Read on to learn how to make this amazing caramel corn recipe!
Jump to RecipeSalty and sweet is my absolute most favorite flavor combination! And boy, does this caramel corn recipe deliver! Crunchy, flavorful caramel corn tossed with pretzels and potato chips…. Then drizzled with dark and white chocolate… And then sprinkled with sea salt to top it all off!
It does not get better than that!
I’ve been making this caramel corn recipe for years. I developed it for a ladies’ night I was hosting and it was a HIT! It was so popular and addictive, that my friends started referring to it as “crack popcorn.”
I’ve made it for practically every ladies’ night I’ve hosted since, haha!
I had tried out several different caramel corn recipes over the years and never quite found what I was looking for. So I ended up combining and tweaking and straight-up changing a lot of recipes. (This is the recipe that I ended up leaning on the most heavily to make this caramel corn recipe the way I wanted it.)
I wanted a crunchy caramel corn that had a deep caramel flavor and wasn’t overly sweet. Eventually, I figured out just the right combination of ingredients and cooking times to make just that! And now it’s the base for this sweet and salty caramel corn recipe. And it is SO GOOD!
Combine that perfect base of crunchy caramel corn with salty chips and pretzels = delicious. Then add chocolate and sea salt to that = HEAVENLY!
Seriously, I could (and have) eat this all day long and still want more.
So let’s get making!
Table of Contents
Prep the oven and popcorn.
First, Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Farenheight.
Then, pop 1/2 cup popcorn kernels in an air popper. If you don’t have an air popper, you can pop the kernels on the stove.
Remove any unpopped kernels– trust me, you do not want having to look out for hard kernels to slow you down when you’re munching on this awesome caramel corn recipe! The easiest way to remove the unpopped kernels is to transfer the popcorn to a new bowl with your hands (not just dumping from the original bowl).
Unpopped kernels always make their way to the bottom of the bowl, so after you’ve scooped out all the popcorn on top, it’ll be easy to pick out any kernels you find at the bottom of the original bowl.
Make the caramel
Combine 1 cup of salted butter, 1 1/2 cups of packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup of corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a medium pan on the stove. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it starts to boil.
Boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
Make the caramel corn
Now pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir until it’s all coated. You’ll need a really big bowl for this, or you can divide it into two bowls.
Divide the caramel corn onto two baking sheets that are each lined with a silicone baking mat. If you don’t have a silicone mat, you can grease the pans REALLY well. It won’t be as good as a baking mat, but it’ll work well enough.
Do NOT use parchment paper! The caramel will just stick to it and you’ll never get the caramel corn all off.
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Be sure to rotate the pans between the top and bottom shelves each time you take them out to stir.
Add the salty, crunchy goodness!
Right on the sheet pans, stir about 3 cups of pretzels and 3 cups of ridged potato chips into the caramel corn.
Drizzle the chocolates
Melt 4 ounces each of white and dark chocolate in bowls in the microwave. Be sure to stir the chocolate every 10-15 seconds, until its all melted.
Just a warning — many brands of white chocolate chips can be a pain to melt! If yours aren’t melting very well, you can add in a spoonful of shortening to help it along.
That being said, I have had good results melting Hershey’s white chocolate chips — no shortening needed.
Drizzle the chocolates over the popcorn, pretzel, and potato chip mixture. I just use a sandwich baggie with the tip of the corner snipped off to do this.
If you use the sandwich bag method, be sure to allow the melted chocolate to cool a bit before you scoop it into the bag. Also, try not to squeeze the bag very hard, or it may break, causing a large glob of chocolate to fall on your caramel corn (don’t ask me how I know…).
Sprinkle sea salt
While the chocolate drizzle is still soft, sprinkle some sea salt on everything (about 1 — 1 1/2 teaspoons should do it). You can also add some sprinkles to the caramel corn if you’d like to make it more fun or festive for a holiday.
Let everything set
Now all you have to do is let the chocolate set up! We live in a warm climate, so I usually put the pans in the fridge or freezer to speed up this process.
And you did it! Isn’t this caramel corn recipe SO DELICIOUS?!
Let me know what you think of this potato chip pretzel caramel corn in the comments!
Potato Chip Pretzel Caramel Corn Crack
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup corn syrup
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 oz ridged potato chips (about 3 cups), broken into smaller pieces
- 4 oz pretzels (about 3 cups)
- 4 oz white chocolate, melted
- 4 oz dark chocolate, melted
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- Pop the popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels.
- Put the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium pan on the stove over medium heat. Stir occasionally, until it starts to boil. Let it boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
- Remove the caramel from the heat and pour over the popcorn. Stir to coat it evenly.
- Divide the coated popcorn onto 2 baking sheets lined with silicone mats and spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes, stirring the caramel corn every 10 minutes.
- Right on the pans, stir the chips and pretzels into the caramel corn.
- Drizzle the melted chocolates across everything.
- Sprinkle on the sea salt and let everything set. You can put it in the fridge to speed it up.
