Perfect Stovetop Popcorn

Popcorn is really easy to make at home and if, like me, you love going to the movies and stuffing handfuls of it into your gob, this is for you. No more staring through a foggy glass door at a brown paper bag, spinning on a space-age carousel. Wave goodbye to the familiar feeling of catching a whiff of burnt popcorn oozing out of the crack of the microwave. There’s only one route to consistently light, nutty, toasty, crunchy popcorn, and that’s via your stovetop.

We’ll cover what corn you can pop, the different fats you can use, what pot to pop in and most important of all, some different flavours you can use to adorn your corn. I’ve included a few of my favourites, including a mind-bending vegan chilli cheese popcorn. Yum.

At the end of the day you are in complete control. Unless you have an intimate relationship with your microwave, it can be hard to gauge how long and at what power setting to pop your corn. You’ll often end up with a bag of half popped corn or a bowl of burnt corn.

Not to mention, making your own popcorn is much cheaper. A 500g bag of popping corn kernels cost me 99p at the corner shop. You can make at least 5 decent bowls of popcorn out of this one bag. A single bag of microwave salted popcorn for the microwave will set you back £0.99-1.50, and a bag of ready popped corn is upwards of £1.50. Don’t even get me started on cinema popcorn…

This may seem obvious, but you can't pop sweetcorn. You’re going to want to buy specific popping corn kernels. You can buy it pretty much everywhere. There is only one variety of maize that will pop when heated (its fancy name is Zea Mays Everta). Long story short, don’t go drying out your corn on the cob and throwing it in a hot pan.

Any large pan with a tight-fitting lid will work. While not at all necessary, a heavy cast iron pan works best as they hold and distribute heat efficiently. This means every single one of your little kernels are getting heated evenly, and will pop at a similar time. This not only speeds up the process, but you’ll be more likely to pop every single kernel. No crunchy un-popped bullets left in the bottom of the bowl here. 100% pop rate. Well, almost…

Fat = Flavour. Any neutral oil (vegetable/sunflower), will work just fine, however, if you want to add an extra punch of flavour, try out some different fats. Butter, chilli oil and coconut oil all work brilliantly. You’ll see how I use different fats in my popcorn recipes to suit my seasoning.

NOTE – If you use butter, add a splash of oil. This will increase the smoke point and avoid ending up with a pan of burnt butter!

Popcorn is a perfect vehicle for flavour. It has a neutral, mellow nuttiness that can take on pretty much anything. Spicy, salty, sweet, sticky or crunchy. You can keep it simple with salt or get serious and make your own peanut caramel popcorn.

When thinking about the recipes for this guide, I thought about some of my favourite flavours and managed to get them all into/onto the popcorn. For example, the salt and pepper popcorn recipe is a direct descendant of the salt and pepper chips from my local Chinese takeaway. Try and create your own seasonings - think about your favourite crisp flavours, your favourite desserts, snacks, anything goes.

Now, let’s make some popcorn.

Ingredients:

• 90g Popcorn Kernels
• 2 Tbsp Oil/Fat of choice
• 1 Tsp Salt

Method:

1. Add the oil to a large pot with a tight-fitting lid and place over a medium heat.
2. Just as the oil starts to shimmer, add your popcorn and stir to coat each kernel with hot oil.
3. Drop the heat to medium-low and place the lid onto your pot.
4. You’ll start to hear the popcorn popping after roughly 30 seconds. Give the pan a shake now and then to keep things cooking evenly.
5. After a couple of minutes the popping will start to slow down. Once you can count 7-10 seconds between pops, turn off the heat. Leave covered for a minute for any stragglers to pop.
6. Empty into a bowl, season with salt and serve warm.

Ingredients:

• 90g Popcorn Kernels
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
• 1.5 Tsp Aleppo Pepper
• ½ Tsp Granulated Onion
• ½ Tsp Granulated Garlic
• ½ Tsp Salt

Method:

1. Combine the nutritional yeast, spices and salt in a bowl and mix to combine. Use your fingers to break up any large pieces of nutritional yeast.
2. Make your popcorn and season generously with the spice mix. Serve warm.

Ingredients:

• 90g Popcorn Kernels
• 2 Tbsp Neutral Oil
• 2 Tsp Sichuan Peppercorns, toasted and crushed
• 1 Tsp Black Peppercorns, toasted and crushed
• 1.5 Tsp Caster Sugar
• 1.5 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Five Spice
• ½ Tsp Chilli Flakes

Method:

1. Combine the spices, salt and salt in a bowl and mix to combine.
2. Make your popcorn and season generously with the spice mix. Serve warm

Ingredients:

• 90g Popcorn Kernels
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 80ml Water
• 210g Sugar
• 1 Tsp Sea Salt
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• Handful of salted peanuts, chopped

Method:

1. Set up a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Make your popcorn and spread out on the lined baking tray.
2. Add the water and sugar to pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop the heat to medium and cook until the sugar starts to caramelise. When you have a caramel, add the butter and carefully whisk to combine. Add your salt and chopped nuts to the caramel and mix in.
3. Working quickly and carefully, pour the nutty caramel over the popcorn and stir thoroughly, coating each piece with caramel.
4. Leave to set for 20 minutes, break into bite-sized pieces and serve.

NOTE – I like to throw a handful of M&Ms into the bowl too. 

Ingredients:

• 90g Popcorn Kernels
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 300g White Chocolate
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, melt your white chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over simmering water. Add the spices and salt. Stir to combine.
2. Make your popcorn using the coconut oil and add to the chocolate bowl. Mix the popcorn through the chocolate and place into the fridge for 45 minutes to set.
3. Break into bite-sized pieces and serve.