Halloween Kettle Corn

Who doesn't love Kettle Corn - crunchy popcorn that is slightly sweet and slightly salty? Halloween Kettle Corn is the perfect homemade treat to dazzle trick-or-treaters both young and old. If you can make popcorn, you can make Halloween Kettle Corn!

Jump to:

• Ingredients - Here's What You'll Need
• PudgeFactor's Test Kitchen Experiments
• Here's How I Made the Halloween Kettle Corn
• In Case You Were Wondering
• Other Halloween Sweet Recipes
• Recipe

Ingredients - Here's What You'll Need

I used the following ingredients: Unpopped popcorn, peanut oil, granulated sugar, salt, and gel food coloring.

You could also use vegetable oil here. I haven't tried using liquid food coloring, but I suspect that it would work. However, adding liquid food coloring to hot oil may cause issues.

PudgeFactor's Test Kitchen Experiments

Before getting into how I made this fun treat, I have a confession. I have never actually had Kettle Corn. So, before I started experimenting, I bought a small bag from a local popcorn store to see what Kettle Corn was supposed to taste like. The bag held about 2 cups and cost almost $6.00! I thought, "WOW"!

For my initial experiments, I scoured the Internet for basic kettle corn recipes. As you might imagine, there were many variations. Because I wanted three different colors, I settled on ¼ cup of unpopped popcorn per color. That seemed to make the perfect amount.

I tried different combinations of sugar, salt, oil, and food coloring, as well as different methods for adding the color.

First, I tried coloring the sugar by combining it with some food coloring. Maybe it was because I used gel coloring, but the sugar kept clumping around it, making it hard to get the color into the sugar.

I was able to get a somewhat colored sugar, but I had to mash the clumps with a spoon and stir vigorously. My conclusion here was that there must be a better way - and there was, which I'll get to in a minute. I also tried different amounts of food coloring and concluded that 3 drops of gel coloring were all that was needed.

Second, I tried different amounts of salt before concluding that, given the amount of popcorn and sugar, the perfect amount was ¼ teaspoon. Any more and the Kettle Corn tasted too salty. Any less, and there really wasn't any salt taste.

Third, I read that to reach the optimal temperature for adding the popcorn, start with three kernels in oil and don't add the rest of the popcorn until those kernels have popped. This was a keeper!

Fourth, some recipes I looked at called for adding sugar to the oil before adding the popcorn. Others recommended adding the sugar after adding the popcorn.

I tried both methods. While they worked somewhat, the popcorn's coloring wasn't very good, and both the popcorn and the sugar tended to burn. Therefore, I wondered if I could combine most of the oil, the coloring, the salt, and the sugar in a small bowl, and then mix in the popcorn. Once everything was combined, I could add it to the heated pot. This was a definite keeper!

Fifth, I wanted to make sure neither the popcorn nor the sugar burned while it was popping. To prevent this, I shook the pan at different intervals. What worked best for me was lifting the pan off the burner (I have an electric stove) and shaking it well every five seconds.

Finally, without thinking much, I left the first batch of Kettle Corn on the counter for several hours while I went to the store. When I came home, the Kettle Corn had already become stale.

Therefore, I put the next batch into a Ziploc bag as soon as it cooled enough. The result: stale popcorn. Then, I remembered that the key to good caramel corn was thoroughly "drying" it out in a 250°F oven.

Therefore, before storing the Kettle Corn in a Ziploc bag, I spread it out on a rimmed baking sheet and baked it in a 250°F oven for 30 minutes, with a good stir halfway through. Another keeper!

Here's How I Made the Halloween Kettle Corn

For Halloween, I made three batches of kettle corn: green, purple, and orange. You could use whatever color combinations you wanted!

1. The Coloring: I started by adding three drops of the gel food coloring to 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a small bowl. Then I added the salt and stirred the oil. Next, I added the sugar and stirred to combine everything. Finally, I added the popcorn to the sugar mixture and stirred until the popcorn was well coated. The pictures here show me making the orange Kettle Corn.

2. Heating: I set the popcorn/sugar mixture aside and added the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to a large, lidded pan. I added 3 kernels of popcorn, covered the pan, and heated it over medium heat. When the three kernels popped, I removed the lid and took out the three pieces of popcorn.

3. Popping Corn: Then I dumped in the popcorn/sugar mixture, spread it evenly over the bottom of the pan, and put the lid on. I placed a folded dish towel over the top and side handles of the pan, then lifted the pan off the burner and shook it in 5-second increments. I wanted to ensure that neither the popcorn nor the sugar burned.

4. Unpopped Kernels: After the popping had greatly subsided, I removed the lid and dumped the colored popcorn onto a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet to cool. I did this to let the unpopped kernels fall onto the baking sheet, leaving the popped corn on the wire rack. I didn't want any unpopped kernels left in the Halloween Kettle Corn. This worked like a charm!

5. Bake: Once the Kettle Corn had cooled, I transferred it to a rimmed baking sheet, and baked it in a preheated 250°F oven for 30 minutes, turning it halfway through.

6. Repeat: I repeated this process with green and purple gel food coloring and made three perfect batches of Halloween Kettle Corn. I stored the colored Kettle Corn in Ziploc bags to keep it fresh.

The Halloween Kettle Corn was delicious! It had just the right amount of sweet and salty crunch and stayed fresh for about a week in an airtight container. Yum!

In Case You Were Wondering

Other Halloween Sweet Recipes

If you would like some more Halloween sweets, you should try these amazing recipes:

Recipe