14 Ways To Make Plain Popcorn Way More Interesting
Few snacks are as tried and tested as popcorn. This crunchy, chewy staple has been at the heart of the movie-going experience for decades, even though it was, incredibly, originally banned from movie theaters due to a reluctance by owners to cheapen the experience of seeing a film. Over time, though, attitudes changed, and the budget-friendly snack became a hit.
But anyone who's ever had both movie-theater popcorn and plain popcorn knows there's a serious difference between the two. Plain popcorn, while a nutritious, filling snack that's easy to make at home, isn't exactly full of flavor. This can lead to people passing over corn kernels on the shelf, and instead picking up other processed snacks to take home with them.
The next time you're in the popcorn aisle, though, we urge you to take a second look. Not only is plain popcorn fun to make, but with a few simple additions, you can have a dynamite and completely unique snack that can make the perfect accompaniment to your home movie night — you won't have to fork out big bucks for the privilege. Let's take a look at some of the ways you can make plain popcorn way more interesting.
1. Add some herbal flavors
Plain popcorn has an almost completely neutral taste, which makes it the ideal vessel for sweet and salty flavors. One thing you might not think to pair with popcorn, though, is herbs. But trust us when we say that this pairing seriously works. Adding this ingredient to popcorn allows the flavor of the herbs to shine through, in all their grassy, light, complex glory, and the ever-so-gentle nuttiness of the kernels lifts them even further. It's also a great way to use up any leftover fresh herbs you have in your fridge before they wilt.
As popcorn can take on pretty much any flavor you throw at it, most herbs you have will work here. Add rosemary and thyme for a slightly more floral effect, or use cilantro for an earthier, spicier feel. If you're using fresh herbs, make sure to chop them up finely, using a sharp knife so that you don't bruise the leaves. Finally, make sure that you prepare them just before use so that they don't fade in flavor. You can also use dried herbs in popcorn, but bear in mind that you won't get as vibrant an appearance, and as they have a more concentrated flavor you'll probably want to use less of them. It's also useful to add a bit of fat to your popcorn, like olive oil, so that the herbs stick to the kernels.
2. Use Frank's RedHot to make Buffalo popcorn
Buffalo wings have made a big impact on food for something that was only invented in the mid-1960s. These days, it's hard to go to any bar or diner without finding Buffalo wings — or vegetarian alternatives like Buffalo cauliflower — on the menu. But as we all know, it's not about what the sauce is covering — it's about the sauce itself.
The next time you're making a batch of popcorn, shake up some Buffalo sauce at home and slather it over the popcorn. You'll get all of that sticky, sweet, sour, buttery flavor, but not have to deal with any of the chicken bones afterward. While you can buy pre-bottled Buffalo sauce, it's also totally easy to make at home. Just grab a bottle of your favorite hot sauce (we prefer Frank's RedHot, for its light piquancy and hints of garlic), some melted butter, and a little bit of vinegar, and mix it all. Pour it over the popcorn, and mix the whole thing up until each piece is well-coated. Make sure you're serving it with a big pile of paper towels, as this can get a bit messy.
3. Make copycat movie theater popcorn using Flavacol
What makes movie theater popcorn taste so buttery? Surely it must be melted butter, right? Well, not quite. While you might assume that the fat is poured liberally into the popcorn machines, what gives the kernels their dairy flavor is actually a substance called Flavacol. This secret ingredient is a seasoning salt that contains salt flakes and butter flavor, along with a few colorings that give movie theater popcorn that unique yellow hue.
Flavacol is favored in theaters, as the flaky nature of the salt means that it sticks to the popcorn properly, unlike regular ground salt, which tends to just sink to the bottom of whatever vessel you're using. If you want to make sure you constantly have movie-ready popcorn on tap at home, a carton of Flavacol could be just what you need. A word to the wise, though: Flavacol is almost astonishingly high in sodium. According to Livestrong, just one teaspoon contains roughly 2,700 milligrams — which is more than the daily recommended serving of salt for adults. If you're buying this seasoning salt, make sure you're using it very sparingly.
4. Add your favorite breakfast cereal
If you're anything like us, you can end up with a lot of almost-finished cereal boxes, due to getting to the end of the carton and realizing that there's not quite enough for a full bowl. While mixing a few nearly-spent kinds of cereal to make a mega-bowl is one option, we'd encourage you to think a bit more creatively, by making some popcorn balls. Popcorn balls are a great way to make a family-friendly snack that gives every person an individual portion, and the sweetness from the breakfast cereal and the mini marshmallows you're using stops you from needing any additional sugar.
Melt some butter and marshmallows together in a pan, until you have a gooey, thick sauce. Then, add in some already-popped popcorn, and your breakfast cereal of choice (we like Lucky Charms here, due to the one-two punch of marshmallows you get, but you can use any type you desire). Let it cool, and then roll the mixture out into individual balls. You can use an ice cream scoop to help you here if you wish. Once it dries, the marshmallow will hold the ball together, and you'll have a crunchy, sweet snack that's perfect for barbecues, potlucks, and watching a movie.
