When we were introduced to the idea of making your own popcorn that didn’t come from a microwave, I finally fell in love with this kind of snack. I’m not a fan of movie-theater popcorn or microwave popcorn, but I love the homemade version as long as it has tons of popcorn salt! So, why don’t we all learn together how can we prepare at home this magic ingredient and rock our home movie nights? Spice up your time with your family and friends by learning to make this on your own. Enjoy your popcorn like never before. Make sure to follow this recipe to achieve a notable result. This is a fun treat to eat. Ready your movies together with this!
Why We Need Popcorn Salt?
First of all, there are a few different ways to make your own popcorn:
- Whirly Pop, in a big metal bowl covered in aluminum foil like Alton Brown shares (hacked jiffy pop);
- The microwave version in a paper bag that doesn’t have all the processed flavor that commercial microwave popcorn has;
- Or, in a simple saucepan with a lid.
However, something necessary to every version is salt. Popcorn needs to be salty in order to achieve that unique taste. Also, using just kosher or sea salt (never table salt) doesn’t work well enough, because you can’t get those larger crystals into all the nooks and crannies. So, you need to whip out some machinery!
My secret is a small grinder to make my salt and seeds that don’t require power. I like this more than a mortar and pestle for doing seeds quickly.
So, you have a ton of salt in your food storage, right? No? You certainly should! Salt is necessary for our needs as well as being useful for cleaning and preservation. However, now, you can use it to create a whole other food product without investing in the expensive stuff at the store you won’t use that often.
How to Make Homemade Popcorn Salt?
If you intend to make popcorn seasoning salt, there are a few things you’ll need to consider.
First, popcorn seasoning is essential to the flavor of this delicious snack. Using ordinary table salt isn’t good popcorn seasoning because it simply doesn’t stick to the popcorn kernels, and it’ll just fall at the bottom of the bowl.
Therefore, you’ll need salt that is fine enough to stick to the kernels and add to the overall taste of this snack. Making your own topping allows you to add the flavor that you like. Add your chosen salt to a food processor and add sugar to intensify the flavor. Use the pulse setting on your processor to turn the salt into smaller grains that are more suitable to sprinkle over your popcorn.
Final Steps when Making Your Own Popcorn Salt
Next, carefully open the salt lid so that the grains don’t dispense into your face. Add the salt into a jar with holes or a clean salt container so that it’s easy to sprinkle onto your popcorn. If you find that the salt heavily clumps together, shake the jar and this will loosen up the grains. Another way to prevent this clumping is by using salts that have anti-caking ingredients.
Below are the steps in a more concise list:
- Firstly, whir a few tablespoons of kosher salt into your grinder or food processor.
- Then, put it on your popcorn and shake it up!
- Hit Play!
- Nom, Nom, Nom!
Homemade Movie – Theater Butter for Popcorn Recipe
You can enhance this recipe further by creating movie theatre butter too. Movie theatre butter has an incredibly moreish taste. The secret to this recipe is coating the popcorn kernels in butter that doesn’t contain milk solids or water. Therefore, the less water content you have, the more of a true representation of movie theatre popcorn it’ll be.
Here’s how you achieve the best results:
- First, heat coconut oil over medium-high heat on the stove.
- Add popcorn kernels and cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer of oil. Then, swirl the pot to coat the kernels in oil.
- Lower the heat and shake the pan to help the kernels pop.
- After around three minutes, remove from the heat and continue to shake the pan until the popping stops.
In addition, if you have any leftovers, you can store your homemade movie theater popcorn in an airtight container. Add in a little chili powder or some other herbs to create a spicy blend for your popcorn if you’d like. It’s super simple to make, easy to store, and perfect for popcorn!
What Is the Best Popcorn Salt?
Finding the right popcorn salt recipe can be challenging because you can’t pick any old salt and expect to have a delicious salt sprinkle. Instead, fine salt makes the best popcorn salt because you want the texture thin so it’s easy to eat. This also means that you can enjoy the salt with the popcorn as it doesn’t fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Grey Sea Salt for Popcorn
First, grey sea salt is a great topping as the color comes from the clay lining the beds to add some vibrancy to your food. Grey salt also contains 80 minerals and elements that are beneficial to your body. Who’d have thought that salt could actually be good for you and still have a unique taste?
Real Salt for Popcorn
Another option to use is real salt. This contains more than 60 minerals that contribute to a delicious taste and even add the essence of spice. These minerals are sometimes removed from other salts to keep the ingredient looking pearly white. However, taste and flavor are much more important than appearance.
How to Make Flavored Popcorn at Home?
Flavored popcorn is great to switch up the taste and add some excitement to a snack that could quickly become boring. So, here are three different flavors you can easily achieve in order to spice your popcorn just enough!
Peanut Butter Popcorn Flavor
You can create flavored popcorn kernels by adding peanut butter. Add peanut butter to a microwavable bowl and heat it for around 30 seconds. Add flavor to your kernels by drizzling the melted ingredient across the popcorn.
Garlic Flavored for Popcorn
Garlic isn’t what you’d usually expect to add to popcorn, but this ingredient adds heart to your snack. These are the steps to achieve this flavor in your popcorn:
- Melt some butter, dice it up into fine chunks, and add it to a small bowl.
- Once the butter is smooth and creamy, add some garlic paste to the mixture. Avoid using garlic cloves as this ingredient becomes difficult to sprinkle onto the popcorn kernels.
- Finally, stir the garlic paste well into the mixture until the whole mixture becomes a creamy paste.
With this recipe, you can avoid salt and create a salt-free popcorn seasoning to create delicious flavored popcorn.
Sugar Popcorn at Home
Sugar is another ideal topping for popcorn. Place all ingredients into a large saucepan and stir until the mixture has melted and everything is combined together. Alternatively, use powdered sugar as this has thinner granules compared to regular sugar, so it’s easier to dissolve and mix with the other ingredients.
What Are Your Favorite Popcorn Flavors?
All in all, popcorn is a delicious snack at the movie theater, but also in-between meals at home. You can create your own flavors from personalized recipes at home, or purchase ready-bought packets. However, we suggest creating your own as it gives you the chance to explore new flavors and use organic ingredients. Not to mention the specific satisfaction the action itself creates. Believe it or not, the feeling of preparing your own snack (even the condiments) is amazing!
Finally, it’s your turn to share all your thought about this topic with us. So, tell us what are your favorite popcorn flavors and how you prepare them from scratch in the comments section below. Also, you can ask all your further questions there too.