For silky caramel corn that disappears before your eyes, try this recipe for popcorn! Serve it at gatherings or during the holiday season, or package some up as presents. I’m positive you’ll enjoy this simple recipe.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 40 |
| Yield: | 10 quarts |
Ingredients
- 3 (3.5 ounce) packages microwave popcorn, popped
- 2 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1 cup butter
- 1 (5 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Place popcorn into a large bowl. Shake the bowl and toss gently until unpopped kernels sink to the bottom. Discard unpopped kernels.
- Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches the soft-crack stage. To test, the temperature should be between 270 to 290 degrees F (132 to 143 degrees C) and a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water should form hard but pliable threads.
- Remove from the heat. Carefully pour condensed milk into the saucepan and stir until smooth.
- Pour 1/4 of the caramel at a time over popcorn, stirring well after each addition.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 159 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 25 g |
| Cholesterol | 13 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 111 mg |
| Sugars | 16 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I followed the recipe. But my caramel burnt and cooled hard. I started it on med heat then went between med/high like it says. Im disappointed.
This recipe is quick and easy. The caramel is delicious!
Excellent recipe – was so easy to make and came out just as described. The caramel stays soft and chewy. Very yummy!
I didn’t have a candy thermometer, so I used the instructions from another recipe and brought the butter, sugar and syrup to a full boil and then reduced heat to low for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Then remove from heat and add last three ingredients. Also, did not use microwave popcorn but instead about 1 1/2 cups unpopped kernels. This makes a large amount, two large bowls full. If you’re air popping, it takes two batches.
I added the full can of condensed milk by accident, but it was completely divine! We loved it! I also used an air popper since I did not have any microwavable popcorn packets. This is now my go to recipe!
I only took the temp to 250 as my candy thermometer called that ‘soft ball’ and I wanted soft chewy caramel corn. Totally worth the time!!! Oh, the three bags of microwave popcorn translates to 1 1/2 cups of ‘Old School’ popped popcorn.
Fantastic! I wanted something I could make ahead and divide into individual portions for my son’s kindergarten Christmas cookie exchange when we got a last-minute notification that the treats needed to be gluten-free (!). I didn’t want anything that would turn into concrete. Here’s what I did: Cooked my popcorn in a popcorn maker – for this recipe I used two big batches of popcorn (1/2c kernels each batch) and still had some leftover caramel sauce! At the end I made an extra 1/4 cup kernels and used the rest of the sauce for us. 🙂 I cooked the caramel just to softball stage, which happened much more quickly than I expected on medium heat. I have a candy thermometer and it was just over 200F. I was a bit concerned because when I took it off the heat, there were obvious butter globules that hadn’t incorporated. However when I stirred in the condensed milk (1/2 of a 300ml can) they incorporated beautifully. I also added 2 tsp of vanilla at this point. I separated the popcorn into 4 bowls and salted it lightly. I had used salted butter so I didn’t want to overdo it. One at a time, I put a batch of popcorn in a large metal bowl and poured on caramel sauce until it looked right. Didn’t want to be stingy! I used about 3 ladle scoops for each batch. Then, I spread it out thinly on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Each batch was perfect for a cookie sheet. Then I started with the next batch, etc. It didn’t take very long at all. We ate “our” portion (the leftover sauce with popcorn ma
So yummy and easy. Just make sure you have a massive bowl, for how much this makes. I mixed small batches in smaller bowl then dumped into my really big bowl. IMPORTANT: – note 5 ounces is 150ml for Canadians, so 5 tbsps. – if you make popcorn from scratch 2 cups of popcorn. Also adding some sea salt after goes really well with it.
This is just like the soft caramel popcorn they sell at our local drive-in movie theatre, it’s so yummy!! I like to make it around the holidays as teacher presents.
I made this for the gaggle of nieces & nephews along with my kids and the ones I baby sit. About 12 children in all. I halved the recipe and used air popped popcorn. I Salted the popcorn but did not butter it at all. I tried to follow the recipe but ended up being a tad short on corn syrup but it still turned out very yummy. I also added about a teaspoon of vanilla and a fourth of a tsp of baking soda at the very end of the caramel mixture. Otherwise I followed the recipe. this turned out very yummy and the kids ate the huge bowl that it made. I still think it might have been a tad too much caramel for my tastes but the kiddos all devoured it. I have had a very hard time in the past finding a good caramel popcorn recipe. This is now my go-to!
this was so good! as soft as advertised!!
This caramel corn is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!! I did half the caramel because the original was just too much and I also added 1/2 a tsp of vanilla at the end. Best Caramel Corn I’ve Ever Had!!!!
This recipe is so easy and the caramel popcorn is soft just the way I like it!
Very good I made enough for a 120 people for our party on Mothers day. It was a wonderful treat at the end of a great day. For all 6 of us! 🙂
WOW! This recipe is amazing! We just loved it! It was really easy (and quick) to make and provided enough popcorn that our family of 7 had leftovers! It was sweet, soft and gooey…just the way caramel popcorn should be! Thank you!
I really enjoyed this recipe too. I made a variation of this recipe that works very well too. Like W.E. the Cook, I make my popcorn outside of the microwave. For my family, we pop 1 cup of unpopped popcorn. Since I was low on corn syrup, I used honey. It turned out very tasty. I also did not realize the can was 14 oz of sweetened condensed milk. It was still a hit in my home.
This is a great recipe but don’t cook so long. Just to soft ball stage. I made the popcorn in my air popper, and added about a teaspoon of salt. Soft and chewy, not crunchy. Make sure you look at the ounces on your can of milk. Mine was 14 oz, so I had to use about 1/2 the can.
My husband and I stumbled across this recipe about two years ago and it has become a huge favorite for us. We make a point to always have the ingredients on hand and I can bribe to do just about anything with the promise of this wonderful treat! Make sure to read the carefully- if you use too much sweetened condensed milk it won’t turn out right. It’s not an exact science- we eyeball from the can and sometimes use a little extra because we like the caramel pretty soft. We also don’t use a thermometer- the first time or two use the water trick, after that we are able to just tell by how long it had cooked and how it looked. This is a very easy recipe- just follow it closely and enjoy!
This is an excellent recipe. After reading the reviews I made sure I read through the ingredient list and the directions before I stared cooking. I added some pecans to half the batch. This recipe is a keeper!
Flavor is bang on! My only problem was my bags of popcorn were 2.75oz not 3.5oz so I popped an extra bag just to use up the Caramel I had left. I wish I had thought of it sooner I would have just used it for dipping apples in. The softness of it makes it perfect for popcorn balls and that what I ended up doing with the remaining caramel corn. I would like the pieces of corn to be more individual then all glued together when eating it from bowl but all in all it was goood.
I’ve made this a few times now and it’s so yummy! The only thing I add is a good tablespoon or two of vanilla(depends on how much I have on hand). The vanilla really rounds it out! This is so worth the effort and a bonus..NO baking!!