This homemade toffee popcorn recipe is a buttery caramel toasted popcorn and tastes like a richer Fiddle Faddle butter toffee popcorn (or a little like Crunch and Munch, if you remember that!). Some people use the terms toffee popcorn, caramel corn and kettle corn interchangeably, but they do have different recipes. We’ll cover differences between toffee popcorn vs caramel popcorn and more!
Easy Toffee Popcorn Recipe
If you want to make toffee popcorn at home like you get at fairs or festivals, you’ll love this quick toffee popcorn recipe!
How To Make Toffee for Popcorn
How do you make toffee popcorn?
- Popcorn
- Butter
- Sugar
- Corn syrup
- Salt
- Vanilla
(see full recipe for popcorn toffee below)
Before we get to the recipe for butter toffee popcorn, here are some questions people have when making this dessert snack:
What is the difference between toffee and caramel popcorn?
You may be wondering is toffee popcorn the same as caramel corn? Toffee popcorn has a lighter, buttery than caramel corn because toffee popcorn uses light corn syrup, while a caramel corn recipe uses dark corn syrup. The toffee for popcorn recipe is made with light corn syrup, butter, and sugar.
If you’re wondering how to make caramel corn, it’s a very similar recipe, except swapping out the light syrup for dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar.
Why is my caramel corn so sticky?
If your recipe for caramel corn or toffee corn is sticky, it might be because you didn’t dry it properly or long enough. Be sure to spread your caramel corn / toffee popcorn recipe in a single layer on foil and allow it to dry completely before storing it in an airtight container.
YOU’LL ALSO LIKE THESE RECIPES FOR POPCORN:
Purple People Eater Popcorn Balls Recipe
Old School Stove Top Popcorn Recipe
Can you make a caramel corn recipe without corn syrup?
Yes, you can actually leave out the corn syrup from your caramel corn or toffee popcorn. The texture may be a little different than you’re accustomed to, but you will still have a yummy coated popcorn recipe to enjoy!
Kettle Corn vs Caramel Corn
Is kettle corn the same as caramel corn?
Kettle corn is not the same as caramel corn. Kettle corn is made by popping popcorn in sugar mixture, while caramel corn is made with butter, dark corn syrup, and dark brown sugar. Kettle corn is a lighter, sweet and salty treat. While caramel corn is just as yummy, it is a darker and richer simple sweet treat.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Kettle Corn On The Stove Recipe
Ok!
Let’s get to popcorn toffee recipe easy to make with your kids!
Easy Toffee Popcorn Recipe
This toffee popcorn homemade treat is an easy go-to for a birthday party treat or anytime you need an easy dessert or snacks for kids.
We didn’t add them for this recipe, but you can also make this butter toffee popcorn with nuts. Just add in a half cup of your favorite shelled nuts (like pecans or walnuts) to your toffee popcorn ingredients before adding the toffee popcorn sauce / glaze.
TIP: There is no special toffee popcorn machine. We use our popcorn popper like this one
all the time and we love it. It’s perfect for this butter toffee popcorn recipe (and other popcorn recipes), too! Some people make this with microwave popcorn, but we prefer to pop or own popcorn.
Some people have also told me that they doubled the toffee glaze because they like their popcorn with toffee sauce extra gooey. So keep that in mind.
Here’s how to make toffee popcorn in a pan…
Easy Toffee Popcorn
Ingredients
- 10 cups popped popcorn ½ cup of kernels before popping
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Butter a large, rectangular baking pan. Set aside.
- Pop popcorn. Remove unpopped kernels.
- Spread popcorn (and nuts, if using) in the pan.
- In a pot, melt the butter, sugar, corn syrup, salt on low. Stir continuously until the sugar has melted and the sauce has become smooth and thickened, usually around 8-10 minutes.
- Remove sauce from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.
- Drizzle the sauce over the popcorn, stirring the until all the popcorn is completely coated.
- Bake for 30 minutes, stirring after the first 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Spread on lightly buttered tin foil and allow to cool completely.
