Easy Caramel Corn Recipe + Moose Munch Variation (No Corn Syrup, No Thermometer)
This amazing, no-corn-syrup caramel corn recipe is not only easy to follow, but it also skips the hassle of using a thermometer. Delicious on it’s own or as “moose munch” with the addition of chocolate, this recipe will make you the star of your next party! Easily made in just minutes, this is truly the delicious homemade treat everyone goes crazy for – just be prepared to make it again!
✩ What readers are saying…
“This recipe was exactly what I was looking for! Though I have no problem with using a candy thermometer, I loved that there was no corn syrup (and I have to admit not using a candy thermometer was kind of nice) and I loved the overall flavor and texture.” – Kate L.
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This perfectly crunchy caramel corn recipe is made with honey instead of corn syrup and is super easy to make – but everyone will think you slaved away.
I found the original corn-syrup version of this caramel corn recipe in a vintage Farm Journal cookbook inherited from Brian’s Kansas grandma, but I knew it was worth adapting because of the 5-minute cooking time. One time through with the honey substitute and I knew I had a winner with the great result!
I’ve since made this every year for Christmas and when I turned the caramel corn into a Harry & David ‘Moose Munch’ knock-off, it quickly became the most popular Christmas treat we gave! (Hard to believe when the treats include these decadent quadruple brownies, these coconut caramel shortbread bars, and these truffle bars, but there you are.)
To make it as close to the moose munch we liked so much, I figured out how to thoroughly coat some of the caramel corn with chocolate, and then mix them so you’d be able to pick out the different caramel or chocolate corn from a bowl just like the original (versus just drizzling caramel corn with chocolate). And it is SO good.
I had to share both the caramel corn and moose munch option with you for two reasons:
- Everyone tells me their family fights over this moose munch popcorn and they have to make sure it’s equally distributed to keep the peace.
- I can only make this one time a year or I will eat it all in a sitting, a-hem.
Anything that good deserves a place in the Christmas line-up, right?
(Or birthday line-up! It’s so loved that I’ve given it away as birthday gifts so no one has to share.)
Since some people shy away from making caramel corn (you know, hot syrup, candy thermometers and all that), I’m going to walk you through the steps so you can see how easy it is- really.
Here are two things you won’t find in my recipe:
- corn syrup
- candy thermometers
So now there really are no excuses. Except for all the sugar and butter part, but we won’t bother about that right now, okay?
Supplies Needed
- Popcorn Air Popper (make sure to get one with an on-off switch)
- Large Roasting Pan
- Quality Popcorn
- White & Brown Sugar
- Honey
- 4-quart Saucepan
- Wooden Spoon
- Large Stainless Steel Spoon
- Waxed Paper or Parchment Paper
- Semi-Sweet, Bittersweet, Milk Chocolate, or Baking Chocolate
- Large Clear Gift Baggies (if using as gifts)
How To Make Easy Caramel Corn
Step 1: Prepare the Popcorn. Pop the popcorn. I use an air popper because it’s easy. You can make it however you wish (be careful about added oil, though – it may affect the caramel corn). Then spread it in a large, oiled roasting pan. Set the pan of popcorn in a 250 degree oven to warm while making the caramel.
The most important thing to remember: Leave all the unpopped and partially popped kernels in the bowl when you transfer the popcorn to the pan. Do this by transferring the popcorn with a your hands or a spoon, not just dumping it into the pan. Your teeth (and your family’s teeth) will thank you.
Step 2: Make Caramel. Place the butter, sugars, and honey in a large saucepan set over medium heat to melt it together. Stir until you start to see some gentle bubbles on the surface, similar to the picture above.
When you see the gentle bubbles, set a timer for 5 minutes. Continue to stir for the full 5 minutes. The mixture will start boiling a bit harder, but never get crazy on you, similar to the photo above.
Jami’s Tips
TIP #1: Use a wooden spoon at this point so it can stay in the pan during the cooking process and not get hot.
TIP #2: I always make the caramel in a large 4-qt. saucepan to give it all the room it might need. I have had no spits or overflows with this recipe, though you should take care because it’s hot and will burn at this point.
Step 3: Make Caramel Corn. When the timer goes off (see? no thermometer!) remove the pan of popcorn from the oven and pour the caramel mixture over the popped corn. Mix with a large stainless steel spoon in the pan until most of the popcorn is evenly coated. Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, stir the pan of caramel corn again and then return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes.
