This Santa Crunch Christmas Popcorn is a quick and simple holiday treat to enjoy with family or to share as a gift!
I love making a quick and festive snack to enjoy with the family while we watch our favorite Christmas movies. With only 5 ingredients, this Santa Crunch Christmas Popcorn is a festive sweet and salty treat that the kids can help make: buttery popcorn, pretzels, and chocolate candies coated in a vanilla coating and topped with festive sprinkles! It's perfect for holiday movie nights, parties, and when divided up and packaged, it even makes a great gift to share!
This Christmas popcorn couldn't be easier to make! Choose your favorite popcorn, and pop 12 cups (popped), lightly buttered and salted. Follow package directions for popping, whether that's in a popcorn maker, stovetop, or in the microwave.
You will also need some red & green Christmas M&Ms, pretzels, white candy melts, and red & green sprinkles.
Pour the popped popcorn onto a baking sheet, and look carefully to remove any un-popped kernels.
Add pretzels to the popcorn and spread them out evenly. Mini pretzels are my favorite, but regular-sized pretzels broken up into smaller pieces work just as well!
Sprinkle the Christmas M&Ms over the popcorn. These add a sweet contrast the salty pretzels and popcorn, while also adding the "pops" of holiday color!
Melt white vanilla candy melts, and drizzle it over the popcorn mixture.
Sprinkle the mixture generously with red & green sprinkles. Gently toss the mixture with a spatula to coat all of the ingredients. Let the popcorn cool completely, and then break it into smaller pieces to enjoy!
Santa Crunch Christmas Popcorn
Servings: 8-12
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 5 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 12 cups popcorn, popped
- 1 cup white candy melts
- 1/2 cup M&Ms (green and red)
- 3/4 cup mini pretzels
- 1 Tbsp red sprinkles
- 1 Tbsp green sprinkles
Directions:
- Pour the popped popcorn into a 9x13 baking sheet. Be sure to remove any un-popped kernels.
- Spread the pretzels over the popcorn.
- Spread the M&Ms out evenly over the popcorn and pretzels.
- Melt the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power in 30 second intervals. Stir well after each interval until they are completely melted and smooth.
- Drizzle the candy melt over the popcorn mixture evenly.
- While the candy melt is still hot, add the sprinkles to the popcorn mixture.
- Gently toss the popcorn mixture to coat all of the ingredients in the candy melt.
- Allow to cool completely. The popcorn mixture will harden, so gently break it into pieces.
Tips:
- Storage: store popcorn in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. Popcorn may absorb some of the candy coating and become chewy over time.
- If you are using regular-sized pretzels, break them into smaller pieces before adding them to the popcorn.
- You can use any kind of popcorn, whether it's homemade in a popcorn maker or in a paper bag, microwave popcorn, or pre-packaged popped popcorn.
- Change things up with different flavors of M&Ms (peanut, peanut butter, etc).
- Any holiday sprinkles will work - jimmies, nonpareils, sugar crystals, or a mix (like I did).
- Can also add in nuts: pecans, walnuts, peanuts, etc.
I'm so excited to whip up many more batches of Santa Crunch Christmas Popcorn to enjoy on Christmas movie nights, and hope you try them for yourself! Not only is it fun and simple for kids to make, but it's so delicious!! If you decide to give this recipe a try, I'd love to hear all about it! Please share your creations on Instagram, Facebook, or leave a comment/photo on the project pin on Pinterest!
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