Make this Sweet and Salty Strawberry Popcorn for a festive Valentine’s Day snack. Make a simple homemade stove top popcorn and top it with strawberry white chocolate and freeze dried strawberries.
Quick
Beginner-friendly
You’ll Learn: How to give classic popcorn a festive twist
Worth It: It’s an addictive sweet and salty combo
Bonus: Kids can help with the strawberry drizzle
Why You’ll Love this recipe
- Stovetop popcorn – If you have only ever made microwave popcorn, you need to at least TRY the stove top popcorn method. It is so good. You’ll never want to go back to the bags.
- Sweet and salty mix – This strawberry popcorn is the perfect mix of salty popcorn and a sweet white chocolate drizzle. It’s great for a movie night.
- Perfect snack for Valentine’s – Make this popcorn for a fun Valentine’s Day treat! It’s easy to make with simple ingredients and feels very festive.
Serving Suggestions
If you are looking for more Valentine’s Day treats, you could make this snack mix or red velvet cookies!
For Valentine’s Day dinner, you could make this mushroom alfredo, or try this reverse sear filet mignon. This truffle risotto is the perfect side dish for your meal. And if you’re looking for a chocolate dessert to serve in addition to your strawberry popcorn, make these chocolate parfaits.
If you want another recipe with freeze dried strawberries, try these strawberry rice krispie treats next.
Ingredients
- Refined coconut oil – for popping the popcorn and making the strawberry seasoning
- Popcorn kernels – we have a big jug of popcorn kernels that we keep in the pantry for homemade popcorn
- Kosher salt – use salt to season your popcorn
- Freeze dried strawberries – you will use the strawberries to make your white chocolate drizzle and to add into the popcorn mix
- White chocolate melts – use white chocolate melts to make the perfectly sweet drizzle on top of your popcorn
Ingredients Substitutions
There are many different oils you can use to make your stove top popcorn, but my favorite oil to use is refined coconut oil. Many movie theaters actually use refined coconut oil to pop that perfect movie theater popcorn before they add the butter!
I love making popcorn on the stove top, but you can also use an air popper to make fluffy popcorn kettle corn style!
If you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips, you can use those in place of white chocolate chips for different variations!
If you want to make a strawberry seasoning, you could combine oil, strawberry jello mix and salt for a caramel corn style glaze on your popcorn.
Refined vs. Unrefined Coconut Oil
Unrefined coconut oil is made from fresh coconut and refined coconut oil is made from dried coconut.
Refined coconut oil has a neutral flavor and scent and can be heated to temperatures up to 400F. Unrefined coconut oil has a coconut scent and flavor and can be heated to temperatures up to 350F.
For this reason it is best to use refined coconut oil when making this sweet popcorn on the stovetop!
How to Make
Step 1: Pop your popcorn on the stove top
Heat ¼ cup coconut oil and 2 popcorn kernels (these are the test kernels) in a large stock pot over medium heat and cover the pot with a lid. Wait until you hear the kernels pop and then remove the pot from heat. Remove the popped popcorn from the pot and pour the rest of the ½ cup of kernels into the warm oil in the pot.
Return the pot to medium heat and cover. Listen for the popcorn to start popping. As it pops, use hot pads to grab the pot and shake gently. Keep listening for the pops and once you can count 2 seconds between pops remove the pot from heat.
Pour the salt into the popcorn and toss the popcorn with a wooden spoon (Image 1). Pour popped popcorn onto a parchment lined cookie sheet to cool and get to room temperature.
Step 2: Make Strawberry Chocolate Drizzle
Blend 0.5oz of freeze-dried strawberries in a blender or small food processor until they are blended into a powder. Take the other 0.5oz of strawberries and chop into small pieces (Image 2).
Melt white chocolate melts with 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a microwave or double boiler. Mix the powdered strawberries into the melted white chocolate (Image 3). Drizzle over the popcorn (Image 4). While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle the chopped freeze dried strawberries over the chocolate and popcorn.
Allow your popcorn mixture to cool completely and chocolate to harden before serving. Serve in a large mixing bowl and enjoy!
Step 3: Enjoy!
Storage
If you don’t devour all of your popcorn in one sitting, store it in an airtight container on your counter. The strawberry popcorn recipe will taste best when it is fresh, but will be good on the counter for up to 4 days.
Check Out These Other Sweet Strawberry recipes
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Sweet and Salty Strawberry Popcorn
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 1 tbsp refined coconut oil refined coconut oil has no coconut smell or taste
- ½ cup popcorn kernels
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 oz freeze dried strawberries separated
- 5 oz white chocolate melts
Instructions
- Heat ¼ cup coconut oil and 2 popcorn kernels (these are the test kernels) in a large stock pot over medium heat and cover the pot. Wait until you hear the kernels pop and then remove the pot from heat. Remove the popped popcorn from the pot and pour the rest of the ½ cup of kernels into the warm oil in the pot.
- Return the pot to medium heat and cover. Listen for the popcorn to start popping. As it pops, use hot pads to grab the pot and shake gently. Keep listening for the pops and once you can count 2 seconds between pops remove the pot from heat.
- Pour the salt into the popcorn and toss the popcorn with a wooden spoon. Pour popped popcorn onto a parchment lined baking sheet to cool.
- Blend 0.5oz of freeze dried strawberries in a blender or small food processor until they are blended into a powder. Take the other 0.5oz of strawberries and chop into small pieces.
- Melt white chocolate melts with 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a microwave or double boiler. Mix the powdered strawberries into the melted white chocolate. Drizzle over the popcorn. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle the chopped freeze dried strawberries over the chocolate and popcorn
- Allow to cool completely and chocolate to harden before serving.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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