Sweet microwave caramel popcorn--This is my absolute favorite way to make it! 
This microwave caramel popcorn recipe was originally published in June of 2010 and we still make it on the regular at my house! We love that it comes together quickly and my kiddos have a blast shaking the bag and dancing around the kitchen while doing so! It's the perfect dessert to get the whole family to help make!
6/13/2010: This pregnancy has turned me into a junk food junkie. It's bad. I'm usually not super tempted by candy and sweets. Ice cream and pie are my two normal weaknesses, but this baby has turned me into a weakling for anything remotely sweet and/or just plain bad for me. Little stinker!
Anywho, the up-side to my dilemma is that I have an arguably legit excuse to make all the sweet things that are usually thwarted by pie and ice cream.
I have 3 recipes for caramel popcorn that I love, but this microwave caramel popcorn one is by far the simplest and is fail-proof. The result is a lightly coated popcorn that isn't too sweet, is crunchy, and won't stick in your teeth! Nuts and dried fruit can easily be added in, and I'm seriously considering drizzling my next batch with some melted chocolate (think almonds, dried cranberries, and white chocolate). Any way you make it, it's going to be good. Also, this is a great recipe to make with kids because they love to shake, shake, shake the bag!
Microwave Caramel Popcorn
Ingredients
- 5 quarts popped popcorn- about 1 cup un-popped kernels
- ½ cup Karo Syrup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place your popped popcorn in a large brown paper grocery bag and set aside
- In a medium-sized sauce pan combine butter, sugar, salt and Karo Syrup and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes and remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and baking soda, stirring constantly. At this point, the addition of the baking soda will cause the caramel to bubble, lighten in color, and increase in volume so don’t worry and think that you messed up.
- Immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn in the paper bag, fold over the top of the bag, and shake the bag vigorously for 30 seconds or so. Now, put the bag in the microwave and let it cook for 1 minute. Once finished, take it out and shake for another 30 seconds. Repeat putting it in the microwave and shaking 2 more times for a total of 3 minutes in the microwave. After the final shake, pour the popcorn out onto a baking sheet and allow to cool and become crunchy.
Did you make this recipe? Drop me a comment and let me know how it turned out!