Homemade Microwave Popcorn??
Yep ~ it can be done, and you’ll love this easy {$$-savin’} recipe!
What You’ll Need:
- 1/3 cup Popping Corn
- 1 brown Paper Bag {lunch sack size}
- 1 piece of Tape
- Salt {optional}
- Melted Butter {optional… and delicious!}
What You’ll Do:
Pour popping corn into brown paper bag…
{and just so ya know… it took a couple of tries to get this shot,
with one hand pouring, and the other hand taking the picture!
Let’s just say… there was popcorn everywhere!} 
Fold end of bag over, and tape shut.
- Place in microwave, and lay bag flat. Stop once there is approximately 5 seconds between pops. {you’ll just have to experiment with this part, and see what works best with your microwave}.
- Transfer to a bowl and eat as is or sprinkle with salt. Now, if you’re really living it up, go ahead and top this with some drizzled butter… mmm…
- Enjoy!!
See Also:
Simply Salsa Recipe {E-Z Homemade Salsa!}
Oh-So-Cute Ice Cream Cupcake Cones Recipe
Fluff Berry Cake Recipe!
What a great idea! Any idea how to get the Kettle Corn flavor?? That's my favorite!
put some sugar in it
I make kettle corn all the time!! Put 3 kernels in a pot on the stove. Just cover the kernels with canola oil. Once they have popped the oil is hot enough. Pour 1/3 cup sugar in and 1/2 cup kernels in. Slide pot back and forth until the popping has slowed down. Dump into a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Mix to coat evenly and then just wait a couple of minutes for it to cool and harden. Enjoy!!!!!!!!
Don’t forget to put a lid on it.
Insert text to read as follows:
“1/2 cup kernels in. Cover the pot. Hold the cover in place with one hand while sliding the pot back and forth…”
That’s how we made popcorn in the olden days before microwaves.
“Like” LOL I remember my grandma making it that way
Yes I love your idea.This is how we popped pop corn all the time when i was growing up.I now have a glass range top and tried it but it scratched it from moving it back & forth.I wish i had a gas stove. That pop corn is the best.
Nancy
Nancy,
I too have a glass range, and it does not get scratched when I make this. Maybe if you try a different pot, you could be successful. It is a shame if you are not able to make this. Best of luck!!
I use a whirley pop to make my popcorn. I have a glass top stove as well. It gives the fresh made flavor and you don’t slide it back and forth on the stove top! Love my Whirley Pop!
What is a Whiskey Pop?
A whirley pop is a pan with a lid that has a crank attached through it, so you can turn the crank and it stirs the popcorn inside as it pops. They’re nothing new, though this brand name may be. My grandparents had one from years ago.
I am going to have to try this!! Thanks.
Genius! This is one of those things that makes you slap yourself in the head and say "Why didn't I think of that?" =)
Tammy
The kettle corn flavor comes from combining salt and sugar. You could certainly try topping with both and see if that solves your kettle corn cravings!
~ Heidi
Would you add the sugar to the bag before popping? So it could melt?
I would put the sugar in the butter and melt the butter, the sugar would then dissolve also, and then pour it over the popped popcorn.
I just posted the kettle corn recipe in the above post. I make it all the time!!!
I do this all the time and love it. You don't have to use the tape either.
that is a great idea!!! thanks for sharing!!
I eat popcorn practically every night. This is a great INEXPENSIVE way to enjoy my favorite snack. Thanks for the great recipe!!!!!
lorrainejohnsis(at)yahoo(dot)com
I do this also! so far i havent had to use tape- just fold down top
I saw this a while back some where on the internet and have been doing making popcorn this way ever since! I don't buy the microwavable stuff anymore. This taste SO much better and it's much more cheaper
What a wonderful post! I cannot wait to try this at home–my kids LOVE popcorn, and I hate to buy the expensive not healthy microwave popcorn! Thanks so much!
What a GREAT idea! Less expensive AND so much more healthier. Thanks FG! =)
Way back in the stone age when microwaves were brand new this is how we made our popcorn! I forget why we stopped, I never taped the bag shut – maybe that is why! Popcorn all over the place.
I love this idea -so much cheaper for sure!
vickie
I've never seen it done like this. What a great savings. Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
We have been making this exact recipe for a couple of years now, obviously loving it!
It's so much healthier, and now I can hardly eat theater popcorn…too salty and way too much butter. When we do splurge and go to a movie I just make this and put it in my purse.
I'm eating my popcorn as I speak and saying, "I love you! Thank you for this tip!"
Aww ~ you're welcome! I just had a bowl of popcorn myself!
~ Heidi
I use the stovetop method, but this would be so nice… eliminating the need to do dishes!
I discovered this method of making popcorn a few months ago, so now this is one of the options for a snack for my 8 yr olds to take to school. There is a microwave in their cafeteria, so they are able to pop some popcorn and snack away, and it is a cheap option for me.
Awesome. I provide healthier snacks for a wrestling team at least 2x a week – they love popcorn! This will really make a difference in my grocery bill. Thank you!!
We did this at work and really enjoyed it. One lady said she tried it at home with a twist tie instead of tape and set the bag on fire from the metal inside the twist tie!
I learned this from my Great Grandma who is now 88! She lived through the Depression and is super frugal!
Wow, can’t wait to try this later with the kids. They will love being part of the process.
Silly question- how much popping corn do you put in?
1/3 Cup of popping corn
do you need to add oil to the popcorn or is it dry when you put it in the bag?
It is put in with no oil, it is air popped and healthy for you, depending how much butter or if you add butter at all…
I have done this before but I have stapled the bag shut and it didn’t cause a problem with the staple being made of metal.
love this idea! thank you!
