A couple of years ago, we removed sugar from our diets. It wasn’t easy, but it was something we felt strongly about. The benefits have been amazing! With that said, we do miss some of the treats that we had previously enjoyed. One of them being, caramel corn. The caramel corn wasn’t something we ate regularly, but it was a family favorite.
Cheyenne, my almost 12-year-old daughter decided to play with some recipes to see if she could make a sugar-free caramel sauce to use in making a batch of homemade caramel corn.
She started by simply swapping the sugar for Monk Fruit. When we removed sugar from our house we began using Monk Fruit sweetener. Monk Fruit sweetener tastes similar to sugar. In most cases, it can easily be swapped for traditional sugar. Cheyenne wasn’t happy with the results so she continued tweaking the recipe until it was up to her liking.
After having Cheyenne’s homemade sugar-free caramel corn, I don’t think I can go back to the other stuff. We love that her recipe isn’t sickeningly sweet. It has just the right amount of salt, sweet, and crunchy texture.
Ingredients
1/2 Cup of butter
1/3 Cup of Monk Fruit
1 TBS vanilla extract
1/2 Cup of heavy whipping cream
1 Cup of unpopped popcorn kernels
Optional toppings:
Salt
Cinnamon
Nuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Take the butter off the heat, and add 1/3 cup of Monk Fruit, mix, and return to heat. Mix with a whisk until the Monk Fruit has completely dissolved. Then add 1 TBS of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Wisk until light brown in color and bubbling. Take off the heat. Pop the 1 cup of popcorn kernels any way you choose. We use an air popper. Place the popped corn in a large baking dish. Drizzle the caramel sauce on top of the popped corn. Lightly mix to evenly coat the popped corn with caramel sauce. (At first, it may look like not enough sauce for that amount of popped corn, but as you heat it, it spreads to coat more of the popped corn.) Place the dish in the oven for ten minutes. Remove the caramel corn and mix. If you choose you can add toppings such as salt, cinnamon, and/or nuts. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Allow the caramel corn to cool before eating.
We hope you enjoy it!
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Hello, my name is Laurie. My family and I live near the Oregon coast. When we aren’t at work, in school, or on the volleyball court, we enjoy traveling, cheering for our favorite sports teams, playing outdoors, and checking off items on our bucket list. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents, as well as our siblings and their families, live within an hour of us. We get together often to help one another out, celebrate milestones, and go on adventures together.
This post currently has 24 responses.
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Lauryn R
This sounds like a delicious sugar free alternative to caramel corn! I am very familiar with monk fruit, as my dad hasn’t been able to eat sugar most of my life. He discovered it a couple of years ago and it’s amazing how great it is! I would definitely make this for my kids, thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
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Sarah L
I like caramel corn but haven’t had any in a long time. This recipe looks yummy.
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monique s
We enjoy caramel corn and I love to have a recipe that doesn’t use sugar. Thanks
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gloria patterson
You know this is really sad a 12 yr old girl came up with this and this old woman would never began to try to create something new like this. Now that has done all the work I will try this.
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Peggy Nunn
I made this and it is wonderful. Thank you for the directions and recipe.
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Oh good! I am glad you like it. Thank you for telling me. I shared your message with my daughter. 🙂
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Amy D
I pop popcorn at home all the time, and I really like your idea of making caramel corn. My kids would certainly love it. I also love that you used monk fruit instead of sugar. I will need to try this.
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Donna
I’ll definitely have to try this recipe. I use monk fruit sweetener all the time, but I’ve never made caramel corn with it. It looks so delicious!
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Thomas Gibson
As a diabetic, I can surely appreciate this recipe as I am a huge fan of caramel popcorn.
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Joy
The recipe states 1/2 cup butter, but the directions says to melt 1 cup butter. I want to make this. But need clarification. Thanks.
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Helga
This is a great alternative to caramel popcorn using sugar. This would be perfect to make for the holidays.
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KarenB
As above there was a question as to how much butter to use. 1/2 cup? Or ONE cup
Also, do you use monk fruit or monk fruit in the raw?
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Pat Eggleston
The ingredients list 1/2 cup butter but the directions say to add 1 cup. Which is it????
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The ingredients list 1/2 cup butter but the directions say to add 1 cup. Which is it????
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Sue E
This is the first time I have ever heard of Monk fruit. I am Diabetic. I am always looking for good sugar substitutes. This sounds really good – like Cracker Jacks without the peanuts! I love sweet and salty snacks. This was pin worthy. Please thank Cheyenne for me. It was a good idea’
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Daphne
OMGoodness. This is just buttery, caramelly goodness! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
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OMGoodness. This is just buttery, caramelly goodness! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
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Sattwa Wygmans
Never tried monk fruit on popcorn – this is genius! I love it in other things so I will have to try this. Thank you!
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As a diabetic, I can appreciate this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
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Ron
I must not have cooked the sauce long enough, as it was just a wet mess when I poured it on the pop corn. Could you please give a cooking time. Thanks much.
That sounds good. I want to try it. Thank you for the recipe.