Healthy, Tasty, Inexpensive … What’s Not to Love?!!
- Prep Time: 2 Minutes
- Cook Time: 6 Minutes
- Total Time: 8 Minutes
- Serving: 6 (unless it’s Michele and me and then it’s just 2) 😉
Cost Per Person: ¢
- ¢ pennies
- $: less than $4
- $$: less than $7
- $$$: less than $10
- $$$$: over $10
How to Make the Perfect Snack
Today I’m going to show you how to make popcorn. Now if you’re thinking “‘What’? Anyone can make popcorn” you’re right, but I’m going to show you how to make the world’s best popcorn and that’s an entirely different matter.
WARNING: This popcorn is SO deliciously good, you’ll get hooked … but because it’s such a healthy snack that’s NOT a bad thing.
And what makes it the world’s best popcorn you ask?
Well, the popped-corn has to be big and fluffy, and definitely not greasy, and it has to be spiced just right.
Why I Love This Recipe
It’s the perfect snack; it’s light, fluffy, salty, and peppery, it has a “sensual” nutty taste and it’s quick to make and inexpensive to boot!
But there’s more …
Health Benefits
- It’s the one snack that is 100% unprocessed whole grain – and any food that’s unprocessed is automatically good in my books.
- It’s loaded with polyphenols (compounds found in plants that act as antioxidants and reduce inflammation).
- It’s a great source of iron.
- It’s a wonderful source of insoluble fibre that keeps your digestive tract in check.
- Most people don’t get anywhere near the daily recommended amount of fibre and the benefits of fibre are huge! For example, high-fibre foods take more time to digest than non-fibrous foods, so they keep you feeling full for longer because it slows the rate of digestion resulting in a more gradual and lower rise in blood sugar. (which, by the way, is exactly what Wegovy and Ozempic claim to do). In addition to reducing insulin spikes, fibre has a dramatic impact on our microbiome … but that’s for another day.
- The flavour combinations that you can add to popcorn are endless: butter, salt, pepper, cinnamon, hot sauce (spice), soy sauce, wasabi, curry, Parmesan cheese, olive oil … and, of course, you can buy an endless array of pre-made popcorn spices to suit any taste.
- My all-time favourite addition is to take the container of cheese from the Mac & Cheese box and sprinkle about half over the popped corn … along with salt and pepper. It’s to die for!!!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hey, when you can find a snack that’s easy to make, inexpensive, healthy, and delicious … what’s not to love?
What You’ll Need
- 8 quart Stock Pot – preferably with a clear lid
- Large bowl for popped popcorn
- Paper towel to wipe the super-hot pot
- Empty bowl to dump the burnt popcorn husks (you’ll see why you’ll need this and the paper towel if you watch the video below)
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Popcorn
- 3 tbsp. Peanut or Corn Oil
- 1/8 Cup Butter (2-3 tbsp)
- Salt, Pepper
Directions
Get all your ingredients ready to go, because once you start you can’t stop!
Pour the oil into your pot and turn the heat to high. Move the pot around so the entire bottom is coated in oil. Keep moving the oil around gently until you can see a fair amount of smoke which means the oil is good and hot.
Pour the popcorn in, put the lid on your pot and swish it around so all the popcorn has a coating of oil. Every 20-30 seconds swish it around so that all the popcorn heats evenly and each kernel stays coated in oil to prevent burning or sticking to the pot.
Once the popcorn starts to pop, shake the pot every 15 – 20 seconds to force the un-popped kernels to the bottom of the pot so they’re next to the high heat. As the popped popcorn rises to the top of the pot, remove the lid (it will be holding a lot of water) and dump the water so it doesn’t get into your popped popcorn and make it soggy.
As the popcorn reaches the top keep shaking periodically to force the un-popped popcorn to find its way to the bottom of the pot.
Note: the sound of un-popped kernels at the bottom of the pot makes a distinct sound (like maracas or dry rice shaken in a can). When it’s almost all popped, you won’t hear that sound, which means it’s time to empty all the popped popcorn into your bowl.
Once it’s all popped, quickly wipe the pot with a paper towel to remove the little bits of burnt husk and then drop your butter into the super-hot pot to begin the process of brown butter.
Brown Butter
Melted butter tastes like melted butter, and if that’s your thing … go for it, but you’re missing out on the real flavour that you can only get from brown butter – which is a wonderfully rich, nutty taste.
To brown butter, make sure you put it in a very hot pot (preferably the one you just used for your popcorn) and tilt the pot around until the butter is completely melted. If it’s a little stubborn, put the pot back on the stove and continue to melt. Once melted, it will need a little more heat to brown, but you must keep a very close eye on it. The butter will boil up into a lovely bright-yellow froth, so continually tilt the pot around so you can see the colour progress from a bright yellow to a tan brown. (See the video below if this sounds a little confusing)
Note: You do NOT want the butter to get too dark because you will lose that nutty flavour, and it will just taste like burnt butter. So, as soon as it’s a tan colour, take it off the heat and spoon it over your salted, peppered popcorn.
Cook's Notes/Tips
- There’s no need to buy the more expensive “name” brand popcorn because we’ve tried it “all,” and in doing blind taste tests, we couldn’t tell the difference. Whatever you buy, just be sure it’s fresh.
- For your oil, it must tolerate high heat. This would include peanut oil, corn oil, and grapeseed oil, but do NOT use vegetable oil because it can’t stand the high heat, and it will make your popcorn taste fishy and your kitchen smell awful.
- Use a large pot and preferably one with a clear lid so you can see the popped popcorn rise to the top which is most helpful. Also, you’ll notice a lot of steam building up on the lid, so when the popcorn is near the top, remove the lid and tilt the lid into a bowl – and a LOT of water will run off. If you don’t do this, it will drop onto your popcorn and make it soggy.
