The Super Bowl is a big deal for us here in Denver this year. The Broncos haven’t been since John Elway was our quarterback back in 1999, but this year we have a great shot at winning. The whole city is “United in Orange” and incredibly excited to watch the game. I’m definitely looking forward to it. As a born and raised Texan, football is in my blood. The TV show Friday Night Lights really was my world back in High School (with maybe just a bit less drama). It was even filmed in my high school stadium! With game day just a few days away, I’ve been thinking about making some great football snacks to take to our friends’ party. One of my go-to snack staples is always kettle corn. With just 5 minutes on your stove top and 4 ingredients, you will love how easy it is to make this treat yourself! I’ve even jumped out of the box (or bag I suppose) with some brown sugar kettle corn and some cinnamon kettle corn as well.
All you need to make your own kettle corn is some popcorn, salt, sugar, and coconut oil. I used to make this kettle corn with canola oil, but have since fallen in love with coconut oil. I’m not sure I believe all of the supposed health benefits and properties that everyone loves to obsess over, but I do think it is a fairly heart-healthy oil that cooks up nicely and has a high smoke point. I also feel like the popcorn doesn’t burn as quickly as it does when I use canola oil, but maybe I’m just getting better at this with practice. Before you start in on this recipe, it is important to make sure you have everything measured and prepared because it’s going to happen quickly. Also, be sure to use caution as you will be working with hot oil. Please put on an apron to prevent oil splatters on your clothes and some good oven mitts (not pads) to protect your hands. Welding gloves are even better. 😉
If you’ve never worked with coconut oil before, you’ll notice that it’s usually a white solid straight out of the jar (see above). I love that I can just chisel some out with a spoon and plop it in my pan to heat up. I feel like I make less of a mess that way. (Am I the only one who makes a huge mess when cooking?) I found this giant jar at Costco, but you can find it in most grocery stores or health food stores these days. I hear the extra virgin organic kind is best, but you can research and make your own decision on that. You’ll also notice that the virgin coconut oil has a coconut scent when you melt it in the pan. It didn’t leave any coconut taste on the popcorn, but it did give my kitchen a nice coconut smell. Mmmmmmm.
When you put the oil in the pot, add in 3-4 popcorn kernels. They will pop when the oil is hot and ready for you to add more popcorn. I like to use an older non-stick pot with a glass lid for this recipe because I feel like the sugar comes off of it the easiest when I’m done. You can use a regular metal pot if you like or one of those fancy Whirly Pop pots (affiliate link) that has the stirring arms inside.
When your tester kernels pop, dump in the pre-measured sugar, popcorn kernels, and salt and give it a quick stir before covering with the lid. Using your thumbs to hold the lid closed, swirl the pot around to keep the kernels and sugar moving, but don’t lift it off the heat.
As the kernels start popping, keep swirling and occasionally lift the pot off the heat and shake vigorously to keep the popcorn from burning. The popcorn will reach a point where it starts to slow popping speed. When it’s about 1 second between pops, quickly lift the lid off the pot and dump it into your large, waiting bowl. Sprinkle salt over the top while it’s still warm, and stir with a spoon to distribute it.
Once you have the original kettle corn recipe down, there’s a lot you can do to change it up. The version above is actually cinnamon kettle corn. I’m a cinnamon addict, so I like to add it to a lot of different things. You don’t want to heat the cinnamon in the oil because it will become bitter, but you can sprinkle some cinnamon over the top while the kettle corn is cooling down and shake or stir to distribute it evenly.
My other favorite twist on kettle corn is making it with brown sugar. You end up with a lovely toasted molasses flavor to the finished kettle corn that I can’t seem to get enough of! It disappeared first when I brought the bowls out last night. It’s pretty simple too, just swap the white sugar for loosely packed dark brown sugar and add it in with the kernels. It seemed to burn a bit faster, so be sure to swirl it well.
Kettle Corn
- Prep Time: 1
- Cook Time: 4
- Total Time: 5
Description
A quick and salty-sweet kettle corn recipe. Make Original Kettle Corn, Brown Sugar Kettle Corn, or Cinnamon Kettle Corn in just 5 minutes!
Ingredients
For Basic Popcorn
- 1/4 cup Coconut Oil or Canola Oil
- 1/2 cup Yellow Popcorn Kernels
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (added after popping)
For Original Kettle Corn
- 1/4 C Coconut oil or Canola Oil
- 1/2 C Yellow Popcorn Kernels
- 1/3 C White Sugar
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (added after popping)
For Cinnamon Kettle Corn
- 1/4 C Coconut oil or Canola Oil
- 1/2 C Yellow Popcorn Kernels
- 1/3 C White Sugar
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (added after popping)
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon (added after popping)
For Brown Sugar “Caramel” Kettle Corn
- 1/4 C Coconut oil or Canola Oil
- 1/2 C Yellow Popcorn Kernels
- 4 Tablespoons White sugar
- 1.5 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (added after popping)
Other
- A large, 6-8 quart pot with handles and a tight-fitting lid
- Apron
- 2 oven mitts
- wooden spoon
Instructions
- Gather all materials and ingredients. Put on the apron to prevent oil splatters on clothing.
- Measure out popcorn kernels, sugar, and 3/4 tsp salt into a small bowl or cup. (leave sugar out for basic corn)
- 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, unpopped 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 the waiting bowl. (A partner to remove and hold the lid helps a lot for this step)
- Shake remaining 1/4 tsp salt (and cinnamon if adding) over the top of the warm kettle corn and stir to distribute evenly.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Bonus: Vegan and Gluten Free!
