This Bananas Foster Caramel Popcorn is easy to make, but SO indulgent: A richly flavoured caramel corn with dried bananas and pecans!
About a decade ago, I got it in my head that I should do a popcorn cookbook.
I was always doing weird and awesome popcorn variations, so it seemed like an obvious choice. I honed and shot a few recipes, organized them into a folder... and was soon distracted by some other project.
Recently, I’ve been going through old folders, and digging out some gems. Truly, it feels like a bit of a treasure hunt!
Today’s recipe is for my Bananas Foster Caramel Corn.
I love the combo of flavours in Bananas Foster, as you may have guessed from a few recipes on this blog: Bananas Foster Pralines, a Bananas Foster Pavlova, my
Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake, and even as a topping recipe on my 6" Vanilla Cheesecake Recipe post!
I’m also a big fan of homemade caramel popcorn with nuts, but this recipe takes it several steps further. It’s a caramel popcorn recipe that’s been dressed up with banana chips, pecans, flavour extracts, and cinnamon!
It’s not actually that much work, and TOTALLY worth that little bit of effort.
Anyway.
I’m gonna try to keep this one short and sweet, so let’s get to it!
Jump to Recipe
Bananas Foster Popcorn Ingredients
While some of the ingredients are super basic and don’t really require any discussion - salt, baking soda, cinnamon, etc - I do have thoughts on some of them:
Popcorn
You can pop your popcorn fresh (which is what I recommend), or use pre-popped popcorn.
If using premade popcorn, try to use something fresh, without added butter or salt.
I like to use popcorn that makes big, puffy popcorn for this one, as I’m not as much of a fan of caramel on tiny pieces of popcorn. It’s all about the ratios!
SO, I recommend using the "gourmet mushroom" variety of popcorn kernels. These make the more round / globe / "brain" type of popcorn, and is best for caramel popcorn in general.
Alternatively, you can try the "Gourmet Yellow" variety of popcorn, which is commonly used for movie theatre style popcorn.
Banana Chips
You’re looking for the snack type of sweetened banana chips - hard slices, pretty brittle, lots of great crunch to them.
Since writing this recipe, freeze dried banana has hit the market as a snack - don’t use that! It’s too fragile, and will not hold up to being stirred into the caramel corn!
Nuts
To keep this on theme, I tend to stick to pecans when making this recipe.
Pecan halves look the nicest, but chopped pecans make for a bit of a nicer popcorn-to-nut ratio when eating. (It’s because they’re smaller pieces and more dispersed throughout!
Use whichever you prefer, or even a mixture of both.
Walnuts, cashews, or peanuts also work well with the flavours in this particular caramel popcorn recipe... they’re just not the usual used in bananas foster.
Brown Sugar
You can use dark or light brown sugar for this - or even half and half. I like to use dark, for more flavour.
Whichever you use, just be sure it’s packed well into your measuring cup, so you’re getting enough sugar into the caramel.
Extracts
This recipe uses two different extracts - Imitation Banana Extract and Rum Extract.
This recipe was designed around the kind of extracts you can get in the grocery store - Usually McCormick.
You CAN use something more like a Lorann Flavor Oil - it does come in both Butter Rum and Banana Cream flavours - but you’ll want to use half the amount called for, as it’s MUCH more concentrated!
Honestly though, the McCormick extracts taste better for this particular recipe.
How to Make Bananas Foster Caramel Popcorn
1. Preheat oven to 200F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
2. Place the popcorn in a large stockpot - how we do it - or divide it between the two cookie sheets.
3. Stir in the banana pieces and pecans. (If not using a large pot, divide the banana chips and nuts between the two baking sheets before stirring well). Set aside.
4. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt, whisking until well combined.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat.
5. Stir in extracts and cinnamon, whisking until well combined. (You don't want clumps of cinnmon!).
6. Add baking soda, stir well to combine - caramel will foam up.
7. Pour caramel over popcorn mixture, CAREFULLY stir to coat evenly - Hot sugar is nasty to get burned with!
- If you divided your base ingredients over two baking sheets, try to ballpark half of the caramel over each sheet, then stir on the pans to combine
- If you mixed the base ingredients in a pot, pour all of the caramel into the pot, stir well to combine, then divide the whole thing out between the two pans.
8. Evenly spread out your caramel corn over the two baking pans, separating big clumps as much as you can.
9. Bake for 1 hour, stirring well every 15 minutes.
At the 30 minute mark, I like to switch pan positions in the oven - the one that was on the bottom goes on the top.
10. Allow to fully cool, then store in an airtight container. This is important - caramel corn attracts moisture from the air, and will quickly go soggy/sticky if not properly stored!
More Popcorn Recipes!
Looking for even more fun ways to jazz up your favourite snack? Look no further!
Canadian Popcorn Seasonings
Sweet Heat Salted Caramel Popcorn
Moroccan Twist Salted Caramel Popcorn
Maple Caramel Popcorn
Apple Cinnamon Caramel Popcorn
Maple White Cheddar Popcorn
Hopped Popcorn - Hopcorn!
Bacon Cheddar Popcorn
Jello Glazed Popcorn
Share the Love!
Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
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Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
Bananas Foster Caramel Popcorn
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 20-24 cups Popped popcorn ⅔ - ¾ cup unpopped
- 3 cups Dried banana chips broken up
- 2 cups Pecans
- 1 cup Butter
- 2 cups Packed brown sugar
- ½ cup Corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 4 teaspoon Rum extract
- 1 teaspoon Banana extract
- 3 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the popcorn in a large stockpot - how we do it - or divide it between the two cookie sheets.
- Stir in the banana pieces and pecans. (If not using a large pot, divide the banana chips and nuts between the two baking sheets before stirring well). Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt, whisking until well combined.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat.
- Stir in extracts and cinnamon, whisking until well combined. (You don't want clumps of cinnmon!). Add baking soda, stir well to combine - caramel will foam up.
- Pour caramel over popcorn mixture, CAREFULLY stir to coat evenly - Hot sugar is nasty to get burned with! If you mixed it in a pot, divide the caramel corn between the two cookie sheets.
- Bake for 1 hour, stirring well every 15 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, I like to switch pan positions in the oven - the one that was on the bottom goes on the top.
Nutrition
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