Homemade Caramel Corn

Name: Homemade Caramel Corn
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 10 cups
Ingredients: 10 cups popped corn (about 1/2 cup kernels before popping); 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter; 1 cup light brown sugar, packed; 1/2 cup light corn syrup; 1/2 teaspoon sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

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Easy homemade caramel corn is the perfect snack to munch on! It’s great to serve the family during the holiday season. The homemade stuff tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff in a tin. Caramel coated popcorn is also perfect for last minute gifting!

As a child I had a major love affair with caramel corn. My dad used to get these big tubs of popcorn at work every year, you know the ones that come with the cheddar popcorn and the butter kind too? Can you guess which one we all polished off the fastest?

Caramel corn is kind of a tradition of ours during the holiday season. It’s something that really reminds me of my childhood and it just takes me back. Considering the fact that one of us just celebrated their 28th birthday this weekend, it really takes me back. Moooving along.

How do you guys feel about Cracker Jack? You know the molasses-flavored caramel coated popcorn that are combined with a handful of peanuts. The snack choice of baseball fanatics everywhere. Cracker Jack has never been a favorite of mine. I love all it’s components 1.) peanuts 2.) popcorn 3.)caramel/crunchy stuff. I love peanuts but almost always in peanut butter form, I don’t like molasses in my caramel corn, and EH. I think that’s it. Maybe it’s because I consider the caramel stuff that comes out of a tin to be the epitome of caramel coated popcorn. <– Until now, that is.

I very recently discovered the bliss that is homemade popcorn. And if you’re following me on Instagram, you probably remember me saying, I’ll never (ever, ever, ever) make the stuff out of a bag again! Popcorn made in a dutch oven is just as easy as popping a bag in the microwave (that is if you have access to a stove) and not to mention a lot healthier too! With stovetop popcorn, you control your butter/oil intake.

You can use the bagged stuff for this recipe, air pop the popcorn, or make it the way I did, on the stove. All of those methods work just fine!

And once you’ve made the popcorn, all that’s left to do is make the caramel.

I’ll admit, when I started batch testing for the perfect caramel corn recipe, some not-so-totally delicious caramel drenched popcorn came out of this foodies’ kitchen. The caramel sauce is super easy to make. If you can toss a few ingredients into a saucepan than you can make caramel coating for the popcorn. My first batch of popcorn was delicious! The problem: I was greedy and wanted a lot of vanilla flavor in my popcorn. It turned out that the flavor was beyond amazing, the texture on the other hand wasn’t smooth like you’d expect from good caramel. Back to the drawing board I went. What finally worked, sticking to the same recipe and cutting the vanilla quantity back my half.

What I love most about my recipe for homemade caramel covered popcorn is that a.) you don’t need a candy thermometer, or any kind of thermometer really, b.) there aren’t a million steps to getting this caramel corn perfect, c.) no complicated steps!

I had never made caramel corn at home before but now that I have, I realize it’s better, much, much better than the store-bought stuff. It’s fresh, slightly warm, buttery, and as an added bonus your whole house will smell like a Bath and Body Works Buttery Caramel Coated Popcorn scented candle. I don’t really know if they have that scent, don’t quote me on it, but they should, shouldn’t they? Or you could just make a batch of this stuff, munch on it, and have the house smell amazing! I think i’ll go for the latter.

Yield: 10 cups