Easy to make and fun to eat, caramel corn is all-time favorite snack of people at movie time or friends gathering on holidays. The major recipe ingredients are sugar, salt, kernels, and baking soda. Baking soda is quite essential because of its versatile leavening and rising properties. Go for the closest substitute for baking soda in caramel corn if not found this recipe staple on hand.
Otherwise, without baking soda, you will end up with a huge sticky mess and lose all the fine glazing and layering of caramel on corns. This will not only waste your time and other recipe ingredients but also make you disappointed with unintended outcomes.
Substituting baking soda in caramel corn is as easy as making the corns when you’ve an idea about its closer alternatives. If not, here we’ve presented a group of baking soda alternatives that are perfectly designed for caramel corn.
Substitute For Baking Soda In Caramel Corn
Caramel corn is a stellar combination of sticky, sweet and salty taste notes that is enough to make anyone excited. However, caramel and corn must be balanced in a recipe, while making perfect caramel is a little tricky and intention-seeking step.
When sugar caramelizes, it undergoes various chemical transformations turning into light brownish, dense, and stringy mass. The proper control of these forming sticky strings is needed that exactly baking soda does beautifully.
In actual, baking soda is a base and do a chemical reaction with sugar and corn syrup and produces carbon dioxide bubbles. These carbon dioxide bubbles make caramel soft, fluffy, and chewable deliciously.
This is because you must have baking soda or its replacements on hand while making this comfort snack. Check out the following list of alternatives you can use instead of baking soda in caramel corn.
Baking Powder – A Closer Replacement
Baking powder is similarly essential and versatile in its action as baking soda and offers closer services too. It contains cream of tartar mixed with baking soda and helps baking goods rise perfectly.
However, it works just fine and the same way in place of baking soda in caramel corn. Therefore, you can substitute baking soda with baking powder in 1:1 ratio and get the intended recipe outcomes.
Self-rising Flour
Self-rising flour is another baking staple with a novel combination of whole flour, salt, and baking powder. Since it already contains baking powder, you can make it your next working replacement in place of baking soda.
Its 1:1 ratio works well in cakes, cookies, and muffins but not for caramel corn. In caramel corn, just a pinch of self-rising flour works the way you desired.
Egg White
As you already know that baking soda prevents caramel from getting rock-hard and stiff, what about beaten egg whites? After the extensive beating, egg whites become white creamy foam full of air bubbles.
This foaming mass can make your caramel corn deliciously creamy, soft, and eggy. So, it could be a great substitute for baking soda because eggs are always available to make your recipes delectable and appetizing.
Melted Butter
When nothing seems favorable in your opinion, melted butter can help you the way you’re craving. Melted butter can closely replace baking soda in caramel corn if used properly and knowingly.
When sugar begins to caramelise and develops into a brownish sticky mass, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of melted butter to it. This substitution will also work just fine when any ingredient doesn’t seem helpful.
Check out the best dairy-free substitute for butter to make caramel corn vegan-friendly while retaining the overall delicacy of the dish.
Potassium Bicarbonate
Baking soda is chemically sodium bicarbonate and reacts with acidic ingredients to produce bubbles. Interestingly, potassium bicarbonate also reacts the same way as baking soda and produces carbon dioxide bubbles.
Thereby, substituting baking soda with potassium bicarbonate really make sense. However, it’s an ingredient rarely on hand, so think about it if available on time.
Homemade Substitute For Baking Soda In Caramel Corn
Despite looking for the most relevant and closest alternative for baking soda, make your own replacement instead. Indeed, it’s an easy, quick, and reasonable option for you at the time of making comfort snacks.
For that, take equal amounts of all-purpose flour and baking powder or potassium bicarbonate and mix up well. In the end, add a pinch of regular or coarse salt to the mixture and that’s it.
This way, you can easily swap baking soda with any suitable ingredient in caramel corn and the difference in flavor would be unnoticeable.
