Smartfood Caramel Chocolate popcorn brings two fantastic flavors together for the holidays

I think I might have a problem when it comes to Smartfood.

No, not the traditional white cheddar flavor. (The one that people believe “doesn’t hit like it used to.”) The weird flavors like Smartfood Doritos Nacho Cheese and Smartfood Cheetos Cheddar. The sweet flavors like Smartfood Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn.

I don’t feel comfortable revealing how many bags of Smartfood I go through every week.

My snack-hunting radar is on high alert when the holidays roll around and Frito-Lay unveils a delicious new limited-edition flavor of Smartfood. In the past, we’ve gotten Cap’n Crunch Merry Berries Popcorn Mix (they added Crunch Berries to popcorn!) and Chocolate Glazed Donut. Both of these flavors were before the days of Snackology, so my thoughts on them are lost to time. (They were obviously amazing, and I miss them every day.)

For 2025, Frito-Lay revealed that Smartfood Chocolate Caramel is our seasonal flavor of popcorn. Not as wild as popcorn that includes Crunch Berries or invokes the glory of a frosted donut, but this is a flavor combo that’s tried and true.

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What it costs

I found Smartfood Chocolate Caramel Popcorn for $4.69 on Target’s website.

My thoughts

As I briefly mentioned above, there are two kinds of Smartfood. You have the salty flavors that are built around traditional popcorn bursts: White Cheddar, Movie Theater Butter, Doritos Nacho Cheese, Cheetos Cheddar and Cheetos Flamin’ Hot. Then you have the kettle corn version of Smartfood, where the popcorn bits seem to be bigger and fuller, better suited to be coated by sugary topping: Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn and Brown Butter & Sea Salt Kettle Corn.

My go-to flavors of Smartfood are the Doritos and non-Flamin’ Cheetos varieties, but I’ll also mix in the traditional Kettle Corn on occasions. The latter prepped me for what to expect from Smartfood Caramel Chocolate.

At first glance, you’d be mistaken if you thought this was a bag full of caramel corn. Smartfood didn’t skimp when it came to coating the popcorn for this limited-edition flavor.

Smartfood Caramel Chocolate also invokes exactly the scent you’d expect from a bag of popcorn that promises the mix of caramel and chocolate flavors.

I love hunting for a piece of kettle corn that’s basically a piece of candy. This bag was full of them, allowing me to bombard my taste buds with piece after piece of caramel/chocolate-y goodness.

Snack score

🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)

The best endorsement I can offer of Smartfood Caramel Chocolate popcorn is that I think I blacked out and ate two-thirds of the bag after opening it. I couldn’t stop. Do I wish the chocolate taste was amped up a touch? Sure. But that minor critique didn’t stop me from housing this seasonal release.