5. Use a homemade seasoning mix
A seasoning mix is a great way to give your plain popcorn extra flavor without breaking the bank or drowning it in oil. But if you want to save even more pennies, try making your own seasoning mix at home. Many homemade seasoning mixes use herbs, spices, and flavorings that you already have sitting in your pantry. Some of them, like a lemon pepper seasoning mix made from old lemon peels, utilize food scraps that you were only going to throw out anyway, reducing food waste and maximizing your savings. To make a homemade lemon pepper seasoning mix, simply combine cracked black pepper and finely-grated lemon zest, and bake them in a low oven until dehydrated, before grinding it all up in a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder.
Homemade seasoning mixes are also a great way to make popcorn that feels and tastes seasonal. Serving plain popcorn in the fall? Make yourself a pumpkin pie spice mix, and sprinkle it over the kernels. Mix cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg, spray your popcorn with a little butter spray or cooking spray of your choice, and stir the blend through it. Add a little sugar to brighten the spices further.
6. Blonde chocolate will make your popcorn sing
White chocolate and popcorn are a match made in heaven, with the sweet, rich flavors offering a step up from using regular butter. But using blonde chocolate could make your popcorn even better. What makes blonde chocolate different from white chocolate is the caramelization it undergoes during production. Although they start as the same product, blonde chocolate is gently cooked, which develops its flavor and gives it a slightly toasted, caramel taste.
If you can't find blonde chocolate in the store, you can make your own by baking white chocolate or heating it in a pan, until it takes on a light golden sheen. Once done, you can use your blonde chocolate in several ways. Melt it over the popcorn to coat each piece with chocolatey goodness. As it cools, some of the popcorn kernels will stick together, making tasty clusters. Alternatively, you can break it up into small pieces, and stir it through the popcorn, adding other ingredients like nuts and cranberries to make an indulgent snack mix.
7. For a cheesy flavor that's vegan, use nutritional yeast
Advances in vegan cooking have presented game-changers time and time again, but few things have rocked the culinary world as much as nutritional yeast. What was once a niche product has exploded in popularity, with more and more people becoming aware of the foodstuff's ability to give any food a cheesy, umami-rich taste, without any lactose. Nutritional yeast, or "nooch" as it's fondly known, is an alternative form of brewer's yeast. As it's jam-packed with B vitamins, it's also a nutritious addition to plain popcorn, according to Healthline.
Nooch is also commonly sold in fortified form, with additional vitamins and minerals added in, meaning it has the potential to pack some serious goodness into your snack. You can use nutritional yeast like any other dried seasoning: Just sprinkle it onto your popcorn, and toss everything together. It can be useful to add a little moisture to your popcorn via a cooking spray or some oil so that the nooch sticks to it and doesn't just fall to the bottom. Try adding a little garlic salt with it to give the popcorn an additional umami boost.
8. Add a nutty note with sesame
Popcorn and nuts go excellently together, thanks to the ever-so-slighty nutty flavor of popcorn kernels. But adding nuts also creates a problem. Popcorn can already be quite tough to chomp through, and when you add super-hard nuts into the mix, you end up with a clunky, tough snack that's in danger of breaking your teeth.
To avoid this, yet still enjoy some nutty tastes in your popcorn, use sesame seeds. These seeds not only add an outsized amount of flavor for their teeny size, but they're also a nutritious element to incorporate. Sesame seeds are pleasingly high in protein, contain nearly 2 grams per tablespoon, and have an ample amount of calcium and B vitamins, according to Medical New Today.
To make sure your sesame seeds are evenly spread throughout your popcorn, mix them with some honey first, and then drizzle it on the kernels. The taste of honey also pairs well with sesame, with the two creating a pretty complex flavor for just two ingredients. If you want to bring an extra element of richness to the popcorn, a drop or two of toasted sesame oil will boost the raw flavors of the seeds, and give the whole dish an enticing aroma.
9. Use truffles to make some super special popcorn
If you've ever bought a jar of truffles and were left stumped as to what to do with the things, popcorn could be the answer. These small fungi are famous for their complicated aroma, as well as their ability to bring an umami taste to any food. But they can be somewhat overpowering in dishes and tend to combat the other flavors in your meal, sometimes making things feel way too complex.
But on popcorn, truffles have a chance to shine through on their own. The basic flavor base that popcorn provides means that you get to enjoy the nutty, fragrant qualities of truffle with little distraction. The easiest way to do this is by using truffle oil, which has a particularly intense flavor. Shake a few drops onto your popcorn and add a bit of flaky sea salt to bring everything together. You can also shave fresh or dried truffles onto the popcorn directly. Then, sit back, chow down, and enjoy the most luxurious movie night of your life.
