How to Make Homemade Microwave Popcorn in a Paper Bag

This article is part of Epi Loves the Microwave, our exploration (vindication?) of the appliance everybody loves to hate.

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I love movie theater popcorn. There&#;s something about the enormity of it, the sheer thrill of sitting down with a tub of popcorn as big as your torso and munching on it mindlessly for 2 hours straight. Seriously: is there any other snack we can eat in such insane volume without feeling like we&#;re breaking a social taboo?

But I don&#;t get to the movies that often, and I&#;m not a fan of pre-packaged microwave popcorn. The fake-butter flavoring leaves a weird, filmy feeling on my tongue, reminding me that I have no idea what&#;s actually in the popcorn. (At least the chemical once used in the flavoring that causes a rare respiratory disease with the banal yet terrifying name of "Popcorn Lung" is now banned.)

So my husband and I started experimenting with making popcorn at home. We considered getting an air popper, but we have a small kitchen, and the thought of having to get out a stool and rummage past the unused canning equipment I once bought in a short-lived fit of ambition in order to retrieve a single-use appliance is unappealing. I tried making popcorn in a pot on the stove a few times, but could never get the heat quite right&#;either half the kernels wouldn&#;t pop or I&#;d overcook it. (And scorched popcorn = the worst.)

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Tommy Werner

But then my husband read about a way to make popcorn in the microwave using only a brown paper lunch bag, and our household movie nights were forever changed. The method is foolproof (well, mostly&#;see the cautionary note below), takes less than 3 minutes, and makes popcorn that will neither leave your tongue filmy nor cause rare respiratory diseases. Here&#;s how to do it:

1. Put popcorn kernels in a paper bag

Place ¼ cup uncooked popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag. (NOTE: To avoid the possible use of metallic paints, this should be a plain, unadorned paper bag. I once used a Hello Kitty&#;themed paper bag, and Hello Kitty's face caught on fire.) No need to add any oil at this point&#;it's not necessary for cooking and it'll just soak through the bag and get your microwave all greasy.

2. Fold the bag to seal

Fold the top of the bag down about half an inch to seal it. Then fold it a second time, pressing firmly. (You want to make sure the bag is securely closed so it doesn&#;t burst open as the kernels begin to pop.)

3. Put the bag in the microwave

Place the bag upright in the microwave and set the microwave on high for 2½ minutes. Then stay near by and listen: You want to stop the microwave soon after the popping noises slow to avoid overcooking, regardless of whether or not the 2½ minutes are up. The popcorn will be ready faster if you have a powerful microwave. Open the bag carefully, keeping your face and fingers away from the steam.

4. Flavor the popcorn

Technically, you could add your flavorings right to the bag at this point, but that can get a little messy. I like to pour the popcorn into my largest mixing bowl, mostly because I (shhh) usually make a double batch and want to have plenty of room for mixing in the toppings.

I grew up on oil-popped popcorn. My family used an old aluminum electric popcorn popper from Jolly Time brand popcorn. It had line inside showing you how much oil to put in before you added popcorn kernels. Popcorn was a traditional evening snack when we watched movies together or played cards.

As an adult, I continued to enjoy popcorn. We made huge bags of it at the fire station and our housefund, a fund we all contributed money into for pantry items, bought Costco-sized boxes of microwave popcorn. We loved the convenience of the microwave popcorn until we watched a news program about the hazards of chemicals contained in microwave popcorn. So back we went to oil-popped popcorn. And I kept this up until ditching oil several years ago, then no more popcorn&#;cue sad face&#;

But then I discovered that you can make popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave! All the convenience of microwave popcorn, no toxic chemicals from commercial popcorn bags, and no oil!

Making Microwave Popcorn in a Paper Bag

This process is super easy! All you need is a paper bag, some popcorn kernels, and a microwave. Here&#;s my video explaining the process and you can watch it happen in real time:

Trimazing! Microwave Popcorn

Learn how to make oil-free popcorn in your microwave from trimazing.com

You don&#;t need a special bag, a lunch sack size or one you get mushrooms in at the market is perfect.

I even reuse the bags over and over again. We keep the used popcorn bags in our pantry with the kernels.

Add &#; cup of your favorite kernels.

Roll down the top a couple folds and set your bag in the microwave.

Microwave for about 2 minutes, depending upon your microwave, and listen for the popping to slow down to about one pop every 3 seconds. Stop the microwave at this point so the popcorn doesn&#;t burn.

Popcorn Toppings without Oil

The only issue with oil-free popcorn is that toppings, like salt, don&#;t stick to the popped corn. I happen to love plain popcorn without salt, but I know I&#;m in the minority here. So here&#;s my fix for that. Put some tamari, soy sauce, or liquid aminos in a little spray bottle (Bragg&#;s even sells a little spray bottle full of their aminos if you don&#;t want to make your own), then lightly spritz your popcorn. This fine mist won&#;t make your popcorn soggy, but it will moisten the surface enough for dry toppings to stick. It adds a lot of great flavor and saltiness too, so you may not even need to salt your popcorn. I love to top mine with nutritional yeast and smoked paprika after spraying with tamari or aminos.

So if you&#;ve been missing popcorn with your whole food, plant-based, oil-free way of eating, give this a try. I think you&#;ll be thrilled to have popcorn back in your life!

4.75

4

Microwave Popcorn in a Paper Bag

Prep Time

1

minute

If you want to learn more, please visit our website popcorn in paper bag no oil bulk purchasing.

minute

Cook Time

2

minutes

minutes

Total Time

3

minutes

minutes

Servings

1

Author

Cindy Thompson, MS, NBC-HWC | Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching

Cook Mode

Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• &#;

  cup

  popcorn kernels

• paper bag

• spray bottle of tamari, soy sauce, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, etc.

  optional

• nutritional yeast

  optional

• smoked paprika

  optional

• salt

  optional

Instructions

• Put &#; cup popcorn kernels into the paper bag. Fold down the top of the bag a couple times.

• Lay bag of kernels in the microwave and set for 2 minutes. Microwave and listen for popping to slow down, about 1 pop every 3 seconds and then remove the bag of popped corn.

• Spray with tamari, soy sauce, liquid or coconut aminos if desired and sprinkle with dry topping of choice. I love nutritional yeast and smoked paprika.

Video

Trimazing! Microwave Popcorn

Learn how to make oil-free popcorn in your microwave from trimazing.com

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