Our old fashioned Honey Caramel Corn Recipe is light, buttery and delicious! This snack is great for gatherings or an anytime treat.
When I was a little girl, one of the treats my Grandma Catherine would buy me was CrackerJacks™ caramel corn. I had a collection of all the little toys they put inside the boxes, from mini-holographic photos to magnifying spyglasses. I enjoyed that sweet, crispy buttery caramel corn, but haven’t purchased it in years because they use ingredients that we try to avoid, like genetically modified soy and corn.
My friend, Shannon, mentioned that her family always made a delicious honey caramel corn recipe for the holiday season. She messaged me a copy of a handwritten list of ingredients, saying that she remembered they used a thermometer but didn’t remember cooking details. A little online digging revealed a recipe that sounded similar, so I married the two together and came up with a recipe that reminds me of grandma and the way things used to taste.
Honey Caramel Corn Recipe
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar or sucanat
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (homemade extract is great if you have it)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 quarts popped popcorn
Directions
Melt butter in large saucepan or cast iron skillet; stir in sugar, honey and salt.
Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; boil without stirring about three minutes to 265°F (130°C – hard ball stage). Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract and soda. When you add the soda, the color will get lighter and the mixture will get more bubbly.
Place popcorn in large oven-safe bowl; slowly pour syrup over popcorn while stirring.
Turn onto greased or reusable parchment paper covered baking sheet. Bake at 250°F (120°C) for 45 minutes; stir every 15 minutes. Cool. Break into serving-sized pieces. Store in airtight container. Makes four quarts (eight servings of two cups each). You can make a bigger batch of honey caramel popcorn and pile it up in a Dutch oven for an attractive, rustic centerpiece on the serving table.
PrintHoney Caramel Corn
Old fashioned honey caramel corn is light and crispy, buttery and not too sweet.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 cups 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stovetop cooking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar or sucanat
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 quarts popped popcorn
Instructions
- Melt butter in large saucepan or cast iron skillet; stir in sugar, honey and salt.
- Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium; boil without stirring about three minutes to 265°F (130°C – hard ball stage).
- Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract and soda.
- Place popcorn in large oven-safe bowl; slowly pour syrup over popcorn while stirring.
- Turn onto greased or reusable parchment paper covered 15-1/4×10-1/4×1/4-inch baking pan.
- Bake at 250°F (120°C) for 45 minutes; stir every 15 minutes.
- Cool. Break into serving-sized pieces. Store in airtight container. Makes four quarts (eight servings of two cups each).
Keywords: old fashioned, caramel corn, honey caramel corn
Don’t forget to check out more of our made from scratch recipes, such as:
Chocolate Chestnut Brownies – Gluten Free and Honey Sweetened
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars – Sweetened with Honey
P.S. – I’d love to hear your stories about family favorite recipes or recipes you remember from childhood. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
Originally posted in 2014, updated in 2018.
