This easy caramel puff corn is a sweet, crunchy snack made with buttery puff corn and a quick homemade caramel coating — perfect for potlucks, movie night, or game day.
Puff corn is pretty amazing, but when you turn it into caramel puff corn, you get an irresistible sweet snack that disappears fast. This easy caramel puff corn recipe is almost impossible to stop eating!
Caramel puff corn is one of those old-fashioned treats that disappears fast. It’s light, crisp, buttery, and sweet, with no hulls or unpopped kernels to worry about, so it's perfect even for little ones! This easy caramel puff corn recipe is perfect for potlucks, movie night, game day, or any time you need a quick, homemade snack everyone loves.
IOh. My. Sweet. Tooth! You guys, it is addictive! Seriously, I have to dole out a few pieces to myself and put the rest away, or I'd eat the entire batch!
You can find puff corn at Walmart, Target, and most convenience stores that carry Frito-Lay products.
If you are looking for more quick desserts and cereal-based snacks, please check these out.
Cornflake Cookies - A nostalgic, easy, no-bake cornflake cookie with peanut butter and butterscotch chips. They are short on effort and long on yumminess.
Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch Snack Mix - An easy, sweet snack mix you can make in minutes with Chocolate Chex and simple pantry ingredients.
Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars- These yummy peanut butter Cheerio bars have just three ingredients: honey, peanut butter, and Cheerios oat cereal.
I guarantee you'll love it, and it's very easy to make with only a few ingredients! It's quick, too! In about five minutes, you can have the caramel made and poured over the awaiting puff corn!
Then, bake it for forty-five minutes, spread it out to cool, and break it into bite-sized pieces! Seriously, you can happily munch away in less than an hour, start to finish!
By the way, I used a disposable roasting pan someone gave me, thinking I would throw it away when I was done (even though it pained my frugal heart). Surprise! Since I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray before I began, clean-up was a breeze!
This makes a party-size batch! Spray a roasting pan with non-stick spray, then preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Empty two bags of Chester's Butter Puff Corn into the roasting pan.
In a heavy two to three-quart saucepan (nothing smaller. When you add the baking soda, the mixture foams up a lot!), melt two sticks of butter with a cup of brown sugar and a half cup of white corn syrup.
Over medium-high heat, stir until the butter melts and everything is well blended, and bring the mixture to a boil. Set a timer for two minutes and stir constantly while the mixture boils, then add one teaspoon of baking soda.
The mixture will foam and lighten in color. It's fun to watch it expand while you keep on stirring!
Now pour the golden mixture over the puff corn in the roasting pan, and while the caramel is warm, stir until every puff is coated.
It was amazing to me how easy this was! The puff corn seemed excited to get a caramel bath, and it went faster than I thought it would!
Now pop that pan in your 250-degree oven and let it bake. Stir it after 15 minutes, then again after another 15 minutes. When it's all done baking, give it a final stir and spread it out onto a waxed paper-covered surface to cool.
When it's cool enough to handle, break the puffs apart into bite-sized nuggets of caramel puff corn and store them in a tightly covered container at room temperature. Hide it from yourself if needed!
Funny story. I knew I had to make as much of this go away to someone else to eat because the two of us simply cannot indulge in so many goodies, even though we'd love to! (Especially me! This is one of my favorite-ever treats!)
I took a big ziplock bag of it to the basketball game, and the people we sat with thought it was popcorn chicken! That really made me giggle, but the guy I gave it to must not have been too disappointed because he ate every bite! Yay! 😂
I think caramel puff corn would make the absolute best gift for Valentine's Day or any other time! This amazing treat would make a great addition to the snack table at your Super Bowl watch party, too!
If you're looking for easy cereal based snack snacks of more savory flavor profile, there are great, too!
Hot Buttered Cheerios - When you want something crunchy and salty for movie night, this one is fast, easy, and very budget- friendly.
Brown Butter Chex Snack Mix - This recipe is for an amazing snack mix with the most unique flavor combination of brown butter, garlic, paprika, and rosemary. Perfect for parties and game days.
A quick and easy caramel puff corn snack with no hulls!
* you can substitute 14 to 16 ounces of other brand of puff corn
I love to use puff corn and Cheerios for snacking because they are both something handy to keep on the shelf. These snacks are both great for movie nights or potlucks.
Two-ingredient Puff Corn Snack - Stupid easy- white almond bark and puff corn. It's really fun to add seasonal sprinkles to make it even more fun!
Cinnamon Sugar Fried Cheerios - Here's a quick and easy snack you can make in five minutes with just five ingredients! They look and taste like tiny cinnamon sugar donuts! So cute!
Fun Frooty Squares- made with Froot Loops and marshmallows, these are colorful, fun treats for kids of any age.
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Love, GB (Betty Streff)
Real food. Real kitchen. Real easy.
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These sound amazing, but have never found corn puffs down here in Australia the closest is in cheese flavours. I will just have to keep looking in hope...lol
Well darn it!! I'm going to try that recipe on simple, unsweetened cereal like Kix, Cheerios, or Rice Chex and see how it turns out! I think you just inspired me!!
I have actually made these using white cheddar puffs and it is delicious as well. Good alternative when you can’t find the butter puffs.
You know, that sounds great! Caramel corn and cheese popcorn taste amazing together! Thank you! I'll give it a whirl!
Sounds delish. Will be making this. Love all your recipes!
Oh you are so nice to comment, Susie! Thanks- i apprciate it very much. This stuff is so dang good it's amazing- light, sweet, crunchy , buttery- I could go on and on!! Thank you!