Habanero Kettle Corn
Sweet, salty, and hot popcorn popped in the pot you already carry.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 2 oz
- cal / oz
- 160
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Popcorn kernels | 1/2 cup | about 8 cups popped |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut oil | 1 tbsp | solid at room temperature, so it packs clean |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Ghee | 1 tbsp | replaces butter, keeps without a cooler |
| Red chili habanero hot sauce | 2 tsp | El Yucateco or any thin vinegar-based one |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Melt the coconut oil in your pot over medium flame. Drop in three kernels and put the lid on.
- When those three pop, add the sugar and the rest of the kernels. Lid back on.
- Shake the pot across the burner more or less constantly. The sugar scorches the second it sits still.
- When popping slows to one every few seconds, pull the pot off the heat and keep shaking until it stops.
- Melt the ghee in your cup or lid, stir in the hot sauce, and pour it over the popcorn.
- Put the lid on and shake to coat. Salt, shake again, eat once it has cooled two minutes.
Kettle corn burns for one reason: sugar hits the pot floor and stays there. The fix is mechanical, not culinary. Keep the pot moving over the flame the whole time and the sugar caramelizes on the kernels instead of the metal. A wide pot with a real lid works far better than a tall narrow mug.
Butter and a stovetop popper do not travel, so ghee replaces the butter and your cook pot replaces the popper. Ghee has no milk solids left to spoil, which is why it sits in a pack for a week without complaint. The hot sauce goes in the fat rather than straight on the popcorn, because vinegar alone makes it soggy while fat spreads it evenly and drives the heat into every piece.
Packing
Kernels and sugar go in one bag. Oil and ghee ride in small screw-top jars; hot sauce in a dropper bottle or the little glass bottle if you are car camping. Nothing here needs cold.
Variations
- No hot sauce? A pinch of cayenne and a splash of vinegar in the ghee gets close.
- Skip the sugar for straight salt-and-heat popcorn that will not glue itself to the pot.
- Olive oil in place of both the coconut oil and ghee makes it vegan.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/chili-habanero-kettle-corn