What do you do on Friday and Saturday nights when you’re home? We love to snuggle up and watch a movie. We make a big bowl of my best homemade bacon, bourbon & caramel popcorn recipe and just enjoy each other’s company.
Best Homemade Bacon Bourbon And Caramel Popcorn Recipe
I had my first taste of this deliciously different appetizer (or snack as you will) when my family visited The Polaris, a very cool rotating restaurant, located at the top of the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia.
Chef Rodney Ashley, who is hands down one of the best chefs in the world, had their Benton’s Bacon Popcorn on their menu and our entire table fell in love.
In my best homemade bacon, bourbon and caramel popcorn recipe, I did a pretty heavy pouring of the caramel as we all have a sweet tooth.
I knew the kids would enjoy the mix of sweet and salty and boy did they! Of course they quickly pointed out it was “Not like Chef Rodney’s mom!
Tweaking The Recipe
My family agreed my version of Chef Rodney’s recipe was pretty darn good! The recipe would be good with peanuts or cashews mixed in as well I am going to try that next time! And if you don’t want the alcohol, it is still very tasty without it!
Here is what you need to make your recipe:
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and chopped
1 1/2 quarts popped popcorn
8 teaspoons butter
4 teaspoons bacon fat
5 ounces (10 tablespoons) brown sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon, bourbon flavoring or bourbon honey
1/4 cup caramel syrup
Salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popcorn Kernels, Original Yellow, 8 lbOrville Redenbacher’s Popping & Topping Buttery Flavored Oil, 16 Fluid Ounce, Pack of 6
West Bend 82505 Stir Crazy Electric Hot Oil Popcorn Popper Machine with Stirring Rod Offers Large Lid for Serving Bowl and Convenient Storage, 6-Quart, Red
Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey Liquor Quick Essence, .65 fl. oz/20 ml
Honey Feast – Raw Bourbon Honey | American, Unfiltered & Pure | Fresh from Florida | 12 Ounces
Ghirardelli Caramel Flavored Sauce 17 oz. Squeeze Bottle (Pack of 2)
Plastic Popcorn Containers – Set of 4
2-Piece French Fry Stand Cone Basket Holder for Fries Fish and Chips and Appetizers
G.E.T. Enterprises White Cone Basket Liner / Deli Wrap Paper / Double Open Bag Paper Food-Safe Tissue Liners Collection 4-T1000 (Pack of Case)
Here is how to make your recipe:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place popped popcorn in a very large bowl. Prepare 2 sheet pans with nonstick spray and line with aluminum foil or silicone baking sheet.
Step 2: Once the bacon has cooked, strain the bacon fat and reserve. Transfer the cooked bacon pieces to paper towels and continue to drain the excess fat.
Step 3: Add bacon to the popcorn. In the pan used to cook bacon, heat until the butter has fully melted. Add the brown sugar, caramel syrup, bourbon, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until sauce thickens.
Step 4: Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Add to popcorn bowl and toss to coat evenly. Divide the mixture evenly between sheet pans and bake, tossing every 15 minutes for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
Enjoy these recipes from Kicking it with Kelly:
Instant Pot Asian Chicken Wings Recipe
Easy Sour Cream Pound Cake From Scratch Recipe
What is your favorite way to eat popcorn? Do you put toppings in/on it? I would love to hear!

Mmmm, bacon! Seriously, who wouldn’t love this? It sounds flippin’ amazing!
Right? Anything with bacon sounds amazing, right? YUMMY
Uh, yes please, haha! Bacon and caramel (or rather brown sugar) go well with everything!
I literally did a “Double Scroll” to ensure the I read Bacon Caramel Popcorn right 🙂 This looks sooo yummy. I was actually looking for Popcorn Recipes for the Kids and this is a great alternative
I swear I can smell the yumminess through the screen! Looks so good!
Bacon and caramel! My hubby’s two favorite foods! I’ll have to whip up a batch of this for him. 🙂
Best. Idea. EVER! I mean, really. What can top popcorn, bacon, and caramel? NOTHING! That’s what!
What a savory snack. I love the flavor combination and admit I love making caramel corn and when I get the nerve I think I am going to try this. Thank you for sharing, It looks delicious.
Okay, I have to try this. I love popcorn!
What a cool idea! That actually sounds great. My boyfriend would be happy with that on movie night.
NO WAY??? Bacon??? I love, love, love this. It sounds amazing and I totally would love to check it out. Sounds amazing. YUMMY…
Bacon popcorn sounds delicious. Seriously anything with bacon is amazing!
This sounds like it would be delicious!! Bacon really does make everything tasty!
I love flavored popcorn. Those holders are so cute.
I’m actually not a huge fan of bacon, but we love popcorn at our house. My husband would still say to go for the bacon flavor though! 🙂
Oh wow, bacon and caramel sound perfect together.