Prep a counter space with two large pieces of waxed paper or parchment. When the caramel corn is done baking, immediately pour it onto the waxed paper, spreading it out over the paper as evenly as possible to cool. Cool completely, and then break into as small pieces as possible (important if you will be coating in chocolate – if not, don’t worry about bigger pieces).
Ta-da, you’ve made the easiest honey caramel corn! You seriously won’t believe how good this is and how simple to make.
You can use this wonderful caramel corn as is or you can take half of it and coat it with chocolate for a homemade version of Harry & David’s Moose Munch gourmet popcorn (for a LOT less!).
How to Make Moose Munch
Timeline for Gifting or Serving Moose Munch Option
To make the Moose Munch for a gift, you’ll need to make the caramel corn recipe and let it cool completely. Then one half will be coated with melted chocolate and that will have to cool completely before mixing the two back together, which takes many hours (I leave it overnight). So you’ll need to plan to make this a few days before serving or gifting.
Step 1: Divide the cooled caramel corn in half. Place one half in an airtight container. Place the other half in a large bowl. Melt 12 oz. of chocolate chips in a small bowl (you can use any chocolate you’d like: milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate or even a combination).
Step 2: Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel corn in the large bowl and mix thoroughly until most of the corn is coated evenly.
Step 3: Spread the chocolate-covered caramel corn back onto the waxed paper and use a couple of forks to separate the pieces as much as you can so that it will be easier to distribute the chocolate corn with the plain caramel corn.
Step 4: Let it sit until hardened completely (I usually let it sit overnight, covered with plastic or wax paper). When the chocolate is firm, mix it together with the plain caramel corn and package it up in baggies or containers.
I recommend that you bag it up as fast as you can.
Your Questions Answered
You can make this up to two weeks in advance of gifting when kept in airtight bags or containers at room temperature. Surprisingly, I’ve found this also freezes well – I accidentally stored a goodie bag full of cookies that included moose munch in the freezer when we couldn’t deliver it and it was perfect when defrosted!
With the popcorn, before you mix in the caramel mixture.
Two-thirds of a cup yields about 12-14 cups popped popcorn.
The reasoning behind all the recipes that add baking soda to caramel corn is that it helps achieve a “light, airy” texture. While that is technically true, I found it also created a more grainy texture. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but it’s definitely different from store bought caramel corn. When I removed it, the result was more like the store caramel corn and the chocolate coated better as well.
More Reader Raves
“This is my boyfriend’s ‘favorite snack ever.’” -Katie
“I made this yesterday and loved it! We put it in our Christmas gift basket.” -Rachael
“This is a perfect recipe. I made it and it was amazing. Thanks for sharing.” -Jeremy
I hope you and your loved ones enjoy this recipe as much as we have – please leave a rating and review so I know how you liked it!
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Easy Caramel Corn Recipe + Moose Munch Variation (No Corn Syrup, No Thermometer)
Equipment
- Hot air popcorn maker or other way to make popcorn
- large roasting pan
- 4-quart saucepan
Ingredients
Honey Caramel Corn:
- 2/3 cup unpopped popcorn
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar*
- 1/2 cup brown sugar*
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Moose Munch Variation:
- ounces chocolate chips (semisweet or dark) or other quality real chocolate about 2 cups
- Optional add-ins like nuts or broken pretzels
Instructions
Make the Caramel Corn:
- Heat oven to 250 degrees. Pop the popcorn and spread it in a large, oiled roasting pan. Put the pan in the oven to stay warm and crisp (it also helps to spread the hot caramel evenly on warm popcorn).
- Combine the butter, sugars, honey, and salt in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir while mixture melts and starts gently bubbling. Set a timer for 5 minutes and stir constantly while mixture gently boils.
- At the end of 5 minutes, remove from heat. Take the pan of popcorn out of the oven and pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn, stirring to coat the popcorn evenly. (If you'd like to add nuts, put them in with the popcorn for about 10 minutes to warm them and then add caramel mixture according to the recipe.)
- Return to oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring once at the 15 minute mark and again when it’s done (a piece removed with a spoon should be crisp to the bite).
