Rainbow popcorn is bringing all the sunshine 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 all the colors for a unicorn birthday. Either way, you’re about to make your kids (and your own inner kid) very happy!
Caramel corn is another favorite. It’s less festive in a sense, but that also means it can be eaten any time any place! Level up movie night with all the delicious popcorn!
What is this delicious treat?
Bringing traditional popcorn up about 10 notches, rainbow popcorn is just so cute and so much fun to eat! It’s the kind of treat that brings you back to popcorn stands in the mall and carnival treats. It was never really something that was widely available for movie night, so the fact that I can now make it at home whenever I want, makes me super excited. Err, I mean, makes my kids super excited!
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.
With St Patrick’s Day coming up, think about whether you want to make different shades of green or a full-on rainbow. You could have a snack table set up with bowls of colored popcorn, gold chocolate coins, and maybe even green marbled hot chocolate bombs! Bring a little leprechaun magic to your St Patrick’s day celebration!
Speaking of…
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 to hide from humans they can be found 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.
Neat isn’t it?!
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 for each color you intend to make.
Ingredients:
- Popped corn – You can pop your own corn on the stovetop or in your popcorn machine or you can use microwave popcorn – I would recommend using a plain microwave popcorn since you’ll be adding lots of ingredients!
- 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
- Baking soda – Reacts with the corn syrup and the sugar to create a slightly crispier and light texture when eaten.
How to Make Rainbow popcorn:
Step 1: Preheat the oven and spread the popcorn into a glass or metal baking dish. Making 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. Then add contents of the jello packet to the saucepan and stir until fully combined.
Step 3: 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.
Step 4: Pour jello mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat as evenly as possible. 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.
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.
But hold the phone! What if instead of allowing it to cool completely you greased up your hands a bit, and formed some of the popcorn into fun rainbow popcorn balls?!
Choose a holiday or party color theme or let your hair down and color outside the lines. The customizable possibilities are endless for these super fun, pop-in-your-mouth, totally addicting treats!
Yes, definitely, just avoid using any added flavors. Natural is best.
Store cooled 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.
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.
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)
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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