Honey Caramel Corn – A Fun and Easy Family Treat
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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.
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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).
Don’t forget to check out more of our made from scratch recipes, such as:
- Honey-Sweetened Lemonade
- 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.
Which thing isn’t working?
Caramel popcorn. Thanks for the giveaway!
Love some caramel popcorn!
Now I’m hungry! That caramel corn looks yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
My mom used to make the BEST caramel popcorn balls to hand out at Halloween… It was a big deal and meant bringing out the biggest ceramic salad bowl for tossing the syrup with the popcorn. Her recipe is long gone as is she, but I still like caramel popcorn, and I’ll be trying this recipe for sure! Thanks!
I remember the Cracker Jack and like you, haven’t had it in years simply because it doesn’t taste anywhere like it used to. And, because I’m really trying to eat better, I –who don’t like to cook anyway– am trying to juice more often than not and so far I haven’t really made a juice I didn’t like. But, my favorites are proving to be those that include beets, cucumber and celery.
Have tried (successfully) many of your recipes. Thanks for sharing the Honey Caramel popcorn recipe. Will make some for my family when we’re housebound due to cold wintry weather (like today). Again, thanks for sharing and for the giveaways!
During this time of year my favorite recipe that my wife makes is her Pumpkin Crisp desert casserole. It’s the best ever!
I am eager to try your honey caramel corn. It looks delicious!
Nothing I like more than regular buttered popcorn is Caramel Popcorn. I hope I win. I love Cast Iron.
Yeah just saw caramel corn at costco didn’t buy, said I was going to make some!
I really enjoy there tips and hints!
Every year for Halloween my mother would make popcorn balls to give out to trick-o-treaters. We would make the popcorn into balls and wrap them with clear plastic wrap and tie the ends with curling ribbon. You can’t hand them out to the public but they are great for a party! My mother used a recipe with corn syrup from I think the Fanny Farmer Cookbook.
Thanks so much. I live your magazine!
My grandma made THE BEST raisin pie. I haven’t received the “secret” ingredients yet. My mom says she’ll pass it along when she is called to Heaven. In the mean time, heaven here on earth with raisin pie and my Mama!
Caramel Corn is super delicious, my favorite recipe.
Thanks for the Cast Iron Giveaway. I can see it now, Honey Caramel Popcorn balls in the Christmas stockings.
My favorite recipe (this week anyway) is anything with green tomatoes. OneHundredDollarsAMonth has a canning recipe for Green Tomato Curry Sauce that is yummy, yummy, yummy. Here’s a link:
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/canning-101-green-tomato-curry-sauce/
~Anne
Potato Moussaka from the Global Table Adventure blog: http://globaltableadventure.com/2013/01/18/recipe-potato-musaka/
Can’t wait to try the Honey Caramel Corn recipe!
My two favorite oven baked cast iron recipes are for sweet corn bread and my mom’s amazing tamale pie.