This post was Sponsored by M&M’S®.
It’s one of my favorite times of the year, football season! Fall brings with it cooler temps, colorful leaves, and Sundays spent in front of the tv. One of the fun parts of football season is having friends and family over to watch the game of the week.
We all know that food is a big part of entertaining, and snack food especially. Make this colorful Touchdown Tailgate Popcorn Mix for your upcoming football parties or for a fun snack for kids after football games or practice!
Touchdown Tailgate Popcorn Mix – the perfect snack for your next football party!
Let’s look at how to make the recipe, then I’ll give some fun ideas for how to serve it. The great thing about this popcorn mix snack is that it’s easy to make. Plus you can grab the main feature ingredients, popcorn kernels and M&M’S® Game Day Mix at your local CVS while out running errands.
Pop your popcorn kernels, you should end up with about 6-8 cups of popped popcorn. Place these in a large, lidded, heat-resistant bowl and set off to the side.
Prep your pretzels by snapping them into smaller pieces and placing in a bowl. Also have your M&M’S®Game Day Mix ready to add; I used a cup of candies.
Now it’s time to prepare your sugar coating. In a small nonstick pan add sugar, butter, vanilla, water, and food coloring, and then bring to a boil. Allow to boil for two or three minutes, stirring regularly. You want the sugar to melt well so it’s not too grainy. Check your green color by lifting your spoon and add additional food coloring, as needed depending on how green you want your popcorn.
Once you’ve created your bubbly sugar mixture, turn off the heat. Stir for another half to full minute. Now pour your green sugar mixture over the popcorn. Add the pretzels and M&M’S® Game Day Mix Candies. Place lid on bowl and shake, swirl, and shake some more.
Once your popcorn mix is thoroughly mixed, spread it out in a flat pan or edged cookie sheet to set up. This is the quick and easy snack that’s ready to eat. Your popcorn might be a bit soft at this point, so if you want a crisper popcorn, you need to do one more step.
Spread your popcorn mix on a baking sheet to set up. Bake if you want crisper popcorn.
To help your popcorn be crisper and not soft from the hot sugar mix, you’ll want to place the baking sheet of popcorn mix in a 250-degree oven for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. This will help pull some of the moisture out of the popcorn. Let cool and you’re ready to serve this sweet treat!
As I said, part of the fun for football season is hosting parties and inviting friends over for the game. Once you’ve created your touchdown tailgate popcorn mix, it deserves a fun presentation.
Grab a piece of indoor/outdoor green carpet for your table centerpiece. Use some white electrical tape to create lines on the green carpet so it looks like a football field. You can use a football shaped bowl to serve the popcorn mix and guests can grab a serving of the snack.
The M&M’S® Game Day Mix is perfect addition for this popcorn mix, plus it can be served in a bowl on their own too!
A fun idea if you’d like to offer individual servings of the popcorn mix is to make football cups. Use brown paper party cups and add some white electrical tape to the side to be the ball stitching. Now scoop some of your tasty touchdown tailgate mix into the cups and serve on top of your crafted “field”. Add in some black and white napkins and you’re ready to host your next football season party.