Fun and oh-so delicious, these Pumpkin Popcorn Balls are made with marshmallows for the ultimate soft and chewy treat! Perfect for Halloween and Thanksgiving!
Love delicious pumpkin treats? Make sure to try my Sweet Pumpkin Empanadas and Pumpkin Delight!
I have been wanting to share these adorable Pumpkin Popcorn Balls since I started blogging three years ago. And now you have an idea of how badly I procrastinate 😉
Popcorn balls are in my blood. I’ve been making them since I was a toddler. My Grandma is to blame. She got all of her grand kids addicted to these things and I’m passing that along to my boys. Of course, who can resist these soft and chewy popcorn balls? And pumpkins??? Get outta here! These things are too cute for words!
My Grandma made her popcorn balls with marshmallows and it’s my favorite way to make them too. The popcorn balls are super chewy and soft – two important components of a perfect popcorn ball. The other component? No popcorn kernels! People! Check and then double check your popped popcorn! Breaking a tooth while eating a popcorn ball is seriously no bueno.
So the stems here are really the attraction for these balls. You could use a lot of different things but I did a mix of tootsie rolls and broken pretzel rods. The leaves are green laffy taffy and green tootsie rolls. Hey! I use what I have on hand you guys!
I smushed the green candies until they were the thickness I wanted and then used scissors to cut out a leaf shape. Is it a pumpkin leaf shape? Nope. Didn’t care to spend that much time on these 🙂 You wanna get all realistic with the leaves…be my guest!
These little treats would be perfect for a Halloween party or served up on your Thanksgiving table.
More Halloween Treats
Looking for more fun ideas for Halloween? Here are some to check out:
- Halloween Punch
- Witch Hat Halloween Cookies
- Spiral Slice and Bake Halloween Cookies
- Black Widow Brownie Bites
- Halloween Popcorn Balls
- Candy Corn Popcorn Munch
- Candy Corn Fudge
- Easy Pumpkin Patties
- Pumpkin Brownies
How To Make Pumpkin Popcorn Balls
Pumpkin Popcorn Balls
Ingredients
- 8 cups plain popped popcorn + 1 cup
- 16 ounces marshmallows
- ½ cup Challenge butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extact
- orange food coloring optional
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice optional
- green laffy taffy green tootsie rolls, green starburst – leaves
- pretzel rods broken into pieces and/or tootsie rolls – stems
- butter and/or cooking spray for hands
Instructions
- Melt the butter and marshmallows together in a large pot.
- Once the marshmallows are fully melted, turn off the heat and add in the vanilla and food coloring. I start with a couple of drops and then add more as needed.
- Add 8 cups of popcorn to the marshmallow mixture and stir until popcorn is covered. If there appears to be a lot of extra marshmallow mixture stir in the additional one cup of popcorn now.
- Butter or grease hands.
- Grab a handful of popcorn and start forming it into a ball.
- Place the pretzel rod or tootsie roll in the top of the ball and squeeze firmly to make sure the popcorn ball sticks together. The popcorn balls can be any size you choose.
- After all the pumpkins have been made, smush the green candies and cut into leaf shapes using scissors.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
These little pumpkin balls are definitely so perfect for halloween and definitely a recipe I will be recreating. Pinned!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you Thaila!