Quick and delicious, this Rainbow Stove-top Kettle Corn is great for dressing up any party.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s (or Galentine’s) Day! We spent ours with some great friends watching the most epic episode of The Walking Dead that I think they’ve ever had! I’m not going to spoiler anything, but if you’re a fan of the show, you will LOVE it! We also made some super epic “Bob”-BQ Ribs in the slow cooker. I can’t wait to share that recipe with you next week!
It was a bit slow around here for the last couple weeks. I’ve been busy busy with web design work, and last Sunday we were watching our Broncos win the Super Bowl rather than blogging a new recipe. (Hopefully you’ll forgive me!) We also started some new infertility treatments, so that has had me feeling crazy hormonal and all over the map with food aversions and cravings. I couldn’t even look at anything that wasn’t carbs, cheese or sugar at all last week. So, today’s recipe is the result of a week of pretty much just carbs and sugar – Rainbow Kettle Corn!!
We made kettle corn in green, gold, and purple for a Mardi Gras party as an experiment last weekend and it was such a huge hit that we made a double batch in Orange and Blue for the Big Game. I can see this becoming our go-to for parties – the colors end up so vibrant, and because the sugar is what is dyed, it didn’t rub off on our hands, and it didn’t really turn mouths into funny colors either. It would be adorable in pinks and purples for a princess party, or a few shades of blues and white for a Frozen party, rainbow for a rainbow party, Easter colors for Easter, green for St. Patty’s Day – so many different excuses to jazz up a party table or thank you gift! Plus you can’t beat the deliciousness of my stove-top kettle corn! Enjoy!
Rainbow Stove-top Kettle Corn
- Total Time: 10
Ingredients
- 1/4 C Coconut oil (recommended) or Canola Oil
- 1/2 C Yellow Popcorn Kernels
- 1/3 C White Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (added after popping)
For Color
- 60 drops (3/4 tsp) food coloring in your desired color
- Purple = 45 drops Red + 15 drops Blue
- Orange = 20 drops Red + 40 drops Yellow
- Navy = 50 drops Blue + 10 drops Black
Other
- A large, 6-8 quart pot with handles and a tight-fitting lid or Whirley Pop popper
- Apron
- 2 oven mitts
- wooden spoon
Instructions
- Gather all other materials and ingredients.
- Put on the apron to prevent oil splatters on clothing. (trust me)
- Measure out popcorn kernels, sugar, food coloring, and 1/2 tsp salt into a small bowl or cup. It’s best to drop the food coloring gently into the sugar to avoid staining and splashing.
If using a stove-top pot
- Measure out coconut oil and heat in the pot over medium-high heat along with 3 tester kernels. Cover with a lid.
- Put on oven mitts. When tester kernels have popped, remove lid, dump in the sugar, food color, un-popped kernels, and salt from the bowl and give it a quick stir. Cover with lid.
- Using thumbs to secure the lid, occasionally swirl pot over heat to keep sugar from burning.
- As popcorn begins popping, pick the pot up and give it a quick shake every few seconds until popping begins to slow. About 3-4 minutes.
- Once popping has slowed to 1 second between pops, remove from heat and dump it quickly into a large bowl. (A partner to remove and hold the lid helps a lot for this step)
- Add remaining 1/4 tsp salt over the top.
If using a Whirley Pop
- Add the coconut oil, sugar, food color, unpopped kernels, and salt to the whirley pop.
- Put on oven mitts.
- Heat over medium high heat while cranking the handle slowly.
- Once popping has slowed to 1 second between pops, remove from heat and dump it quickly into a large bowl.
- Add remaining 1/4 tsp salt over the top.
- Serve immediately.
- Makes 6 cups (but that’s probably just 1 serving.)
Notes
- When making batches with many different popcorn colors, I cut each batch in half so I didn’t have way too much popcorn.
- Gluten-free: This is gluten-free!
- Vegetarian/Vegan: This is vegan!
I made this and I absolutely loved it. The only reason why I gave it 4 stars is because 1/3 of a cup of sugar is far too much for my family. I used about half of that and it was perfect kettle corn. It’s a great recipe and it’s very simple. We will definitely make it many times over.