Rainbow Popcorn brings sunshine and happiness to your snack table! Whether you’re making just one color or an assortment of colors, this easy recipe will guide you every step of the way. Rainbow popcorn is made in any and all of your favorite Jell-O flavors and cooks up with a light crunch – just like caramel corn, but FLAVORED!
Make a batch of candy popcorn green for St Patrick’s Day, or make the whole rainbow. Either way, you’re about to make your kids (and your own inner child) very happy! This recipe uses a bit of corn syrup, sugar, salted butter and jello powder, which means you can use a wide variety of colors to create that deliciously sweet coating. All you need to do is repeat the steps to the recipe for each color you want to use.
Caramel Apples, candy apples, and caramel popcorn are more fair food favorites. Bring a little leprechaun magic to your St Patrick’s day celebration! You could have a snack table set up with bowls of colored popcorn, gold chocolate coins, and maybe even Lucky charm hot chocolate bombs! You can decorate each of these in any theme or holiday you like! Level up movie night with all the delicious popcorn and treats!
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🍿 Ingredients:
- Popped corn – You can pop your own corn on the stovetop, in your popcorn poppers machine, or you can use microwave popcorn – I would recommend using a plain microwave popcorn since you’ll be adding lots of ingredients! Organic popcorn or regular popcorn work perfectl
- Salted butter – Will be melted with the sugars to create a smooth caramel base for the jello powder.
- Granulated sugar – Because candy popcorn isn’t quite sweet enough is it? We need the sugar to make the candy coating.
- Light corn syrup – A much more subtle sweetness (and less molasses taste) than dark corn syrup.
- Sea salt – We need something to balance the sweet!
- A packet of Jell-O – Can also use flavored gelatin. Choose your favorite fun popcorn fruit flavors with Jello-O packets.
- Baking soda – Reacts with the corn syrup and the sugar to create a slightly crispier and light texture when eaten.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- Choose a holiday or party color theme for birthday parties. The popcorn varieties are customizable, and the possibilities are endless for these super fun, pop-in-your-mouth, totally addicting treats! Use gel food coloring to tint the jello mixture while it is boiling on the stovetop.
- Red and pink popcorn for Valentine’s Day
- Orange and Black popcorn for Halloween
- Once the popcorn has cooled, you can toss in some candies to make this more festive too. Mix candy corns into your Orange and Black popcorn! Or even add in some protein with your favorite tree nut.
- Keep the colors clear or light and drizzle with melted chocolate and caramel!
- If you choose to make your own popcorn on the stove, use a flavorless oil for the popcorn kernels so it doesn’t absorb any extra flavors. We normally cook our regular popcorn in coconut oil but for this, I’d use Canola oil instead to avoid the added flavor.
- Make Popcorn Balls – Hold the phone! While the popcorn is still warm, grease your hands with butter or nonstick cooking spray, and form the popcorn into rainbow popcorn balls?! Super fun and great to share. You can also mix candies into the popcorn balls to make them extra festive. Work quickly as the popcorn does cool quite fast and will no longer be pliable.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Pro Tip: Recipe Specific Info
The ingredients listed below are for 1 color of popcorn. If you want to create rainbow popcorn as we did, you need separate ingredients and equipment for each color you intend to make.
Step 1: Spread the popcorn into a glass or metal baking dish. Make sure it’s large enough to stir the popcorn easily.
Step 2: Melt butter, sugar, corn syrup, and sea salt over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently.
Step 3: Then add contents of the Jello packet to the saucepan and stir until fully combined. Bring the mixture back up to a low boil and leave to simmer undisturbed for a full 5 minutes.
Step 4: Remove from heat and stir in baking soda – mixture will foam up a bit.
Step 5: Pour Jello mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat as evenly as possible.
