One of my favorite parts of Fall is the television. Yes, I know. I’m pathetic. Can’t help it! I love Fall TV!
I also love the pretty leaves, the cooler weather, and, of course, Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I’m not a complete loser.
Back to the TV. I love it. It’s so nice to curl up on the couch at night and watch a good show. The kids and I love watching The Biggest Loser together. Both my 9 year old son and my 4 year old daughter enjoy watching Food Network. My son’s favorite show is Chopped and my daughter’s is 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray (especially if Rachel is cooking chicken!). My kids have apparently inherited both my love of food and of good TV!
When the kids see me settling in for a good show or if we happen to turn on a movie to watch, they instantly ask for popcorn. I’m usually happy to oblige, but sometimes plain old popcorn gets boring, so lately I’ve been surprising them with this caramel corn. They love it and so do I!
Homemade caramel corn in minutes? Count me in! We make this alllll the time.
To start, pop some corn. You can use microwave if you want, but honestly, popping corn on the stove is so simple! Check out Simply Recipes for how to make perfect popcorn.
For the caramel you just add butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup to a microwave safe bowl and heat it all up! Stir in some baking soda and vanilla, dump it on your popcorn and stir. Seriously, does it get easier than that?
Some people like their caramel corn soft and chewy and some like it hard and crunchy. I prefer it to be more crunchy than chewy, but not so hard that it breaks my teeth, you know? If you like it soft, go ahead and eat it immediately. If you want it a little crunchier, bake it for 10 to 20 minutes depending on how crunchy you want it!
If you want to liven things up a bit, add a dash of cinnamon to the caramel. It adds a little depth to the flavor. You could also add some peanuts if you really wanted to go crazy!
Homemade Caramel Corn
Ingredients
- 12 cups popped popcorn about 1/2 cup kernels or about 3 bags microwave popcorn
- 1 cup peanuts optional
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup butter cubed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.
- Place popcorn and peanuts (if using) in a large bowl and set aside.
- Add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter to a small microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave for 2 more minutes and stir.
- Return to microwave for another 2 minutes. Stir to combine. The mixture should be hot and bubbly.
- Stir in the vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon (if using). The mixture will get a bit foamy.
- Stir and then pour over the large bowl of popcorn. Mix well to coat popcorn and sprinkle lightly with salt.
- If you want your caramel corn very chewy, go ahead and eat it now. Otherwise, pour caramel corn onto a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for 5 minutes and then stir and taste. Keep baking and stirring every 5 minutes (up to 20 minutes of baking) until the popcorn is as crunchy as you'd like. It will harden up a bit as it cools.
- Break apart any large clumps and let cool.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
adapted from Get off your butt..and Bake!
linda says
would like recipes that i can print out for micro-pop popper on qvc theysaid you could go on line and print them out
Karly says
Hi Linda,
I don’t have any experience with a micro-pop popper. Good luck in your search!
Needful Things says
My kids have been begging me forever to make caramel corn & I keep putting it off thinking it would turn out to be too labor-intensive. But this recipe has just changed my mind. I am going to make this for them tonight. Dumb question: by 250 degrees do you mean 250F?
Becca says
I just made this for my family (to put into their lunch boxes for the week) and I can honestly say that this is THE best caramel popcorn I’ve ever had in my whole life!!!
Thank you! This recipe is a keeper!
Yene K says
Made a double batch of this last weekend cuz I knew it would go fast…and there are only 2 of us! I’ve made the caramel on the stove in the past, but this is so much easier and requires less effort in the microwave! This is my new permanent caramel corn recipe. Thanks Karly!
Rae says
I made this today. I added pecans (I am allergic to peanuts), and mini-cherry chips for my daughter, and melted almond bark to schfancy it up…IT IS YEMMY, thanks for the recipe!!!!
My daughter (just turned 2) super enjoyed standing in a chair next to me, eating the popcorn – before it got carmeled – watching me make it. So not only do I thank you from me, but thanks from my family who will enjoy the product, and thanks from my baby, who enjoyed the process!
top internet business says
This looks so good! And I agree with Meredith, that some chocolate drizzle would make it perfect.
Meredith Baadte says
What makes this even better is if you pour melted chocolate over it. I like to make a nice layer of dark chocolate and drizzle white chocolate over it….its just SCRUMPTIOUS!
Heather says
This? Is crazy good.
RJC says
Great, easy recipe! takes mere minutes to make! no sure why, but my caramel seemed a bit thicker than it need to be, making it slightly hard to pour out, but it all worked out fine, and it’s a definite repeat! thanks 🙂
Sara says
Read this @ 8:00 and had it made by 8:20! I used dark corn syrup ’cause I didn’t have lite! It. Was. Awesome. BTW, can I adopt your mother in law? Please?
Lisa says
I just had to leave a post after reading through and seeing the comments to you from your mother-in-law! What a sweetie-pie! lol
Again, thank you so much for the simple, easy and most delicious recipe. For the record: I’ve added toasted almonds, pecans and cashews to the mix, but then again, if you knew me, you’d already say I was nuts. *snicker*
Happy New Year!
Mother In-law says
You just keep blowing my mind with your recipes. I just nominated you to cook for Christmas Eve Brunch!
I absolutely love the new look of the website! How cool! I’m proud of you my daughter In-law. You have really made this a cool blog! Oh and I love all the cute things in your blog about my wonderful little grandkids!