This caramel-and-peanut-flavored popcorn recipe is remarkably similar to the original. It is really simple to create at home and makes wonderful presents! Reduce the popped popcorn to 10 cups if you want a thicker layer of caramel on top.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Servings: | 11 |
| Yield: | 11 servings |
Ingredients
- 11 cups popped popcorn
- 1 cup Spanish peanuts
- 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- ¼ cup dark corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
- Spread popcorn in the bottom of a large, deep roasting pan. Sprinkle peanuts over the popcorn.
- Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt together in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar and butter are melted and sauce is thick and caramelized, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour caramel sauce over the popcorn and peanuts and stir to coat popcorn and peanuts completely, scooping any peanuts and caramel that fall to the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until caramel and popcorn are crisped, about 45 minutes. Turn popcorn out in a single layer on a sheet of parchment paper to cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 349 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 37 g |
| Cholesterol | 28 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 314 mg |
| Sugars | 26 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
kinda salty, not really Cracker Jacks but a good caramel corn recipe
Loved this recipe- thank you for sharing – it truly is a home run
This is so good, my family goes crazy for it. I also add some cinnamon for a little creative touch.
Great! I only had light brown sugar so I added a couple tablespoons of molasses, as other reviewers did. I used microwave popcorn and only made a half recipe. Not a perfect clone but I will make it again.
I use this recipe often. It is wonderful as written. I don’t use popcorn, I use 2 bags (about 3- 3.5 oz. each) of buttery puffcorn. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is popcorn without the hulls. This stuff is so addicting!
Just like the Original
I added molasses to the recipe and doubled the peanuts!
It is a great recipe I have used many times. I prefer light corn syrup over dark .
This was easy to make. It took about a hour from start to finish including cooling time. My next batch will be experimenting with different flavoring.
My FIL is big fan of cracker jacks and this year I’ve made some for him for Father’s Day. Can’t wait for him to try! shhh I sampled some and it’s yummy.
As good, if not better than original packaged Cracker Jacks!!
I have made three batches already, mostly for parties. Great taste, very easy to make, and everybody who tries it goes back for more! I tried it with light brown sugar and molasses in one batch (very nice indeed). I also tried a batch with honey in place of the molasses, and that was good, too. This is now my go-to treat for get-togethers!
Easy and excellent! I added a few more peanuts for my personal taste.
Delicious! Alterations based on what I had on hand…. One stick of butter (8Tbsp) was perfect. Used organic pure cane sugar, light corn syrup and added 2 Tbsp robust molasses. Also dry roasted Planters peanuts. Will definitely make this way again!
QUick, easy, and delicious! Have made it several times.
LOve love love this
Not good at all.
These are better than the original cracker jacks! I only had light brown sugar and light corn syrup on hand, so I used them and added about two tablespoons of molasses. I used regular peanuts too since that was what was in the pantry. So so good!
I tried this and it was very delicious. It was fast and easy, It will be on my favorites for sure!
Made this for Christmas but forgot to take a photo. So I made it for New Year’s Eve. So very easy, but when using a dark pan top shelf of oven and take it out first.
For Christmas at work I made this recipe into popcorn balls (using a little less popcorn, so they would coat & stick together well). This was soooo easy to make, even in bulk batches. Thanks for sharing it!