Christmas Crunch Popcorn Snack Mix

Christmas Crunch Popcorn Snack Mix is the perfect sweet and salty treat for the Christmas season! This easy and addictive Christmas Popcorn can be thrown together in less than 10 minutes with just five ingredients and it’s ready to go!

Christmas Crunch Popcorn Snack Mix

It was chilly when I woke up here this morning – cold enough to build a fire in the fireplace. We also put our Christmas tree up over the weekend and started decorating the house.

I love the holiday season and all the festive decorations and lights that come with it!! It brings me so much JOY!

Our Christmas party will be smaller this year, but we will still be entertaining our immediate family and of course, there will need to be appetizers and Christmas treats – like this Christmas Crunch Snack Mix!

Christmas Crack Popcorn

I’ve made popcorn snack mix like this about a million times and for every occasion under the sun – including Easy Easter Bunny Snack Mix and my favorite Candy Corn Snack Mix. If you can’t tell, popcorn is one of our favorite snacks!

But for whatever reason, I can’t remember ever making any Christmas popcorn recipes. Until now. And I’m calling this popcorn Christmas Crack... or Christmas Crunch Popcorn Snack Mix.

​Christmas Popcorn Recipe

This tasty treat is a great combination of salty buttered crispy popcorn with melted white chocolate, plain M&Ms, pretzels and fun sprinkles!

It’s easy to make and very versatile. You can easily change up how much you make or what flavors you add. We usually make it with microwave popcorn but we’ve also used my husbands awesome popcorn maker to make air popcorn and then season it ourselves.

We’ve made this special treat dozens of times… sometimes to enjoy at home for family night or to share at a holiday party. 

Why You’ll Love this Christmas Crunch Recipe

• Delicious. Buttery and salty popcorn with the sweetness of M&M’s and white chocolate drizzle, you get the perfect sweet and salty snack with lots of textures!
• Budget-Friendly. This Christmas Popcorn mix only has 5 inexpensive ingredients and it makes a big batch! It’s great for gift-giving, movie snacks, or a classroom party.
• Perfect for Last Minute OR Make Ahead – Whether you need a snack in the next 15 minutes or you want to work ahead for the party over the weekend, this holiday popcorn works!! It’s ready to eat in less than 15 minutes or you can bag it up and share it in a few days.
• It’s easy enough for kids to make! Older kids can do it on their own, or younger kids can help you! It’s an easy treat to make so you can make memories with your kids!
• Precision not required for Almon Bark Popcorn Crack. This is not one of those recipes that requires a lot of measuring. If your bag of popcorn is a little more or less, its fine. Don’t quite have enough pretzels? No big deal. Want to add extra M&M’s. I’m all for it. You can even change it up with different add-ins! I have some suggestions below.

How to Separate Unpopped Popcorn Kernels from Popcorn

To easily remove unpopped popcorn kernels from your popcorn, try this method:

1. Use a wire cooling rack: Place a wire cooling rack over a large tray or bowl.
2. Pour the popcorn: Gently pour your popped popcorn over the rack. Shake it lightly to help the unpopped kernels fall through the holes.
3. Separate the popcorn: Once all the kernels have fallen through, scoop up the popcorn and place it back in the bowl or on the line baking sheet. Discard the unpopped kernels that remain on the tray or in the bowl.

This will make sure your popcorn is kernel-free and ready to enjoy!

Tools Needed

• Large Bowl
• Baking Sheet
• Parchment Paper or Wax Paper

Ingredients

There are only 5 ingredients and they’re easy to find at Christmas!

Popped Popcorn (microwave or homemade). I use one bag of Act II Butter Lovers Popcorn, which yields 8-10 cups of popcorn. You can use any kind of popcorn or method that you prefer.

Homemade popcorn popped on the stove top or air-popped also works. If you choose one of those methods, I recommend adding butter and salt to get the truly sweet and salty contrast. You can even purchase a big bag of pre-popped popcorn.

White Almond Bark or Candy Melts. I almost always use white almond bark but white Wilton candy melts or the white Ghirardelli works also. I always have a hard time melting white chocolate chips so I don’t recommend those.

Christmas M&Ms. Yes, any M&M candies work but if you’re making Christmas popcorn, the red and green M&M’s are the best for this popcorn candy mix!

Pretzels. You can use traditional twisted pretzels or pretzel sticks or even the square pretzels.

