Rainbow Popcorn

This Rainbow Popcorn recipe is the perfect sweet and colorful treat for your unicorn birthday party, movie night, or Pride celebration! It’s an easy caramel popcorn recipe for shiny candy coated popcorn, colored with any color you can imagine.

So read on all for all the detailed instructions to learn how to make rainbow popcorn and my secret for keeping it crunchy for days. Or just grab your favorite popcorn, hit that purple Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make a popcorn rainbow!

lines of rainbow popcorn in rainbow order in a rectangular dish.
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Ingredients

popped popcorn in a large metal bowl.

Use your favorite popped popcorn for this rainbow popcorn recipe. In our house, that means oil and salt in a large pot on the stove top. If you use microwave popcorn, choose an unflavored, low-oil or butter popcorn and reduce or omit any added salt.

 

Caramel popcorn means white, granulated sugar – caramelize brown sugar, and you’ve got homemade butterscotch. Recipe taste testers preferred a bit of butter added to the caramel, but the batch I made with baking soda – something many recipes call for – tasted off.

Food coloring – add a drop or two of your favorite food coloring to make a popcorn rainbow. One recipe test, I popped the popcorn with food coloring added to the oil, but the popcorn was coated inconsistently.

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

Variations and substitutions

  • Add roasted peanuts for homemade Cracker Jack (prize not included!)
  • Flavored Rainbow Popcorn: Add a half teaspoon of vanilla or another extract to a batch.
  • Holiday Themes: Customize colors for specific holidays or your favorite sports team.

Recipe tips and tricks

Put three cups of popped popcorn in a heatproof bowl in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps slow down the cooling of your rainbow caramel when you mix it. This gives your rainbow popcorn a better candy coat and will keep it from getting stale as quickly.

Ready the butter and food coloring by your stove top so it’s close at hand. Then heat your sugar over medium low heat until it is bubbling gently and a light copper hue. Every time I make my caramel espresso brownies, I’m amazed at how much easier it is to make wet caramel, but you can also do this with dry caramel.

sugar and water in a frying pan.
light caramel bubbling in a metal skillet.

It’s hard for me to get photos at this stage because you need to move quickly! Remove the caramel from the heat, stir in the butter cubes and your food coloring, grab the popcorn from your oven – use an oven mitt or potholder – and use a spatula to toss the popcorn in the caramel until it is coated as much as possible.

Turn the caramel popcorn out onto a lined baking sheet, breaking up any large popcorn clusters. Repeat as desired to make red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple batches.

If you have two large pans and are comfortable making caramel or have a helper in the kitchen, you might be able to speed this up by doing two colors at a time! The nice thing about caramel is that it’s so easy to clean – soak it in water, and the caramel just dissolves.

clusters of purple caramel popcorn on parchment paper.

I know that other recipes have you bake your rainbow popcorn after coating. But all that did with my caramel popcorn was melt off the caramel!

So now let your colored popcorn cool completely before mixing with any other colors. And store your rainbow popcorn in an airtight container with a food-safe desiccant packet for crispy, crunchy caramel popcorn for up to a week.

stripes of rainbow colored popcorn.

Recipe FAQ

How far ahead can I make this rainbow candy popcorn?

If you’ve coated your caramel popcorn well and you’re storing the rainbow popcorn with a dessicant packet, your popcorn should stay crunchy for about a week.

Can I use natural food coloring to make rainbow popcorn?

Yes, feel free to use your favorite liquid natural food coloring.

Where can I buy a desiccant packet?

I get mine from our vitamins, over the counter medication bottles, and even my kid’s snacks, but you can always buy them on Amazon or other marketplace.

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

Rainbow Popcorn

No ratings yet
Category: Snack
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 6 half cup servings
Calories: 102kcal
Turn caramel popcorn into rainbow popcorn with just a handful of ingredients and your favorite food coloring.
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Ingredients

  • 3 cups popped popcorn
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water for a wet caramel
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ¼ teaspoon salt if using unsalted popcorn
  • Gel food coloring 6 colors
  • Food-safe desiccant packet optional, for storage

Instructions

  • Turn on your oven to 200°F (93°C) and put three cups of popcorn in a heat-safe bowl in the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
    3 cups popped popcorn
  • In a wide frying pan, combine the sugar and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat without stirring just until it turns a light copper color. It should not smell burnt.
    ½ cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons water
  • Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the butter cubes, salt if your popcorn is unsalted, and one color of food coloring.
    1 tablespoon butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, Gel food coloring
  • Quickly grab the popcorn from the oven and use a spatula to stir the popcorn to coat it with the caramel as much as possible.
  • Spread the caramel coated popcorn on your prepared baking sheet, breaking up large clusters with the spatula, and let cool completely.
  • Store in an airtight container with a food-safe desiccant packet for a durable crunch.
    Food-safe desiccant packet

Notes

Cook times and nutritional estimates are provided for a single color of caramel popcorn. Repeat for each color you are making and let them all cool completely before mixing together.
Keeping your popped popcorn warm in the oven slows down the caramel from solidifying, giving you a better candy coating.
The recipe instructions call for a wet caramel because it is easier, but you can also make this rainbow caramel popcorn with a dry caramel.
Humidity is the enemy of crunchy caramel popcorn! Once your rainbow popcorn has cooled, store it in an airtight container with a dessicant packet for up to one week.

Nutrition

Calories: 102kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 113mg | Potassium: 19mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 69IU | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.2mg
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