Stove Popped Popcorn

Making popcorn on the stove top can be tricky. I used to have a hard time getting all of the kernels to pop before the popped ones burned, but with this method, almost all of the kernels pop. And it doesn’t burn, because of you turn off the heat before the popcorn is actually done and allow it to finish up with the burner off.

Coconut oil is another important part of this recipe. Not only does is make for a great-tasting bowl of popcorn, coconut oil has a high smoke point, so it’s ideal for popping corn and much better for you than vegetable oils.

Before we get popping, I want to tell you something about the pan you use for popcorn, because it can make a big difference. Just last week, I was going to make some popcorn, but the nice, heavy-bottomed pan I usually use was dirty, so I grabbed a different one – a really light-weight pan with a thin bottom, and that popcorn turned out just terrible! Make sure you use a good quality pan with a nice heavy bottom for popcorn because it will distribute the heat evenly and make for much better popcorn.

This recipe makes 6 quarts of popcorn, perfect for our family of seven. If you halve the recipe, cut the oil back to 3 tablespoons, not 2. You might also try omitting the butter and salt altogether and turn this batch of popcorn into caramel popcorn.

Ingredients:

1 cup popcorn

4 tablespoons coconut oil (We use expeller pressed coconut oil because it’s bland. Virgin coconut oil will give the popcorn a slightly coconutty taste.)

fine ground Celtic sea salt

melted butter or ghee to taste

 

Directions:

Heat the coconut oil on medium high heat in a heavy 6 quart pan on the stove top. Once it’s hot, add add 3 or 4 kernels of popcorn to the pan as test kernels and cover the pan.

Melting Coconut Oil for Popcorn

When those test kernels start to pop, pour in the rest of the popcorn, cover the pan, and turn off the heat for 30 seconds or so while the popcorn kernels heat up. This gets the kernels ready to pop gently, so they’ll start to pop all at once when you turn the heat back on.

Heating the Popcorn

Now turn the stove back on to medium high. The popcorn should start popping soon.

When you hear the pop-p-p-pop sound change to more of a pop… pop… turn off the heat but keep the pan covered until it stops popping. Then transfer the popcorn to a bowl.

You can melt your butter or ghee in the hot popcorn pan. Drizzle it over the popcorn and sprinkle with salt.

Butter & Popcorn

How do you make popcorn? Does anyone cook it in ghee? I bet that would be good!