Homemade caramel corn is a snap to make and by doing it yourself, you can keep the ingredients high quality. This is a family recipe from the ’70s that I adapted to eliminate corn syrup. Regular brown sugar works great but sometimes I like using a specialty sugar like India Tree’s Light Muscovado for its uniquely delicious flavor.
caramel corn close-up
From the RiPE archives February 2008, updated photo 2025
Caramel Corn
makes 16 cups
Ingredients
- 4 quarts popped corn (discard any unpopped kernels) a big crock or Dutch oven full; air- or stovetop-popped
caramel
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter 8 ounces (2 sticks)
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 250°F. Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper or Silpat liners. Have your popcorn popped and at the ready in a large crock or big Dutch-oven (or a collection of your biggest bowls).
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In a large, heavy saucepan bring to boil the brown sugar, butter, water, and salt. Continue a moderate boil without stirring for about 5 minutes until mixture starts to thicken.
Technically this is the “soft ball stage”, 234°F on a candy thermometer (less 10° if you are at 5K feet elevation like in Bozeman Montana). If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can drop a half-teaspoon of the caramel into a glass of cold water to check if it comes together into a blob when you touch it with your finger.
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Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. The caramel will bubble and puff up as you do this, be careful as it is very hot and sticky. Pour the caramel over the popped corn kernels and stir gently to coat.
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Divide the caramel corn between the two pans and bake for 45 minutes, stirring several times during baking. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes then enjoy!
Keep airtight; it lasts a week or two.
