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:
Just made this and subbed Truvia for the dry sweetener and used half honey, half maple syrup. Tastes more like kettle corn but so delish! Thought I would share these good substitutions.
I can’t wait to make this! I LOVE popcorn, but since we are in the middle of our Paleo Challenge, I have to wait to make this, ugh! I’ve been craving popcorn, so I think this will be one of the first things I make once our challenge is over.
I loved this!! I ate way too much!!
Me too!
This was the perfect treat to share for a Valentine’s Party for my kiddos. Thank you!!
I made this just then! It was very delicious indeed, however I would also suggest to lastly add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bi-carb soda) to it and stir until foamy, and then pour it onto the popcorn to spread the caramel more consistently throughout the popcorn 🙂
Just made this for Valentines Day treats! AMAZING! Thanks so much for another great recipe. 🙂
oh FYI, I tripled the amount of popcorn but made the original amount of sauce – still great.
As usual this is DELICIOUS!!!!!! We made it the recipe way first using coconut palm sugar honey and butter, then tossed in carob chips. Then we made it with coconut palm sugar honey pure maple syrup vanilla cinnamon and carob chips.. Crazy good!!!
This seems like a nice recipe. I’d like to share a homemade caramel popcorn I served recently to my family. http://www.whealthysolutions.com/homemade-caramel-popcorn-recipe/
Suggestion: baking the popcorn. Then, no more stickiness!
It’s also great to add a little coconut oil or coconut spread 🙂 yumm!
Hi, Katie! I just made this for my son to have an alternative (he is allergic to dairy/eggs) while his siblings ate some “regular” popcorn that was a gift to them by others. I used honey because we don’t have any agave and I didn’t want to run to the store. We aren’t vegan or vegetarian, but have food allergies to dairy/egg/gluten and LOVE your blog. Anyway, I came on here to ask you whether you think agave or maybe brown rice syrup would give this caramel corn a more “authentic” taste. Using honey made it taste like, well, a bowl of honey covered popcorn. I’d like to try making it again and was wondering if I should buy agave or brown rice syrup. I’m not worried about the calories, it’s for my 3 year old, he burns them off! Lol! I scanned through the comments to see if anyone else had the same question/comment and I was really sad to see that some people were being harsh on your choice of ingredient substitutions as well as your replies. Don’t take it to heart. You are doing an amazing thing by sharing your talent with others and I love how versatile the recipes are. That’s what makes them so popular and so useful to others, whether they are vegan or special diet/allergies, or just wanting to find something lower calorie. You shouldn’t have to watch your P’s and Q’s as closely as you already do and still endure such harsh criticism. After all, your blog title isn’t “How to be 100% Vegan”, but it is “The Healthy Dessert Blog,” and you do THAT with excellence, which shows by the huge success of your site and your upcoming book will do well. Thanks for what you do. 🙂
I added ~1 T of molasses to the recipe and used organic cane sugar and it turned out great. My kids thought it tasted just like the caramel corn in the bag that they sampled at Costco today, and it was MUCH cheaper!
Sounds great! But is this a make-and-eat-right-away snack? Does it need to dry? How long will it keep? Thanks for the help!
Well, this was delicious.
I have an air popper where you just put the kernels in and the hit air pops it. I agree that the movie popcorn is blah:P But if I do it in the air popper, then you can melt your own butter or other sauce and add it to the popcorn. Then its OK.And yum! I love caramel corn, but its always really unhealthy . I love this blog!!!!!!!!:D
I’m a self-proclaimed caramel corn snob. I’m not a vegetarian of any variety and I’m not interested in making my deserts “healthy” – I just eat the “high test” ones sparingly; however, this recipe is quite good. I used honey, brown sugar and real butter. I stumbled upon it looking for a recipe for caramel corn I could make on the road. Still couldn’t make this one, but I was intrigued. So when I finally returned home I tried it. I like my tried and true recipe better, but this is quite good and will remain in my recipe files. Thanks!!
This is yummy! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I just finished making this and realized that I need to put it into the oven to crisp up and dry out. Did you have to do that to yours? Its delicious but messy & wet.
I’ve made this twice and it’s crispy both times. Maybe it is a climate thing?