Patriotic Popcorn
Our Patriotic Popcorn is a fun Red White and Blue 4th of July treat or Memorial Day snack that is so easy to make and even more delicious to eat!
Our family is strange … mostly in a good way. We started a tradition a few years ago of pre-celebrating holidays. Holidays are so crazy for us. We are usually rushing someplace or trying to clean the house or some other such nonsense. We decided to take the night before a holiday to get together and have a small celebration. I don’t know how it started, but our pre-holiday celebration usually involves popcorn. While I don’t know how it started, I know why … we LOVE popcorn. This Patriotic Popcorn is a direct result. Sweet, and salty, and chock full of Red, White, and Blue candy. It was a big hit. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family did.
Ingredients You Will Need
Preparing the Popcorn
Step 1: You will need 10 cups of popcorn. We pop our popcorn on the stove (you can find our directions on How to Make Perfect Popcorn here) but you can use air-popped or microwave.
Step 2: After the popcorn is popped, make sure to remove all of the un-popped kernels. You don’t want to bite down on one of those!
Step 3: Once you have made the popcorn, salt it liberally. It is so nice to taste the salty popcorn with the sweet marshmallow coating. Not quite like Kettle Corn but close.
Preparing the Marshmallow Mixture
Step 4: To make the Marshmallow Mixture, add 3 tablespoons of butter to a medium saucepan. Melt the butter on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter is completely melted.
Step 5: Add 3 cups of mini marshmallows to the saucepan.
Step 6: Stir until the marshmallows are covered in butter, and then continue to stir until the marshmallows are completely melted.
Step 7: Take the marshmallow mixture off the heat as soon as the last marshmallow has melted.
Making the Marshmallow Popcorn
Step 8 & 9: Slowly pour about a third of the marshmallow mixture over the salted popcorn.
Step 10: Gently fold the marshmallow mixture in with the popcorn. Continue to add the marshmallow mixture a bit at a time, stirring between each addition.
Step 11: The popcorn should be completely covered in the warm marshmallow mixture.
Step 12: Now pour the popcorn onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, foil, or a Silpat liner.
Step 13: Use the spatula to even the popcorn out on the cookie sheet.
Patriotic Candy Mix-in’s
Step 14: Now it is time for the candy mix-ins. We added Red, White and Blue Regular M&M’s and Red and Blue Pretzel M&M’s to our Patriotic Popcorn. You can find the special Patriotic Blend of M&M’s in the summertime in most grocery and big box stores. We also added a handful of Mini Marshmallows. Finally, we topped our Patriotic Popcorn with some Red White, and Blue homemade sprinkles! This is super easy to do and really makes your desserts look special! We have all the directions you’ll need to make your own sprinkles right here.
Assembling the Patriotic Popcorn
Step 15: Once the popcorn is covered in marshmallow mixture it is time to add the candy. But don’t wait too long. You want the marshmallow mixture to still be warm and sticky so the candy and sprinkles will stick to it. Sprinkle the candy onto the popcorn.
Step 16: Allow the Patriotic Popcorn to cool. Break apart into pieces and serve.
Expert Tips and FAQ’s
We make our popcorn from scratch on the stove – nothing is better than that in our opinion. You can find all the tips and tricks you need to make the perfect popcorn right here. You can also use Microwave popcorn but you should use a type that has no butter flavoring added.
The contrast of sweet and salty in this popcorn recipe is super yummy. To get that combination you should lean towards over-salting the popcorn. We try to salt the popcorn as soon as it comes out of the pan so that salt sticks to the hot popcorn.
If you can’t find M&M’s, you could also use Sixlets which they sell at Walmart and party supply stores.
Our family loves this popcorn so it has never lasted longer than a day at our house. This popcorn definitely tastes the best right after it is made but will keep for a few days in an airtight container. The popcorn is a little chewier the next day because the popcorn absorbs some of the moisture from the marshmallow mixture but it still tastes good.
Other 4th of July Desserts You Will Love
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Patriotic Popcorn
Our Patriotic Popcorn is a fun Red White and Blue 4th of July treat or Memorial Day snack that is so easy to make!
Ingredients
- 10 Cups of Popped Popcorn
- 3 tbsp. Butter (Sweet Cream, Salted)
- 3 cups Mini Marshmallows
- Red and Blue Regular M&M’s
- Red and Blue Pretzel M&M's
- Red, White and Blue Sprinkles
Instructions
- Pop 10 cups of popcorn and salt liberally and place in a large bowl.
- Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a medium sauce pan. Once the butter is melted, add 3 cups of mini marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are melted. Turn off the heat as soon as the last marshmallow has melted.
- Pour 3/4 of the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn in the bowl and then gently fold the popcorn with a spoon until most of the kernels are covered in mixture.
- Pour the marshmallow popcorn onto a prepared cookie sheet.
- Drizzle the remaining marshmallow mixture over the popcorn on the cookie sheet.
- Sprinkle the candy and Mini Marshmallows over the popcorn.
- Allow the popcorn to cool. Break apart into pieces and serve.
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
