
Do you love caramel corn? Who doesn’t? Those crunchy morsels of sweet popcorn are a classic treat that will satisfy any snack craving. To give caramel corn a fun, autumnal twist, I decided to add apple cider to the mix! This popcorn is packed with apple flavor and complemented with warm spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger, to add the perfect fall twist to this caramel corn.
What You Need to Make Apple Cider Caramel Corn

To whip up your own batch of apple cider caramel corn, you’ll need:
Popcorn
- I purchase regular yellow kernels from the supermarket and use a popcorn machine for freshly popped popcorn. I pop about five cups of popcorn for this recipe. If you would like to make more, you can double the recipe, but be sure to use an additional sheet pan to divide a double batch.
- Apple Cider Syrup: I boil apple cider to about 1/8 of its original volume to make a concentrated syrup to maximize the apple flavor I need for the popcorn. This process can take a few hours depending on how much apple cider you decide to boil, but to save time, you can also purchase boiled cider.
- Spices, Salt, and Baking Soda: I add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice to add to the rich apple flavor, with salt added to enhance the sweetness. The baking soda helps the caramel sauce create its crunchy, crisp coating and as a result, you have caramel corn that won’t be too hard to bite into.
Apple Cider Caramel
When making your caramel sauce, let it reach about 275℉ to 300℉ degrees before you remove it from the heat.
Equipment
- Half sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Rubber spatula (to easily stir and mix your apple cider caramel sauce)
- Large bowl
Storage Tips
To make sure your popcorn stays crunchy and delicious, keep it stored in an airtight container. You can store your caramel corn for a week.
Apple Cider Caramel Corn
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
- Rubber spatula
- Half sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Large bowl
Ingredients
- 5 cups popcorn
- 6 tbsp butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup boiled apple cider store-bought or homemade, check notes for how to make homemade cider syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ginger
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
- Mix in brown sugar and stir with a rubber spatula until the sugar is fully combined with the butter. Increase heat to medium-high, bringing sugar and butter mixture to a boil. Let mixture boil for about 4 minutes, while continuously stirring.
- Remove caramel from the heat and stir in vanilla, salt, spice, and baking soda. The mixture will start to bubble up, but continue stirring until the sauce is thick and shiny.
- In a large bowl, pour your caramel sauce over the popcorn while stirring. Continue stirring in caramel sauce until all of the popcorn is coated.
- Evenly spread popcorn onto baking sheet. Bake for an hour, making sure to stir and break up any clumps every 15 minutes during the baking process.
- Let popcorn cool. It can be eaten immediately and stored for about a week.
I made this recipe and the cider flavor was amazing! I wasn’t expecting the flavor to pull through like it did, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved all of the warm spices. It was like being at the cider mill!