How to Make Kettle Corn for Your Next Movie Night

Kettle corn is the sweet and salty treat that you didn’t realize was missing from your life. Whether you're settling into a rom-com or heating things up with a Western, movie night calls for a delicious popcorn recipe. Once you know how to make kettle corn, you'll be making it every time!

How do you make kettle corn from scratch?

Kettle corn could not be easier to make from scratch. With just four simple pantry ingredients and lots of opportunities to customize, this is definitely a technique to try.

First, find a great pan. Kettle corn cooks best in a wide, high-sided saucepan. The kernels can sit in a single layer on the bottom of the pan, which allows them to pop more evenly and prevent burning. Make sure the pan has a tight-fitting lid and a handle so you can move it around. Bonus if the lid is glass and you can see your corn popping!

Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Coconut oil is great for this—its fruity flavor complements the sweetness of the kettle corn—but any vegetable oil can be used. Once the oil has heated for a couple of minutes, add the popcorn kernels and sugar and stir well to combine. A heatproof rubber spatula is your best bet for stirring—you want to prevent all of the hot sugar that you are cooking up from sticking.

Now cover the pot with the lid and wait—but don’t relax! Once the popcorn starts popping, it's time to move things around. Remove the pan from the heat and shake it frequently. This moves popped kernels from the bottom of the pan to the top, preventing them from burning. Return the pan to the heat to give the un-popped kernels the love that they need, and repeat the process until the popping slows. Once you hear pops only few and far between, remove the pan from the heat immediately. We're working with hot sugar here—any extra time over the heat means it can burn! Transfer the kettle corn to a very large bowl or spread it on a sheet tray. This allows more surface area to catch a nice shower of kosher salt—the finishing step.

What makes kettle corn different?

Kettle corn is cooked with not only oil, but a little bit of sugar added to the pan. The sugar melts and coats the raw kernels before they pop, which makes for a sweet, very light, candy-esque coating on each piece. Once you add kosher salt to these hot kernels, you have the perfect sweet and salty snack.