The Best Caramel Popcorn EVER!

20 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Caramel Popcorn is crispy, buttery, salty and sweet! With just a few ingredients, you’ll have fresh caramel corn and never go back to bagged!

Popcorn makes a terrific Snack any time, and you can use this easy recipe along with 5 Minute Microwave Cheddar Popcorn to make the most delicious popcorn creation ever, which is made from the amazing mix of the two! Chicago Popcorn!

Caramel Popcorn in serving bowl


Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes with salty and sweet buttery sauce made from brown sugar, and the crispy and chewy texture that satisfies. It’d be great if there was an easy microwave caramel popcorn recipe that tasted amazing. But really, to make a proper tasting crispy (not chewy caramel) popcorn you need to get your stovetop burner working!

This popcorn will blow away the beloved Christmas popcorn tin you might get every year, and with this recipe everyone can enjoy the most popular flavor in the bunch. Typically, the butter popcorn gets ignored in favor of cheddar and caramel. However, if you make fresh, homemade butter popcorn instead of the pre-made version with a great quality butter and kosher salt, it could very easily give these recipes a run for their money! The sort of “butter flavor” on popcorns out there make it the black sheep of the tin and don’t even get started on all the chemicals in the microwave popcorn bags!

Caramel Popcorn collage of prep steps

Want to make some delicious buttered microwave popcorn? Here is a great method for you. Take some popcorn kernels and put them in a small brown lunchbag. Turn on the microwave and let it go until the popping slows down (just like in the prepackaged stuff). Leave the bag closed and melt some butter quickly in a microwave safe bowl. Pour the butter into the bag of popcorn you just made. Close it back up and shake it! Shake, shake, shake, shake until your arms feel like they’ve worked off some of that butter you are about to eat. Now pour it into your bowl and sprinkle on a bit of kosher salt, to taste. Done! It’s so much less expensive than the bagged stuff and infinitely more delicious!

Want to make your own corn syrup at home for this recipe? You can use a homemade thick simple syrup for this instead by mixing 8 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of hot water. This makes a half a cup of homemade corn syrup.

Caramel Popcorn collage of prep steps
Caramel Popcorn in hands


Tips for Making Homemade Caramel Popcorn

  • Place the popped popcorn into two large baking pans. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
  • Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan.
  • Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 3-4 minutes while stirring constantly.
  • Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
  • Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. It is okay if the popcorn isn’t completely coated yet as the oven will help out. Bake for 45 minutes but stir the popcorn every fifteen minutes.
  • When it comes out of the oven, try to separate the pieces as much as you can before it cools completely. Enjoy!

How to Store Caramel Popcorn

  • Serve: Carmel Popcorn can be kept at room temperature.
  • Store: While it is best eaten fresh, you can store in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze: Caramel Popcorn would not freeze or defrost well. It is best to make a fresh batch.
Caramel Popcorn in serving bowl

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Caramel Popcorn

Caramel Popcorn is crispy, buttery, salty and sweet! With just a few ingredients, you'll have fresh caramel corn and never go back to bagged!
Yield 20 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 7 quarts plain popped popcorn , (about 30 cups of popped popcorn or 2 ½ bags of microwave popcorn)
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup , (I use homemade)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Place the popped popcorn into two large baking pans.
  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
  • Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan.
  • Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Boil for 3-4 minutes while stirring constantly.
  • Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. This should cause the mixture to bubble rapidly.
  • Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat.
  • It is okay if the popcorn isn't completely coated yet, the oven will help out.
  • Bake for 45 minutes but stir the popcorn every fifteen minutes.
  • When it comes out of the oven, try to separate the pieces as much as you can before it cools completely. Enjoy!

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 693kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 891mg | Potassium: 439mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 450IU | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 2.1mg
Caramel Popcorn collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post:

Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!
Crispy, chewy, buttery, salty and sweet! What more could you ask for in a recipe? This Caramel Popcorn hits all the notes! With just a few ingredients you'll have the best, freshest, caramel corn you've ever tasted and you'll never go back to the bagged or microwaved variety again!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I am a huge fan of popcorn! When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it. I did! Delicious and so satisfying! Oh, Sabrina, you are bad for my waist line, lol!