- So many people tout white popcorn as the best because it has thinner hulls. I personally find that the thinner hulls cut up my gums more than the yellow hulls and are harder to get unstuck from your teeth. Personal preference I suppose. You can use your personal favorite.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl? Serving anything special at your party?
P.S. I installed a new recipe archive plugin this week. Click on the recipes tab up top and pick a category to check it out!
Like this kettle corn recipe? You may also enjoy:
Microwave White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Toffee
Two Ingredient Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Prosciutto and Kettle Corn
Serves 6? Psh, that’s a lie if I ever heard one – it feeds 1. Me. 😀
I totally agree! The template doesn’t let me put down “6 servings that I eat by myself while lovingly glaring at my husband to make his own and keep out of my bowl.” I just get to input a number. It makes about 6 popcorn bowls full, so I picked that.
I so agree on the serving size!! I couldn’t wait to try the new variations so I made them both tonight. LOVE the cinnamon version and am planning to make a bunch for a road trip snack next week. 🙂 The brown sugar one turned out having a mild burnt taste in it… I probably had the too high as I swirled it almost constantly and took it off the heat with lots of unpopped kernels. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback Sarah! Molasses in general has a bit of a toasted flavor to it already, so it may have been that flavor that you’re tasting? Or maybe I just like slightly burned sugar. I wonder if light brown sugar might burn less for you?
We love popcorn in this house! I love caramel popcorn, but it’s tough to make sometimes. this looks much easier and much faster.
too late for the Super Bowl, but the Olympics will start soon and this is the perfect snack.
I love caramel popcorn too, but it can definitely get complicated. I was trying to make a shortcut version, and I think it turned out as a decent substitute.
I can’t believe the Olympics are already here! This is definitely a great snack for some evening watching.
I’ve always wanted to make my own kettle corn but never knew how to do it – I’m totally going to try this! My four boys LOVE popcorn, so thank you for these fun recipes! I’m featuring this on Saturday Night Fever tomorrow (Saturday) night at 6pm PST on my blog (Yummy Healthy Easy). Thank you for linking up!
Oh wow thanks for the feature! Love your party. 🙂
It’s definitely easier than you think, but do be prepared to burn your first batch as you get used to the stovetop method and the melting sugar. It takes a bit of practice to get it just right, but after you learn your stove and pot, you won’t be able to stop making it! The basic recipe is the easiest of the 4, then original and cinnamon kettle, then brown sugar is the trickiest. (I should probably put that in the post too.)
These are such fabulous looking recipes! Thanks for sharing the “how to” at Saturday Night Fever, Stephanie! (Pinning!!)
Thanks for the pin and for hosting such a lovely party!
I love kettle corn and making it at home wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought. We got a little addicted to it but have been off it for a little bit. I just thought about making it the other night but got as far as making four batches of regular popcorn on the stove which really tasted yummy. Maybe tonight will be the night 🙂 I can’t wait to try with brown sugar.
It is definitely addicting!! I’ve currently run out of popcorn kernels even though I bought a new jar last week to make this recipe. I hope you love it!
I had my husband make this the other night for me and it worked! Yummy caramel popcorn in a flash! This is now our fav snack recipe!
I’m glad you love it! One of my coworkers made some for her mother in law and said MIL was shoveling it in by the handful and wanted to know where she bought it! She couldn’t believe it was possible to make it yourself. Your comment reminds me that I should make some of this today. 🙂
i found a recipe for Sriracha brown sugar popcorn (http://www.macheesmo.com/brown-butter-sriracha-popcorn/#comment-321374). i just attempted to make these two recipes together but i dont have an air popper like the one suggests so i made the old fashioned way (in a covered pot) and basically did exactly as both recipes said but just added the sriracha to the brown sugar step. well there was a black layer of burnt something on the bottom of my pot (pot’s officially ruined i believe lol) at the end and popcorn tastes like plain dry kind of burnt popcorn with a hint of spicy. what did i do wrong?? is it the sriracha or brown sugar thats on the bottom of my pot? PLEASE help! I have got to make these combined recipes and try it ASAP now that i’ve discovered it lol
So I actually have my own sriracha kettle corn recipe here: http://www.sustainingthepowers.com/sriracha-kettle-corn/
When I was recipe testing, I found that the sriracha burned really quickly, so that black burnt layer is likely the sriracha. I typically add the sriracha just as everything starts to pop so it’s in there for the shortest amount of time possible. So I suggest trying my sriracha kettle corn recipe instead.
To clean your burnt layer off, I suggest a powder called Barkeepers Friend you can usually find in the grocery store cleaning aisle. It will make it look bright as new. 🙂
Thanks, I really appreciate the fast response and can’t wait to try it! Is there a reason you use white sugar and not brown (light)? I
I have a gas stove which seems to make the recommended heat level too high. I have a hard time popping the popcorn without lifting the lid to check how many kernels are left but then that seems to make it take longer. (I hope I’m making sense; my burners are powerful and I don’t want to burn the popcorn, that’s why i lift the lid). Sorry for any confusion & all the comments/questions but I’m hoping you know how it is when trying a recipe for the first time! lol
FYI: i put a very little bit of Dawn dish soap in the pot with water and boiled it for at least 10 minutes (+/- depending on how much/badly burnt) and whatever it was, lifted right off without any scrubbing! There was a tiny bit of residue left in the ‘bottom creases of the pan that would’ve come off with scrubbing, so i sprayed some Goof Off on it and let it sit for 1-3 minutes ad with some gentle scrubbing it came right off! I wanted to share because this is virtually free (I only used the goof off because i had it) and doesn’t require a lot of energy lol.
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!