Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup
Caramel corn is a classic holiday treat. This nostalgic snack perfectly marries the light, airy crunch of organic popcorn with the rich, buttery sweetness of caramel. This recipe for Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup only has 7 ingredients and is made with true caramel for the ultimate indulgence that you will feel good about sharing!
If you're looking for more homemade snacks, try Pink Himalayan Sea Salt Popcorn, Honey Roasted Cashews, Honey Sesame Dark Chocolate Bark, or Hot Honey Roasted Walnuts.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup
- Ready In: 40 minutes
- Makes: 8 servings
- Main Ingredients: popcorn kernels, cane sugar, butter, heavy cream
- Flavor Profile: buttery, caramely, sweet, crispy caramel corn
- Dietary Info: gluten free, no seed oils, eggless
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: Garrett's Popcorn copycat with way better ingredients!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Nostalgic: Caramel corn will always be nostalgic for me because we had it at Christmas every year. So, whenever I eat this it just takes me back to being a kid again. But, now I make this homemade popcorn with organic ingredients!
- Organic Ingredients: This homemade caramel corn is also free of corn syrup and seed oils as well so you can smile with every bite!
- Holiday Treat: This Organic Caramel Corn make the best treat during the holidays. It has a longer shelf life than cookies so it makes a great gift that everyone will devour!
- Homemade Caramel Corn: Making your own homemade popcorn is so much better than store bought as you can avoid unnecessary ingredients. Also, try Homemade Kettle Corn With Coconut Oil and Rosemary Sea Salt Popcorn if you love popcorn.
Being a Chicago native, Garrett's Popcorn was tradition around the holidays. My grandma always made sure we had it and it was a Christmas Eve treat every single year I lived at home.
I've made this homemade caramel corn better with simple organic ingredients. No corn syrup, no seed oils, just pure organic goodness with every crispy, crunchy and buttery bite!
If you're from Chicago or have lived there, check out some of my other nostalgic Chicago recipes like Pink Peppermint Ice, Mint Meltaways, Organic Chicago Style Hot Dogs With Sauerkraut, Puppy Chow Candy Clusters, or Chicago Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough.
Ingredients
- Popcorn Kernels: Always buy organic popcorn kernels so they are free of GMOs.
- Coconut Oil: I cook the popcorn in organic coconut oil so this is free of seed oils.
- Salted Butter: Salted butter is used in the caramel for this recipe, but unsalted is okay too if you just add a pinch of salt. Make sure to use a sweet cream butter with 80% butterfat, don't use a European style butter with higher butterfat as you can easily burn your caramel. I usually use Organic Valley here. Check out the Best Salted Butter for Baking for even more info!
- Baking Soda: The baking soda is key for this recipe as this is what makes the caramel expand in the oven to evenly coat the caramel corn. Without this ingredient the texture can be less than ideal as well.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results. Especially here when making the caramel. I make a true caramel, with only 3 ingredients, so the caramel highly depends on the ratios used to be the right consistency.
- Make sure to use a high heat spatula when making the caramel. You can burn, warp or even melt off a piece of your spatula when making caramel if it's not meant for high heat (I've done all 3 of these things!).
- Be patient when making the caramel and ensure that each step is completed before moving on. If you don't melt all the sugar (and there are clumps) they will never go away and that can lead to hard pieces in the caramel corn. So, it's essential to ensure you melt the sugar completely before adding the butter.
- Work fast once the caramel is done. It begins to cool the minute it's off the heat, so quickly add in salt and baking soda, pour over popcorn, and stir to combine it as quickly as possible to coat everything.
How to Make Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup
- Make the popcorn: In a large pot add coconut oil and 3 corn kernels, cover with a lid and put over medium/high heat.
- Once one or all kernels have popped, remove popped kernels and add all remaining corn kernels and cover with a lid. Heat kernels for 1 minute. Intermittently, gently swirl around the kernels in the pot to coat them all in coconut oil.
- Once kernels start to pop, shake the pot frequently so popped kernels rise to the top. When popping slows to 1 second between pops, remove pot from heat and remove lid. Carefully pour popped corn into large bowl and allow it cool completely. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make the caramel: In a pot over medium heat add the sugar. Once the sugar starts to melt, stir with a high heat spatula to keep from burning.
