Yield: 12 Popcorn Balls
Loaded Popcorn Balls
These Loaded Popcorn Balls are the perfect mix of sweet, buttery, and salty. The marshmallow coating slightly softens the popcorn, while pretzels and Oreos provide hidden bites of crunch!
Ingredients
- 8 cups popped popcorn
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 oz mini marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- ½ cup mini m&ms
- ⅓ cup crushed oreos
- ¼ cup crushed pretzels
- ¼ cup crushed peanuts
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Instructions
- Place popcorn in a large mixing bowl with a wide mouth, set aside.
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter and marshmallows, stirring often, until marshmallows are fully melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Pour the melted marshmallow mixture over the bowl of popcorn.
- Allow the popcorn to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly, then stir with a spatula to incorporate the marshmallow mixture evenly over the popcorn.
- Add in the M&Ms, Oreos, pretzels, and peanuts to the popcorn mixture. Gently fold the ingredients together.
- With clean hands, form the popcorn balls and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Press in any extra garnishes around the outside of the popcorn balls. (If the popcorn sticks to your hands, try buttering your hands or spraying them lightly with baking spray.
- If using straws, cut the straws in half and insert into the center of each popcorn ball.
- Allow to fully cool, about 20 minutes, and then wrap the cooled popcorn balls in cellophane or clear gift bags, and tie off with a strip of ribbon and a printed gift tag. Enjoy!
Notes
- If the popcorn is sticking to your hands while you shape the popcorn balls, try buttering your hands or spraying them lightly with non-stick spray.
- You can use any type of popcorn for this recipe, stovetop or microwaved. I used a store-brand microwaved popcorn. Pre-buttered popcorn will have a slightly buttery flavor that I personally love. I would not recommend using something like kettle corn as this recipe is already sweet enough.
- Other fun optional add-ins: Candy corn, any kind of chopped cookies, candies (Rolos, bite-sized candy bars, etc), colored sprinkles…
- You can also color your marshmallow mixture with food coloring if you want your popcorn balls to be a color. With the mix-ins, I prefer to leave them white so you can see all the different mix-ins.
Nutrition
Serving: 1, Calories: 215kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 11mg, Sodium: 100mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 20g