Why wait for fairs when kettle corn makes such an easy home snack that satisfies both sweet and salty cravings? For pennies, mere half-cup of kernels will make four quarts of popped corn.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- 2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar (2T will be lightly sweet)
- Salt to taste (about 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, less if table salt)
Directions
- Put popcorn kernels in bowl with sugar.
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, add oil and three kernels of popcorn. Cover pot. When kernels pop, add popcorn and sugar and stir. Cover pot again and cook, shaking pot very frequently (good idea to hold the lid as you do), until popping slows (1-2 seconds between pops; don’t wait, or you may scorch the whole batch). Turn off heat and pour popcorn into a large bowl. Salt to taste and serve.
Makes about 16 cups of popped corn, or about four servings.
Notes
- Because of the sugar, it’s much easier to scorch kettle corn than regular popcorn. I rarely buy specialized cookware, but I love my Whirly Pop stovetop popper, because its crank stir mechanism helps keep the popcorn from burning. It’s also easy to use and manageable for older kids making stovetop popcorn.
- For anyone going out to the movies, one batch of kettle corn fits nicely into four Ziploc sandwich bags and will save you from overpriced, chemical-laden movie theater popcorn.
- Store any extra in an airtight container, and it should be fine for a couple of days. The taste won’t change, it just gets a bit less crisp as it absorbs moisture from the air.
Here’s a link back to the post and pictures.
