Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn

Published November 22, 2011. Updated January 28, 2019

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I cannot express to you how excited I am to finally have found this recipe!!  Do you remember this popcorn?  My Grandmother made this countless times for us.

She would bring a recycled ice cream pail full of it to family gatherings, parties or she’d just have some prepared for us grand kids when we’d come to visit.   My sweet Grandmother passed away many years ago and I haven’t been able to find the recipe… until yesterday!

I have tried several other recipes I’ve found on the web and non of them produced the result I was looking for.  One of them even produced a wet coating similar to caramel corn (this is that amazing popcorn that dries and tastes like candy =).  If you, like me, ever ate this as a child then this popcorn will take you back in time.

There are so many memories attached to this recipe.  For those of you who haven’t tried it before, now is the time!  It is for kids and adults alike.  I’m pretty sure I ate at least half the bowl in one sitting =).  This is the perfect treat for a party, gift giving, holidays (as you can choose the color), movie watching and just any time you need a delicious addictive treat!  I hope you become as excited as me about this recipe!  You’ll be fighting for the flakes straggling behind in the bowl (those are my favorite =).

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5 from 6 votes

Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn

Pretty in pink, perfectly fun and delicious popcorn just like Grandma made!
Servings: 12
Prep10 minutes
Cook15 minutes
Ready in: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pop popcorn into a large bowl according to manufactures directions.
  • Pour popped popcorn into two very large mixing bowls, set aside.
  • In a large saucepan whisk together sugar, half and half, corn syrup and salt. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved.
  • Heat mixture to 232 degrees, stirring occasionally. Immediately remove from heat and pour in vanilla and food coloring. Drizzle mixture over popped popcorn.
  • Gently stir popcorn until mixture is evenly coated and coating begins to dry (you'll notice the popcorn kernels separating).
  • Pour mixture onto waxed paper and allow to dry about 20 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

Recipe adapted from here

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142 Comments

  • Kathleen

    Yesterday I was making popcorn Balls and a memory came to me. Pink popcorn. Where was I? Six Flags? A carnival? I don’t remember, but I could taste the memory. I searched for it and found this recipe. That’s it! This is what I remember. Thank you.

  • Karen

    Will a standard microwave bag (2.9oz unpopped) bag of popcorn work using the same measurements for the other ingredients? Or would you recommend popping the 2/3 cup on the stove?

  • Steve Hyde

    Getting the popcorn evenly coated is the hard part.
    I put the popcorn in a paper crocery bag and have an interested bystander shake the bag while I slowly pour in the hot syrup.
    Most of the syrup sticks to the popcorn and not to the bag if you pour slowly. Continue shaking until the sugar chrystallizes and the popcorn separates into individual kernals. Throw the bag away with the mess and enjoy the popcorn.

  • Blair

    I just cannot get this to work. The covering on the popcorn is gooey and sticky. When I pour it on to the popcorn, I don’t really understand how I can get it to coat all the popcorn as described?? The goo is boiling hot, so you can’t really touch it yourself, and if I use a utencil, it kind of smashes the popcorn. Because the goo is heavy, hot, and sticky, it kind of just goes through the popcorn to the bottom of the bowl. I try and mix but it doesn’t stick very well, and then when I do put it on the pan, it just kind of stays gooey and stuck together. Not sure what I’m doing wrong…
    It does taste good, though.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I definitely don’t recommend stirring the hot mixture by hand sorry about any confusion. With anything hot always use a spatula or spoon to stir, here I use a rubber / silicone spatula. Just fold up from the bottom and sides and gently (but quickly) toss. Hope that helps.

  • Shanila Taylor

    I found this recipe on your site a few year ago but forgot to review. I made 100 cone shape bags of this for the school bake sale – a girls school in London. What do you know? With the pretty pink colour they sold out within minutes and everybody loved it. Since then I have made this recipe for parties and events and just recently for Halloween. Thank you for such a great idea

  • Rachel Rose

    So much fun to make, super easy.

    I think i will pop more corn for next time and maybe add pretzels and almonds to it for a little salt.

    Pretty color..just a lot of leftover candy. I have a lovely picture.

  • Elizabeth Dunlop

    This sounds easy. I am 73yrs old, and haven’t had this since I was a kid. My father brought it home every weekend. Do you sell this in your store? I live in Massachusetts. Do you ship it out?