Hibiscus Popcorn is new and incredibly delicious, made using natural dried hibiscus powder.

What is Hibiscus Powder?

The way to make naturally delicious Hibiscus Popcorn is to use Hibiscus Powder. If you’ve never heard of Hibiscus powder and it’s fruity, tantalizing flavor and health benefits here’s some information you must have.

According to Healthline Hibiscus powder/tea has the following benefits:

It’s packed with antioxidants.
It may help lower blood pressure.
It may help lower blood fat levels.
It may boost liver health.
It could promote weight loss.
It contains compounds that might prevent cancer.
It could help fight bacteria.
It’s flavorful and easy to make.

That’s a lot of benefits from an ingredient in a low-fat tasty snack treat!

I ordered my Hibiscus Powder on Amazon. I ordered a smallish package because when I started to develop this recipe I wasn’t sure how much I would need and how the recipe would turn out.

Hibiscus Powder: Kosher, Non-GMO, No preservatives

Making Hibiscus Popcorn

You might think that this would be a simple recipe to develop.

I thought so too…

Until it wasn’t.

I could have taken the easy route and sprinkled the hibiscus powder over air popped popcorn. I didn’t want to. I wanted to really showcase the hibiscus powder and have the flavor pop.

I first tried popping the popcorn in a pot with coconut sugar. It didn’t work. The coconut sugar stuck to the pan (even with stirring when the sugar melted), and the popcorn ended up kind of a burnt mess.

Epic Fail Coconut Sugar Hibiscus Popcorn – the only thing happy about this popcorn was the spatula.

I then continued to make six more batches of Hibiscus Popcorn. There was popcorn everywhere. Dear Husband was a little overwhelmed when he came into the kitchen to find mountains of Hibiscus Popcorn in pans and bags and pots. It was a little funny.

Making a Hibiscus Popcorn Glaze

Then I had the idea to try a popcorn glaze. I found a recipe from Jen’s Favorite Cookies for Sweet Popcorn Glaze. Using this recipe and adding the hibiscus power after making the glaze, I air popped a half cup of popcorn kernels, then poured the glaze over the popcorn. It was pretty good. The only problem was that the popcorn was a little soft and not as crunchy as I would like.

Light Hibiscus Popcorn, delicious but not quite as crunchy as I would have liked.

I ended up baking it for a little while, and that significantly improved the crunch factor. It was very good…but not perfect. I’ll include the recipe below as “Light Hibiscus Popcorn” because it looks lighter than my final recipe.

Made using a hibiscus powder glaze.

The Ultimate Hibiscus Popcorn Recipe Winner

I decided it was time to go back to my tried and true recipe for candy coated flavored popcorn. Many many many many years ago, before electricity was even invented, and when people used to clip recipes out of the newspaper, magazines, and newspaper advertising inserts, I found a recipe from the Jell-O company for Rainbow Popcorn.

A version of the recipe still exists on the Jell-O website: Jell-O Rainbow Popcorn

The absolute original

While this recipe has always worked for me, I decided to modify it slightly to see if it would work for my Hibiscus Popcorn recipe.

It’s unbelievable.

It’s so good that while I was writing this post I had to go and get some to nosh on. With only a few ingredients you can have gourmet Hibiscus Popcorn.

It’s crunchy and fruity and a little sweet…but not too sweet. And…it’s healthy…Healthline said so!

Gourmet Hibiscus Popcorn is relatively easy to make but unbelievably delicious.

Here’s the recipe:

Hibiscus Popcorn

Author: Sharon Matten - Kosher Everyday
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 9 cups 1x
Category: Snack
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Plant Based
Diet: Kosher

Print Recipe

Description

Hibiscus Popcorn is new and incredibly delicious, made using natural dried hibiscus powder.

Ingredients

Scale

1/3 cup popcorn kernels, (yields around 9 cups popped)
nonstick vegetable spray
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup plant based margarine (1/2 stick)
1 (3-ounce) package clear, unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons hibiscus powder

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F.
Cover a large sheet pan with foil. Spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick vegetable spray. Air pop the kernels into the prepared bowl. Set aside.
In a small 3 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, margarine, gelatin and hibiscus powder. Cook over medium/low heat until the margarine and sugar are melted, stirring constantly with a heat resistant spatula. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
Pour the hibiscus syrup over the popcorn. Use two forks to toss and completely coat the popcorn.
Transfer the popcorn to the prepared pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Cool completely then break into small pieces.

Equipment

GlutenFree Hibiscus Flower Powder

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Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popcorn Kernels

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Presto 04821 Orville Redenbacher’s Hot Air Popper

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Gefen Clear Unflavored Jello

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Notes

I will sometimes us the forks to re-coat the popcorn after it’s been baked.

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Light Hibiscus Popcorn

Author: Sharon Matten - Kosher Everyday
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 15 cups 1x
Category: Snack
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Plant Based
Diet: Kosher

Print Recipe

Description

This recipe makes around 13-15 cups of delicious Hibiscus Popcorn. While not quite as crunchy or completely coated as the original Hibiscus popcorn recipe, it’s still fruity and delicious!

Ingredients

Scale

Nonstick Vegetable Spray
1/2 cup popcorn kernels (makes 13–15 cups popped)
1/2 cup plant based margarine (1 stick)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons hibiscus powder.

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F.
Cover a large sheet pan with foil. Spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick vegetable spray. Air pop the kernels into the prepared bowl. Set aside.
In a small 3 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, margarine and hibiscus powder. Cook over medium/low heat until the margarine and sugar are melted, stirring constantly with a heat resistant spatula. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
Pour the hibiscus syrup over the popcorn. Use two forks to toss and completely coat the popcorn.
Transfer the popcorn to the prepared pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Cool completely then break into small pieces.