1 cup kernels before popped, preferably warm from being freshly popped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan with aluminum foil, and grease with cooking spray.
- Melt butter in a large stockpot pot over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup, stir to combine. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer undisturbed for 5 minutes. Stir, then continue to cook for an additional 4 to 6 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until the mixture is a deep golden color. Turn off the heat and slowly whisk in salt, baking soda and vanilla, being very careful as the mixture will bubble. Stir in the popcorn and toss until it is evenly coated with the caramel, being sure to scrape the caramel off the bottom of the pot.
- Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet or pan in an even layer. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring to toss every 5 minutes, until the caramel corn has turned a deep amber color. Remove the caramel corn from the oven and transfer to a surface covered with parchment or wax paper to cool. Once it reaches room temperature, use your hands or a spoon to break up the caramel corn, then store in an airtight container for up to a week.
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Delicious recipe! My daughter & I enjoyed it tremendously! I haven’t made this at home in over 30 years.
My butter separated from the rest of the caramel while cooking on the stove… and it got quite thick through the four minutes before adding vanilla and salt and soda. Mine didn’t bubble very much when adding those things, and was too solid to stir the popcorn into. Like one big hunk of chewy caramel… Any idea where I went wrong? I’d like to try again later!
My best friend and I make a holiday gift in mass every year recently. Last year, it was bacon salt (wow, did the house smell like bacon for weeks!). This year, it was caramel corn, but we were faced with three recipes; one without corn syrup, one with not as much salt and one that didn’t call for putting in the oven. This was THE BEST recipe. It’s not too sweet (because of the salt), not too crunchy and not too chewy. We adjusted the oven temp (oven runs about 5 degrees under set temp) down to 250 degreed and left in for about 12 minutes. We poured the caramel over the popcorn and you really have to fold the caramel in carefully until it fully coats and then fold, fold, fold to make sure it’s well coated. Also, when it comes out of the oven, break into pieces that you want (some like bigger chunks and some like smaller pieces) as when it cools, you don’t want to mess with breaking it up. Great recipe!
I believe that the corn syrup helps to avoid graininess and may also help keep it shiny!
This is delicious and not difficult at all! I used my Instapot to pop the popcorn and then transferred the corn to a disposable roasting pan from the dollar store. Placed it into a prewarmed oven, lowest setting while I made the carmel sauce. Keeping the popcorn warm makes it easier to stir in the carmel. While stirring to combine increase the oven temperature and finish as directed. Looking forward to making for gifts!
This worked great! Earlier comment suggested 1/2 kernels.
Perfect amount, used my insta pot and used a coconut oil butter blend on sauté more setting.
Thanks, your recipes always work well! Believe it or not, this 68 yr old never popped popcorn other than air popper or jiffy pop !
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Just finished making this Carmel popcorn its fabulous!! Yummy ?.
I made this and like the recipe , it’s easy and pretty quick. I will not use as much salt when I make it again. I did reduce it to 1 tsp but will but will only use 1/2 tsp or maybe none and just sprinkle a little salt on top. But awesome recipe.?
This is a good and easy recipe! I’d cut the salt though. It was too salty and I like salt
Our state of Michigan is under lockdown. Home ALL the time. Bored out of my mind. Found this recipe when I was craving popcorn. Threw in a cup of salted peanuts and baked in the oven. Wow. Great treat!!!!!!
Too salty! Dial that back. All I could taste was a blast of salt, then sweet. It was difficult to taste caramel at all. So sad! So disappointing:(