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Circus Popcorn

by 116 Comments

A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect  for any kid-friendly party!

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

With Halloween on the horizon and everything “sweet and fun”, “tricks and kicks” taking center stage, fun and easy recipes are essential to start stockpiling! Snacking recipes like this always remind me of parties held at friends’ houses for little celebrations like Halloween. I didn’t start going to Halloween parties until high school, so maybe I’m wrong here! Regardless, fun snacks are needed for any party and at whatever age the party-goers are!

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

Let me give you a bit of backstory to this little mix of mine. The reason this “trail mix” is baked is because it was supposed to be popcorn granola. It’s a thing, it wasn’t just a stroke of random genius, but I wanted to try it for myself. It just didn’t work out very well and the popcorn didn’t seem to take to baking very well. Instead, I got more creative and fun to make this party-poppin’ mix instead! I’m glad this was the result, anyway!

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

I went a little crazy with the random add-ins. Let’s take a look! Freedom Foods Rainbow Rocks cereal (allergy-free and healthy fruity pebbles!), roasted peanuts, Sprinklz, vegan caramel, freeze-dried apple, some spices and of course the fresh popcorn which I made with my lovely popcorn maker!

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

Can you believe this is my first popcorn recipe on the blog? I love popcorn, that’s why I got this snazzy air popper for Christmas last year! Have you ever tasted FRESH popcorn before? Wow! The stuff will blow your mind! It literally tastes so fresh and clean…natural. I just pop some organic popcorn kernels (or local) with nothing else. No salt, vegan butter, nothing.

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

However, the key to making my perfect popcorn preferences complete is to let it get a bit stale. Once I pop those kernels, I usually let them sit in a plastic bag for a few days. Of course I much some fresh and hot, but I do enjoy some stale non-flavored popcorn (call me crazy)! To me, it’s just really good! This fun little gluten-free recipe for Circus Popcorn is far from plain, though! Those sweet Rainbow Rocks and yummy tummy roasted peanuts….SO GOOD! I don’t mind some creative popcorn eating every now and again 😉

Circus Popcorn

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

Print

Circus Popcorn

A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

  • Author: Rebecca Pytell
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Yield: 8 Cups 1x
  • Category: Snack
  • Cuisine: American
Scale

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
  2. Pop enough kernels for 6 fresh cups of popcorn (you’ll have extra) and add it to a very large bowl.
  3. Add in all the ingredients to the bowl of popcorn, except the Rainbow Rocks cereal and mix it all together.
  4. Spread out the mixture on a parchment paper or Silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, give it a stir and bake an additional 15 minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven, add the Rainbow Rocks cereal, and give it one last mix!
  6. Store in sealed plastic bags and air-tight jars.

Circus Popcorn | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 A healthier snack mix that the kids will love and will have fun making! A gluten-free, vegan, easy recipe for Circus Popcorn! Loaded with allergy-free Rainbow Rocks, sprinkles. peanuts, apple, and of course, fresh popcorn, all baked in the oven! Perfect for any kid-friendly party!

Toss this Circus Popcorn (I don’t know where the name came from, but sprinkles, peanuts, and popcorn reminded me of a circus) in a huge bowl and set it on the table for some kid-friendly party snacking! I’d say this is a Halloween treat that’s just a smidge better than gallons of sugar, artificial flavors, or colors 😉 You could even add in some chocolate chips too! That would be mighty delicious!

So tell me:

+ Were Halloween parties a big thing when you were in school? Not until high school.

+ Do you pop your own popcorn? By the way…so much more cost efficient!

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Comments

  2. Nikki Frank-Hamilton says

    Around here we’re always looking for fun treats and snacks that are good for you as well as just plain good. This one is unique, and who doesn’t love the circus??? I need to get a snazzy air popper too, perhaps Santa will bring one for me!

    Reply

  12. kimmythevegan says

    Oh how fun! Love this idea. I am such a sucker for air popped popcorn -it’s totally the only way! Someone once got me an airpopper for Christmas too and I have never gone back to microwaved since. I’ll be honest… I’m not a fan of the plain stuff, I like a little coconut oil and sea salt. I’ll have to try this fun circus version.
    ps. we have the same popcorn maker!!! =D

    Reply

  13. nadia says

    This looks delicious and sounds so fun! I love popcorn and make it almost every weekend, but I tend to keep it plain. I need to try more fun flavours like this! 😀

    Reply

  19. Nico @ yumsome says

    That’s completely insane popcorn! I thought I was pushing the boat out by coating mine in salted caramel sauce but you definitely win the award for the craziest combo! LOL!

    (No Halloween parties when I was a kid – I grew up in Britain in the ’60s and ’70s… fun hadn’t been invented.)

    Reply

  33. Sarah- A Whisk and Two Wands says

    Love it! You may have just taken my daughter’s birthday popcorn mix to a whole new level! She has all the candies, dried fruits, pretzels, ect… She is also having a fruity pebble cake for her birthday sleepover because of the allergies with her friends and now she decided to have the cake in the morning on her actual birthday. I might have to use the leftover cereal in her popcorn!!

    Reply

  44. Farrah says

    I love popping my own popcorn! 😀 So much cheaper + I love that I can fix it up however I like it. :] I recognize those rainbow rocks–this is such a wonderful idea! <3!! I love popcorn as a snack and this is pretty much perfect! 😀

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      This was the recipe I was telling the Freedom Foods guy about 😛 Haha! Hopefully they’ll appreciate it 😉

      Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      Haha! This is what happens when I just look through the cabinets and start throwing things together 😉 Best way to cook!

      Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      Haha, the old school way 😉 But totally invest in a popper! I love when it shoots out and I just hold the bowl underneath and try to catch it all 😛

      Reply

  57. Shashi at RunninSrilankan says

    You sure are right, popping my own popcorn sure is cost efficient and I control the amount of salt on them! As for this circus popcorn – – Rebecca, I LOVE it – what a lovely way to enjoy popcorn! I must say, this is my first time hearing about popcorn granola (thanks for that Food 52 link) and am fascinated!

    Reply

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Meet Rebecca

Hey there, welcome to Strength and Sunshine! I’m Rebecca and I’m so glad you’re here! This is your go-to destination for delicious, fun, and (mostly) healthy gluten-free and allergy-free recipes, tips & tricks, advice, as well as celiac and food allergy coaching services!

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