Caramel Popcorn

The Best Caramel Popcorn

Caramel popcorn is one of our favorite treats. This wonderful, sweet snack is so easy to make.  Best of all, it is fresh and all natural without the preservatives and caramel coloring that the store bought caramel popcorn contains.

Ingredients

1 c. butter * see note below
2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
24 c. popped popcorn (makes a big roaster full)
1 lb. peanuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250°.

Pop the popcorn kernels until you have 24 cups of popped corn. For me, that almost fills my large roasting pan. Pour the popcorn in a large roasting pan, or a big bowl. Add the peanuts to the popcorn.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, syrup, and salt. Turn the heat up to medium. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil, without stirring for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Carefully stir in the vanilla and soda.  The baking soda causes the caramel sauce to bubble and rapidly grow in size. This is normal. So, don’t be alarmed when you see it rising toward the top of the pot.

Quickly pour the sauce over the popcorn in roaster. Stir the popcorn with a wooden spoon, making sure that all the popcorn has an even coating of yummy caramel sauce.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove the roaster from oven and allow it to cool. However, if your family is like mine, we usually can’t wait to grab a bowl and fill it up with the caramel popcorn.  Store the leftover caramel popcorn in an airtight container, if you have any left. 

* You can use margarine instead of butter,  or use half butter and half margarine.
You can add nuts in with the popcorn just before you pour the caramel coating over the top.