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Peanut Butter Popcorn is a quick and easy favorite treat at our house! Perfect for family movie nights or a yummy treat to take to a friend or neighbor.
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients in Peanut Butter Popcorn
- Tips and Variations for the Best Peanut Butter Popcorn
- Fun Additions to Peanut Butter Popcorn
- How to Gift Popcorn
- Storing or Making Ahead Easy Peanut Butter Popcorn
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Delicious Snack Recipes
- How to Make Peanut Butter Popcorn
- Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe
One of the all-time best snacks, in my opinion, is popcorn. But not everyone knows just how versatile popcorn can be. Caramel popcorn recipes still rank as one of the best go-to treats, but this Peanut Butter Popcorn gives caramel a run for its money. It is so yummy!
This quick and easy popcorn is a favorite around our house. Perfect for a family movie night snack or when I need a quick treat to take to a friend or neighbor. You will love how easy it is to make and how much everyone loves it!
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Popcorn
This is one of the easiest and most delicious treats to make! Make it simple with only four ingredients. The blend of each ingredient creates the perfect combination. This peanut butter mixture is one of the best for caramel popcorn!
- Popcorn – Make it easy and microwave popcorn or use a popcorn machine to have your popped popcorn.
- Brown sugar – Added for sweetness!
- Light corn syrup – This will thicken the caramel sauce.
- Peanut butter – Sweet and salty mixture that is the main event.
Tips and Variations for the Best Peanut Butter Popcorn
Make as little or as many variations as you’d like. This popcorn is going to be the hit of the night! Peanut butter popcorn recipe is a great snack or gift idea.
- Make your popcorn lighter with a light butter or plain popcorn bag.
- Remove all unpopped popcorn kernels before adding the peanut butter topping. No one wants to break a tooth!
- If you are a vanilla fan, add a splash of vanilla extract with the peanut butter sauce.
- Drizzle melted chocolate over top the caramel corn.
- Add a dash of sprinkles for holidays or special occasions!
Fun Additions to Peanut Butter Popcorn
As mentioned above, you can drizzle some chocolate over the popcorn to give it some added flavor and to make it look pretty. Sprinkle in some M&M’s, Reese’s pieces, chopped candy bar (Butterfinger is awesome), candy corn or white or dark chocolate chips. Tastes so yummy with additions!
How to Gift Popcorn
To make this a gift, just put it in a clear plastic bag and tie on a cute ribbon! You can make it look fancier by melting a little chocolate and drizzling it over the popcorn after it has cooled. You can put it in a plastic baggie or a take-out style box from a craft store. If making for kids, you can press the popcorn into a ball and put it on a popsicle stick. So many possibilities here!
Storing or Making Ahead Easy Peanut Butter Popcorn
Make this ahead of time or package up your leftovers for the next night. This popcorn does not last too long but it is so good, usually it is gone before you need to store it! Store in an airtight container for two to three days.
“This is our family’s favorite Carmel Corn. (with peanut butter). There is NOT a recipe easier or quicker!!! The peanut butter is not too dominant. I use 3 batches of popcorn though! I also add a little vanilla and dash of salt to the sauce. Thanks for writing this up!!!”
-Sharon
Frequently Asked Questions
You can melt the peanut butter before adding it to the caramel mixture.
Add in margarine, confectioners’ sugar, and marshmallows in a saucepan over medium heat. Form into balls to create a delicious treat!
Either butterfly or mushroom popcorn are round. Butterfly popcorn has large bumps and a light fixture that breaks easily. Although mushroom popcorn is rough, it is very round.
More Delicious Snack Recipes
Movie nights, snack time, or just because, these snacks are so simple to make and taste even better! You will love all these flavors and different ideas. These are great for parties and get togethers too!
How to Make Peanut Butter Popcorn
Peanut Butter Popcorn
Video
Ingredients
- 2 bags microwave popcorn popped, I use light butter or plain
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup M&M's candies or Reese's Pieces Candies (optional)
Instructions
- Pop the microwave popcorn.
- Remove any unpopped kernels and place in large bowl.
- In medium saucepan combine brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to boil over medium-high heat stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter.
- Pour over popcorn and stir until well coated.
- Optional: sprinkle on some M&M's or Reese's Pieces
Notes
How to Gift Popcorn
To make this a gift, just put in a clear plastic bag and tie on a cute ribbon! You can make it look fancier by melting a little chocolate and drizzling it over the popcorn after it has cooled. You can put it in a plastic baggie or a take-out style box from a craft store. If making for kids, you can press the popcorn into a ball and put it on a popsicle stick. So many possibilities here!Nutrition Information
like adding M & Ms and dry roasted peanuts or cashews
Love this! Its become one of my holiday favorites! SO quick and easy! My co-workers love it too, its great for a potluck treat! Thank you!
You are very welcome 😀
I am giving a baby shower of 56. How far in advance can I make this, still keeping it crunchy and yummy? Thanks!
