Chewy Caramel Popcorn Balls
I LOVE caramel popcorn. It is one of my favorite sweet treats to eat. I do prefer the soft, chewy version of caramel popcorn over the dry and crispy type caramel corn. The chewier the better! Recently, I had these ooey gooey chewy caramel popcorn balls given to me by a friend and I was immediately hooked. I had to make them for myself.
I know we tend to think of caramel popcorn balls for fall time or Halloween, but they would be a great homemade treat to add to an Easter basket. The number this recipe makes also depends on how big you want the popcorn balls. I was able to get 10 out of this recipe.
Chewy Caramel Popcorn Balls
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
- 3 3.5 oz bags natural microwave popcorn popped ** see note
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed
Instructions
- Place popcorn in a large bowl. I like to divide mine between 2 bowl for easier mixing.
- In a sauce pan, combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup. While stirring, bring mixture to a boil and add condensed milk.
- While stirring, bring to a boil again and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn.
- Mix popcorn to even coat with the caramel. Place a big spoonful of popcorn on a piece of plastic wrap. Fold plastic wrap over the popcorn and shape into a ball. This makes it easy to shape and covers the caramel popcorn balls.
- Repeat with remaining popcorn.
Notes
You can pop 1/2 cup of kernels.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Have made these several times and birth times EVERYONE loved them!! I’ll keep making these for Halloween and Christmas.
Can you press these out in a glass backing dish and cut into squares after cooking or do you have to make balls?
You could totally do that and have caramel popcorn squares. Great idea!
Just+made+these+-+delish!+Will+add+a+little+more+popcorn+next+time+-+I+didn’t+measure+popcorn.+This+is+exactly+the+chewy+type+of+carmel+corn+I+love,+have+never+found+a+recipe+for+it+before.+And+that+carmel+sauce+is+yummy!
Give the popcorn a day before molding it into balls. It will be much stickier. Also make sure to use a very large bowl because it’s a lot of popcorn to mix at once. I ended up losing a lot of the caramel in the bottom of the bowl. Mix a lot!
I’m glad I read the comments before trying this recipe. I used a 300 ml. (10 oz.) tin of sweetened condensed milk, and 20 cups of popped corn. I added 1 tsp.of vanilla to the caramel mixture after removing from the heat. I got 20 medium sized popcorn balls with a generous amount of caramel in each. I formed them in plastic wrap, as suggested. When they were about 1/2 way cooled, I unwrapped them and rolled them gently with buttered hands to firm them up a little, them put them on waxed paper to set for a couple of hours before re-wrapping them. They were delicious.
Just made the caramel popcorn balls and they are amazing!! I divided the popcorn into 2 bowls as instructed and im glad I did because there’s alot. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious treat. Perfect for the holidays!!
How much caramel do you use? Thanks!! 🙂
Do you continue stirring for the 2 minutes after adding condensed milk or let it boil while leaving it alone?
I have to agree with the poster who said it was too soupy. I did it with 1/2 cup of kernels and I would say you need to double it to 1 cup OR only 1/2 can of condensed milk. I would do option 2 as it also tasted too much like condensed milk and less like caramel. But you need it to create the “chewy”.
Also, the recipe without any changes made the popcorn very soggy. I’m throwing this batch out! Ick!
I didn’t have any microwave popcorn so I popped kernels over the stove. As per a reviewer who mentioned that it was soupy I decided to pop one cup of kernels instead of the suggested 1/2 cup. It turned out to be just the right amount! I made 10 medium sized popcorn balls and probably could have squeezed another two balls if I had added a 1/4 cup more of kernels. But I didn’t want dry popcorn balls so I think 10 was perfect. Quick tip… get your work station ready ahead of time. I laid out ten sheets of plastic wrap. Used two bowls. A large bowl just to hold the popcorn and another bowl holding a small amount of popcorn so I could mix a little of the caramel sauce on at a time. Then spooned onto precut plastic wrap.
Did you follow the recipe exactly or did you half the sweetend condensed milk like the other review?
I love it when they are chewy!
just made these with the kids (ages2-7). yum!! great recipe!! i also set up a buffet of candies, marshmallows, nuts, and baking chips…had the kids pick what they wanted, put in baggies and added a couple scoops of the warm caramel corn. then we mixed/mashed/and shaped into balls- good fun and not too messy! 🙂 kept in baggies while they cooled/set and used to hold them while eating. my fav mix was with peanuts, marshmallows and white choc/butterscotch chips…delicious!! kids liked m&m’s, sprinkles and marshmallows 🙂
My mom used to hand these out on Halloween. I’ve never had another one as good as hers. This recipe sounds hopeful. You mentioned they are good for other times other than Halloween. I’m going to add dried cranberries (Craisins) to the mix for Christmas for stocking stuffers as a twist on stringing the tree with popcorn and cranberries.
Made these for trick -or -treaters tonight, and can’t keep hubby out if them!!!! I added vanilla and boiled an extra 1.5 minutes( humidity here makes a difference); hardest part was the dreaded plastic wrap!!! Will make them again!!!
Made these for Halloween treats tonight, the kids and I loved them. Very easy, very good! I ended up with 16 popcorn balls that were my the size of my grasp.
These were perfect! These were exactly what I wanted. I saw the other post about them being “soupy.” Not sure what happened? I had zero problems. I will be sharing these on my blog too….thanks!
I just made these, and they were SUPER gooey. I followed the directions, but it was just too much caramel sauce. It was almost soupy. :(. Next time I’ll be sure to make more popcorn. 10 cups wasn’t enough.
I make homemade caramel corn, but I never thought of using condensed milk…I bet these are delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Wowww.. looks simply awesome and delicious.. nice click too !!