The Secret to Theatre Popcorn at Home

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Back in March of 2020, when the world essentially shut down, I made it a goal to figure out The Secret to Theatre Popcorn at Home. I am sitting here telling you that I can confidently say that I have figured it out!

I consider myself to be a popcorn connoisseur. Our house loves popcorn – but I love theatre popcorn best. It’s just salty enough. It’s greasy but not wet. It just has this perfection about it that regular popcorn or microwave popcorn just can’t compete with. Anyone else agree?

So I took to Pinterest, like another person on a mission to learn something new. Much to my surprise there wasn’t a lot of articles available. As I read through the few blogs I could find, I did see a consistent ingredient and figured I must give it a try. But as I went on in my testing phases. I realized there was much more to The Secret to Theatre Popcorn at Home then just one ingredient.

There are FIVE things that make up The Secret to Theatre Popcorn at Home:

1. Whirley Pop Stove Top Popcorn Maker – This item is imperative. I started this journey using a regular stove top pot with a lit. But you need the Whirley mechanism to make sure the oil is evenly distributed over the kernels. As well as, insuring the popped kernels don’t stay at the bottom and burn.
2. Coconut Oil – Now you might be wondering why this coconut oil is yellow/orange and the only reason is that it has beta carotene in it to give you the “theatre popcorn” color. Coconut oil is a great oil to use for popping popcorn but the yellow kind isn’t completely necessary. I usually purchase my popping oil from a local health food store called Nutters, so if you’re from the area, I would recommend you try to support them.
3. Popcorn Kernels – I have read that the kernel brand doesn’t make much of a difference, when it comes to making Theatre Popcorn at Home. We use Orville Redenbacher, we just grab this big jug from Costco because we go through so much of it.
4. Butter (NOT margarine) – So it’s true, you could eat popcorn without the butter. BUT it wouldn’t be theatre popcorn with out layered double butter. I am drooling just thinking about this. But there is a science to getting the butter just right. If you’ve made popcorn at home and and it tastes/feels soggy, then you are only melting your butter. We want to get our butter to clarified or brown butter for the best taste. The reason is that microwaving melts the butter but cooking it down causes the water to evaporate. Which will leave you with the perfect butter consistency and no soggy popcorn.
5. Flavacol Butter Salt – This is by far the main ingredient that will make or break your Theatre Popcorn at Home. It seems expensive but the container will last you FOREVER, so DO NOT cheap out on this step.
6. BONUS – Add your favourite candy to the popcorn to make it even tastier! Our go to is peanut M&M’s. What is your go to candy to add to your popcorn?

If you are a visual learner like me, I have attached my video below, from IGTV so you can follow along.

Theatre Popcorn at Home

The Secret to Theatre Popcorn at Home

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

Popcorn

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp butter salt Flavacol
• 1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels

Butter

• 1/2 cup butter

Instructions

 

Popcorn

• Place your stove top popper on your element and warm it to medium high heat.
• Add oil and butter salt to the pot.
• Wait till you see steam coming off the oil.
• Add the kernels into the pot and start turning the crank.
• When the first kernel pops close the lid and keep turning until the last kernel has popped.
• Remove from heat and dump popcorn into large bowl.

Butter

• Add butter to a small sauce pan.
• Heat the pan to a medium high heat.
• Do not leave the butter unattended.
• You will want to stir the butter until ALL the white bubbles/foam have disappeared.
• Once foam is gone you can either pour on the popcorn right away or cook the butter a little more until it is slightly browned.
• Enjoy.

Keyword popcorn

I hope you all enjoy this lesson on mastering theatre popcorn at home. If you would like to see more blogs like this let me know in the comments below. Make sure to pin this so you don’t forget where to find it.

If you try this recipe out yourself, I’d love to hear about it. Tag me on all socials @burknco

Enjoy.