Christmas Sprinkles. It’s really easy to find festive sprinkles around the holidays. Most stores even have a whole section dedicated to holiday sprinkles in November and December. Red and green sprinkles or a mix of them would be the most Christmas-y

Find the complete recipe with ingredients measurements in the recipe card below.

How to Make Christmas Crunch Popcorn

This Christmas popcorn recipe is so easy to make – even kids can do it! Let me show you the steps!

1. Pop the popcorn and pour into a large bowl. Remove any unpopped kernels. I use a bag of microwave popcorn (the “extra butter” variety) but you could use air popped or whatever is your favorite! You could also purchase pre-popped popcorn and skill this step.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Spread the popcorn out on the cookie sheet in a single layer.
3. Sprinkle the M&M candies and pretzels evenly over the popped popcorn. 
4. Melt white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and pour over the top of the popcorn mix. I do this by chopping up the almond bark, then putting it in a glass bowl or measuring cup and microwaving for 1 minute. Stir and microwave again. Repeat in 30-second intervals until smooth and completely melted.
5. Pour it over the popcorn, then gently stir it up to coat the popcorn with almond bark. Sprinkle with Christmas sprinkles to make it extra festive!! 🙂 Let it dry/harden, then break it into pieces. 
6. Enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate! 

Pro Tips

• If you pop your popcorn (vs buying pre-popped), do not skip the step where you remove the un-popped kernels. Nobody wants to break a tooth biting into a hard popcorn seed.
• An easy way to turn air-popped popcorn into salty, buttered popcorn, is to spray it with butter-flavored non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle it with salt before adding the melted white chocolate.
• Need to speed up the the drying/hardening of the almond bark, pop the whole cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer for a couple of minutes!

Mix Ins

Some of these mix-in suggestions below may change up the look of the popcorn so it’s no longer “Christmas” themed.

But you can get different flavors and textures and make it your own! Here are some other things you might try:

• Caramel Popcorn. Make gourmet popcorn by also drizzling caramel over the top! Sort of like these caramel and white chocolate apples. YUM!!
• Peanut Butter Twist. Use Reese’s Pieces instead of m&m candies to add the flavor of peanut butter to this sweet and salty mix.
• Your Favorite Candies. In this recipe, I add Candy Corn to my popcorn (a favorite, of course). But you could also use any of your favorites… Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Minis, Chocolate Chips, chopped Whoppers, etc. and make candy popcorn. You could also sprinkle in some mini marshmallows.
• More Salty Snacks. If you want to add more salty instead of more sweet, you could add peanuts or Chex Mix. 
• Cookies. Chopped OREO cookies, Chips Ahoy! cookies, Nutter Butter Cookies… or whatever your favorite cookie is… add them in for a Cookie-Monster themed popcorn snack mix.

Serving Suggestions 

If you’re having a movie night, pour the sweet popcorn back into your big bowl and pass it around 🙂

Popcorn Gift Ideas

If you want to give holiday popcorn as an edible gift, here are some ideas:

• For kids party favors, add a cup of the Christmas popcorn snack mix to little baggies and tie them up with a cute ribbon.
• For adults or families, fill up a Christmas tin with the white chocolate popcorn and add a personalized card for your gift recipients.
• If you want to serve at holiday parties, divide the sweet treat into individual cups so guests can grab one to snack on while mingling. Add candy canes to the side of the cup for a cute and festive garnish.

Storage Directions 

Fresh popcorn is best because it gets stale quickly, especially when it’s chocolate-coated popcorn left uncovered. 

So, if you have any leftovers from this white chocolate popcorn recipe (we never do), immediately place it into a large zip-top plastic bag. Press out as much air as possible before sealing, and store the bag in a dry and dark place at room temperature. Avoid heat or sunlight, which can melt the chocolate. If you don’t have a zip-top bag, an airtight container is your second-best option but it’s impossible to remove all of the extra air in a container.

For the best taste, enjoy your Christmas popcorn within 3-5 days. Even with proper storage, it may start to soften or lose its crunch over time. 

Refrigeration or freezing is not recommended, as thawing causes the popped corn to soften. If you think you won’t finish the whole batch, cut the candied popcorn recipe in half!

Are you ready to make this totally addictive festive holiday treat? I promise you won’t be able to put it down!!

Oooh, and if you need a snack for a Christmas movie night, or want to bag it up for class favors like these – kids and adults alike love this stuff!!