This Easy Salted Caramel Popcorn Recipe is my favorite Caramel Corn Recipe! It’s so easy and adding that extra salt gives it the perfect salty/sweet combo!
Salted Caramel Popcorn Is The Best Caramel Corn Recipe
This Salted Caramel Corn Recipe is possibly one of my favorite snacks of all time! It’s crispy, coated in homemade caramel, easy to make and has the perfect sweet and salty balance. I haven’t met one person who doesn’t love this salted caramel corn recipe because it’s both simple and delicious! This caramel corn recipe is so loved it even made it into my book by popular demand!
I’ve even adapted this recipe into Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn as well as Caramel Apple Caramel Corn. And certainly if you’re salt sensitive you can leave off the extra salt!
How To Make Homemade Caramel Corn
Making Salted Caramel Popcorn is SUPER easy. It’s a super easy snack for movie night, or perfect to package up and give as gifts around the holidays. It’s pretty foolproof, and you don’t need baking soda or a candy thermometer like a lot of caramel corn recipes call for.
You will need an Air Popper Popcorn maker. If you don’t have one, they are fairly inexpensive. Here’s the link to the one I use. I have had readers use microwave popcorn for this if they don’t have an air popper. Most have great results, but I have never tried it that way, so I can’t give 100% confirmation it will work, although I don’t see why it wouldn’t.
Ingredients / What You Will Need
- Popcorn: Unpopped popcorn kernels are super easy to find. You can generally find them at the supermarket, WalMart, Target etc. You can even order them on amazon. I, honestly, just buy an expensive container of kernels, like Orville Redenbacher, so don’t get too hung up on brands etc.
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe because it’s SALTED Caramel Corn, but certainly if you don’t have salted you can use unsalted and add a bit more salt at the end!
- Brown Sugar: Using brown sugar in this recipe makes it a little deeper in flavor. Since you aren’t actually making caramel that cooks until it is a deep amber color, the brown sugar gives you the color that you desire.
- Corn Syrup: I use light corn syrup in this recipe. The subtle sweetness in the corn syrup makes the caramel sauce come together easily and gives the caramel corn the perfect texture. You could certainly use dark corn syrup if that’s all you have.
- Salt: I use kosher salt or sea salt in this caramel corn recipe. The slightly coarser grain and smoother taste gives this the perfect salty/sweet balance. You can use Iodized salt if it’s all you have, but use a light hand. You can always add more if necessary.
Do You Bake Caramel Corn?
Yes! After you air pop the popcorn and make your caramel sauce on the stove, you bake the caramel corn for 30 minutes at 300°F, stirring it every 10 minutes. This step in the recipe is what makes the caramel corn crispy and not chewy. If you like chewy caramel corn you can certainly eat it after you coat it with your caramel. It will get stuck in your teeth though! haha!
How Much Unpopped Popcorn Do You Need For Caramel Corn?
1/2 cup of unpopped kernels yields about 16 cups of popped corn. So for this recipe you get about 16 cups of Salted Caramel Popcorn!
How Much Salt Do You Add To Caramel Corn?
Please realize this is COMPLETELY up to you. I list 2 teaspoons in the recipe as a guideline, but you can absolutely add more or less depending on your personal preference. I stated above that I don’t recommend using Iodized Salt, but if you do, start with only 1 teaspoon, as it is a very fine grain and add more from there. Kosher salt and sea salts are generally a little coarser.
Variations / Add-Ins
Sure! You can easily add in extras to this caramel corn recipe. Here are a few ideas:
- Peanuts: Add these before you pour the caramel sauce on top and coat them with the caramel before baking.
- M&Ms: Add these when the caramel corn is cooled for the ultimate movie snack!
- Raisins: Now this might not be for everyone, but a lot of people like this combo! Add these after the caramel corn is cooled.
- Pretzels: You can add these before you pour the caramel on top or after it’s cooled if you prefer the pretzels aren’t sweet. If you do want to add pretzels to this mix before coating with the caramel, you might need to increase the amount of caramel by 50% to ensure everything gets coated!
More Popcorn Recipes You Will Love
- Fruity Pebble Kettle Corn
- Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn
- Caramel Apple Popcorn
- Red Velvet Popcorn
- Snickers Popcorn
- Popcorn Cake
Salted Caramel Popcorn
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 cups 1x
- Category: Popcorn
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Snack
Description
Makes about 16 cups of caramel corn
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (about 16 cups popped corn)
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
- Pop popcorn kernels using air popper into a large bowl.
- In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and 1 teaspoon salt together over medium heat. Bring to boil. Boil for 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and let it cool for 2 minutes. It needs to stop boiling before you pour it on the popcorn.
- Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
- Pour popcorn into lined pan, sprinkle remaining salt on top (1/2 tsp – 1 tsp depending on your personal taste preference) and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
- Allow popcorn to cool on a parchment lined counter.
Notes
You can add in 2 cups of nuts to the un-coated popcorn if desired! Coat with caramel as states!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 168
- Sugar: 9.1 g
- Sodium: 295.8 mg
- Fat: 11.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.3 g
- Protein: 1.2 g
- Cholesterol: 30.5 mg
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This is amazing. Made two batches tonight. The second batch, I drizzled chocolate on top. Yummy. Going to be making kettle corn tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe.
This popcorn was amazing! I actually drizzed some chocolate on top when it was in the cooling stage. Can’t stop eating it!
OMG this is delicious! I didn’t have corn syrup so used raw honey–fantastic! I love the baking at the end, adds a nice touch so it’s not so sticky. I did remove the unpopped kernels! Since I’m going ‘healthy’, I will eventually have to try this with my stevia-in-the-raw. It will be interesting!
If you whisk in about a teaspoon of baking soda as you take it off the boil, it temporarily swells the mixture to about double the volume, (need a large pot), This added volume makes it easier to spread over everything.
Also you should consider adding vanilla extract at the end of the boiling cycle. Improves the taste a great deal.
Hi Shelly.
Me and my kids love salted caramel popcorn too.
I tried it this way:
Used a thick pot with a lid for the corn. Don’t have an airpopper. and salted it a bit.
Melted sugar in another pot, no butter added and poured quickly over salted popcorn and stirred.
No further baking needed. It will be crunchy enough.
Don’t feel bad for crying about your kids going back to school. That just means you’re a good Mother. When my oldest son graduated from high school, I cried for a week straight. Finally he spent his graduation money on a super-soaker (A really dumb purchase I thought) and I realized my boy was still there. Thank you for posting this great recipe. I am trying it out tonight.
For those who can’t have Popcorn you can use the No Hulls Popcorn (found on the chip rack at the grocery store) works the same.
I just made this caramel corn, I was a little scared because of all the comments about it burning, but I followed the recipe as written, and it turned out perfect, can’t stop eating it, thanks for the wonderful recipe.
I just made this during a snowstorm and turned out great!! Only issue I had, was when I poured it out onto parchment paper after baking, I noticed a lot of grease. Not sure why
I have had a recipe similar to yours with a few twists. I make the Carmel sauce in the microwave in a 4 C. Pitcher bowl, you don’t have to cook on the stove, so about 3 min. on high will get it ready. my recipe has you put 1/2 Tablespoon of baking soda in Carmel mixture after it boils. stir this is key to my recipe. Now to make the simple step. Put your popped popcorn in a brown paper grocery bag and pour the Carmel over the top. shake and microwave on high for 1 minute, Shake, microwave again 1 minute take out and shake again Three times total, pour on 2 cookie sheets to cool. I like the addition of the salt from above recipe and will try that next time.