No corn syrup here!
This is a healthy caramel popcorn recipe without corn syrup. It’s salty, sweet, and just plain good! As the original slogan for Cracker Jacks says:
The more you eat, the more you want.
You can even add roasted peanuts for a healthier version of Cracker Jacks that tastes pretty authentic. (Yes, I bought a box to compare. Cracker Jacks might not be healthy, but they are vegan.) Or stir in dark chocolate chips or broken-up healthy chocolate bars.
I’m not saying it’s as healthy as broccoli and quinoa, or that you should quadruple the recipe and call it lunch. But as far as snacks go, this caramel popcorn is a terrific healthy option: whole-grain, high in fiber, vegan, and completely free of the hydrogenated oils, refined sugar, and trans fats found in so many commercial brands of popcorn. If you use the xylitol option, it’s even good for your teeth. Can’t get much better than that.
With the Calorie Control Council estimating that Americans eat about 3.8 million pounds of popcorn on Super Bowl Sunday, this weekend is a great time to… get popping!
This can be a 5-minute recipe if you use the Microwave Popcorn Trick.
Healthy Caramel Popcorn
(or homemade Cracker Jacks)
- 4 tbsp unpopped popcorn (48g)
- 1/4 cup xylitol or sucanat (or regular brown sugar or coconut sugar) (54g)
- 1/4 cup agave or honey (55g) (Molasses might work; I haven’t tried.)
- scant 1/4 tsp salt
- optional for a richer caramel flavor: 2 tbsp buttery spread, such as Earth Balance (30g)
- optional: roasted peanuts, dark chocolate chips, etc.
Pop the kernels, either on the stove or using the Microwave Popcorn Trick.
Then transfer to a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, combine the two sweeteners (and the butter spread, if using) and heat on low—stirring occasionally—until the dry sweetener is completely dissolved. Pour this mixture over the popped corn and stir to coat. Much of the sauce will fall to the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to scoop it up and keep stirring for a full 2 minutes. Sprinkle on the salt (don’t forget!) and add chocolate chips, or nuts, or dried fruit if you wish.
View Caramel Popcorn Nutrition Facts
What’s your favorite: Buttered popcorn or caramel corn?
I’ve always loathed buttered popcorn: the smell, the artificial taste, the way it gets all over the movie theater floor and in your seat… Does anyone even know what’s in that butter syrup with which they drench movie theater popcorn until it turns a very unnatural shade of neon yellow? I guess I could google it, but I would probably rather not know!
Link of the Day:
I do love buttered popcorn, but I switch it up pretty often. Looking forward to trying this!
Yay! I recently found a “healthified” caramel corn but it looked too high maintenance and had 1 too many steps. I will have to pop some of this up soon! P.s I am on the hunt for a healthy, low calorie, whole grain pound cake. Might you have a link for one or may I see a future recipe for this on your blog? 🙂 🙂 I love anything with “sneaky ingredients” and was thinking a recipe that uses beans to possibly make it more dense would be a good addition!
I don’t have one. I can put it on my long list of things to try!
Poundcake has 5 main ingredients: butter, sugar, milk, flour, and eggs. I suppose that you could sub butter for coconut oil, sugar for stevia or xylitol, milk for almond milk, flour for whole wheat pastry flour, and “flax eggs” for eggs. I don’t think this would be low calorie, but if you keep portions small, then the result won’t have many calories, I think nutrition is more important than caloric content anyways.
I definitely agree with you on the calorie/nutrition part. For most of my clients though I try to teach them how to eat high nutrient foods that naturally have little calories. Therefore, it would be great if I could show them how to have their cake, and eat it too!
Hello Katie. I am new to your site. Great recipes that I’m excited to try! I did just make this popcorn and OMG. This is yummy! So good that I cuold not stop myself & at the entire thing 🙁 Rats!! I had planned to have my serving, then save the rest for son & hubby. Next time I will be sure to make it when they are home so they can enjoy with me, or if I’m alone only make 1/3 of it. That was about 10 WW points. Yikes! Veggies rest of the day…lol.
Thank you so much for making it already!
