Halloween Popcorn Balls

Halloween popcorn balls are the easy festive holiday treat that all ages will love.  This recipe shares two Halloween marshmallow popcorn ball ideas; both a green monster popcorn ball and an orange popcorn ball design. Both are sticky with gooey melted marshmallows and packed with M&M candies and other Halloween candies and sprinkles.  These two colored and decorated popcorn balls are so cute and scary; perfect for your next Halloween party. 

This no-bake recipe is quick, simple, and a lot of fun to make. So buy some Halloween candies, sprinkles, and candy eyeballs to make the best sweet popcorn dessert.  Now all you need to do is gather with your family and friends to make a batch of these popcorn balls for Halloween.  Great for those on a gluten-free diet too. 

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Ingredients for Halloween Popcorn Balls

For this Halloween popcorn ball recipe, you will need freshly popped white popcorn to start. Then you will need butter and mini marshmallows which acts as the tasty sweet glue that will hold these all together.  The popcorn balls will need a lot of melted marshmallows to stay round and hold all the candies.  This recipe does not include corn syrup. 

Of course, these popcorn balls are loaded with candy. For a Halloween theme, I recommend candy corn, M&Ms in Fall colors like brown, yellow, and orange, Reese's pieces, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, and eyeball candies for the monster ones.   The combination I made today for the popcorn balls includes candy corn and chocolate.  Gel food coloring is also needed to make both orange popcorn balls and green for the monster popcorn balls. 

 

 

 

Prepping the Baking Pan for the Sticky Popcorn Balls

Because the nature of this recipe is very sticky, having the right equipment ready before you begin is key.  You will need cooking spray to help with this recipe. It will be needed on your hands when forming the ball later. 

Also, begin by prepping a large baking sheet with some parchment paper.  If you are like me and get frustrated with your parchment paper constantly rolling back up before you get a chance to put food on it, here is my quick kitchen hack - binder clips. I seriously use a ton of binder clips in my kitchen as a bag clip, to hold potholders together and with parchment paper.  Simply place your parchment paper on the baking sheet pan and on each end fasten a binder clip on the pan edge to hold it down as seen below.   Viola!

 

 

How to Make Halloween Popcorn Balls

To make colored marshmallow popcorn balls for Halloween, start by popping the popcorn. You will want white popcorn but if all you have are yellow kernels, that is fine too.  Pop your popcorn using your preferred method. You will want 10 cups of unsalted popcorn for this recipe. I am not a prepared microwave popcorn fan. I like both the stir-crazy and the microwave bowls for making popcorn from kernels.  See my favorites below and how much they cost.   

I measure out loosely rounded cups such as seen below and add them to a large mixing bowl that I have sprayed with cooking spray.   Use a bowl large enough that will hold all the ingredients including the added candies you will be using. 

 

 

 

Melt the Marshmallow Mixture

On the stovetop on medium-low heat melt the butter in a large pot.  Once the butter has melted, add the marshmallows.  Using a rubber spatula, stir constantly until it is all melted together.  Turn immediately to the lowest setting once it is smooth. 

Once it is melted, the food coloring will need to be added quickly and stirred in.  YOu can make one or both of these two Halloween-themed popcorn ball ideas.  If you are making both, pour ½ of the marshmallow mixture into a bowl.  Then to the bowl add the green food coloring.  To the remaining marshmallow in the pot, add equal amounts of red and yellow to make orange. 

 

 

 

For Monster Popcorn Balls

To make monster popcorn balls, use the green-colored melted marshmallow mixture.  Add this to the popcorn and then quickly add the candies you will be using for this.   For our tasty little monster treats, I added blue M&M candies and sprinkles.   Using a rubber spatula, I mixed all the ingredients together evenly.

 

 

How to Form Popcorn Balls

I sprayed my hands with the cooking spray before forming the balls. Once my hands were prepped, I grabbed a handful of the popcorn mixture.  I shaped each into a ball and pressed my hands together firmly to make the popcorn balls as tight as possible.  I sprinkled a few additional sprinkles on the outside as well.  Finally,  I had the eyeball candies from Winton's that I pressed firmly on them at the end.    Once formed, they went on the parchment paper to set.  

 

 

 

For Orange Popcorn Balls

To make orange or pumpkin-themed popcorn balls, use the orange melted marshmallow mixture.  Add this to the popcorn and then quickly add the candies you will be using for this.   Add more yellow or red if your orange is not as deep as you want it to be for your treats. 

 

 

For our orange-colored popcorn balls, I added yellow, brown, and orange M&M candies plus candy corn.  Using a rubber spatula, I mixed all the ingredients together evenly.

 

 

 

 

Once again, I sprayed my hands with the cooking spray before forming the balls. Once my hands were prepped, I grabbed a handful of the popcorn mixture.  I shaped each into a ball and pressed my hands together firmly to make the popcorn balls as tight as possible.   

 

 

 

Once all were formed, they go on the parchment paper to set.    They may start to fall apart and the chocolate candies may melt a bit. That is ok, as they cool go back with your sprayed hands and press them back together.  The popcorn balls will eventually cool enough to harden and be set. 

 

 

After about 20-30 minutes, the Halloween popcorn balls will be ready to eat.    They will be chewy, sticky, sweet, and rich. These are best to eat the same day.  So if you are having a Halloween party and making treats for the kids, make the popcorn balls the same day you want to enjoy them.  To store leftover popcorn balls, place them in an air-tight container in a single layer with parchment sheets between layers if you need to stack them.  They will keep for up to 2 days.  Happy Popcorn Ball Halloween! 

 

 

Other Fun Halloween Recipes - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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