What do you do when you’ve got a group of friends over for the evening, and everybody is yearning for a snack?

You make kettle corn of course!

I’d worked under the assumption for quite a while that you couldn’t make kettle corn at home, there must have been some special equipment or tool or technique that made it too obscure or difficult to do in your own kitchen. I know, pretty silly, because not only can you make it at home in a matter of minutes, you don’t really need any fancy tools!

Silly me, thinking kettle corn was a magical thing to buy from the man at the farmer’s market.

Kettle Corn

(adapted from Instructables’ How to Make Kettle Corn)
Ingredients

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 Cup popcorn kernels

3 Tbsp sugar

salt for sprinkling

Directions
  • Find a pot and it’s matching lid (sometimes a feat in itself!).
  • Place the pot over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil, giving the pot a jiggle to have the oil evenly coat the bottom.
  • When the oil is hot, add the popcorn kernels, they should make a single layer at the bottom of the pot.
  • Continuously shake the pot so that that kernels are not sitting still, this way they won’t burn.
  • When the kernels just begin to pop, sprinkle the sugar over top of them. Place the lid on the pot, and continue shake shake shaking, burnt popcorn is no good.
  • When the popping of the corn slows, and there are a few seconds between the pops, take a peek under the lid. If most of the kernels are popped, pour everything out into a large bowl.
  • Sprinkle the popcorn liberally with salt, and give it a minute or two to cool before offering it to your guests, the sugar is molten at first and can burn your fingers.

I made two batches to feed my hungry friends. Don’t double the recipe and try to do it all at once, or else there won’t be room in the pot for all of the kernels to pop.

The boys look pretty ravenous, maybe I should have made three batches…