I hear you on the serving-size thing… when I looked at a box of cracker jacks, it was–at 28 grams–half the size even of the one I listed. I don’t know why they make serving sizes so small.
I used to love popcorn as a kid, like obsessed. Even in college, I sometimes I ate it for Lunch or Dinner. Oops. It’s so good with coconut oil and nutritional yeast! Even though now, I have to lay off it a bit because I’m a little sensitive to it sadly.
Has anyone tried this with Truvia in place of xylitol or sugar? Thanks!
Disappointed to see no mention of the fact that using honey makes so that this is not vegan. I understand you like to provide substitutions, but it would be nice to see you standing up and mentioning some of the ideals behind veganism.
Hi Sharla,
I really do understand your point… and I always wonder about whether or not I should include honey in my posts. But the truth is that I’m a vegan for ethical reasons… so my main goal is not to live up to a definition, but to cause as little harm to others as possible. I’ve researched it many times and I just don’t see how eating honey is harmful to the bees; more bugs are killed to make organic broccoli. Personally, I won’t go out of my way to consume honey, but I don’t have a problem with anyone who does eat honey. After all, no one is 100% vegan all the time (I’m thinking of things like leather steering wheels or book bindings). We’re all just trying to do the best we can, and my goal is to make veganism seem do-able and mainstream.
But don’t worry: you won’t be seeing me listing options for eggs or butter or anything like that in future posts. Becoming a vegan was the best decision I ever made, and I don’t see myself changing anytime soon (read: ever).
It’s just disappointing that beyond the “no one gets harmed” idea (which is not true), you’re okay with commodifying sentient beings, which is different from not being able to be 100% vegan all the time. That goes against the fundamental ideas of veganism.
So don’t use honey…
Hello there! I personally do not think that Katie was down right promoting honey… And making honey is what bees do.. It’s in their nature! And I think she was just giving extra options to her viewers since not everybody is vegan! (I’m not even vegetarian! I eat EVERYTHING!! Hahah but I definitely respect other people’s lifestyle choices.. maybe one day I will become vegetarian.. or vegan! who knows?!) And I can tell you one thing, Katie definitely does all that she cans on her blog to make veganism an achievable thing.. And you can tell that she totally supports veganism. So I think she was just trying to help us non-vegans out by giving us more options rather than just one!
So yeah, if you don’t like honey, then just don’t use it! Use agave… That stuff is the bomb 🙂
Love ur blog Katie!!!
-Grace 🙂
Agreed with Grace….the bees make honey. That’s what they do. They are bugs.
I am a vegan, and I have to agree with Grace. I think Katie, with the approachable and more mainstream way she highlights veganism on her blog, has probably changed hundreds of people’s lives and views on veganism and gotten them to see it as something that maybe they could do. I was a vegan already when I found her blog, but I’ve seen other commenters on here in the past say that they were inspired to go vegan or eat fewer animal products because of this blog. On the other hand, I don’t think a preaching approach where you condemn others for their views will win ANY converts to the cause that we (you, me, and Katie) all hold dear.
Some vegans go a little over-the-top with what is “do no harm.” In fact, I overhear, or read things that are such a stretch in the support of veganism, that I wonder how these folks can even walk across a lawn where they may step on a bug, or walk at all for that matter. I can’t think of anything we do that isn’t potentially harmful.
The idea of being vegan should never include banning the enjoyment, and appreciation of byproducts that animals create as part of our natural eco-system process. As long as you buy your honey from a reputable source, it’s all in line with compassion, and grace.
not everyone goes ‘vegan’ to save the animals. some people just don’t like eating animal products and might be allergic to milk as well. honey is a bit on the fence. personally, people are more likely to try saving them (which they should do because bees are very very important) if they realize they will run out of honey. eat the honey. save the bees, our trees, and our lives.
FYI
Everyone who is a real vegan does it for the sake of sentient beings (animals). If you do not eat animal products because you don’t like it or are allergic, then you are following a plant based diet. Vegan is not a diet, it is a way of life that is inseparable from ethics, morals, and values.