Seriously son loves all things bacon. He would flip for this.
Who doesn’t like bacon, caramel and popcorn. What a great idea to put them all together. I bet this tastes wonderful.
oh my you had me at Bacon. This sounds absolutely yummy. Can’t wait to try it.
Oh yum! Sweet and salty! Everything goes great with bacon!
Yeah….bacon. You pretty much had me there. Add caramel and I don’t stand a chance,
Oh my WORD this sounds absolutely delicious. We’ll definitely be making it soon!
Come to mama! This looks absolutely fantastic (and decadent, and amazing and…) Yum! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic recipe. Never even thought of bacon in popcorn, now I can think of little else. The restaurant sounds like the bomb.
Yes can you package this up for me? Who can resist the bacon & caramel combo?
My hubby is a total bacon lover. He wants me to make this for him. It has all his favorite foods: bacon, caramel, and popcorn. Can’t go wrong with those three ingredients put together.
YUM! Could there be anything better than bacon and caramel? Love the idea of having it with popcorn!
How interesting! I’ll have to make this for my hubby.
I have never tried bacon with popcorn! That sounds super tasty!
That looks so yummy! I will have to make this on our next Family Movie Night!
This is different from anyway I have ever eaten popcorn and I am a huge fan of popcorn. BUT…I love this. I will have to try it. I bet the bacon, caramel and popcorn really are a great combination.
You had me at bacon! This would be great for family movie night!
What a unique combination, I would never think to add bacon but why not. Love the serving vessels too
I love popcorn. I may have to give it a try. Thanks for the idea.
My favorite way to eat popcorn is straight out of the microwave bag! I really love the movie theater style popcorn!
I started drooling at just the name of the recipe before I got to the pics. YUM! I definitely need this in my life.
I had to read again to make sure that said bacon, lol. Oh how my daughter would LOVE this one!
I love adding fun toppings to my popcorn. It makes it so much fun!
This sounds so delicious. My son loves bacon. I will have to make this for our next movie night.
Oh my gosh! What a fantastic idea! Looks amazing!
I love caramel popcorn but might just pass on the bacon. I’m sure it tastes good but I prefer to have my bacon with breakfast. 🙂
Bacon carmel popcorn! Ok that is a mix I would have never thought of! I wonder if we would like it! I might have to try it for for the sake of trying it.
OMG, yes! You had me at bacon! Bacon on anything is boss!
This is a fantastic recipe! I also love how cute you set up the holders for the popcorn. The way that you set everything up is so pretty!
I bet this is yummy! Plus, bacon is one of those “all the rage” foods right now and people are loving it on everything. 🙂
I have a huge weak spot for caramel popcorn. But i never would have thought to add bacon into it. But this pregnant mommy is thinking that sounds amazing! I want to try some right now!
Bacon and caramel sounds tasty together!
oh my they took it to another level with the bacon. wow i would sooo love this.
I would not have put this together myself. What a great flavor combo!
This sounds like a recipe my son would love! Bacon AND caramel- count him in. I will have to try this for snack time.
This looks so delicious. I am definitely going to make this for movie night. I am sure it will be a big hit.
I have to make this for my family tonight. It looks so delicious. I have never tried bacon with popcorn before.
You got me intrigued – this sounds delicious as I love food experiments. Very tempted to try
This is great. It will be such a special treat. Thank you for the recipe.
Wait… So what you’re telling me right now is that I can have popcorn AND bacon at the same time? What sorcery is this? I must have it in my life!
You had me at bacon! I’ve tried so many types of caramel-ish popcorn, but never with the bacon. I need to make this at our next movie night!
Now this is a snack my whole family will enjoy. I like the idea of adding nuts to it. When I have popcorn I usually just have it with butter and salt however I do love chocolate drizzled on it too.
Bacon? Caramel? AND POPCORN!? All in one recipe!? Sign me up!! I think I need a whole bowl of this allllll to myself!! Great idea, lovely!!
Oh my gosh this sounds so amazing! I need to try this. What a great and easy idea!
Giiiirl, you had me at bacon! This popcorn looks and sounds devilishly delicious!
Popcorn is my absolute favorite snacks and yet have never though of just making at home when the feeling is there. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Pinning!
Thrifting Diva
http://www.thriftingdiva.com
I would have never have thought of combining bacon and caramel but this popcorn looks great! I love a bit of popcorn so am eager to try this.
I’m a huge fan of caramel corn and haven’t had a flavor combination with bacon before. When reading the ingredients list, I wouldn’t have thought that bacon fat would come into the equation – sounds interesting.
That’s one savory popcorn! It looks so good too! It would be nice to make it for the family especially when the kids come over to spend some time with us!
Oh yum! Bacon, caramel and popcorn, all together in one mouthful! That would be heaven to my taste buds! Saving the recipe and making this on the weekend for our family movie night.