The Best Caramel Corn Recipe
You haven’t had a good “comfort food snack” until you’ve had caramel corn and today I’m sharing the best Caramel Corn recipe with you!
This recipe is great all year long but I tend to crave it and make it more in the fall. It has a very festive fall-ish feel to it. My kids love it and I usually double the batch to make sure that we have enough caramel corn to go around! Great recipe for bringing to tailgate and harvest parties too!
Best Caramel Corn Recipe
Ingredients for making Caramel Corn
- 13-15 cups of popped popcorn OR 2 bags of microwave popcorn (the kettle corn kind works great)
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 1 Cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
How to make Caramel Corn
This recipe looks more complicated than it is, so don’t let that scare you. I’m always hesitant to work with corn syrup because I’ve had my share of disasters with it, but you won’t have to worry about it with this recipe. It’s really simple.
1. Preheat your oven to 250° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Spread your popcorn out of your baking sheet
3. In a large heavy bottomed pot, combine your brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup
4. Stir until your butter is melted, and bring to an uninterrupted boil for 5 minutes on medium-high
5. Take your pot off the heat and mix in vanilla, keep mixing until you have a thick caramel sauce
6. Carefully (this will be hot) pour your caramel over your popcorn
7. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. It’s important to know that you don’t need to have it all stirred in right away. That will all come together as you take in out every 15 minutes, and it actually really starts to mix very easily. The last time you take your caramel corn out of the oven, it should look like this:
8. Let cool and break apart
9. Serve in a large bowl and enjoy!
If you are really quick, you can even roll the caramel corn into popcorn balls. Sometimes my kids request it that way, but usually we start snacking on it too quickly to care. I hope you enjoy what we think is the Best Caramel Corn Recipe around!
The Best Caramel Corn Recipe
The very best caramel corn recipe, and so perfect for your festive fall baking and celebrations! This homemade carmel corn recipe is a favorite that we make every year!
Ingredients
- 13-15 cups of popped popcorn OR 2 bags of microwave popcorn (the kettle corn kind works great)
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 1 Cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 250° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Spread your popcorn out of your baking sheet
- In a large heavy bottomed pot, combine your brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup
- Stir until your butter is melted, and bring to an uninterrupted boil for 5 minutes on medium-high
- Take your pot off the heat and mix in vanilla, keep mixing until you have a thick caramel sauce.
- Carefully (this will be hot) pour your caramel over your popcorn.
- Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. It's important to know that you don't need to have it all stirred in right away. That will all come together as you take in out every 15 minutes, and it actually really starts to mix very easily. The last time you take your caramel corn out of the oven, it should be coated throughout
- Let cool and break apart.
- Serve in a big bowl and enjoy!
Jaclyn | One Thousand Oaks says
It has been so long since I have made caramel corn! Pinning so I can save for later!
-Jaclyn
Amanda @ The Kolb Corner says
Easy and delicious–my favorite kind of recipe. Thank you for sharing at Merry Monday!
Leanna says
Caramel corn is so delicious. I make one pan of it every year. This recipe looks better than the one I have. Thanks for posting it.
Maribeth says
Yum! I made Caramel Corn once, and thought it was good, but my popcorn wasn’t all covered with the syrup mixture. Yours looks better!
Pat says
Your recipe states one half bite corn syrup. Is this the teaspoon, tablespoon, or a half a cup. The recipe looks good, but it’s incomplete.
Margie says
Making some soon for the grandkids soon. I use butter flavoring instead of vanilla. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Chone Chatterton says
Is this 250 Fahrenheit or celcius ?
Wendy C McLaughlin says
It’s 1.2 cup corn syrup. I’ve had this recipe for years. It was from my ex’s grandmother who got it from her grandmother. Minus the microwave part and they used a roasting pan to make turning the popcorn every 15 mins easier.