Definition of Vegan by the man who coined the term “vegan”:
Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
I’ve researched it too, I thought this was a good reference-http://vegan.org/frequently-asked-questions/
That stated, I am bothered that your statement appealed to hypocrisy; “no one is 100% vegan all the time”. Its a logical fallacy, and I like veganism to be logical.
Some people, like Jack Norris or Virginia Messina, should be considered vegan 100% of the time in the sense that they are doing the most practical job possible to help animals and to reduce suffering. Anything less than that shouldn’t be castigated, but I don’t think vegans using leather is doing the best they can, it seems selfish considering the obvious cruelty, they can at least buy second hand..
PS, excited to try the cake-batter doughnuts!
Buttered popcorn all the way over here! 🙂 With REAL butter, not the fake stuff (I’m not a vegan…can you tell? LOL). My husband loooooves caramel corn, though, so I’m going to have to try this recipe!
I’m not a huge popcorn fan but I know that my kids would love this!
Hi! Huge fan, excited to try this recipe. Thank you!
Thought you might be interested- FDA says its not safe to microwave brown paper bags. I’ve read about using a bowl and plate instead, I’m going to try that.
Check it out: ” Do not use brown paper bags from the grocery or other stores for cooking. They are not sanitary, may cause a fire, and may emit toxic fumes. Intense heat may cause a bag to ignite, causing a fire in the oven and possibly contaminating the turkey. The ink, glue, and recycled materials in paper bags may emit toxic fumes when they are exposed to heat. Instead, use commercial oven cooking bags. ”
Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Turkey_Alt_Routes/index.asp, under Do Not Cook in Paper Bags
I like the bowl/plate method for this very reason! All you need is a glass bowl and a microwavable plate to cover the top of the bowl. (Here are the instructions I followed: http://www.everythingbutthe.com/2011/09/08/blow-your-mind-microwave-popcorn/.)
I need to get some of that sweetener 🙂
We usually use kettlecorn and cheddar seasoning together. The best of both worlds!
I just made this with molasses and we love it!! Very similar in taste to “regular” caramel. I have been craving sweets all day and this was tasty and quick. Thanks!
I love this idea! I’ve never been a big fan of the nasty stuff they call butter at movie theaters… it doesn’t even taste good! Until a friend introduced me to kettle corn several years ago I only liked it salty/cheesy, but I think I like sweet popcorn better now, haha. And for anyone worried about microwaving paper bags, they make special microwavable bowls for popping popcorn! I’m sure there are other brands, but this is the one I have:
http://www.nordicware.com/store/products/detail/2265E7B0-7C89-102A-B382-0002B3267AD7
The bowl gets pretty hot, but it works really well and you can easily add seasoning after popping by holding down the lid and shaking to mix. (Note: I’ve not tried that with thicker/sweet toppings, but for salt and seasoning it works well bcause you can add oil to the kernels pre-popping and toss to season after.)
Yummy! So great for fortifying the air-popped stuff! SO good!
PERFECT! I just made a huge batch of this and my whole family loves it. I doubled, almost tripled the amount of popcorn going into my air popper and stuck with the original recipe for the coating because I thought it seemed like alot of coating for just one batch. It turned out great! Every piece of popcorn is deliciously sweet and salty. This is going to be my go to recipe when I want something other than plain popcorn! 🙂
Hi. First time viewer. I used to work for a movie theater in my highschool years. The butter at the theater is REAL butter. It was stored solid in a huge plastic jug which we had to melt in warm water and then pour into the butter warmer. The butter warmer has a button to dispense butter on top of the popcorn. Watch them prepare your popcorn at the theater. Or just ask. They won’t mind. Oh the weird yellow color….its from the salt that goes into the kettle with corn when heated to pop. Must be dyed salt to enhance your visual pleasure?
It’s good you brought this up. Really highlights how everywhere is different and simply saying “movie theatre popcorn is evil” and “homemade popcorn is better” is over-simplifying things. I’m so tired of this black and white view on food, demonizing one and raising another atop a pedestal. Moderation is key! I personally love theatre popcorn…I also love homemade popcorn.