Looking for a fun and spooky treat to make with the kiddos this Halloween? Well, today I bring you an easy and super cute recipe for Halloween Popcorn Balls! Made with popcorn, mini marshmallows, ghoulish candies, and colorful sprinkles, this no bake treat comes together in a snap and the kids will love decorating them!
These are perfect for a festive treat to give out to friends and family at a Halloween party or for snacking on while watching your favorite scary movie!
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What are popcorn balls made of?
This recipe combines salty popcorn (homemade or storebought is fine), butter, a bag of mini marshmallows, M&Ms, and colorful sprinkles.
Old fashioned popcorn balls are typically made with fresh popcorn and a cooked binding syrup of sugar, butter, and corn syrup.
For simplicity's sake, I opted for the marshmallow mixture. It's basically like making my Rice Krispie Treats.
How to make Halloween Popcorn Balls
Makes 16-18 popcorn balls
Ingredients:
- 10 cups of popcorn (homemade popcorn* or store bought is fine)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (use for unsalted popcorn)
- 10 oz of Mini Marshmallows (5 ½ cups)
- 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 5- 6oz of Halloween themed sprinkles
- 1 cup of Halloween colored M&Ms, plus more for decorating
*If you're popping your popcorn on the stovetop, you'll need ⅔ cup of kernels and 3 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil. Here are instructions for making stovetop popcorn if you need them!
Instructions
Place your M&Ms into the freezer and then line a sheet pan with wax or parchment paper. Set the sheet pan aside.
Add 10 cups of popcorn to a large mixing bowl. If your popcorn is unsalted, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
In a 2 quart or larger saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat.
Once melted, reduce the heat to medium and add the mini marshmallows.
Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows are just melted. Do not boil.
Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn.
Use a rubber spatula to mix and coat the popcorn in the marshmallow goo evenly.
Pour the mixture out onto the parchment paper lined sheet pan. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, going from hot to warm, the mixture should still be quite sticky.
Grab your M&Ms from the freezer and sprinkle evenly over the sticky popcorn mixture.
Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then scoop out portions the size of a heaping ⅓ cup.
Mold the scoops of popcorn and M&Ms into neat balls. Compress the popcorn balls tightly so that they keep their shape. It's natural for the M&M's to break lightly or get a little melty during this process, totally ok!
Next, pour the Halloween sprinkles into a small bowl and roll each popcorn ball in the sprinkles, pressing down lightly to adhere. Shake off any spots with too many sprinkles. At this point you can also press additional M&M's onto the outside of each ball or additional edible Halloween decorations. Repeat this process until all popcorn balls are sufficiently decorated.
Serve the popcorn balls immediately or package for handing out.
What Size should I make my popcorn balls?
I like to use a ⅓ cup measuring cup to make a heaping scoop. These treats are pretty rich, so it's a good sized ball for little hands. And perfect for adults who want to eat 2, 3...4 in a sitting.
But feel free to make them any size you want! They're totally customizable.
How many Popcorn Balls will this make?
This recipe makes about 16-18 popcorn balls when they're scooped around ⅓ cup size.
How do you keep popcorn balls from falling apart?
- Make sure that you have enough of the marshmallow goo to glue all the popcorn together.
- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before forming the balls, this helps the popcorn balls keep their shape. If the balls are formed while the mixture is still warm, they have a tendency to fall apart. But that's ok! Just reform them when they cool down.
- Don't add too many mix ins, this will interfere with the marshmallow mixture gluing the popcorn pieces together. Additional Halloween candy or decorations can be added to the outside of the popcorn balls after forming.
Storing your treats
Leftover popcorn balls need to be tightly wrapped and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
These are best eaten the day they are made, but if stored properly, will last 3-4 days.
Variations
- Use caramel corn or kettle corn in place of plain salted popcorn
- Swap the M&M's for another candy like candy corn, Reese's Pieces, Skittles, or a different flavor M&M!
- Add food coloring to the marshmallow mixture before stirring it into the popcorn. Purple, orange, and green would work nicely!
- Drizzle with white chocolate or colored candy melts for extra spooky decorations
Tips and Tricks
Making popcorn balls is pretty straight forward, but here are some tips for helping the popcorn balls keep their shape as well as adding mix ins into the mixture.
- Popcorn balls will keep their shape best if formed after cooling to room temperature.
- Spray hands with cooking spray or a little water before forming the popcorn balls.
- I recommend freezing your M&Ms before adding them to the popcorn mixture. The M&Ms are added while the popcorn and marshmallows are still warm and sticky, and the freezing will help the candy to not melt as quickly. Some definitely will anyway, but the freezing process will help keep the popcorn balls a little neater.
- Press the sprinkles lightly onto the outside of each popcorn ball when rolling. The exterior of the popcorn ball loses some of it's tackiness in the forming and cooling stages, so for best results, pressing the sprinkles onto the outside of each ball helps them to stay put.
- You can always press on more candy or sprinkles to the outside of the ball to make them as customized as you want!
Other Halloween Treats On the Blog
Halloween Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats
Graveyard Brownies for Halloween
Mummy Munch Halloween Snack Mix
Spooky Spider Cake for Halloween
📖 Recipe
Easy Popcorn Balls for Halloween
An easy Halloween Popcorn Ball recipe filled with marshmallows and decorated with spooky sprinkles and ghoulish M&M candies! These are the perfect no bake treat for scaring up some fun!
Ingredients
- 10 cups of popcorn (homemade popcorn* or store bought is fine)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (use for unsalted popcorn)
- 10 oz of Mini Marshmallows (5 ½ cups)
- 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 5- 6oz of Halloween themed sprinkles
- 1 cup of Halloween colored M&Ms, plus more for decorating
Instructions
- Place your M&Ms into the freezer and then line a sheet pan with wax or parchment paper. Set the sheet pan aside.
- Add 10 cups of popcorn to a large mixing bowl. If your popcorn is unsalted, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
- In a 2 quart or larger saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat.
- Once melted, reduce the heat to medium and add the mini marshmallows. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows are just melted. Do not boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn.
- Use a rubber spatula to mix and coat the popcorn in the marshmallow goo evenly.
- Pour the mixture out onto the parchment paper lined sheet pan. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, going from hot to warm, the mixture should still be quite sticky.
- Grab your M&Ms from the freezer and sprinkle evenly over the sticky popcorn mixture.
- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then scoop out portions the size of a heaping ⅓ cup.
- Mold the scoops of popcorn and M&Ms into neat balls. Compress the popcorn balls tightly so that they keep their shape. It's natural for the M&M's to break lightly or get a little melty during this process, totally ok!
- Next, pour the Halloween sprinkles into a small bowl and roll each popcorn ball in the sprinkles, pressing down lightly to adhere. Shake off any spots with too many sprinkles. At this point you can also press additional M&M's onto the outside of each ball or additional edible Halloween decorations. Repeat this process until all popcorn balls are sufficiently decorated.
- Serve the popcorn balls immediately or package for handing out.
Notes
*If you're popping your popcorn on the stovetop, you'll need ⅔ cup of kernels and 3 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil. Here are instructions for making stovetop popcorn if you need them!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 236Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 139mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 1gSugar: 24gProtein: 1g
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