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One of the best parts of going to the movies is getting a big bucket of popcorn. However, with two little ones we don’t go often. Instead we have Family Movie Night. I have some rules for the types of movies that we can watch on FMN and so I wanted to make FMN even more special by bringing the popcorn goodness to the party.
I know I could just pop a bag of popcorn or even make my own using a brown paper sack in the microwave, but I want it to be really special. However, it’s so not good for you, so I really do limit when and how often I make it. To be fair, what makes this popcorn so good is some very specialize ingredients and equipment.
My mom figured out this combination of ingredients and after I played around with the amounts I knew I had totally figured it out. I’ve included links to products below for everything you need. I think it cost me around $50 to get everything, but we’ve made it at least 10 times and I still have half of my ingredients. I’d say that this is a lot cheaper than getting it at the movies.
Equipment Needed:
Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper
Special Ingredients Needed:
Flavacol Seasoning Popcorn Salt
O’Dells Popcorn Supur-Kist Topping
Wabash Valley Farms Real Theater Popcorn Popping Oil
Popping Corn
Movie Popcorn at Home
2 tbls oil
1/2 cup corn
3/4-1 tsp salt
1/3-1/2 cup butter topping
Add oil, salt, and corn kernals to Whirlie Pop machine and place on pre-heated burner over high heat. Do not shake, but twirl handle until corn stops popping or handle is hard to turn. This may take up to 5-10 minutes.
Pour popped corn into a large bowl and drizzle butter topping over the top while gently stirring.
Marie says
Just found this recipe. Wondering if I could use an electric popcorn popper with a stirring arm?
Wendy O'Neal says
Hi Marie, I bet it would work. It’s more about the salt and oil AND definitely not microwaved. lol Let me know how it works for ya. w-
Natasha Martin says
Awesome, Great article!
I am always feeling very strange about microwave popcorn (well, microwaves in general), but always mess up my stove popcorn.
My daughter says, “burnt popcorn is the saddest smell in the world.”
Thank you for this, I will definitely try again with these directions! Hopefully my daughter won´t ever have to smell the saddest smell in the world ever again. Ha.
Thank you!
Natasha
P.S. The little girl in the picture is super cute!
Wendy O'Neal says
Haha…I agree with your daughter. The saddest smell in the world is burnt popcorn. Let me how this turns out for ya. w-
Tammy simpson says
If you live in Canada and have a Superstore near you i bought this kind of popper for less than twenty dollars . makes wonderful pop corn !! Just love it !!!
Shirley says
I would like to save this but the “Pin” button is not working. So sad. 🙁
Wendy O'Neal says
Oh no Shirley…it seems to be working for me. Sometimes Pinterest goes down and their buttons don’t work for a few minutes. Hope you were able to finally get it working. Let me know if you need any help.
keeping it all together with 7 kids says
Okay now I must have popcorn right now!
Wendy O'Neal says
Lol…that’s how I feel too! 🙂
ANN*H says
Movie popcorn always seem to taste better and its always butter yummy. I sure am going to try this recipe out now. It will be way cheaper than buying movie popcorn. We use the butter powder stuff instead of real butter gives you the same flavor and not as oily. Great for movie nights at home
Jen V. says
I miss my Whirly Pop! I don’t think it liked the fact that I used it frequently to make Kettle Corn 🙂 One of the gears eventually broke. I have a hot air popper now, but I much prefer the taste of the popcorn made in the Whirly Pop. One trick I use to get popcorn to taste like what you get at the movies is to use half butter, half oil (coconut or olive). The oil helps keep it from getting soggy like it would if you used butter alone.
David says
Microwave popcorn may be convenient, but there are a lot of unknowns lurking in that bag of mystery joy. For one, they have to use some kind of cooking oil that’s solid and stable at room temperature, yet melts when under heat. And, it can’t have lots of saturated fat because the label on the box wouldn’t look very good. So, it’ll be a franken-fat of some kind that’s been modified every which way to suit a nutritional and taste profile based on ingredients that suit the manufacturing process well and have a good shelf life. Healthfulness will be the last consideration because it’s the least visible (“good” nutritional labels, in my mind, are not necessarily equivalent to healthy food).
Joan Hayes@chocolate and more says
We love movie theater popcorn. But like you rarely go. Will have to give this combo a try, thanks for sharing.
Mhikai says
We love watching movies with popcorn and we actually want them always.. Its a great bonding for us and a time together with the whole family..
Cole says
I love popcorn! What a great idea to make it the stovetop at home. 🙂 Thanks for sharing with Tuesdays at the Table.
Colletta says
We have family movie nights, too. It is just too expensive to go the theater except for a special occasion now and then. Sometimes we even buy a new movie and still are saving money!
Here’s my TMTT:
http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2012/04/tempt-my-tummy-tuesdays-cinnamon-chip.html
Colletta
Julia says
You can use a non-stick saucepan. (for those who don’t have Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper).
Emily says
Life gets busy, or money gets tight and that movie you wanted to see in the theater has already moved on to DVD. Watching movies at home can be an enjoyable experience, but a bag of microwave popcorn tastes and smells different from the piping hot buckets purchased at movie concession stands.
Dyson says
Now we can make the home theatre perfectly.
But how long it takes if we are making for more than 10 peoples?
Thanks for the post
Dyson
Stacie says
MMM, this sounds yummy and super fun! I didnt know you could buy these kind of poppers. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!