  2. I was intrigued by the idea of homemade corn syrup — something I thought impossible for the home cook. Well, yes, you’ve given a recipe for strong simple syrup based on white granulated sugar, no form of corn

    There are differences between corn syrup and sugar syrup that can matter a lot in candy making and other purposes. Not a meaningful difference in caramel corn but it may be helpful for people to know that these sweeteners aren’t always interchangeable. Hope this isn’t too picky!

    I eagerly look forward to trying your caramel corn recipe. While I do have corn syrup for some reason, I’m going to do it your way and make that sugar syrup.

    THANK YOU FOR GREAT RECIPES!

  3. This is my family’s favorite caramel popcorn recipe, and the only one I use now. I asked a friend at work what she thought I should bring for birthday treats last week and this is what she immediately requested. Thanks so much for sharing it!

  4. So. Good. I have to be careful how often I make this….I could eat the whole bowl! Thanks for the recipe!

  5. I wish people would only post comments after they have made the recipe!!! Such a waste of time reading “I can’t wait to try”, Sounds delicious” Really?????

  6. So I tried to make this, followed directions exactly, but the caramel really didn’t spread well despite the oven cooking. Also, I noticed that the caramel itself had the wrong texture; almost grainy rather than smooth. Not sure if it should have been cooked longer? Taste was great though, and my coworkers ate it all up, but I was hoping to refine more before bagging for xmas gifts

    1. I’m glad everyone still loved it. Your caramel might have been grainy because the brown sugar wasn’t melted all the way. When it’s first melting, only stir enough to blend (don’t over stir as that causes crystallization). Once it begins to boil, then stir constantly. Hopefully this helps for your next batch. Happy holidays!

  7. This is probably a very dumb question…but do you salt and butter this popcorn before you add the caramel topping? Thanks!

  8. Substitute maple extract for or in addition to the vanilla.
    My very similar recipe came from the Boston Globe decades ago and calls for a pinch of cream of tartar along with the soda. I use a candy thermometer and remove from heat at 218 degrees.  I have been making this for decades. It never fails to please.

  9. I love caramel corn this recipe is so easy I made it last night already gone my boyfriend loved it

  10. I made this caramel popcorn and the cheddar popcorn in double batches for my husband to take to work on Valentine’s Day. It was a huge hit and he came home with not a crumb leftover (glad I saved some at home!). I shared links to your recipes with several people who wanted to make it for themselves.

  11. This recipe is so good! I just have a question about storage, what is the best way to store it and how long does it keep for?

    Thank you!

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I would recommend putting it in a metal tin and it should last for a few weeks if you don’t eat it all before then, lol!

  12. I just made 40 bags of party favors from this recipe and it came out perfectly. Some tips that I found. The popcorn needs to be warm before you coat them. I put the popcorn in the pre-heated oven while I was making the coating. I bought two large aluminium pans to coat and bake the popcorn. I noticed the last batch I did using a glass 9×13 came out the best. The bottom of the aluminum pans weren’t flat and the coating kept getting caught.

  13. I am trying this recipe today. There are so many recipes out there , the part that i m attracted to this recipe is homemade corn syrup.Will get back to you on how it turned out.

  14. I’ve never made homemade popcorn (but always wanted to) and I can’t believe how easy this looks. I’ll definitely be making this soon!

  15. I was just thinking of caramel popcorn a while ago and this what popped up when i opened you page. I need to try this!

  16. Those look better than Cracker Jacks, which are supposedly the best caramel popcorn. I think you can give them a run for their money!

  17. Caramel corn brings back some fun childhood memories. This recipe sounds delicious. I love that you can use microwave popcorn!

  18. This popcorn looks so delicious. I will have to try making some for movie night. I am sure everyone will love it.

  19. Oooh, I am a popcorn-freak and would love this recipe. There is just something about a good batch of popcorn 🙂 thanks for sharing

  20. I’ve been thinking of making caramel popcorn recently. I’m glad I saw this post! Going to be making this very soon. It looks so delicious!

  21. I cannot WAIT to try this!!! I am such a caramel corn fan. Do you remember KarmelKorn stores from the 80s?

  22. Ohmygosh! I’m loving this recipe and thinking of getting up right now and making some – love popcorn! Great job (and I’m going back to check out your Chicago Popcorn recipe, too)!

  23. I have never attempted to make caramel corn! I love it, but never really thought about making it. I might try this recipe it looks really good!

  24. Sounds easy enough to make for the kids! I prefer making my own snacks so this is a great recipe to keep on hand.