Best Spicy Caramel Corn Recipes

SPICY CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• *Note: Make sure your chile powder is made from 100% chiles with no added spices like garlic and salt or it will ruin the flavor of your caramel corn. I nearly made this mistake once with Kroger chile powder but thankfully noticed it smelled more like prepared chili than plain hot chiles and sure enough, they had added the spices you would want in it if you were using it for chili (but not for your caramel corn!).
• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Divide the popcorn into two large bowls or put in a large tub that allows ample room for stirring so that you'll have no trouble coating the popcorn when the caramel is ready. Sprinkle 1 cup nuts over each bowl of popcorn.
• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the remaining ingredients, except for the baking soda. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once it begins to boil, stop stirring and allow to boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Stir well and make sure that no lumps remain.
• Pour half of the caramel over each bowl (or all of it over just the one if you're using a tub) and stir each thoroughly, until the popcorn and nuts are pretty evenly coated.
• Pour into a large roaster pan or two jelly roll pans and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
• Spread onto waxed paper to cool. Serve once it is dry or store in an airtight container.

SPICED CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spread nuts on a small rimmed baking sheet, and bake until fragrant and beginning to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let stand until cool. Coarsely chop; set aside.
• Line a baking sheet with a Silpat (a French nonstick baking mat); set aside. In a medium stockpot, heat oil over high heat. Add popcorn, and cover. Once the corn begins to pop, shake the pan constantly. When the corn has finished popping, remove from the heat, uncover; set aside.
• In a large deep pot, at least 12 inches wide, stir together water, sugar, and corn syrup. Add vanilla pod and seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat without stirring. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, brush down the sides of the pan to remove any undissolved sugar granules. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, tilting and swirling the pan, until the mixture just begins to smoke and is a deep caramel color, 4 to 5 minutes more.
• Stir in the popcorn and nuts. Cook, stirring, while moving the pot on and off the heat to prevent the caramel from burning, until the popcorn is completely coated and the mixture is deep mahogany in color. Pour onto prepared baking sheet, and spread in an even layer. Let cool. Remove and discard vanilla bean. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

CLASSIC CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Spray large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250 degrees F oven while preparing caramel.
• Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla; mix well.
• Pour syrup over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly.
• Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
• Cool; break apart. Store in tightly covered container.

ALMOND CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200°. Place popcorn and almonds in very large roasting pan or divide popcorn mixture between 2 ungreased rectangular pans, 13x9x2 inches.
• Heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges. Continue cooking 5 minutes without stirring; remove from heat. Stir in baking soda until foamy.
• Pour sugar mixture over popcorn; toss until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on aluminum foil or cooking parchment paper. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store tightly covered.

SPICY CARAMEL POPCORN

Steps:

• Lightly coat two large, heatproof rubber spatulas and a large mixing bowl with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a large saucepan or pot with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the popcorn kernels, cover and keep the saucepan moving until all of the kernels have popped, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the prepared bowl, removing any unpopped kernels.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda and cayenne pepper.
• Have two large baking sheets ready. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, salt and 1/2 cup water. Cook over high heat, without stirring, until the mixture becomes a light golden caramel, 10 to 14 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the baking-soda mixture (the mixture will bubble up).
• Immediately pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn. Working quickly and carefully, use the prepared spatulas to toss the caramel and popcorn together, as if you were tossing a salad, until the popcorn is well coated.
• Spread the popcorn onto the baking sheets and quickly separate them into small pieces while still warm. Cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.