Here is an easy popcorn balls recipe, along with variations to make them special for various holidays! They are inexpensive, yummy and easy to make!
Homemade Popcorn Balls Recipe
Everyone loves popcorn balls. My daughter’s favorite is the kind that are made with marshmallows. If you don’t have the time to roll them into balls you can just press them into a pan the way you would rice crispy treats and cut into squares.
Don’t think that popcorn balls are only for Halloween, either. You can use popcorn balls for any holiday by coloring them with food coloring or adding some of the different variations to them. (See below)*
Popcorn balls are great fun for birthday parties, hay rides, and snacks for the kids on Thanksgiving (snacks for big and little kids, especially who don’t want pumpkin pie!)
Making popcorn balls is also another great way to use some of that candy you can get on sale after Halloween.
*For different variations on your popcorn balls, add extras like:
- Red Hots ( Valentines or the 4th of July)
- Spice drops (Christmas or winter parties)
- Candy canes, crushed (Christmas)
- Jelly beans (Easter)
- Peanuts (nuts are really good when making the caramel corn)
- Candy corns (Halloween)
- Sprinkles ( birthday parties or any that match the colors of the different holidays)
- M and M’s
- Or any other types of candies
Popcorn Balls Recipe
(Make regular popcorn balls or add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla to make them taste like caramel corn.)
6 Tbsp. butter
5 cups marshmallows
2 qts. popped popcorn*
In a large pan, melt the butter (now is when you add the brown sugar and vanilla if you want to use it), add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Add popcorn (and candies or nuts) and stir until coated. Butter your hands. Roll mixture into balls. Set on wax paper or press into a 9×13 buttered pan. Store in an air tight container or individually wrap in plastic wrap.
*1/4 cup of unpopped popcorn equals 2 quarts popped popcorn.
I dump the popcorn on a clean table and put it back into the bowl by handfuls making sure to leave all the old maids (unpopped popcorn) on the table to throw away (or if you are like me, to eat– I love to eat the burnt ones).
-Jill
White Chocolate Topped Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
What will be better leave them in the refrigerator or keep them on top of the counter overnight.
I just keep them on the counter because in the fridge it might make the popcorn tough
When my husband was young an elderly neighbor made red and green popcorn for all the kids in the neighborhood at Christmastime that wasn’t in balls, but broken in pieces. She bagged up little bags of small chunks of red and green popcorn. Has anyone heard of this or know how to do it?
Yes I do. The popcorn ball in the book is the marshmallow kind that Tawra likes but I have never liked that kind myself and have always used my mom’s recipe which is like the one the elderly neighbor used. I have 2 recipes I have used and like both equally the same. You can take them when you are done and either crumble it into pieces, dump into large bowl for people to break off pieces or you can butter your hands and roll them into popcorn balls (be sure to set them on wax paper)
My Mom’s Popcorn Ball Recipe
2 cup sugar
1 cup White corn syrup
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp baking soda
3-4 qts popped popcorn (pick out unpopped kernels)
Mix first 3 in pan and cook to hard crack stage (use a candy thermometer or drop some in cup of cold water to see if it is hard crack). As soon as it reaches hard crack CAREFULLY pour over bowl of popcorn.
Recipe 2
2 qts. popped popcorn
1 1/3 Cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup White syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix sugar,butter, and syrup. Bring to a boil and boil until turns light caramel color (or light brown). Add vanilla and pour over popcorn.