Christmas Popcorn Crunch

by Sabrina Snyder

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Christmas Popcorn Crunch is an easy holiday snack recipe. Sweet and salty popcorn with white chocolate, pretzels, M&M candies, and sprinkles.

Christmas White Chocolate Snack Mix gets a salty, crunchy popcorn twist in this sweet and festive Candy Recipe. Perfect for holiday gifting!

Christmas Popcorn Crunch in Bowl with hand holding portion

CHRISTMAS POPCORN CRUNCH

It’s easy to get to the top of Santa’s nice list with this festive holiday treat! Also known as Santa Munch, all you need to make this tasty Christmas Popcorn Crunch is some popped buttery popcorn, white chocolate chips, M&M candies, pretzels, and sprinkles. It’s ready in minutes and lasts for weeks, so it’s the perfect sweet to enjoy all holiday season long.

Christmas Popcorn Crunch can be made with fresh popped popcorn or you can used bagged popcorn to save a step. If you are swapping in pre-made bagged popcorn, try Kettle Corn for an extra sweet treat, or use Cheddar Popcorn for a savory, salty layer of flavor. You can make homemade fresh popcorn (we have instructions below!) or use microwave popcorn. No matter what type of popcorn you are using, make sure you sift out any unpopped popcorn kernels.

Christmas Popcorn Crunch ingredients in separate Bowls

Kids of most ages can join in the fun to help make this Christmas Popcorn Crunch. To prevent burns, make sure fresh popcorn is completely cooled before using. Always use oven mitts to handle the hot bowl to pour melted chocolate. A long handled wooden spoon is perfect for small helpers to stir everything together. White chocolate doesn’t set super quickly, so there is time to let it cool slightly before spreading onto the baking sheet.

Christmas Popcorn Crunch ingredients in Bowl not mixed

This sweet and salty snack mix is great for holiday parties or for edible holiday gifts. Once you have made a big batch and let it set, break it apart and place in treat bags. Make this treat year-round for any special occasion, just swap out the candies and festive cellophane bags. Try red and blue candy pieces for the Fourth of July or make rainbow Funfetti popcorn crunch mix for birthdays!

MORE HOLIDAY CANDY RECIPES

Christmas Popcorn Crunch ingredients in Bowl with white chocolate drizzle on top

VARIATIONS ON CHRISTMAS POPCORN CRUNCH

  • Chocolate Chips: The white chocolate lets the festive sweets in this holiday popcorn snack mix stand out, but you can always use dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or other baking chips for different flavors.
  • Candy Melts: Instead of white chocolate chips, you can use vanilla almond bark, or white chocolate candy melts. For a more festive look, use colored candy melts to drizzle over the prepared Christmas Popcorn Crunch.
  • Christmas Candies: Other festive sweets to mix-in are crushed candy canes, peppermint M&Ms, or other small red and green candy.
  • Valentine’s Popcorn Crunch: For Valentine’s Day, make this sweet treat with mini cinnamon heart candy and use red and pink sprinkles!
  • More Mix-ins: Try adding other snack mix-ins like mini marshmallows, Reese’s Pieces, crushed Oreo cookies, chopped nuts, or dried fruit. You can add up to about 1 cup total extra mix-ins before you made need more melted white chocolate.

Christmas Popcorn Crunch on sheet pan

Easy Stove Top Popcorn Recipe

In a large, heavy bottom pot, add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (or olive oil) and 2 unpopped kernels. Heat, covered, over medium high heat until kernels have popped, then add ¼ cup popcorn kernels. Shake kernels until covered in oil and cover pot. Shake occasionally while popcorn pops. Once there is a 2-3 second gap between pops, your popcorn is ready.

MORE WHITE CHOCOLATE BARK RECIPES

Christmas Popcorn Crunch in Bowl top view

HOW TO STORE CHRISTMAS POPCORN CRUNCH

  • Serve: Let Christmas Popcorn Crunch cool completely so white chocolate is set. Once set, break crunch mix into pieces and keep in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
  • Store: Store Christmas Popcorn Crunch in the refrigerator for up to 1 month in a sealed plastic bag or airtight container. Bring to room temperature to serve.
  • Freeze: Once cooled and set, transfer Christmas Popcorn Crunch pieces to a freezer safe storage bag and squeeze out any air. Freeze for up to 6 months and thaw at room temperature to serve.

Christmas Popcorn Crunch in Bowl

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Dinner, then Dessert

Christmas Popcorn Crunch

Christmas Popcorn Crunch is an easy holiday snack recipe. Sweet and salty popcorn with white chocolate, pretzels, M&M candies, and sprinkles.
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Candy
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Christmas Popcorn Crunch in Bowl
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 9 cups popped popcorn
  • 12 ounces White Chocolate Chips
  • 2 cups mini pretzels
  • 1 cup green and red M&M candies
  • 1/4 cup green and red sprinkles , jimmies

Instructions

  • Melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments until fully melted.
  • Drizzle most of the white chocolate over popped popcorn and mini pretzels in a large bowl.
  • Add in M&M candies and toss.
  • Spread onto 2 baking sheets lined with wax paper as spread apart as possible to avoid large clumps.
  • Drizzle the remaining white chocolate on top of the popcorn and sprinkle on the green and red jimmies
  • Let set then break apart gently.

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 103mg | Potassium: 63mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 32IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Christmas Popcorn Crunch

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Christmas Popcorn Crunch in Bowl collage

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 upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being 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.

See more posts by Sabrina

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. So good! This was really easy to make, it looked great, it tasted awesome and it was a total hit. I am looking forward to changing this up with different seasonal M&Ms. Next year I will make it and put it in smaller bags to give as gifts.

    Reply