{4th of July} Caramel Corn
Easy Homemade Caramel Corn that's sweet, chewy, crunchy and all decorated in red, white, and blue for Memorial Day and 4th of July. It's the most delicious and fun caramel popcorn recipe!
Servings: 17 cups
Ingredients
- 17 cups stovetop popcorn
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- red and royal blue food coloring (see note)
Instructions
- First, make some stovetop popcorn (or store-bought is fine.) Divide 14 cups of the popcorn evenly among two large bowls. Set the other 3 cups aside.
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Spray 2, 9×13 pans with cooking spray.
- In a medium pot, melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously with a silicon spatula. Continue to gently boil and stir for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
- Divide the caramel between two medium bowls, add red food coloring to one, blue food coloring to the other until you reach the desired shades.
- Working fast before the caramel hardens, pour one bowl of colored caramel over one bowl of popcorn. Toss to coat. Repeat with the other bowl of colored caramel and bowl of popcorn.
- Transfer popcorn to the prepared pans; place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, rotating pans and stirring each pan with a spatula (coated with cooking spray) every 15 minutes.
- Cool completely.
- Combine red caramel popcorn, blue caramel popcorn, and the remaining 3 cups plain popcorn in a very large bowl; toss to combine.
- Enjoy in a big bowl, individual bowls, or wrap in cellophane bag with a ribbon.
- {NOTE: We used Wilton Icing Colors Food Gel "Red- No Taste" and "Royal Blue" for this recipe.}
Nutrition
Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 44mg | Potassium: 65mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 272IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg