Popcorn Balls Recipe

Super easy popcorn balls recipe!

This right here is a no-fail, easy, and yummy popcorn balls recipe. No candy thermometer needed and no tricky or vague cooking instructions. Simple, easy, fast, and delicious! A special and fun treat for the kids and adults to enjoy!

Oh, springtime – a wonderful time of year! Grass is turning green, plants are beginning to bud, popcorn is popping on the apricot trees. With all of this thinking and singing about popcorn, I start thinking more about popcorn balls! Such a fun spring and summer treat, especially for the kids, but also nostalgic and fun for the adults. 😉

In fact, I remember years ago when my grandma would bring like 100 popcorn balls, one for each of the kids, to our family reunions. We would camp at the lake, so everyone would be hanging out on the beach while her famous popcorn balls were being passed around. Everyone looked forward to it! Her recipe involves a “soft ball stage” and is great and all, but I’m totally happy to have this even easier popcorn ball recipe in my repertoire!

Because it is so easy and such a fun treat, it worked out well to make a bunch of them for a recent cub scouts activity! Popcorn balls are an awesome treat for any fair-type activity, summer outing or picnic, party, camping, holiday BBQ, etc. Just make sure you have hand wipes or something similar handy. 😉

Add food coloring to work with a theme or holiday colors! Green for St. Patrick’s Day, team colors for the Super Bowl (and shape them like a football), orange for Halloween, pastel colors for Easter (and shape like an egg), and so on.

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You might also like these recipes: Oreo popcorn and Easiest Caramel Corn!

Popcorn Balls Recipe

Definitely the easiest popcorn balls recipe around! Delicious and fast too.

5 / 5 ( 1 Review )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Serves: 18

Adjust Servings: 18

US CustomaryMetric

Ingredients

• 20 cups popped plain popcorn about two 3.2 oz bags microwave plain popcorn
• ¾ cup light corn syrup
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons cold water
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• food coloring optional

Instructions

• Transfer popped popcorn with your hands to a large bowl. Using your hands will help sift out the kernels!
• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the corn syrup, butter, cold water, powdered sugar, and marshmallows. Stir and cook until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add food coloring, if desired.
• Pour mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat. Let cool just enough so you can comfortably handle the popcorn.
• Butter, grease, or wet your fingers to help keep the popcorn from sticking, then shape the popcorn into 3-inch balls. This needs to be done before it has cooled all the way.
• Wrap each in cellophane or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

If you use salted butter, just omit the pinch of salt.

Nutrition

Calories: 171kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 13mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 26g

Recipe Adapted From: Lil' Luna