Great idea, can’t believe I never thought of it. Speaking of things starting on fire in the microwave, A bread bag will start on fire. My child defrosted a whole loaf of bread in there, I didnt know it, I said, “What is on fire!”
No, to do kettle corn you add the sugar and salt to the bag before popping it. Part of what makes Kettle corn so good is the sugar carmalizes on the corn so it must be cooked on it.
What if you used Splenda or Sweet n low? My Mom recently moved back in with me and popcorn is her favorite snack. She needs to start her diet and loves the sweets, but I don’t want to add the calories. Kettle corn would be the perfect sweet and salty snack if I could figure out a low cal way to do it.
My grocery bill has skyrocketed since she came, so this will help.
Thank you so much for sharing, this is such an awesome idea! I hate my popcorn popper because it sets off my smoke alarm! I will have to do this when I make caramel popcorn…Also, my kids will eat the popcorn without butter which is better for them anyway! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!
Seriously? Why has this not popped into my head?
And to think of all that $$ wasted on microwave popcorn that smells like feet while it’s cooking. Never again!
Thanks so much for sharing this.
I’ve always said you should be able to take regular kernels and pop them in a microwave. I wonder why I didn’t try this on my own, and figure it all out years ago… Well, I’m gonna try it now! At least I know it WILL WORK!
I have done this when I was dieting and it’s great……
Add flavors like a tablespoon of sugar for kettle corn or cayenne pepper, garlic salt, rosemary…whatever you want!
Thanks for sharing I would have never thought of this. This would be perfect for Movie Nite in the Park, giving each family memeber their own bag. We have a Whirly-pop which I love how easy & traditional that is, but every so often I give in to the Homestyle Microwave popcorn when I don’t feel like cleaning up the mess, so this is a great option to paying $5 for ONLY 3 bags, that last maybe a week. : )
Great idea. I had a microwave popper years ago but kept having to buy the little inserts for the bottom. I LURVE popcorn!
Finally made it. The first time, it didn’t pop all of the kernels. Saved it and popped it a 2nd time. THANKS!
I was soooooooooooooo amazed this worked!!! I added cinnamon and sugar…great late night snack!!!
When you say you added cinnamon and sugar, did you add it before or after popping?? I have some cinnamon sugar in my pantry and that sounds SO GOOD!!
Thank you TONS for this tip! My family loves popcorn, but we rarely have it, well because I refuse to buy it! Wow was it good!!
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Such a simple thing, but I am glad you shared!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe. Cannot stop eating popcorn now! I mist mine with Pam spray and have gone crazy with the seasoning options! Thank you Frugal Girls!
This is super–apparently I am not the only hard-core popcorn freak out there!! I like the ideas to flavor it also–we put garlic powder normally, but I am thinking about maybe trying Splenda-type substitute with cinnamon on it…mmmm…we’ll see…
If you don’t have a popcorn feature on your microwave how long would you set the time for and would it be on high?
You don’t even need to waste a paper bag. I pop about 1/3 a cup, dry, in my Pyrex lidded 2qt casserole dish. It takes about 3:45 in my microwave, but YMMV. Awesome, cheap, healthy AND ecofriendly.
I use a dish also. Be sure it is pyrex or other trusted brand. I tried it with a random glass dish and it cracked. Not good! But I have never had any issues with my pyrex dish. I love it because it is ecofriendly.
OK-This sounds terrific and I am definitely going to try it. But here’s a question for you (and probably a dumb one, at that). Does anyone think you could do kettle corn with artificial sweetener? Has anyone tried?
I don’t use the tape, and I use Mazola silicone free butter flavor spray to make the popcorn a little sticky and hold the flavored salts I like to use, like Pop Seasons (they have a ton of flavors, my current fav, chili lime). It’s almost a ridiculously low calorie snack and high in fiber.
Pop Seasons has a kettle flavor too! No fuss no muss
I used to make popcorn this way for years, but when we moved we got a small microwave and no matter how I’ve tried it, I can not get it to work in my small microwave
It always burns or doesn’t pop at all. Just be careful if you have a small microwave.
I tried this last month. was a success and is such a savings. I plan on using it in our RV trips…saves one less packing thing. thanks for the tip!
I had no idea you could pop this is the microwave. I always use this popcorn but use oil and a pot. i have been wanted to buy an air popper so i could eliminate the oil but now i don’t have to thanks!
Love, love, love doing this! One of our favorite flavors is a little bit of parmesan cheese. Mmmm – so good!
they also used to make a really cool plastic bowl with a vented, screw on lid.. it’s for making popcorn in the microwave. you put the oil and the popcorn in it and cook just like any other microwave popcorn. then you take the lid off and eat it out of the bowl.. mine cracked one day and i threw it out. i really should get another one and quit buying already prepared microwave popcorn.:) i as sure you could do the butter and sugar and salt thing and make a kettle corn in it as well. it was great! that’s it… going to the dreaded wally world to see if they have them still!
Hi! I was reading about making homemade popcorn to see if it was a healthier choice and it definitely is, but I read on the USDA’s site that it is NOT safe to cook in brown paper bags. So I recommend stove-top cooking or using some other microwave-safe material to heat the kernels.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/microwave_ovens_and_food_safety/index.asp#11
Okay, I’d try white paper bags then, since white paper plates and napkins are okay, per the site. (“Most paper plates, towels, napkins and bags. For optimal safety use white, unprinted materials.”)
The only problem with the white bags is that they have been bleached- most likely using chemicals. Another option- use a pyrex dish and a loose lid- it works great.