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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Holy amazing!!!!
Pintrest
Thank you for sharing!!! I just made this and it was so easy and DELICIOUS 🙂 New family favorite for sure 🙂
Do you think I can replace the butter with margarine? Or any other dairy free butter?
You could try replacing it with margarine. I haven’t ever done that before, but I bet it would work!
We used to make this popcorn with a small variation.. well sort of a big variation!! We put all of the popcorn in a paper grocery bag,, the big kind,, and pour the mixture over it.. shake it,,, and voila all done.. witho ours you didnt have to bake or use any other pans etc. to finish and it turns out pretty good too.
I tried this tonight, and its spot on! I did only cook the caramel mixture to 260 F, and set my oven about 275F. I think it’s important to emphasize STIRRING and breaking it up BEFORE putting it on the oven. Otherwise there will be puddles of Carmel that could create a smoky mess. Recipe says STIR every 10 min. LOVE THIS!
I’m definitely trying this. Except I use a large bowl shaped microwave popper. No oil, specially bagged popcorn or air popper required. Found mine at WalMart, Target, or Kmart I forget which.
This sounds delicious! Can this be made in advance for a party or does it need to be made fresh? How do you store it?
Sure, just store it in an airtight container. I wouldn’t make it too far in advance, though.. maybe a day at the most 2.
How many bags of microwave popcorn would I need to use? I don’t have an air popper, but it sounds like I’d get alot of use out of it! My boys make popcorn at least 3-4 times a week!!
one bag will you give about 4 cups of popcorn I think 🙂
I’ve been making this for several years and it’s made me a bit of a local legend. Always sells out at every bake sale and I end up accosted with recipe requests and I send them here! Much love and Merry Christmas ??
Oh my gosh, I love hearing this!!
I know this is really late, but in case anyone else has the question… I pop regular kernels in my microwave. Put 1/4 cup of popcorn in a microwave safe glass bowl with a lid, cook for 4 minutes or so, listening for the popping to slow to 10 seconds or so… if you start to smell burnt popcorn stop it… it’s easy to go beyond popped to burnt so stay near the microwave… but you have popped corn with no oil, and none of the chemicals in the microwave stuff.
I noticed you left the unpopped kernels in the popcorn .. that is a high potential for cracked chipped or broken teeth .. it takes less than 60 seconds to use only popped corn. pop in a bowl shake so kernels are at the bottom transfer only popped corn to a different bowl. You dont buy popped corn off the shelf or at a theater or anywhere with unpopped kernels just for those reasons .. its a risk ..
I did my best to remove all the kernels. Guess you spotted one, which is basically like Where’s Waldo! Congrats!
Hi Shelly,
I love your blog and i’ve been wanting to try your salted caramel popcorn recipe , but i can’t find corn syrup here in the Netherlands. Is it possible to omit it put of the recipe? Thanks so much.
There really isn’t a good substitute for corn syrup in this recipe… I would recommend ordering some online
try making corn syrup with brown sugar and water. add molasses,
enough for a light color.
Good luck amyo
i have a friend who uses maple syrup and it works perfectly.
Are you stating that your friend pours straight maple syrup onto the pop corn and then bakes it, or that your friend cooks the maple syrup first and THEN pours it on the pop corn? This sounds interesting but, at the cost of maple syrup, I’d like to have as many facts up-front as possible beforehand! Thank you.
Hi Pearl, Do you have Golden Syrup there? I think that’s the same or pretty close. I live in the UK and I haven’t been able to find corn syrup either but able to get golden syrup which I used in a recipe calling for corn syrup and it tasted the same as when I made it previously with corn syrup back home.
I didn’t have corn syrup and used agave syrup instead. It came out perfectly!
great tip!!
I’m in Australia and we use glucose syrup and works perfectly
I have substituted maple syrup for the corn syrup. Seems to work just fine!