Harvest Caramel Corn
Harvest Caramel Corn is a great Fall treat or Thanksgiving dessert the features salty popcorn, creamy caramel, and sweet chocolate. So very delicious and easy to make!
Nancy and I created a holiday-themed popcorn for Halloween called Candy Corn Popcorn. It was delicious and we loved the way it turned out. It was so good we decided to try to come up with something to celebrate Fall and Thanksgiving. We went a different route and made caramel popcorn this time. This Harvest Caramel Corn turned out great! This is the best sweet version of popcorn we have ever made. Salty popcorn, sweet creamy caramel, and the extra chocolate from the Rolo’s and M&M’s – so very yummy! And easy to make too. This is a great Fall snack and will look gorgeous on your Thanksgiving Dessert Table. Two Sisters Thumbs way up on this one!
Ingredients You Will Need
How to Prepare the Popcorn
Step 1: You will need 10 cups of popcorn. We pop our popcorn on the stove (you can find our directions on How to Make Perfect Popcorn here) but you can use air-popped or microwave.
Step 2: After the popcorn is popped, make sure to remove all of the un-popped kernels. You don’t want to bite down on one of those!
Step 3: Once you have made the popcorn, salt it liberally. It is so nice to taste the salty popcorn with the sweet marshmallow coating. Not quite like Kettle Corn but close.
How to Make the Caramel Mixture
Step 4: Melt 1 cup of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
Step 5: Add 1 cup of light brown sugar.
Step 6: Stir until thoroughly mixed with the melted butter.
Step 7: Stirring continuously, bring the butter and sugar mixture up to a low boil. When it reaches a boil allow it to cook for 4 minutes without stirring.
Steps 8-9: After boiling for 4 minutes, add the vanilla and stir for one more minute.
Step 10: Take the caramel mixture off the heat and immediately add the baking soda.
Step 11: Stire the mixture. This will cause the caramel to change colors and foam up a bit. This is the chemical reaction that you want. The bubbling effect of the baking soda will aerate the caramel and make it lighter and smoother and therefore easier to coat the popcorn.
Assembling the Caramel Corn
Step 12 & 13: Slowly pour about a third of the caramel mixture over the salted popcorn.
Step 12: Gently fold the mixture in with the popcorn. Continue to add the caramel mixture a bit at a time, stirring between each addition.
Step 13: The popcorn should be completely covered in the warm caramel corn mixture.
Candy Mix-in’s
Step 16: Here is the candy that we added to our Harvest Caramel Corn. We added Rolo candy, Pretzel M&M’s (Brown, Yellow, Red, and Orange), and Regular sized M&M’s (Brown, Yellow, Red, and Orange).
Step 17: Pour the popcorn out onto a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil or a Silpat liner.
Step 18: Let the popcorn cool and then sprinkle with your candy mix-ins. Now your super delicious Harvest Caramel Corn is ready to serve!
Expert Tips and FAQ’s
We make our popcorn from scratch on the stove – nothing is better than that in our opinion. You can find all the tips and tricks you need to make the perfect popcorn right here. You can also use Microwave popcorn but you should use a type that has no butter flavoring added.
The contrast of sweet and salty in this popcorn recipe is super yummy. To get that combination you should lean towards over-salting the popcorn. We try to salt the popcorn as soon as it comes out of the pan so that salt sticks to the hot popcorn.
Our family loves this popcorn so it has never lasted longer than a day at our house. This popcorn definitely tastes the best right after it is made but will keep for a few days in an airtight container. The popcorn is a little chewier the next day because the popcorn absorbs some of the moisture from the marshmallow mixture but it still tastes good.
Other Fall Dessert Recipes You Will Love
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Harvest Caramel Corn
Harvest Caramel Corn is a great Fall treat or Thanksgiving dessert the features salty popcorn, creamy caramel and sweet chocolate. So very delicious and easy to make!
Ingredients
- 10 cups of Popped Popcorn
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 cup Butter (Sweet Cream Salted)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- Mini Rolos or Regular Rolos
- M&M Candy (Brown, Yellow, Red, Orange
- Pretzel M&M's (Brown, Yellow, Red, Orange)
Instructions
- You will need 10 cups of popcorn. We pop our popcorn on the stove (you can find our directions on How to Make Perfect Popcorn here) but you can use air-popped or microwave.
- After the popcorn is popped, make sure to remove all of the un-popped kernels. You don’t want to bite down on one of those!
- Once you have made the popcorn, salt it liberally. It is so nice to taste the salty popcorn with the sweet marshmallow coating. Not quite like Kettle Corn but close.
- Melt 1 cup of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add 1 cup of light brown sugar.
- Stir until thoroughly mixed with the melted butter.
