I LOVE kettle corn popcorn! My family will finish off one of those giant bags at a street fair with no problem, but unfortunately that’s only a couple of times a year at most. I needed more! I need DIY kettle corn!!
I’ve occasionally bought varieties from Whole Foods (like on our vacation to DC, we brought it back to our hotel room to watch movies) or Trade Joe’s, but it’s not the same as getting it hot from the kettle. So what’s a smart girl to do?? Hee hee. Figure out how to make-it-myself, of course. So on this occasion of my blog’s 1st Birthday (I’ve decided I like that better than blogiversary) I am going to share with your my favorite kettle corn recipe. Yippee!
Supplies for DIY Kettle Corn:
- Whirley Pop Popcorn Popper
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- 1/4 cup natural sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- bowl
Directions:
Add oil to the Whirley Pop and turn heat to medium/high. When the oil starts to melt, add the popcorn kernels. When you hear the oil “pop,” sprinkle the sugar on top. Close the lid on the W.P. and start to turn the crank slowly. After about a minute you will hear the popcorn begin to pop. Keep turning the crank slowly until there is too much popcorn for the crank to move. Do not force it. Remove the W.P. from heat when the popping slows down. Carefully open one side of the W.P. and dump the popcorn into a bowl. Salt to taste and then let sit for about a minute. Always transfer to a bowl before adding additional ingredients. Enjoy!
The Scoop
We got our Whirley Pop a few months ago and have been using it like crazy. I had been reading about microwave popcorn being one of the worst things you can eat, and even though I had 3/4 of a BJ’s size container left, I decided to be done with it. I promptly handed it over to my brother, warning him that it was going to kill him, he didn’t even flinch, just threw it in his trunk. Now, I know there are lots of options for popping your own kernels, but you can’t add sugar to the electric air poppers, and that wasn’t going to cut it with me. No sugar = No kettle corn. Boo! We used to have a contraption that allowed you to pop popcorn over a camp fire, which was really cool, but the thing rusted out after 2 seasons.
Plus, there was A LOT of shaking involved. When I came across the Whirley Pop I decided to give it a shot and I’m so glad I did. It makes the whole process easy! I don’t have to shake a pot the whole time or worry about kernels burning or not popping. I only ever have 5 or 6 kernels left at the end! The kids love turning the crank, but be careful, I’ve had small drops of hot oil shoot up through the small vents in the lid. On the plus side… even though I’ve left a sticky nasty mess in there on more than one occasion, it’s always wipes clean the next day with no problem. So now I get to have kettle corn whenever I want! Yay!!
There are tons of other recipes out there for popcorn in the Whirley Pop, but I’m not sick of kettle corn yet, nor have I noticed any difference when using different kernels. There is such a thing as gourmet kernels, but if you’re going to add sugar, what’s the point. Speaking of sugar, the kind I think works best is Sugar in the Raw. You know what doesn’t work?? Brown sugar. Um, no. Not even a little bit.
So there you have it. Go make yourself some DIY kettle corn and wish Smart Girls DIY a happy 1st birthday!
Oh, what’s that, you don’t have all these nifty supplies? No problem. Enter to win your own supplies in my very first giveaway. I’ve never tried this before, but it looks pretty straight forward. There a couple different ways to enter to win. You can enter multiple times, just use each method. A winner will be chosen at random. I’ll let you know next Friday who’s won. But please note, the winner has to live in the good ‘ol USA, because I can’t afford to ship this elsewhere. Good luck! The Rafflecopter giveaway — The DIY kettle corn contest is over, sorry you missed it. You can always buy a Whirely Pop from Amazon though.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to pin for later so you can make your own DIY kettle corn. 
Here are even more fun food DIYs:
Love anything and everything DIY! How about a simple/safe way to DIY compressed air for cleaning a computer keyboard? Tired of paying for air! Thanks for a great place to learn some neat DIY tricks!!
Love that idea! And I think you might love my new keyboard. You can wash it in the bathtub (if you want to). I’ll post about it soon!
I’d like to see a DIY home/garage gym… 😉
Happy Blog-aversary!
Happy Birthday!
Hmmm…diy….do you do reupholstery?
I would love to win and I m excited to try the kettle corn in my sisters whirly pop 🙂
Kosher salt is great with in the kettle corn! Happy Blog Birthday!
First time on the blog. Happy Birthday! I love anything DIY, but love knock offs. I can’t wait to read previous projects.
Hi Jenifer! So glad you could stop by. I love knock offs too!
I am Completely addicted To Any Diy that Uses Mason Jars.
Oh, And Happy First Birthday!! 🙂
Homemade kettle corn is amazing. So excited for the giveaway!!
wow! this sounds so yummy!
MMMMM….Kettle corn! I want that! I never knew you could make kettle corn at home!
I don’t know what project I want to see. Come to my house and pick one to feature on your blog. 🙂
My family LOVES popcorn! I can’t wait to start working on some more DIY projects…how about trying to figure out how to add more hours to the day??? I want to do built in bookshelves in my living room and I desperately need to organize my basement storage.
Happy Blog Birthday!! Congrats!
I would like to see some DIY for the kitchen. Like help with organizing
Very cute blog! I just started reading it, so not sure if this has been mentioned, but would love a DIY Shelving or Storage ideas!
Hi Sarah, thanks for stopping by! I am working on a post right now about the shelves I’m building in my office. It will be on the blog later tonight.
I am a new fan of your blog so I am not really sure how to answer this. But I love the challenge of doing DIY projects for very little money!
I’d like to see a DIY project involving bathrooms. We need to remodel, and I have no idea what to do.
I am a new fan, but excited to try this recipe in our Whirly Popper, ours is very loved and used every night!
Congratulations on your blog anniversary, nice job. I love the kettle corn it would be great for the kid’s birthdays and movie nights. Nice idea.
Happy belated blog-birthday! I may have to add another gadget to my kitchen. Whirly Pop… looks awesome! We NEVER buy the micro wave pop corn, I also read about how bad it was for you. I usually just microwave plain kernels in a micro-safe container and go from there…but it doesn’t really work for kettle corn.
Get a Whirly-Pop! I found mine at Savers, originally from Crate and Barrel. Then, I use avocado oil, and I only use Orville Redenbacher popcorn. I never have unposed kernels, great taste, great product!
The Whirly-Pop will revolutionize your popcorn game!