Salted Caramel Popcorn Chocolate Bars

These chocolate bars are packed with salted caramel popcorn, marshmallows and almonds for salty/sweet/crunchy perfection! They're 100% vegan, gluten free, made with an easy homemade coconut caramel, and easy to customize. Such a delicious dessert or snack that's both kid and adult friendly!

🥗 Why We Love This Recipe

• Easy to make: just a few simple steps and very little prep time! You can even make this recipe easier by using a store-bought caramel if preferred.
• Customizable: you can easily change up these bars with different ingredients, like different types of nuts, freeze dried fruits, coconut, pretzels, etc.
• Salty/sweet: with salted caramel, dark chocolate, lightly salted popcorn and nuts, these are the perfect balance between salty and sweet. SO good!
• Kid and adult friendly: with popcorn and marshmallows, these are a super fun dessert for kids, but dark chocolate and almonds make them a bit more sophisticated, too.
• Vegan and gluten free: we make a homemade dairy free caramel sauce that tastes absolutely AMAZING. We also use vegan marshmallows, which are easy to find and we think actually taste better than normal ones! You can also easily adapt this recipe to be nut free.

🥘 Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make these vegan salted caramel popcorn chocolate bars:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Dark chocolate: we use dark chocolate between 70-80%. Any higher can be a bit bitter for these very chocolate-heavy bars (in my opinion), but if you like extra dark chocolate, go for it! You can use either chocolate chips or a chocolate bar – just be sure to chop the bar into small shards before melting.
• Vegan marshmallows: we love these mini marshmallows from Dandies. They're available at most specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods and they honestly taste great! We also use them in our rice krispie treats and s'mores.
• Coconut cream: you can also use full fat coconut milk. Just be sure to only use the top layer of full fat cream (see in photo #1 below) and not any of the liquid, otherwise the caramel will be too thin.
• Almonds: we used unsalted, raw almonds here, but if you like extra saltiness with your chocolate, you could use lightly salted almonds. Feel free to sub with any other nut of choice, like peanuts, walnuts, pecans or cashews.
• Popcorn: you really can't go wrong here with any store-bought variety that you like. We personally love Lesser Evil Himalayan Pink Salt Popcorn - it's popped in coconut oil and tastes SO GOOD.
• Brown sugar: we prefer the taste of our vegan caramel with brown sugar, but we also tried with coconut sugar and it worked perfectly fine.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

(1) Remove the solid top layer of fat from the can of coconut cream. Do not use any of the liquid from the bottom of the can – just the cream. 

(2) Add the coconut cream to a small saucepan over medium heat with brown sugar, nut butter, vanilla and salt. Whisk well until smooth.

(3) Let the caramel come to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and continue to simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring often. 

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. 

(4) Add the popcorn, almonds and marshmallows to a mixing bowl.

(5 & 6) Pour the caramel over top and stir well to coat. 

(7) Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a double boiler or in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well between each interval, until fully melted. Optional: you can stir in 2 teaspoon coconut oil for a thinner consistency if desired – this makes the chocolate easier to work with. 

(8) Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper. Spread ⅓ of the chocolate in a thin, even layer across the bottom of the pan. Top with ½ of the caramel popcorn mixture. You may have to use your hands to press into an even layer. 

(9) Follow with another ⅓ of the chocolate, another layer of the remaining popcorn mixture, and finish with another layer of chocolate on top.

Transfer to freezer for 1 hour or until completely set. Slice into squares and enjoy. 

💭 Expert Tips & FAQs

• Keep a close eye on the caramel: just like any caramel sauce, this one can burn quickly if you're not watching. The caramel should bubble quite a bit, but if it smells like burnt caramel, immediately reduce the heat and stir well to cool it down. The resulting sauce should be deep golden brown and pretty thick.
• Make it nut free: If you have a tree nut allergy, feel free to sub the almonds with peanuts. If you're allergic to peanuts as well, you can also sub with a seed (pumpkin would be great) or coconut flakes!
• Make this recipe faster: to be honest, this is about as quick as it gets for a delicious dessert, but if you want to skip making the caramel from scratch, store-bought is perfectly fine! If you're not vegan, any caramel sauce will work. If you are vegan, this store-bought coconut caramel is absolutely amazing and we highly recommend!
• To make the chocolate easier to spread, don't skip the coconut oil. It really loosens things up for a more pourable consistency, and it also makes the chocolate a bit softer so these are easier to eat straight from the fridge.
• Customize with your favorite ingredients: feel free to change up this recipe by adding in various additions like pretzels, freeze dried raspberries or strawberries, different nuts/seeds, etc. White chocolate would also be a tasty addition.
• Flaky salt: top off each square with a pinch of flaky salt for that perfect crunch. It's totally optional, but really adds a lot!
• Storage: these salted caramel popcorn chocolate bars store best in the refrigerator or freezer. You can store them for up to a week in the fridge, but if you're anything like us, they definitely won't last that long!
  • Store slices between layers of parchment paper to prevent sticking.

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