- Store leftovers in a air-tight, covered container.
Nutrition
Nutrition Note
Nutrition calculations are approximate. If you're following a special diet, please calculate your own nutrition values.
Cooking With Books: Recipe and Read For Kids
Here are children’s books that would be great paired up with this recipe (obviously, any popcorn theme book will work well!):
love this recipe, buttery & sweet, better than caramel popcorn, just one thing though, the toffee wasn’t enough to coat the popcorn, so I doubled for my second batch but only increased the popcorn just half, worked out perfect, next time I will try with roasted cashews & even adding chocolate chips after removing from oven… it is a keeper, thanks…
OOO! Good tip! I’m going to try doubling it. (I like gooey covered popcorn LOL)
Excellent results, revitalised some theatre popcorn first then followed your recipe exactly except I also added coconut. It was eaten by the family before it was able to cook completely, will definitely make again.
OOO! Using leftover movie popcorn is a GREAT idea! Thanks for the tip!
The toffee had great flavor and perfect “crispness”. My only issue was with the texture. It was not drizzling consistency. It was much too thick, more gloppy. I ended up putting everything in a big buttered bowl to toss it. It didn’t cover the popcorn evenly, but at least tasted good. I only cooked it for 8 minutes, so don’t think it was cooking time. I’d love a cooking temperature for the candy so I could be more accurate.
ooo! Great feedback! Thank you. The next time we make it I will measure the temp and add it to the recipe. Thanks!
What could I use to substitute the corn syrup?
Hi, I’ve only ever made it with corn syrup, so I’m not sure?
Hi loved your recipe have made twice and I plan on making it many more times I wouldn’t change a thing I don’t even use a timer on how long to cook the toffee or baking it perfectly coated every time I’m making more rite now last batch lasted 15 minutes lol
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! ❤️
Only cooked 8 minutes. Too thick to spread evenly on popcorn mixture. Wish it was thinner so the coating would be more like crunch and munch. What could be done to achieve this?
Love this recipe. So much tastier than Caramel corn.
My question is…..if using a candy thermometer what would you cook it to ?
Great recipe, easy to follow. Would like a more buttery flavor (too much vanilla flavor). Should I use 1/2 the vanilla and the other half butter flavor or just more butter?
Hi Dorian, I’ve never tried it, but some people double the recipe for the “toffee” topping. You could double it (but only add half the amount of vanilla) and see if that works.
Tried this today, in the UK so substituted the corn syrup with golden syrup. I cooked the caramel to 128 degrees C
I baked half in the oven as per the recipe, and half for an hour- the hour baked was much crispier!
Very pleased with the results, but I might cook the caramel to higher temp next time as it was a little grainy rather than shiny on the finished product.
Great! Thanks for the info!
I doubled the sugar mixture, it was gloppy & did not pour. I cooked it for 10 minutes & it was still a little granular. I think my low heat may have been too low. I put it on the popcorn (not all of it, it was too much for my amount of popcorn) & baked for 30 minutes at 250. It was not long enough or hot enough. It did not crisp like it should have. I tried baking 1/2 what was left the next morning at 275 for 15 minutes, the coating had the correct texture, but the popcorn was soggy (from sitting overnight). Next time I’ll cook the sugar mixture at a higher temp & bake it at a higher temp.
Oh no! Sometimes it’s hard to double recipes like this and still get them to come out. (I’ve NEVER been able to double our kettle corn recipe and have it turn out and I’ve tried multiple times!
Hello, if I were to use a candy thermometer, what would the temp need to be please? I’d like to make this and thank you for sharing.
Could you use Puffcorn instead of regular popcorn or do you think it would get too soggy?
Hey Lisa, That’s a really great question. If I remember, the puffcorn is lighter (not as dense) as popcorn, so it might indeed get soggy and make the puffcorn get smaller. Not sure it’s a great idea. Let me know if you try it.
I appreciate you sharing this blog post. Thanks Again. Cool.
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Awesome!