If you love bacon, this is the caramel popcorn recipe you have been looking for! Be warned, once you start snacking, it's difficult to stop. Butter can be halved for a leaner dessert.
Ingredients
- thick-cut bacon: 1 pack (12 ounce pack)
- real maple syrup: 0.5 cup
- quarts popped popcorn: 3 piece
- crispy rice cereal squares (such as Rice Chex®): 2 cups
- crispy wheat cereal squares (such as Wheat Chex®): 2 cups
- peanuts: 2 cups
- pretzel sticks: 2 cups
- butter: 1 cup
- brown sugar: 2 cups
- corn syrup: 0.5 cup
- salt: 1 tsp
- vanilla extract: 1 tsp
- baking soda: 0.5 tsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
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Arrange bacon slices close together and slightly overlapping onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle bacon slices evenly with maple syrup.
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Place the baking sheet in the cold oven; set temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake until bacon is crisp, about 20 minutes.
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Transfer bacon slices to a paper towel-lined plate to cool. Crumble cooled bacon.
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Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil.
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Lightly mix popcorn, rice cereal, wheat cereal, peanuts, pretzels, and crumbled bacon together in a large bowl. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
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Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat; mix brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt into the melted butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil. Boil mixture, without stirring, for 4 minutes.
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Place popcorn mixture in the preheated oven to warm.
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Remove the butter mixture from heat and mix in vanilla extract and baking soda until caramel begins to foam. Drizzle caramel in a thin stream over popcorn mixture, tossing to evenly coat.
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Bake caramel corn in the oven, stirring every 15 minutes, until caramel coating is set, 1 hour. Let caramel corn cool completely before breaking into pieces.
