Made with popcorn, dates, sunflower seed butter, and dark chocolate, these healthy popcorn balls are easy to make and even more fun to eat!
4 Ingredient Healthy Popcorn Balls
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 9 balls 1x
- Category: Snack
Description
Made with popcorn, dates, sunflower seed butter, and dark chocolate, these healthy popcorn balls are easy to make and even more fun to eat!
Ingredients
- 3 ounces Made in Nature Dates
- 2 Tablespoons Wild Friends Organic Honey Sunflower Butter
- 1 bag Quinn Snacks Sea Salt Microwave Popcorn
- 1.3 ounces Alter Eco Dark Super Blackout Chocolate
Instructions
- Place dates in a food processor and process until a paste forms.
- Add sunflower butter and processes. You should end up with a very thick caramel paste. Add 1 Tablespoon of warm water to slightly thin out the caramel.
- Make microwave popcorn according to package directions.
- Place popcorn in a bowl and add date caramel, stirring until the popcorn is evenly coated.
- With slightly damp hands, form popcorn into balls. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.
- Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the chocolate.
- Drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn balls and place back in the fridge to set the chocolate.
- Enjoy!
Keywords: popcorn, chocolate, sunflower seed butter, nut butter
This post was created in collaboration with Quinn Snacks. Thank you for supporting Hungry by Nature and the brands that make it possible!
I cannot tell you the last time I made popcorn balls.
Ok ok, I made them last week for this recipe obviously… I meant that I cannot remember the last time before that. It had to have been in the 90’s. THE 90’S!!
And the popcorn balls I made in the 90’s most certainly were loaded with sugar and held together with corn syrup. My oh my, how things have changed!
Just a couple of swaps transform these into healthy popcorn balls!
- Swap #1: Date caramel for corn syrup. Corn syrup is one of the top ingredients I check for while looking at food labels and you can be assured it will NOT be used in my kitchen. Instead I made my own caramel sauce with Made In Nature dates, Wild Friends organic honey sunflower butter and 1 Tablespoon of warm water.
- Swap #2: Plain sea salt popcorn for classic microwave popcorn. Traditional microwave popcorn is laden with butter and other junk. Quinn Snacks sea salt microwave popcorn is perfect for this recipe – the only ingredients are organic popcorn kernels and sea salt!
- Swap #3: 90% dark chocolate for candy. Adding candy increases the sugar content of traditional popcorn balls drastically. I like to sub in dark chocolate and Alter Eco makes a 90% bar that is so dark they call is Super Blackout.
And make sure you head over to my Instagram because I am doing a HUGE giveaway with all of the brands I previously mentioned as well as a few other bloggers – Oh So Delicioso and The Wholesome Bite. You can enter the giveaway on each account – you seriously don’t want to miss out on all of these goodies!
These healthy popcorn balls are a great road trip snack or dessert and perfect to make before your 4th of July celebrations!
If you make these 4 Ingredient Healthy Popcorn Balls, post a picture on social media and use the hashtag #imhungrybynature for a chance to be featured!
Looking for other popcorn recipes? Check these out!
10 Minute Rosemary Asiago Popcorn
What a fun snack idea!!! We love popcorn in our house!
Thanks Rachel – we are the exact same!! Have you tried Quinn Snacks popcorn?
I am curious to try these today, but would be using other popcorn I have on hand. Do you know how many cups of popcorn should be used in relation to the date caramel mixture? Thanks!
Hi Adrienne! Yes – approximately 3 cups of popped popcorn!! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
These actually seem like they would be more satisfying for the sweet tooth than the normal popcorn ball, because they have seed butter, CHOCOLATE, and delicious dates. 🙂 And maybe they’re a little less sticky than the normal ones? Those ones always make my teeth stick together. 😀
WAY less sticky and definitely still satisfying!