This weekend I had a movie night at home and decided some homemade popcorn was in order. Most people don’t know this, but you don’t need a special popcorn popper to make your own popcorn at home. I try to avoid microwave popcorn because there are sketchy chemicals in most microwave popcorn bags. Plus, the fresh popped stuff just tastes so much better!
Cheers to you if you have a popcorn popper at home, but it’s also super easy to make popcorn on your stovetop! Just pick up a bag of popcorn kernels at your local grocery store. They are usually right next to the microwave popcorn. At health food stores, you can find them in the bulk foods section.
Stovetop Popcorn
Directions: Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan on medium high heat, place one kernel of corn in the pan, and cover with a lid. Once the kernel pops, you are ready to add the rest of the popcorn. Pour enough popcorn in the pan to cover the bottom in one layer (see picture above), and put the lid back on. The popcorn will begin popping shortly. Shake the pan around to make sure all the kernels get popped. Remove from heat when the popping slows to about 1-2 seconds between pops.
When the popcorn is done, I like to put it in a big bowl with a drizzle of olive oil on top and a sprinkle of sea salt. If you’ve never tried olive oil on popcorn, just give it a shot. It’s really yummy (and really not much different than butter). I bet dark sesame oil would also taste really good.
I was thinking I may try honey to make sweet popcorn in the future. A little honey drizzle on fresh popped corn might be delicious! Oooh…or maybe some homemade chocolate syrup….
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YUM — oh so much more delicious than the microwaved sort.
I make mine like you do, only I put everything in the pot at once (corn, olive oil, salt, pepper, a little bit of cumin, sometimes a spoon or two of turbinado), turn the heat up to medium-high, and start shaking like a crazywoman once I hear the first pop. I also dump it all into a giant bowl as soon as it’s done so it doesn’t burn, and sometimes shake some nutritional yeast on top.
Wow, I guess I need to make some popcorn.
Rose, that sounds like a great idea! I’m going to try seasoning it in the pot next time too. I bet the cumin is sooo yummy. I keep hearing that nutritional yeast it the best on popcorn, so I guess I need to try that too.
You’re gonna love it. I’ll make it for you. :0)
Very awesome!
Olive oil and honey are great with popcorn and so flavoursome you don’t need any salt. You need a late-harvest extra virgin, which has a lighter,more buttery flavour. When you have popped the corn with a little oil, you whisk together some fresh oil and some honey (you can heat them slightly so they are more runny). Just trickle this over the corn and mix well – heaven!