Bacon Cheddar Popcorn Recipe

Bacon cheddar popcorn is better than nachos, and here’s why. Imagine the perfect blend of popped popcorn, crispy smoky bacon, and shredded cheddar cheese. With its delightful crunch and irresistible flavors of smoky bacon and sharp cheddar, this popcorn takes snacking to a whole new level.

Unlike nachos, which become soggy immediately, bacon cheese popcorn maintains its delightful crunch from start to finish, making it the perfect snack for movie nights and game day. So go ahead, try this bacon and cheddar cheese popcorn recipe, and forget why you ever doubted its superiority.

a small bowl of bacon cheddar popcorn on a colorful potholder.
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Ingredients

Use your favorite bacon and popcorn for this recipe. In our house, we love Hempler’s bacon and Orville Redenbacher!

Mr. Ugly Duckling Bakery originally thought a cheddar popcorn would work better with powdered cheddar cheese. But this bacon cheese popcorn is a perfect combination of crispy bacon, crunchy popcorn, and oozy melted cheese that holds it all together.

Plus this way you don’t get all that powdered cheese residue on your fingers.

Variations and substitutions

  • The best cheese for this cheese popcorn is the one you have on hand. So feel free to sub in any other cheese that melts easily, like shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack.

Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Recipe tips and tricks

Pop your favorite popcorn, crispy your favorite bacon, and shred some cheddar cheese. Toss it all together and broil until the cheese has melted.

a pan of unbaked bacon cheese popcorn.

 
Before
a pan of cooked bacon cheese popcorn.
After

Other game night favorites

Serve this bacon cheddar popcorn on game night with other favorite appetizers and snacks like:

Recipe FAQs

That doesn’t look like enough cheese and bacon for me – can I add more?

Mr. Ugly Duckling Bakery would agree with you. Your future cardiologist might not. But you could double the amount of add ins without impacting the crunch of the popcorn.

Can this be made ahead?

The bacon can be cooked ahead of time, but you will want to be eating the rest of this right out of the oven.

Can I make this without the bacon?

You could, although I might consider subbing a non-meat bacon before you left it out completely. The MorningStar bacon was always my favorite, but it’s been a while since real bacon became my gateway back to eating meat. Please leave a comment if you have a fake bacon you love!

Enjoy a bacon kale frittata or other Ugly Duckling Bakery bacon favorites like:

Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.

Recipe

Bacon Cheddar Popcorn

5 from 1 vote
Category: Snack
Cuisine: Unspecified
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 2
Calories: 285kcal
Bacon cheddar popcorn is better than nachos, and here's why. Imagine the perfect blend of popped popcorn, crispy smoky bacon, and shredded cheddar cheese. With its delightful crunch and irresistible flavors of smoky bacon and sharp cheddar, bacon cheese popcorn takes snacking to a whole new level.
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 strips bacon
  • cup popcorn kernels
  • 3 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions

  • Preheat the broiler of your oven with a rack about 4 to 6 inches away.
  • Cook the bacon in a cast iron pan on the stove or in the oven on a broiler pan until crisp. Blot with paper towels and then chop finely. Reserve the bacon fat in a jar.
    2 strips bacon
  • Use 2 teaspoons of bacon fat to pop the popcorn in a small saucepan on the stove top or whatever way you prefer to pop popcorn.
    ⅓ cup popcorn kernels
  • Mix the cooked popcorn, bacon, and half of the cheese in a bowl and then spread out in a thin layer in a 9 by 13 inch broiler-safe oven dish. Top with the remaining cheese.
    3 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
  • Broil 2 to 3 minutes until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately.

Notes

You could double the amount of add ins without impacting the overall crunch of this bacon cheddar popcorn.

Nutrition

Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 282mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 0.4g | Vitamin A: 426IU | Calcium: 302mg | Iron: 1mg
Love this recipe?Mention @Uglyducklingbakery or tag #uglyducklingbakery!

This bacon cheddar popcorn recipe was first posted April 19, 2021 for the reddit 52 weeks of baking challenge, Week 16: Crispy Crunchy. I had been thinking about making bacon cheddar shortbread. But then Molly Yeh and her popcorn salad started some trouble. The post was last updated for clarity on June 17, 2023.

You’re an adventurous home cook looking for inspiration in your weeknight meals and weekend baking. Get that inspiration here:

a dinosaur cookie jar standing in a pan of popcorn.s

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