How to Use a Popcorn Maker

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Nothing beats the smell of freshly-popped popcorn when you're settling in for a movie. With home popcorn makers, it's easy to make classic salted popcorn and other easy recipe variations in just a few minutes. Best of all, this interactive cooking opportunity is entertaining for kids and adults alike, so get started today for tons of fun!

Using a Stirring Popcorn Maker

• Make sure your bowl is firmly attached to the base before you begin. Popping your corn without fastening your base down is a surefire recipe for a spill.

• Most neutral cooking oils will work well for stirring popcorn makers. For example, vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil are all great choices. Don't use margarine or an oil with a low smoke point — these can burn and give your popcorn an unappealing smoky taste.

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• Softening the butter for a few seconds in the microwave before adding it can help ensure the popcorn melts completely.

Plug in the popcorn maker and turn it on. When you've added all your ingredients, close the lid and plug your device in. Some popcorn makers will start heating up right away, while others will have an "on" switch you'll need to hit. The stirring arms should begin turning, stirring the popcorn as it cooks.

• Sometimes, kernels may get caught under the stirring arm during cooking. If this happens, you may begin to hear a slight scraping sound. This isn't harmful.

• Black pepper
• Cajun seasoning
• Garlic salt
• Hot sauce
• Chocolate candy (M&Ms, etc.)

• If you wish, you may also want to use a non-toxic cleaning solution to cut the grease. Don't allow the cleaner to dry on the popcorn maker or it may spoil your next batch of popcorn — instead, remove it with a damp rag when you're done cleaning.

Using a Theater-Style Popcorn Maker

• For most theater-style popcorn makers, the cooking chamber is a metal "bucket" with a handle attached to it suspended in the middle of a clear glass case. Usually, all you need to do is lift one of the metal flaps on top to open it so you can add ingredients.
• For some movie-style popcorn, the kernels are packaged together with the oil in a single packet, while for other popcorn, the two are kept separate. In the latter case, see the table blow in the Tips section for serving suggestions.

• As with a home "stirrer" popcorn maker, you'll want to turn the machine off when pops slow to about one, every few seconds. As the popcorn cooks, you should notice popped kernels rising out of the cooking chamber, spilling over the sides, and gathering at the bottom of the glass case below.

Serve by scooping into bags. When the popcorn finishes cooking, you should have a good amount of popcorn gathered at the bottom of the case. Use a large spoon or scoop (most popcorn makers should have one included) to serve the popcorn. Traditionally, theater popcorn is served in paper bags, but if you don't have any, you can use ordinary bowls. Most popcorn machines have a number of holes in the bottom of the case for allowing unpopped kernels and very small "crumbs" to fall into a crumb drawer located below the bottom. Before serving the popcorn, it is advisable to carefully rake the scoop back and forth so that those "old maids" will fall into the drawer.

• As you might know, if you've ever ordered buttered popcorn at the theater, "butter" is usually added to theater-style popcorn after it's been served (usually with a pump). If you're at home and you don't have butter for your popcorn, try melting about a tablespoon of butter in the microwave and drizzling it over the top of your popcorn with a spoon for an authentic movie theater taste.
• Movie-theater "butter" is almost always not real dairy butter. Instead, it is typically a blend of coconut oil and/or (often, partially hydrogenated) soybean or canola oil with artificial butter flavor, TBHO, with citric acid added to improve stability, beta carotene added for color, and methyl-silicone added as an anti-foaming agent.