Fall is the time to eat scrumptious squash and pick homegrown popcorn. Whether at a festival or farmer’s market, there’s usually someone selling kettle corn. I love the stuff, but it’s expensive. This homemade version requires less than 50 cents and only 9 minutes!
Prep (1 minute):
- A large pot with a lid (mine’s 8 quarts)
- Oil
- 1/4 cup sugar (I used raw sugar, which is light brown – this gives the kettle corn a caramel colored glaze as you’ll see with the finished product. It’s not burnt.)
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- Salt
- Your favorite popcorn bowl
Instructions (7 minutes):
Pour oil so it covers the bottom of the pot.
Throw 3-5 kernels in the pot and put on medium high heat.
When all the kernels pop (approximately 4 minutes), pour the sugar in and shake the pot to distribute evenly.
Immediately pour in the popcorn kernels and shake to distribute evenly.
IMPORTANT: Put the cover on the pot! Oil splatters galore!
Shake the pot back and forth over the burner until most kernels are popped. (The popping will slow down just like the microwavable stuff.) This will take approximately 3 minutes.
Finishing up (1 minute):
Alternate pouring popcorn in the large bowl and pouring salt on to get the trademark salty-sweet taste of kettle corn!
And yes, where the begging dogs can’t reach, the cats will always be there to make up for it.
The cost analysis:
- Oil and salt – I don’t know since I didn’t measure them
- 1/4 cup sugar = $0.09
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels – $0.20
- TOTAL: $0.29 (plus oil and salt) !!!
- This sure beats paying $4 for the same amount at a market!
If you’re interested in more recipes you can check out my food and recipes pages.
I’m also participating in the following foodie carnivals today! You can find many more recipes here:
- Finer Things Friday @ The Finer Things in Life
- Frugal Friday @ Life as Mom
- Food on Fridays @ Ann Kroeker’s blog
- Foodie Fridays @ Designs by Gollum
- Friday Feasts @ Mom Trends
- Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
- Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
- Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace
- Tuesday’s at the Table @ All the Small Stuff
- Tackle it Tuesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom
- Works for Me Wednesday @ We Are THAT Family
What clear concise instructions! We have all gotten too lazy with microwave popcorn. I like the idea of the raw sugar.
Comment by Susan — October 9, 2009 @ 5:33 AM
I never would have thought to make this at home. Excellent!!!! I love kettle corn, salty and sweet all at once, can’t go wrong.
Comment by Live.Love.Eat — October 9, 2009 @ 8:14 AM
Awesome!!! My younger daughter loves kettle corn. She would love to do this recipe.
Thank you for sharing and Happy Friday.
Comment by Erica — October 9, 2009 @ 9:06 AM
Thank you for the tutorial;I can’t wait to make this for my family!
Comment by Alea — October 9, 2009 @ 10:02 AM
I can remember popping corn this way with my mother. We didn’t use sugar, but I always loved the way it sounded popping inside the kettle. What fun!
Happy Foodie Friday…
XO,
Sheila
Comment by Sheila — October 9, 2009 @ 10:46 AM
I can just imagine how good this will taste on family movie night. Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a great day.
Comment by Mary — October 9, 2009 @ 11:29 AM
I have been making my own for years and almost pass out when I see the bags in the grocery store of pre-made kettle corn for almost $3! And who knows what’s in it or how long it has been on the shelf.
I have one of those pots with the crank handle to stir the kernels around. I burned many batches before I got the hang of how to do it, so don’t give up if it doesn’t work the first time!
Comment by Melissa — October 9, 2009 @ 12:15 PM
You are my new hero!
I have always wanted to try making this but had no idea how.
Comment by niki — October 9, 2009 @ 2:09 PM
Who knew this was so easy to do!?! I’ll have to have my son look over your great instuctions and make it for us on a movie night. Thanks for posting!
Blessings!
Gail
Comment by Gail — October 9, 2009 @ 2:20 PM
[...] Mom (Crockpot Meatball Chili) 7. Odd Mom (hoagie rolls, sandwich rolls, whatever you call them) 8. Prudent and Practical (Kettle Corn!) 9. Kristia@ Family Balance Sheet (Cranberry Acorn Squash [...]
Pingback by Food on Fridays: Chicken Curry w/Sweet Potatoes « — October 9, 2009 @ 3:26 PM
Brilliant!
We had kettle corn last week at the Los Angeles County Fair — this looks BETTER!
Cass
Comment by Cass @ That Old House — October 9, 2009 @ 4:47 PM
love kettle corn thanks for showing me how to make at home
Comment by angie — October 9, 2009 @ 7:23 PM
Frugal, sweet AND salty…Sign me up!!! Woo Hoo!
I know what me and the kids will be making sometime this weekend! hehehe!
GREAT Post!
Comment by Jes — October 10, 2009 @ 5:42 PM
Mister Linky is ready for this week’s Crock Pot Wednesday. I love kettle corn…probably too much! Hubby has asked me to give your recipe a try. You make it seem so easy. Thanks a bunch.
Comment by darnold23 — October 12, 2009 @ 6:54 AM
Perfect! We’ve been making our popcorn on the stovetop for sometime now–but we’ve missed the bagged kettle corn. Thanks!
Comment by Phoebe @ Cents to Get Debt Free — October 12, 2009 @ 1:24 PM
I just made this today and its so easy, and delicious!
Comment by Brenda — October 12, 2009 @ 11:30 PM
What a yummy tackle:-)
Comment by Susie's Homemade — October 13, 2009 @ 11:42 AM
Awesome! My daughter loves kettle corn, but it’s usually a special treat if we’re at an art fair or festival. Now I can make it for her at home. Thanks so much for posting.
Comment by Lisa — October 13, 2009 @ 12:17 PM
Yum! I make popcorn all the time, but my kids will go nuts when I surprise them with this.
Comment by Amy @ Finer Things — October 13, 2009 @ 1:42 PM
I love kettle corn! I really need to try this.:-)
I just love that the kitties were willing to taste test the popcorn for you!
Thanks for sharing with TATT.
Comment by Cole — October 13, 2009 @ 8:23 PM
Okay we make kettle corn all the time, and I do it even easier than this method. We use and air popper. Pop the corn. Melt your butter in the micro or in a small pan on the stove. Add 2T of sugar to the butter stir until its desolved. Pour over popped corn add salt if you use unsalted butter (or if you use olive oil – I like this trick too) and enjoy.
I had a stove top popper with the crank handle to keep it moving, but it was bulky and hard to clean and I just like being able to put the kernals in the air popper and walk away.
Just thought I would share.
Comment by Tree — November 4, 2009 @ 10:21 AM
Fabulous recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Domestic Diva — November 6, 2009 @ 10:56 AM
We put two huge bowls of this, freshly popped, on the coffee table just as company knocked on the door. The house smelled wonderful and four people just destroyed all the kettle corn; so delicious!
Comment by cheyenne — December 12, 2010 @ 2:23 PM