- While caramel corn is cooking, prep a cooling area on a counter with two large pieces of waxed paper (or parchment).
- Immediately pour the hot caramel corn onto the waxed paper and spread evenly to cool, breaking up bigger pieces with a fork so that there will be smaller pieces to coat with the chocolate.
- Moose Munch Variation:
- Divide the cooled caramel corn in half. Place one half in an airtight container and the other half in a large bowl.
- Melt the chocolate and pour it over the caramel corn in the bowl; stir to coat well. If using any optional ingredients, sprinkle over the wet chocolate or stir them in with the chocolate.
- Spread the chocolate covered caramel corn back onto the waxed paper and use a couple of forks to separate the pieces as much as possible. You're aiming for individually coated pieces that will mix in with the plain caramel corn. Let cool completely (8 hours or overnight to be sure).
- When the chocolate is firm, toss the plain caramel corn with the chocolate caramel corn. Bag up for gifts or store in an airtight container for up to two weeks (I have even frozen this for a few weeks and it was still good!).
Notes
Nutrition
More Holiday (or any day) Treats to Try
- Mini Almond Joy Brownies
- Espresso Truffle Bars
- Chocolate Drizzled Nut Squares
- Whole Grain Cut-Out Cookies
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published December 2011. This recipe was originally published in December 2011 – it was updated in 2018 and 2024.
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How did you melt your chocolate chips? I tried it on low power in the microwave, stirring every 15-30 sec., but it just became a thick clump and wouldn’t smooth out. I ended up salvaging it by adding cream, which worked, but then the drizzled choc. didn’t harden very well.
Oh, shoot, your chocolate seized up! I’ve read from Cook’s Illustrated that contrary to what we think, adding a bit of water will bring it back.
That said, it hasn’t happened to me in a long time because I’ve found that using good quality chocolate always melts. It’s usually a chocolate chip that doesn’t have chocolate liquor as the main ingredient, but simply cane sugar and unsweetened chocolate.
Yummy variation! I find quality matters. Used Heirloom Red Kernal popping corn that has no hard hulls, & l have some No. CA Blackberry honey that lends a luscious fruity note, 1 tsp vanilla extract after cooking, (& pinch of maldon salt while cooling.)…and I’d subtract about 2 TB corn before popping for more deluxe-syrup-ratio, like classic recipe
Glad you liked this, Marcy.
Not a fan of the honey doesn’t give it that classic taste-tastes like honey and mixed with high end chocolate it’s odd. Also the caramel only barely covered 1/2 of the popped (2/3rds cup) and the chocolate only barely covered the other 1/2. I looked back to made sure I followed the recipe exactly and I did. Maybe 5 minutes is too long at medium heat & it thickened too much?
The 1/4 cup of honey to all the other sugar doesn’t come through like that for me, but I use honey in lots of things so maybe I’m used to the flavor. As for the coating, I’m not sure what went wrong – as you can see from the photos, the caramel coats all of the popcorn normally. Also, you’re free to add more chocolate according to your tastes!
This is the best and easiest recipe I have made for caramel corn. I love it does not use a candy thermometer. It turns out perfect every time. It is always a favorite in my Christmas goodie baskets.
Thank you so much for the review of this, Diana! That is my experience, too, so I’m glad to have others know about it. 🙂
As always you give the best details in your recipes! Thank you for sharing. This sounds like a winner! 😊
I’m so glad you think so, Laura – that’s a goal of mine. 🙂 I’m making 3 batches for my family (who demands it, lol) just this week – I hope you like it, too!
I am an under-performer in the kitchen, but simple directions with photos meant even I could pull this off. Delicious, beautiful and I can’t wait to share with my family. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad to know that the directions were helpful – that’s always my goal, so is great to get feedback. 🙂 If your family is like mine, they will LOVE this!
In the variation section, ounces of chocolate are mentioned. How many ounces are 2 cups? Thank you.
Usually a 12 ounce package of chocolate chips holds 2 cups, so that’s what I go by.
Is there a hack to get around the air popper machine? Is there store bought popcorn that would work?
You can pop corn in a brown bag in the microwave – google the directions. Or you can pop it on the stove with some oil, but try to use as little as possible.
I just made 1/2 recipe for grandkids and it was a big hit!
Yay!! (Impressed with your ability to make only a half batch – probably very smart of you, ha!)