Easy 3 Ingredient Homemade Popcorn Balls
These easy popcorn balls are the perfect no-stress cooking project for a winter afternoon! This recipe just has three ingredients and is perfect for making with kids!
If you’re looking for healthy popcorn balls without corn syrup, check out this recipe for Gluten-Free Honey Popcorn Balls.
Winter afternoons always seem like the perfect time for cooking, baking, and crafting.
Years ago, my children and I made these popcorn balls together, and I posted the recipe on my blog after a reader requested it.
Since the weather has been snowy and cold where we live, I was reminded of this recipe and decided to republish it.
We spent many happy winter days in the kitchen making this popcorn balls recipe. Now that my kids are older, they still love making and eating these!
Some links below are affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
The awesome thing about popcorn balls is that they can easily resemble snowballs! They would go perfectly with a unit on snow, especially with this book. (These are some of of our other favorite winter picture books).
Easy Popcorn Balls
This recipe for easy popcorn balls is super simple and only has 3 ingredients!
As I mentioned above, it’s a great recipe to have your children help with. In the photo below, my youngest daughter (who was around 5 at the time—she’s now 19!) is helping to stir the marshmallows.
Be sure to use caution when you have little ones around a hot stove!
If your children are too young to help around the stove, you could always have them help you measure out the ingredients. And then comes the fun part!
With popcorn balls, the most-anticipated job for little ones is helping to shape the popcorn into balls.
Children really love forming the balls! It’s a great sensory experience for them. Unless (like one of my children) they don’t like the feeling of getting their hands sticky. 🙂
How to Make Them
As I mentioned above, this recipe uses just three simple ingredients! It really couldn’t be easier.
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 cup of popcorn kernels
- 1 bag of regular-sized marshmallows (not the mini ones)
Instructions:
1. Melt the two sticks of butter in a large pot (I use a large stock-pot).
2. Pop one cup of popcorn. (We have an electric popcorn popper that we’ve used for years. We usually buy popcorn in bulk from our food co-op.)
3. When the butter is melted, pour the bag of marshmallows into the pot and stir until the marshmallows melt.
4. Pour the popped corn into the melted butter and marshmallow mixture and stir until all the popcorn is coated. Grease hands with butter (this is the part kids like to help with!).
5. When the popcorn is cool enough that you can hold it in your hands without getting burned, form it into balls. Lay the balls on wax paper to cool.
Easy Popcorn Balls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 cup popcorn kernels
- 1 bag regular marshmallows (regular, not mini)
Instructions
- Melt the two sticks of butter in a large pot (I use my large stock-pot).
- Pop one cup of popcorn. (We have an electric popcorn popper.)
- When the butter is melted, pour the bag of marshmallows into the pot with it and stir until the marshmallows melt.
- Pour the popped corn into the melted butter and marshmallow mixture and stir until all the popcorn is coated. Grease hands with butter (this is the part kids like to help with).
- When the popcorn is cool enough that you can hold it in your hands without getting burned, form it into balls. Lay the balls on wax paper to cool.
That’s all there is to it! These are a great simple treat when you don’t have a lot of time. And kids absolutely love them!
Related Posts:
Homemade Healthy Caramel Popcorn Recipe (With Honey)
Gluten-Free Honey Popcorn Balls
How many popcorn balls does this recipe make? I’m looking for a good one to make with my class and I think this one will be great for them, but I need to know if I will need to double (or triple!) it to get enough for everyone (20 kids)
Hi Jen! I’m so sorry I didn’t see this earlier! I haven’t actually counted how many popcorn balls this recipe makes. I definitely need to make them again and do that! From the photos in the post, it looks like we’ve been able to get at least 15-20 popcorn balls from this recipe, depending on the size you make them. I wish I had a more definite answer (and I’m adding this recipe to my list of things I need to remake and update with more information!).
I made the balls & they were delicious. Super easy. Love them
I’m so happy to hear that!
Add some fun blue, white, and/or snowflake sprinkles, and you got yourself a great snack to go along with Frozen movie night! ❤❤
Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my goodness, this is a much easier recipe than I remember for popcorn balls! It’s so nice not to have to make caramel!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe at The Hearth and Soul Link party, Joy. Have a lovely week ahead!
They are so easy! Thanks for stopping by, April, and I hope you have a great week also!
Popcorn balls are a family favorite! It’s great to find a simple recipe!
Popcorn balls are one our family’s special treats when our kids were little. I made them with the Karo syrup that almost burned my hands with each batch! How wonderful to have an easy recipe!
So glad it was helpful! This recipe is seriously so easy! 🙂
I haven’t made popcorn balls in years, I’ll have to make them soon! Thanks for linking up to #HomeMattersParty
Thanks for stopping by, Emily!
Looks like a lot of fun!
My kids think they’re amazingly fun! 🙂