I wouldn’t make it too far in advance, in fact, it is best when served fresh!
I have made popcorn balls and frozen them until I wanted to give them out. They like crackers and
chips etc. all freeze very well and don’t go stale or mushy!!!!!
I made this last night…the taste was fantastic, but it was impossible to mix into the popcorn. The peanut butter sauce was quite thick and sticky. It definitely didn’t look pretty like yours…any idea what went wrong? I’d love to get it right!
It sounds like you need to let the brown sugar and corn syrup boil a little longer. When you bring it to a boil, try letting it boil for a minute or two before removing it from the heat.
Hmmm, I’m picturing tossing in some candy corn for a fall treat! Yum.
Great idea! I’ve mixed in M&M’s and candy corn before and it’s turned out great. Thank you for visiting our site!
I just made this today and substituted pancake syrup for the corn syrup (didn’t have any). It turned out AMAZING!
How much syrup did you use? Thanks
Puffed Corn works great in this too!
my only question is why put the unpopped kernels in a bowl. (LOL)
Trick of the day: If you take plain un-popped popcorn (the kind you would cook on a stove top) and put about 1/4 cup in a plain brown bag (like a lunch bag) and fold over the top like 3 times and put it in the microwave on high it will pop and you will have PLAIN, UN-SALTED popcorn in about 3-5 minutes. NOW you MUST stay and listen to the popping as it slows down to 1-2 kernels a second because that’s the time to take it out as all microwaves are different but other then that, its cheap and it WORKS as I have tried it!
Thank you thank you Paul we can’t wait to try this!
I made this, but happened to be out of corn syrup. I substituted 1 cup sugar mixed with 1/4 cup water. I don’t know if that was the cause ir what, but it turned out grainy and didn’t really stick to the popcorn very well. I am going to try again after going to the grocery store.
The corn syrup prevents the sugar from crystalizing (sic) you could add a 1/2 tsp cream of tarter dissolved in 1/4 cup of water to do the same thing
How long do you boil the sugar and syrup?
It just needs to be brought to a boil, I wouldn’t let it boil more than a minute.
Can honey be used in place of the corn syrup?
We have never tried it that way so I don’t know how it will turn out, let us know if you try it!
Yes! Honey can be used in place of corn syrup! I do it in everything I make that calls for corn syrup. We made many batches of caramel corn at Christmas time using honey and it turned out amazing!
What could I substitute for light corn syrup-granulated sugar?
We haven’t used granulated sugar before… It might work but I can’t tell you for sure because we have never made it that way before. Sorry!
Do you have anything syrupy? lol Try the sugar and boil it down first into a syrup, let us know!
This recipe is good, but it was a little too sweet for my taste. Next time I’m going to half the recipe and just drizzle over the popcorn. That way I get a little bit of sweet with the salty.
I love to make my own popcorn with my “Whirly Pop” on the stovetop. Any idea how much uncooked popcorn I’d need to cook up to yield about as much as two bags of microwave popcorn?
Two of my favorite things–popcorn and peanut butter! I’ll have to give this a whirl!
This looks delicious. I want to make my own popcorn, how many cups do you think I’ll need?
I would think 1/4 cup of popcorn would work.
This is nearly the same goo that my mom always poured over corn flakes. It was my favorite candy! Her version was a cup of sugar (not brown), cup of corn syrup, cup of peanut butter. Then corn flakes instead of popcorn. I like to press the whole mixture into a 9×13 dish lined with waxed paper and sprayed lightly with Pam. Now you have another way to eat it if you like, and I’ll try your way. 🙂
Your recipe reminded me that MY Mom used to make this with corn flakes! I had totally forgotten! It was at least 65 years ago, so it isn’t unusual to forget, so I’m happy that you gave me that memory back!!
Yummy. I made these in a jiffy and put them into popcorn balls with bits of chocolate chips in them. The pb base is very similar to peanut butter scotcheroos. Popcorn is a genius move for this base!
Looks delicious. I think we’ll try this for movie night this weekend. I will definitely add some M&M’s. Chocolate and peanut butter, you can’t go wrong with that.
The m&m’s sound like an great addition but I would also have to add pretzel sticks then! Sounds so yummy, I’m looking forward to making this!!
Can you freeze this recipe?
We haven’t frozen this recipe before so I can’t say for sure. It might be really messy when you thaw it out, that would be my only concern. If you try it out, let us know!
I used to have a similar recipe but it was baked for about an hour at 250 and had a great shelf life, about a month bagged up. I used Spanish peanuts mixed into the air popped corn. I froze it and it was still really good. Wish I had that old recipe and found yours! I haven’t tried it so hope to rate it once I have.
Thanks!
Allisonthebaker
What if you don’t have corn syrup?
I’ve seen other recipes for Peanut Butter Popcorn without the corn syrup, but I haven’t tried any substitutions. The corn syrup, in my opinion, gives it the best texture. Sorry I can’t be of more help!