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You are here: Home / Food / How to Make DIY Kettle Corn Popcorn

How to Make DIY Kettle Corn Popcorn

January 15, 2014 by SmartGirl 23 Comments

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!

Easy and healthy DIY kettle corn popcorn

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

Healthy Kettle Corn Ingredients

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!Smart Girls DIY Kettle Corn

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.Happy with mommy's homemade kettle corn

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.

Smart Girls DIY - 1st Birthday Giveaway - Make Your Own Kettle Corn Kit

Thanks for reading!  Be sure to pin for later so you can make your own DIY kettle corn. How to make DIY kettle corn popcorn with a Whirley Pop

Here are even more fun food DIYs:

Fun Birthday Cakes I’ve Made Over the Years

Last Minute Jake and the Nevern Land Pirates Party

How to Make Rudolph Cupcakes

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Filed Under: Featured, Food, How To, Product and Reviews, Tutorials Tagged With: favorite things

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rebekah says

    January 16, 2014 at 12:20 am

    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!!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      January 16, 2014 at 12:24 am

      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!

      Reply
  2. Lars says

    January 16, 2014 at 7:36 am

    I’d like to see a DIY home/garage gym… 😉

    Happy Blog-aversary!

    Reply
  3. Vanessa buhler-rice says

    January 16, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    Happy Birthday!

    Hmmm…diy….do you do reupholstery?

    Reply
  4. Heather says

    January 16, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    I would love to win and I m excited to try the kettle corn in my sisters whirly pop 🙂

    Reply
  5. Heidi says

    January 16, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    Kosher salt is great with in the kettle corn! Happy Blog Birthday!

    Reply
  6. Jenifer says

    January 16, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    First time on the blog. Happy Birthday! I love anything DIY, but love knock offs. I can’t wait to read previous projects.

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      January 16, 2014 at 3:02 pm

      Hi Jenifer! So glad you could stop by. I love knock offs too!

      Reply
  7. Tina says

    January 16, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    I am Completely addicted To Any Diy that Uses Mason Jars.

    Reply
  8. Tina says

    January 16, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    Oh, And Happy First Birthday!! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Heather says

    January 16, 2014 at 4:12 pm

    Homemade kettle corn is amazing. So excited for the giveaway!!

    Reply
  10. jay says

    January 16, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    wow! this sounds so yummy!

    Reply
  11. Carolyn kim says

    January 16, 2014 at 7:31 pm

    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. 🙂

    Reply
  12. Cindy says

    January 16, 2014 at 10:12 pm

    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.

    Reply
  13. Carol Lynn says

    January 17, 2014 at 1:42 am

    Happy Blog Birthday!! Congrats!

    Reply
  14. tara pittman says

    January 17, 2014 at 12:00 pm

    I would like to see some DIY for the kitchen. Like help with organizing

    Reply
  15. Sarah says

    January 17, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      January 17, 2014 at 4:44 pm

      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.

      Reply
  16. Robin Wilson says

    January 17, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    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!

    Reply
  17. Donna says

    January 18, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    I’d like to see a DIY project involving bathrooms. We need to remodel, and I have no idea what to do.

    Reply
  18. April says

    January 18, 2014 at 5:43 pm

    I am a new fan, but excited to try this recipe in our Whirly Popper, ours is very loved and used every night!

    Reply
  19. rene chartier says

    January 20, 2014 at 11:37 pm

    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.

    Reply
  20. mary says

    February 3, 2014 at 11:43 am

    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.

    Reply

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