Step 6: Bake for 55-60 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 15 minutes. At the 45 minute mark, remove a piece of popcorn and allow it to cool. Taste to determine if the coating is crisp and dry or if it is sticky. Continue cooking the popcorn 5-10 minutes longer until it is no longer sticky when cooled.
Step 7: Remove popcorn from the oven and immediately scoop out onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Allow the crunchy popcorn to cool to room temperature and break into pieces.
Step 8: Repeat for additional colors and flavors.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Eat rainbow popcorn once cooled!
Recipe Tips for a Popcorn Rainbow
The corn syrup and the baking soda give the candy coating a light, crisp shell. Without these ingredients and proper baking times, the popcorn will not form a dry coating and will result in sticky candy popcorn that is difficult to eat.
While the popcorn is baking in the oven, remember to stir every 10-15 minutes. This helps the candy coating spread to cover all the pieces more evenly.
Where did the whole leprechaun with a pot of gold story come from anyway?
According to Irish folklore, leprechauns are magical beings, said to be a part of the fairy family. They’re typically small in stature, and hide from humans in small dwellings, in hollowed tree trunks, and in caves.
They earn their pots of gold by being cobblers in their fairy world and weren’t always depicted as little men in green suits, with a hat and curly toed shoes. The little green guys we’ve come to know and love came later.
They keep their treasure close and buried deep in the underground. The magical fairies have given them powers to protect their gold and are to use it if ever they’re caught. In order for the leprechauns to find their hidden pots of gold, they look for the rainbows. Because wherever the rainbow ends, that’s where the gold has been hidden.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, definitely, just avoid using any added flavors. Natural is best, butter flavoring is going to interfere with the flavor of the jello popcorn.
Store popcorn in an airtight container immediately after cooling to prevent it from becoming sticky. Popcorn will stay fresh and crisp for 5-7 days as long as it’s kept in an airtight container. A Ziploc bag works well.
You can adjust or tint coloring of popcorn by adding gel or liquid food coloring to the candy coating mixture when you add the baking soda.
Other Super Sweet Candies and Treats
If you tried this homemade Rainbow Popcorn Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Rainbow Popcorn
Ingredients
- 9 cups popped popcorn
- ½ cup salted butter for each color of popcorn you want to make
- ½ cup granulated sugar for each color of popcorn you want to make
- ½ cup light corn syrup for each color of popcorn you want to make
- ½ teaspoon sea salt for each color of popcorn you want to make
- 3 oz. packet of Jell-O or flavored gelatin for each color of popcorn you want to make
- ½ teaspoon baking soda for each color of popcorn you want to make
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Spread popcorn in a 3-4 quart glass or metal baking dish 9 (at least 9×13, but larger will make it even easier to stir the popcorn.
- In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, corn syrup, and sea salt over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Add contents of the jello packet to the saucepan and stir until fully combined.
- Bring the mixture back up to a low boil and leave to simmer undisturbed for a full 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in baking soda – mixture will foam up a bit.
- Pour jello mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat as evenly as possible.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 15 minutes. After popcorn has cooked for 45 minutes, remove a piece from the oven and allow it to cool for a couple minutes. Taste to determine if the coating is crisp and dry or if it is sticky. Continue cooking the popcorn 5-10 minutes longer until it is no longer sticky when cooled.
- Remove popcorn from the oven and immediately scoop out onto parchment paper. Allow popcorn to cool and break into pieces.
- Repeat for additional colors and flavors. (NOTE: the ingredients listed above are for 1 color of popcorn. If you want to create rainbow popcorn like we did, you need separate ingredients for each color you intend to make)
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Notes
You can adjust or tint coloring of popcorn by adding gel or liquid food coloring to the candy coating mixture when you add the baking soda. 9 cups of popcorn is just the right amount to get a good coating of candy on most of the popcorn without it being too thick and unable to cook thoroughly. As the candy coating cooks and is warm, it is easy to stir and spread. As soon as it is removed from the heat, it cools and hardens quickly.
Nutrition
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