- Sugar clumps will form until the sugar turns into a liquid.
- Once the sugar has completely melted into a liquid, add the butter.
- Be careful because steam will rise up quickly.
- Stir rapidly until the mixture is combined.
- Once the butter is completely combined, add in the cream a little at a time. Be careful, because the cream is colder than the sugar mixture so more steam will rise up quickly.
- Stir rapidly to combine completely when each amount of cream is added. Once completely combined, remove from heat.
- Add in the sea salt and baking soda and stir to combine.
- Make the caramel corn: Pour over the popcorn.
- Stir to coat it as evenly as possible. (It's okay if you don't coat every single piece).
- Then spread the popcorn evenly onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Immediately after coming out of the oven you can give it another stir to coat some of the pieces that may not have been coated completely.
- Allow to cool completely, then break it up into clusters.
Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup FAQ's
I prefer to use organic yellow popcorn kernels. Yellow popcorn kernels will pop into a larger more sturdy popcorn than white popcorn kernels. So, with caramel corn specifically where it's getting coated in caramel, I think the sturdier larger popcorn is best!
While baking soda is not a traditional ingredient in caramel, it is in caramel corn. The baking soda is a key ingredient in this recipe as it helps the caramel expand in the oven while baking and this helps coat all the popcorn completely. It also helps with the texture of caramel corn that makes it crisp, a little chewy, and perfectly crunchy.
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
More Caramel Recipes
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Organic Caramel Corn Without Corn Syrup
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Large Stock Pot (with a lid)
- 3-Quart Pot
- Half Sheet Pan
- Large Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 142 grams popcorn kernels
- 28 grams coconut oil
- 340 grams cane sugar
- 113 grams salted butter
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In a large pot add coconut oil and 3 corn kernels, cover with a lid and put over medium/high heat.
- Once one or all kernels have popped, remove popped kernels and add all remaining corn kernels and cover with a lid. Heat kernels for 1 minute. Intermittently, gently swirl around the kernels in the pot to coat them all in coconut oil.
- Once kernels start to pop, shake the pot frequently so popped kernels rise to the top. When popping slows to 1 second between pops, remove pot from heat and remove lid. Carefully pour popped corn into large bowl and allow it cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a pot over medium heat add the sugar. Once the sugar starts to melt, stir with a high heat spatula to keep from burning. Sugar clumps will form until the sugar turns into a liquid.
- Once the sugar has completely melted into a liquid, add the butter. Be careful because steam will rise up quickly. Stir rapidly until the mixture is combined.
- Once the butter is completely combined, add in the cream a little at a time. Be careful, because the cream is colder than the sugar mixture so more steam will rise up quickly. Stir rapidly to combine completely when each amount of cream is added.
- Once completely combined, remove from heat.
- Add in the sea salt and baking soda and stir to combine.
- Pour over the popcorn, and stir to coat it as evenly as possible. Stir to coat it as evenly as possible. (It's okay if you don't coat every single piece).
- Then spread the popcorn evenly onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Immediately after coming out of the oven you can give it another stir to coat some of the pieces that may not have been coated completely.
- Allow to cool completely, then break it up into clusters.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results. Especially here when making the caramel. I make a true caramel, with only 3 ingredients, so the caramel highly depends on the ratios used to be the right consistency.
- Make sure to use a high heat spatula when making the caramel. You can burn, warp or even melt off a piece of your spatula when making caramel if it's not meant for high heat (I've done all 3 of these things!).
- Be patient when making the caramel and ensure that each step is completed before moving on. If you don't melt all the sugar (and there are clumps) they will never go away and that can lead to hard pieces in the caramel corn. So, it's essential to ensure you melt the sugar completely before adding the butter.
- Work fast once the caramel is done. It begins to cool the minute it's off the heat, so quickly add in salt and baking soda, pour over popcorn, and stir to combine it as quickly as possible to coat everything.
Nutrition
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This is even better than Garrett’s!