S'mores Popcorn
Popcorn bound with melted marshmallow, then loaded with graham cracker and chocolate. Made at home, carried in a bag.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 20 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
- Dessert
- No cook
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Air-popped popcorn | 12 cups | microwave bags work, use plain or light butter |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 4 tbsp | |
| Mini marshmallows | 4 cups | |
| Graham crackers | 8 whole crackers | broken into rough pieces, not crumbs |
| Milk chocolate chips | 1 cup |
Method
- At home: pop the popcorn and pick out the unpopped kernels. They will find your molar otherwise.
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Pull the pot off the burner and add the marshmallows.
- Stir off-heat until the marshmallows are gone and the mixture is smooth. Residual heat is enough; direct heat scorches sugar fast.
- Add the popcorn in three or four handfuls, folding after each one so everything gets coated.
- Fold in the graham cracker pieces, then the chocolate chips last.
- Spread it on a sheet pan and chill it, or at least cool it fully, before bagging. Warm chocolate smears into everything.
- Break into pieces and portion into bags once it is cold and set.
This is a home-prep snack, not a camp cook. The point is getting s’mores flavor out of a bag on a fire-ban night or halfway up a climb, without a stick, a fire, or sticky hands. Everything happens on a kitchen stove days before the trip.
The marshmallow is glue, not filling. Melting it off-heat matters: butter and sugar over a live burner turn brown and grainy in under a minute, and grainy marshmallow will not coat popcorn. Chocolate goes in last and cold-sets, so the chips stay chips instead of a smear. Recognize that this snack has a temperature ceiling. Above the mid-80s it goes soft and welds into one lump, which is edible but not portionable.
Packing
Portion into quart bags or paper lunch sacks at home, roughly two cups each. Push the air out. In heat over about 80F this softens and clumps, so carry it deep in the pack rather than in a lid pocket.
Variations
- Golden Grahams cereal instead of crackers, left whole, plus an extra cup of marshmallows.
- Swap the chocolate chips for chopped dark chocolate, which holds its shape better in warm weather.
- A heavy pinch of salt in the marshmallow mixture keeps the whole thing from reading as pure sugar.
https://campfirefoodie.com/sweet-salty-smores-popcorn-recipe