One of my favorite foods is popcorn. There is something about the taste that takes me right back to family nights as a child. My mom would pop a big batch of pop corn on the stove, melt some butter of it, salt it and we’d have a treat to eat while we waited for The Muppets to come on. Can you believe this show is back on the air all these years later?
However, we’re all busy these days. Creating a batch of popcorn on the stove is time consuming and I also don’t want to mess up my Pampered Chef pot by cooking popping corn in it. Microwave popcorn is fast and simple but I worry about the chemicals in it and I don’t particularly like the taste of any of the microwave popcorn brands out there. They have that weird chemical taste that tells me it isn’t so good for me.
For years now, I’ve made my own microwave popcorn bags and as I popped up a small batch tonight, I realized I should share this trick with all of you. You may or may not have tried this yet. It is so simple, you will be amazed, and the taste is just like stove top popped popcorn.
As an added bonus, you can use healthier fats, such as the super high quality olive oil I’ve been using that my parents brought me back from their trip to Spain. You can also use real butter for a topping, which is healthier than margarine (it’s real, folks; margarine is not). It’s better for the environment as the paper bags are biodegradable.
- 1/4 Cup Popcorn Kernels
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil or oil of your choice - coconut, canola
- 1 Pinch of Salt
- 1 Brown Paper Lunch Bag
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Open the lunch bag and place kernels in the bottom.
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Add the oil, drizzling over all the kernels.
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Hold the top closed and give the bag a little shake to distribute the oil.
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Sprinkle on salt.
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Fold the top of the bag over several tips. I also like to just give it a tight squeeze.
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Microwave for 3-4 minutes (listen for the kernel popping to slow almost to a stop and you'll know it is ready).
A Few Proven Tips
As I said before, this is a recipe I’ve been using for many years. Over time, you start to pick up ways to get a better bag of popcorn. Here are some of my favorite tips:
- The most expensive popcorn isn’t always the best. I have tried this recipe with Orville Redenbacher popcorn. You’d think that would pop better since it’s expensive. It doesn’t. I’ve also tried it with the white popcorn, etc. I find the best popcorn is Kroger brand (or store brand) yellow popcorn. That’s right. The cheapest bag you can find. It pops just as well, has less kernels when finished, and tastes great.
- Butter is a wonderful topping, but you can also add some cinnamon and sugar for a sweet treat or some Parmesan cheese for a savory dish of goodness. I sometimes purchase the powdered white cheddar and add that, too, but again you are essentially sprinkling on processed crap. Still, sometimes we need the processed junk or our taste buds, right? Okay, maybe not, but I do it sometimes anyway.
- Don’t stop the microwave when the popping slows, but when it almost stops. If you stop it too soon, it will not pop all the way and you’ll wind up with a tiny handful of popcorn. Not the end of the world, though. Just pop another bag if this happens to you.
These paper bag popcorns are the perfect size for one person. If you are serving a family, let everyone pop their own and then transfer to another paper bag for eating as the initial bag will be drenched in oil. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
