Irresistible Pumpkin Spice Popcorn (Speculaas Popcorn)
My Pumpkin Spice Popcorn recipe came about because I love Speculaas. The Dutch Speculaas flavour is similar to American Pumpkin Pie Spice flavour. Since Speculaas Spice Mix isn’t widely available I decided to name the English version of my popcorn recipe Pumpkin Spice Popcorn instead of Speculaas Popcorn. Just like pumpkin spice, anything speculaas flavoured starts to come up in the fall and lasts throughout the winter. Now that fall has started I was craving for something with this flavour. I didn’t plan on actually making anything but once I got the idea in my head for Pumpkin Spice Popcorn I just had to make it! I was so eager to make this I didn’t take the time to setup my lighting properly to make my step-by-step photo’s so please excuse the bad lighting. If you want to make this recipe with Speculaas Spice Mix (like I intended the recipe to be) check out my Speculaas Spice Mix recipe to make your own mix.
Quick and Easy Pumpkin Spice Popcorn (Speculaas Popcorn)
I also forgot to take a picture of my ingredients, but you can see most of them in the saucepan here.
In a saucepan add butter, sugar, water, a little bit of vanilla extract, salt and pumpkin pie spice (or Speculaas Spice). I’ve written down the amounts needed in the recipe below but this recipe really is something you can easily tweak to your liking, if you like a stronger speculaas / pumpkin spice flavour, just add a little more pumpkin pie spice (or Speculaas Spice). Be creative 😀
Let the mixture cook on a low heat till all the sugar is dissolved.
Put your popcorn in a bowl and pour the mixture over your popped popcorn.
Using a spoon, stir the mixture into the popcorn till all of the popcorn is fully coated.
Pour the coated popcorn on a lined baking tray.
Spread out the popcorn evenly and pop the baking tray into the oven.
Stir the popcorn every few minutes.
Take the popcorn out of the oven and let cool, stir every few minutes.
You’ll end up with a gorgeous looking delicious bowl of crispy Pumpkin Spice Popcorn (Speculaas Popcorn). I really like this fall and winter version of a classic popcorn dish. Serve it for Thanksgiving or package it and give it away as a Halloween treat! Let me know if you like it.
SAVE PIN FOR LATER > http://pin.it/LxHweDU
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
batch |
- 2 quarts popped popcorn 175 g
- 3 tbsp butter 40 g
- 1/4 cup sugar 50 g
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or Dutch speculaaskruiden / koekkruiden
Ingredients
| |
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Place popcorn in a large bowl.
- In a saucepan, melt butter over low heat together with the sugar, water, vanilla extract, salt and pumpkin pie spice; cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
- Pour butter mixture over popcorn; toss and mix with a spoon till popcorn is fully coated.
- Transfer coated popcorn onto the baking tray.
- Bake in the oven, uncovered, at 300°F/150°C for 10-15 minutes. Stir mixture every three or four minutes.
- Take out of the oven and keep stirring the mixture every few minutes. As the mixture cools, the popcorn will get nice and crispy.
- You can add more pumpkin pie spice or speculaas spice for a stronger pumpkin spice / speculaas spice flavour.
- If you want to make Speculaas flavoured popcorn, check out my recipe for Speculaas Spice Mix.
I also mix in some melted white chocolate. Mixed in some coconut oil with the chocolate and it is 👌🏻
WOW! I mean- just WOW! I LOVE this recipe. Am taking this Pumpkin Spice Popcorn to a Thanksgiving school function- used Dairy Free butter (for allergy requirements)- and I doubled the recipe. I cannot stop snacking on it. Perfect!
I’m glad to hear you love the recipe 🙂
Hi! How do you do the actual popcorn – do you buy a pre-popped bag or do microwaveable popcorn? Thanks
I always pop my own popcorn: https://cakieshq.com/recipe/how-to-pop-popcorn-the-old-fashioned-way/
I used the microwave bag popcorn- to save time. It worked out just fine- be careful not to over-cook/burn. I did a smidge- but was able to take the well-done kernels out without damage to the overall recipe’s deliciousness.
I admit when I first met was just curious if there was even pumpkin popcorn I was pleasantly surprised to see this. At first I was intimidated because I am not have mediocre baking skills. This was easier than it looked. All the kids in the hose totally enjoyed ii and want it for Halloween dessert to go along with Hocus Pocus. Not too sweet. Great cozy flavor. The crisp , I cant get enough of ! Thank you so much.
I’m happy to hear you liked it!
I’d like to make this for party favor for daughters baby shower… how many days before should i make it and it still be fresh day of?
Thanks so much!!
I’ve only ever made the popcorn on the day that it’ll be eaten so I can’t say for sure. However, I would think that you could make it a day in advance as well. Maybe you can make a small batch first and see how long it’ll keep. I would put the popcorn in an airtight container if I were to make it in advance.
Hi! Would sugar substitute work in this recipe? Or would it change the way the sauce caramelizes? I have a Splenda brown sugar mix I would like to try in this. Thank you!
I haven’t used a sugar substitute yet for this recipe but I would assume the way the sauce caramelizes would indeed be different. I don’t know if it would work in this case.
I’ve made it twice… the first time I didn’t hv enough popcorn so it was hard and the popcorn shrank- but this last time it turned out perfect.
Happy to hear the popcorn turned out perfect the second time 😀
OH. MY. WORD!
I suggested this recipe for our year-end parties in my Socials 8 classes (Foods of the New World for Age of Exploration) and one of the students made it. We are now addicted. Everyone who tried it said, “Weird. But GOOD.” And that is how we should live life! LOL
Thanks for posting!
Haha, I’m happy to hear you liked it. Keep living the weird ‘n good life! ?
How do you keep the popcorn from shrinking when you pour the liquid over the popcorn
Hi Debra, The popcorn always shrinks a little bit for me as well, but not much.
I want to try it it sounds very good on a fall day.
How much does a batch make?
Hi Liam, it’ll be about 6 oz (175 grams).
This looks amazing! How long can it be stored?
Hi Sarah,
I’ve always made the popcorn on the day that it’ll be eaten and I never had any left. But I think you could probably store this for 1 or 2 days in an airtight container.