- Stirring continuously, bring the butter and sugar mixture up to a low boil. When it reaches a boil allow it to cook for 4 minutes without stirring.
- After boiling for 4 minutes, add the vanilla and stir for one more minute.
- Take the caramel mixture off the heat and immediately add the baking soda.
- Stir the mixture. This will cause the caramel to change colors and foam up a bit. This is the chemical reaction that you want. The bubbling effect of the baking soda will aerate the caramel and make it lighter and smoother and therefore easier to coat the popcorn.
- Slowly pour about a third of the caramel mixture over the salted popcorn.
- Gently fold the mixture in with the popcorn. Continue to add the caramel mixture a bit at a time, stirring between each addition.
- The popcorn should be completely covered in the warm caramel corn mixture.
- Here is the candy that we added to our Harvest Caramel Corn. We added Rolo candy, Pretzel M&M’s (Brown, Yellow, Red, and Orange), and Regular sized M&M's (Brown, Yellow, Red, and Orange).
- Pour the popcorn out onto a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil or a Silpat liner.
- Let the popcorn cool and then sprinkle with your candy mix-ins. Now your super delicious Harvest Caramel Corn is ready to serve!
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
Just tried making this tonight. I realized that I was supposed to melt the “caramel” mixture more, as mine turned out sort of lumpy and thick. Oops! The boyfriend tried it and said it was tasty, so that’s a plus at least! I am still new to cooking/baking new things!
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make it?
Hi! It is best the day that you make it but will keep up to a week if you store it in an airtight container.
I cant find mini rolls, can I use something else?
Hi Cheryl – we made this a couple weeks ago and couldn’t find Mini Rollos either 🙁 But we used regular Rollos and it was just as delicious!
Ok my husband loved this but i used dark brown sugar and I don’t think the caramel turned out well. What kind of brown sugar did you use?
Hi Kerri – I use Light Brown Sugar. I’m going to change the recipe to reflect that. Thanks!
Can it be made without vanilla???
Hi Kelly, yes it can be made without vanilla.
Have you ever made it into popcorn balls?
Hi Shannon, we have not made them into popcorn balls. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.
I’m going to try this for a BBQ with red and white M&Ms how advance can I make this?
As most things, it tastes best the day you make it but we have definitely made it and stored it for a couple of days. Still tastes good!
Can you double this or should I cook the caramel mixture in two separate batches? I think I’m going to need a lot!
Hi Peggy – Sure, that should work.
Can I store the caramel and reheat a couple days later?
Hi, Jeanine. We’ve never done this before but I think it should work. If you do it, we’d love to know how it goes. Good luck!
Sounds yummy! Can you put in treat bags to give out as gifts?
What a great idea!!!
My kids are super excited about making this. They are requesting that I add candy corn to it to put this over the top. This one’s being added to my “to do” list this week! I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Hi Heidi – Thanks for stopping by .. your kids had a great idea. I think you’re going to love the addition of the Candy Corn. We tried a version like that too a few weeks ago for a new Halloween post … it will go live next week. It is very yummy!!!
Just made a batch of this and was very simple and oh so good. The chocolate however did melt a little but nothing you couldn’t handle and you couldn’t really tell. I definitely will be making this again come fall and even winter because you can mix it up.
Hi Samatha, we are so glad you liked the recipe!!
How do you store this. In the fridge or on the counter. I made it it is absolutely delicious and leaving out till grandkids come. 3-4days. Is this ok
We are so glad you liked the popcorn. We stored it in an airtight container on the counter. 3-4 days should be fine. You’ll find that it will get chewier the longer it sits.
without baking it in the caramel popcorn in the oven, isn’t it soggy and over sticky.? I really love the idea of this recipe, because I hate stirring the caramel corn every 10 minutes while it bakes.
Hi Nadine – Thanks for checking out our recipe. No, it doesn’t get sticky at all. As the caramel mixture cools on the popcorn, it hardens up a bit. That’s why we love this recipe so much too!
How can I get a printable version of this recipe?
Wouldn’t the chocolate melt?
The caramel mixture cools pretty quickly but even when it is still warm, I haven’t noticed any melting of the chocolate.
I’ve been looking for an easy recipe with ingredients that I just have in the cupboard & THIS IS IT!! So yummy & we didn’t add any chocolates or mms!! Thanks so much all the way from New Zealand
How long will this keep?
Hi Amy, we usually make this the day of (or the night before). It will probably keep for a couple of days in an air tight container, but much more than that and I think you run the risk of the popcorn getting stale.
In the list of ingredients it states baking powder….then later it states baking soda. I went off the list of ingredients and I think the baking soda would have work better.
It is Baking Soda. I’m so sorry but thank you for telling us about that. I mistyped in the ingredient list – it is definitely Baking Soda! Sorry!