Happy fall, y’all! Today I’m sharing the best caramel popcorn recipe ever. You know how every family has their own “famous” food? Well, this one was my family’s famous caramel popcorn. It’s from one of my Dad’s old workplace cookbooks that the families would assemble and it was quickly adopted into family tradition.
I like to whip out this caramel popcorn as soon as the chill creeps into the air and my kids love it with our afternoon tea audio book time.
Jump to RecipeThis recipe is super simple and you may already have the ingredients lurking in your pantry. Popcorn, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and baking soda. You’ll also need to procure a clean paper bag (I like to grab a few extra when I’m on a run to the market).
You’ll want to start out with 3-4 quarts of popped popcorn. Stove top or airpopper works, I’ve even used Boom Chicka Pop in a pinch. You will need to sort any un popped kernels out so that they don’t end up in your finished product. Once the popcorn is popped add it to the grocery bag.
Then add the remaining ingredients with the exception of the baking soda to a sauce pan. So that means…
Butter…
Brown sugar…
And corn syrup.
Melt all of that together and then when that mixture has melded and boiled for 2 minutes (while you stir constantly) add the baking soda and stir well to fully incorporate.
The caramel sauce will fluff up and turn a blonde color. At this point pour the entire batch of caramel sauce over the popcorn in the paper bag, roll down the top of the paper bag to close the bag and then shake the bag super hard to coat the popcorn with the caramel sauce.
Then place the entire bag into the microwave and microwave for 1.5 minutes. Remove the bag from the microwave and shake again. Then microwave one last time for 30 seconds, then shake. At this point I like to pour the caramel popcorn out of the bag and onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread out to cool.
The popcorn will harden as it cools and stick together a bit so you will need to break it apart a little once it’s fully cooled down. Then you just get to eat and enjoy!
Caramel Popcorn
Equipment
- 1 paper bag I usually just pick up a few extra grocery bags from the market for this recipe to have on hand.
- 1 sauce pan
- 1 whisk
- parchment paper
- microwave
Ingredients
- 3-4 qt popped popcorn You can pop this yourself or choose a prepped popcorn from the store, but if you do store bought make sure it is plain or the lightly salted.
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
Prepare the Paper Bag
- Place the prepped popcorn in a brown paper bag.
Prepare the Caramel Sauce
- Melt the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly.
- Allow the mixture to boil for 2 minutes and then add the baking soda, whisking well to fully incorporate. The caramel sauce will then fluff up and turn a light blonde color.
- Once the baking soda has been fully mixed into the caramel sauce remove the pan from the stove and pour the sauce into the brown paper bag over all of the popped popcorn.
- Roll down the top of the bag to close it and shake the bag really hard.
- Place the entire bag into the microwave and microwave for 1.5 minutes.
- Remove the bag from the microwave and shake again.
- Microwave the entire bag a second time for 30 seconds.
- After the 30 seconds remove the bag and shake one last time.
- Pour the popcorn onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, and do your best to spread it out to avoid large clumps of popcorn sticking together and allow it to cool completely.
- Once it is cool break apart the popcorn (it will stick a bit but is easily broken up) and enjoy!
