Rainbow Candy Popcorn – Kids in the Kitchen

Saturdays are turning into Kids in the Kitchen days. When we started this ‘kids’ series, Ben was the first one to want to do some cooking with me. But as he was making some dishes, the other two decided that they didn’t want to be left out of all the fun! Today’s recipe had to be focused on the Valentine’s Day gift that the three are going to give to their teachers on Tuesday. Cards have been written for all the classmates but the teachers deserve something extra special so we searched for the perfect little treat.

I had been scanning the Jello website and discovered that candy corn could be made with Jello. I was so pumped and told the kids that this would make the perfect gift. Plus, this would be easy for them to make and a lot of fun! I bought a few different kids of Jello and we made the red Jello first.

There are only a few steps and the kids did pretty well all of it as I stood close by. I added a few drops of food colouring to make sure that the candy coating had a bold colour.

Once baked we removed it from the oven and let the popcorn cool. I learned that it is important to break apart the candy corn immediately after it is removed from the oven. The first batch cooled compltetly before breaking it apart and they were all hardened together. They tasted fine but it wasn’t as attractive.

After the red Jello, we decided to try green, yellow and blue. They all tasted great and each colour was a favourite of someone. Mixing all the candy corn together made a beautiful rainbow display that just begs you to dive in.

It is necessary to quickly mix the popcorn once you pour the candy coating in as it gets sticky very quickly.

Spread the candy corn on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Once baked, break the popcorn apart with your hand immediately after taken it out of the oven. If you wait to long they will harden together.

Rainbow Candy Popcorn

4.15 out of 5
7 reviews
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This candy popcorn recipe is made with Jello. A simple sweet popcorn recipe for how to make candy corn with bright colours and fruity flavours!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 10 cups

Ingredients

  • 10 cups of popped popcorn
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup (clear, if possible)
  • 1 package Jello
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • few drops of food colouring (if desired)

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in the corn syrup until smooth. Mix in the Jello, sugar and food colouring (if desired). Bring the candy coating to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
  • In a large bowl, pour the candy coating over the popcorn. Using a wooden spoon, mix the popcorn so that they are evenly coated with the candy coating.
  • Spread the popcorn on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake in a 250F oven for 30 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and immediately break the popcorn apart. The candy will harden as it cools.

Recipe adapted from Jello

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17 comments

  • 5 stars
    Can you call us concerning manufacturing this colored popcorn commercially? We own an independent movie theater here in NH and thought it woud be great for the kids.

    Thanks

    Alex
    603-481-1872

    • Reply
  • Easy recipe! Make sure you bake the popcorn for 30 min and immediately after taking it out if the oven separate the popcorn into smaller pieces or individually so they cool without clumping together. (The recipe states this) the only thing I would have done differently is more popcorn this is very sweet but it’s personal taste.
    Nice recipe.

    • Reply
  • 3 stars
    Thanks for the idea but this recipe resulted in my popcorn being one huge clump of blue popcorn (we used blue Jello). I compared this recipe to another one that had minor modifications and I strongly preferred the other recipe. The difference was this recipe asked for 1/4 cup of corn syrup, whereas the other recipe, only asked for 1 Tb of corn syrup with 3 T of water. Once every thing was mixed the final touch was to add 1 Tsp of Baking Powder. This resulted in the popcorn that was not too sticky, and when cooked, the popcorn separated into individual popcorn kernels.

    • Reply
  • I have made this before and what a great recipe. I am wondering how you did the yellow popcorn. I am hosting a baby shower and would like to make yellow candied popcorn. Thank you in advance.

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    Made this today and it came out great and the kids loved making it. Thanks for the great post!

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I have made this for years! Family favorite and so easy!

    • Reply
  • I made some of this and it came out great. Love it and thank you for shareing.

    • Reply
    • How long can I store this for? I’m planning a birthday party and I’d like to make this in advanced if I could. Like up to a week, week and a half if possible.

      • Reply
  • Can’t wait to try this! Think this will make great treat bag fillers for my daughters john deere birthday party! Green and yellow Candy coated popcorn! Thanks for the recipe/instructions! 🙂

    • Reply
    • How did you do the yellow popcorn?

      • Reply
  • What a fun thing to do with your kids! I love the process, but mostly I love the results. Beautiful bites of sweet and crunchy popcorn! YUM!

    • Reply
  • That’s such a cool idea! I don’t like candy corn much, but I love the interactive aspect 🙂

    • Reply
  • Wow that is so cool!! I bet the popcorn tasted great. I need to do something like this with my kids, they would love it. What a fun and yummy project. 🙂

    • Reply
  • How simple yet so fun!! Love the idea!

    • Reply
  • This looks fantastic. I am jealous of your kids’ teachers – this is an amazing Valentine’s Day gift. I love that you are cooking with your children. Well done!

    • Reply
  • It is great to find fun family projects like this that result in such unique and tasty gifts! So glad you posted this. I am wondering if you could bake this in big cookie cutters or molds to make different shapes-like pink bunnies for Easter! Great post.

    • Reply
  • Wonderful popcorn. Love seeing the kids in the kitchen. Melts my heart. I have been on a popcorn kick lately. Just made two more kinds tonight. It’s like a sickness. But a tasty one. Lol!

    • Reply

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