Skip to Content

How to Make Cotton Candy At Home

Here is a fun way to make cotton candy at home anytime you want with a countertop machine. The Pumpkin Spice Floss Sugar recipe and free printable cone are at the bottom of the post.

pink and blue cotton candy

Our family got a little cotton candy machine for Christmas. At first, I thought it was totally frivolous and we would never use it. YES, it is totally frivolous, but we use it a lot.

It is so much fun, and it is easy to use!

You make cotton candy using Floss Sugar or hard candies. Sugar-free candy works, too!

We have used both when we make cotton candy at home.

Cotton Candy with a Machine

I suggest one of these if you are looking for a unique gift idea. This is the model we got.

This countertop unit runs in the $30-$50 range. It sets up quickly, is easy to operate, and cleans up easily.

machine and ingredients for making cotton candy at home

I think it would be perfect as a wedding gift or even for someone going off to college.

2 arms reaching out each holding out cotton candy on a cone

How to Make Cotton Candy at Home

The cotton candy maker requires a little assembly, which takes less than a minute to set up.

  • Plug in the unit and let it warm up for 5-10 minutes. 
  • Turn the unit off and add the candy or sugar to the extractor head.
  • Turn the switch back on to make the cotton. You will start to see the little flossy bits of cotton starting to form very quickly.
  • Hold a cone horizontally across the top of the unit and turn it around and around to build up the cotton.
  • Keep turning until you’ve collected all the cotton candy.
  • Repeat the process with another cone or add to the same cone to make it huge.

pink cotton candy being made with a cotton candy machine

Cotton Candy Supplies

The machine comes with two reusable cones. We like to pull the freshly made sugar cotton off and fill it with more immediately. You can order extra cones or download my free printable below and make your own.

My kids also like to eat the built-up hard sugar around the edge of the machine bowl. It is a delicious mix of all the flavors that were used to create the batch of cotton candy.

We recommend that you clean the tabletop cotton candy machine right away. It will need to cool off just a little bit. If you wait until it has completely cooled off, you will have trouble pulling off the extractor head.

Sugar-Free Cotton Candy

Making sugar-free cotton candy is also easy to make. You only need the machine and sugar-free hard candy, such as Jolly Rancher Sugar-Free Hard Candies. Amazon also carries a sugar-free raspberry cotton candy floss sugar.

two hands holding blue and pink cotton candy

How to Make Cotton Candy

2 arms reaching out each holding out cotton candy on a cone

Making Cotton Candy at home is fun and easy! Perfect for birthday parties or other entertaining.

Ingredients

  • floss sugar
  • hard candy

Instructions

  1. Plug in the unit and let it warm up for 5-10 minutes. It needs to warm up 5 minutes for hard candy or 10 minutes for floss sugar.
  2. When it’s warmed up properly, turn the unit off and add the candy or sugar to the extractor head. It takes two hard candies or a scoop of floss sugar.
  3. Turn the switch back on. You will start to see the little flossy bits of cotton starting to form very quickly.
  4. Hold a cone horizontally across the top of the unit and turn it around and around to build up the cotton.
  5. Keep turning until you’ve collected all the cotton candy.
  6. Repeat the process with another cone, or just keep adding to the same cone to make it huge.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Pumpkin Cotton Candy Sugar + Free Cone Printable

a cone of pumpkin cotton candy with text

It is pumpkin season, and people cannot seem to get enough pumpkin spice. I have created Pumpkin Spice Microwave Fudge, but now I have a truly unique recipe for you. It is Pumpkin Spice Cotton Candy.  I thought it sounded strange when I came up with the idea, but it is so delicious!

a mini cotton candy maker with ingredients to make your own floss sugar

How to Dye Sugar

I started out by dying sugar orange. This is a very easy and fun process. Place granulated sugar in a plastic zip bag and add a few drops of food coloring. I took one cup of sugar and added two drops of red food coloring gel and two drops of yellow food coloring gel. I shook the bag around until the color was even throughout. Then, I placed the sugar into a bowl and let it dry for about an hour.

how-to-dye-sugar

Pumpkin Spice Cotton Candy Mix

I mixed the sugar with one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice when the sugar was completely dry. Stir that completely, and you have your cotton candy pumpkin spice floss sugar.

how-to-make-pumpkin-spice-cotton-candy

Pumpkin Cotton Candy Cones

I created a pair of pumpkin-themed printable cones to serve the Pumpkin Spice Cotton Candy I am sharing with you. One is covered with pumpkins. The other is a green gingham with a little pumpkin circle to glue on the front of the cone. These are perfect for any fall celebration you might be having. You can download the adorable pumpkin-themed cotton candy cones here. When clicked, the file automatically downloads, so please check your downloads.

2 cones of pumpkin cotton candy displayed with a print out of the free cone printable

Suzanne

Saturday 25th of February 2017

We have one of these and it works fantastic. Just can't figure out how to clean it.

Diana Rambles

Saturday 25th of February 2017

The little spinning heating disc comes off and needs to be soaked in warm water. It's really hard to remove, especially the longer you've owned it. We find it best to remove with a hot pad while it's still a little warm, but be careful not to bend it. We just put some hot water into the sink and let the parts soak. We let them dry completely before assembling the unit again.

Comments are closed.
Diana Rambles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Skip to Recipe