10. Try adding leftover candy for a sweet treat
For us, the words "leftover" and "candy" don't often appear in the same sentence. But if you're the type of person who finds themselves with more candy than you know what to do with, using it with your plain popcorn is a great way to brighten it up. Chocolate popcorn can be made quickly and easily by microwaving any old candy you have lying around. Just tip your leftover Valentine's Day, Halloween, or Christmas candy into a heatproof bowl, zap it in the microwave until melted, and then pour it over popcorn, stirring to coat.
This method of making popcorn can be done with pretty much any type of candy you have, too, not just plain chocolates. Got some salted caramel lying around? Melt it down, and make a salty-sweet popcorn snack. Leftover M&M's can also be microwaved, giving you a perfect mix of still-crunchy shell and soft, gooey chocolate. You can even microwave candy canes, to make minty, sugary holiday popcorn. Whatever you're using, though, make sure to be super-careful: Melted sugar can reach a scorchingly hot temperature, explains Cake Play.
11. For a savory twist, toss in some bacon bits
Popcorn is one of those snacks that's as good with savory flavors as it is with sweet ones. For the ultimate umami-filled mouthful, try using bacon bits in plain popcorn. Bacon bits are a quick and simple way to load your popcorn with an abundance of flavor, with its unique combination of smokiness, sweetness, and savoriness that takes neutral-tasting popcorn to the next level. As well as this, the crunch you get from bacon bits also pairs delightfully with the crunchy, yet soft, popcorn.
While you can throw bacon bits in with popcorn and mix it all up to get that bacony goodness in each bite, drizzle a bit of honey over the kernels first. The bacon will stick to them more successfully, and the honey will work with the bacon's sweeter flavors. Remember: Bacon bits aren't just for meat-eaters. While there is actual bacon in bacon bits for certain brands, other good companies use soy protein to make theirs, and imbue it with bacon flavors, making it sometimes vegetarian and potentially vegan-friendly. Just be sure to check the label before you buy — and have a look at the sodium content too: Bacon bits can be pretty salty.
12. Make a nutritious snack with dried fruit
One of the main benefits of plain popcorn is its nutritional quality. But when you start adding lashings of chocolate or mounds of salt and butter, this element can quickly get lost.
That's why we recommend keeping things simple with some dried fruit. Adding a few handfuls of dried mango, apple, pineapple, apricots, or raisins to popcorn gives the sweetness that would normally be supplied by sugar, but with more nutrients. Additionally, the chewy fruit will also provide a textural contrast to the crunch of the popcorn.
While dried fruit is easy to pick up in most stores, if you want to master more skills in the kitchen, you can also make it at home. If you have a dehydrator, you can simply pop your fruit slices in and allow it to do its magic. But the simplest way to dry fruit without a dehydrator is with your oven. Set your oven at a low temperature, and put chopped fruit on some baking paper, on a baking sheet. Then, leave it to slowly dry out for a few hours, before allowing it to cool and adding it to your popcorn.
13. You can't go wrong with spices
Popcorn is an excellent vehicle for salty and sweet flavors. But what about spice? We typically don't add spice to popcorn in the way that we might to other snacks like tortilla chips, but if you haven't done so before, you're missing out. Plain popcorn is a great way to fully enjoy the complexity of certain spices, and adding your favorite chili powder or spice mix adds flavor without boosting the calorie, fat, or sugar content of the snack significantly.
While you can add any spice you like to popcorn, we like to keep things simple — and hot. A few dashes of cayenne pepper can give your popcorn a fieriness that makes it way more interesting. Adding cayenne to buttered popcorn also works to contrast the potential heaviness that the fat can provide, while the dairy butter stops the spice from becoming too fierce. In addition, cayenne pepper can have a satiating effect on the appetite, thanks to the capsaicin that gives the spice its heat, which could potentially make your snack even more satisfying.
14. For a recipe inspired by chips, try salt and vinegar
It's amazing what a few simple flavors can do. Salt and vinegar chips are among the most beloved of all snacks in the United Kingdom, and folks in the United States have since awoken to the dynamite ingredient combination. The balance of salt and acid creates not only an immediate taste punch — with the vinegar mellowing out the salt – but also a mouthfeel that's strangely addictive.
But if you can't find salt and vinegar chips in your store, or simply want to try the flavors with something other than potatoes, popcorn is your next best bet. Sprinkle your popcorn with your favorite vinegar, and then add a few pinches of salt, tossing it all together. While malt vinegar is the acid of choice here, you could also try using balsamic vinegar and flaky sea salt, for a more artisanal, slightly fruity take on the combo. If you're lucky enough to find a salt and vinegar seasoning mix, you can also use that, and doing so will produce a drier result than using liquid vinegar.