When I first heard about microwaving popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag I could not imagine that something so simple would 
really work. A blog reader actually shared this suggestion with me, and it took me a while to work up enough courage to try it out. I am so glad I finally did because approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds later I had fresh, fluffy, whole-grain popcorn that hadn’t been touched by a drop of oil, salt, sugar, or any other additives. And after lightly seasoning it myself with a tad of oil and salt it was delicious! I will never waste my money on those store-bought microwave bags ever again.
The Popcorn Trick
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- ¼ cup popcorn kernels, preferably organic
- Brown paper lunch bag
- Optional: Melted butter, oil, and/or salt
Instructions
Pour the kernels into the brown paper bag.- Tightly fold over the top three or four times. No tape or staples are necessary.
- Put it in the microwave and start it on high for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Listen for the popping to slow down to 3 or 4 seconds apart at which point you will take it out of the microwave. This usually happens for me around the 3 minute and 15 second mark.
- Pour popcorn into a bowl and drizzle with melted butter or spritz with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt. If you don’t use oil or butter the salt won’t stick.
Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but 100 Days of Real Food will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us spread our message!
I found about this last month! I ordered popcorn from my food co-op. It will be here Tuesday. I can’t wait. I’ve put off buying popcorn for the longest time because I thought I needed a special popper and I didn’t want another appliance to store. Thanks for sharing your method! It’s the one I am going to try first. A lot of the ones I have looked up, have you put the oil in the paperbag. That just seems like a mess to me!
I have seen this a few times too, but didn’t bother with it (mostly out of fear of filling our house with the burnt popcorn stench that I can’t stand!) I decided to try it our yesterday as a way of keeping the kids for pestering me for cossession stand popcorn at my daughtes baseball game. Turned out great! It made me happy to see them with their white fluffy popcorn vs the dayglow yellow stuff in ‘butter’ soaked bags
We have been making popcorn this way for awhile now. It is great!
I JUST read this recipe in “Food Matters” yesterday!! Can’t wait to try it
Thanks for sharing and giving the thumbs up!
I first saw this tip on Alison’ blog – http://thishomemadelife.com/popcorn-and-a-movie, and have been making popcorn this way ever since. Love it!
What a great idea! I remember my mom would air pop the popcorn and then pour the popcorn into a paper bag before drizzling with butter & salt. Then she’d let us kids shake the bag.
I’m excited to try this! I know butter and oil amounts are really to taste, but as a starting point how much did you use? Just dont want to overdo it at first.
I have olive oil in a spray bottle (that is made for olive oil…you have to pump it) and I will give it a squirt then sprinkle 1 – 2 shakes of salt. I will mix it with my hands then do the oil/salt 2 or 3 more times and it ends up with a great “lightly salted” flavor!
I tried this the other day after reading it on another blog and mine didn’t turn out! I wonder if I didn’t leave it in long enough. Definitely will have to try again!
I pop my popcorn on the cooktop in coconut oil (VERY healthy fat) and a little sea salt which is amazing! Sometimes I go all out and add beautiful grass fed real butter to it! Mmmmmm…
Most oils in the marketplace are full of pesticides and are genetically modified. I only use high quality, organic coconut, olive and occasionally grapeseed oils and butter for cooking. My next goal is to render lard and use that for baking. Our bodies need fat and all of these are healthy oils. Check out books by Sally Fallon to learn about the good oils.
Here’s a real food challenge: get rid of your microwave! We did that many years ago and haven’t looked back. I have a toaster oven and use my cooktop to reheat things.
Totally agree! I was scrolling down the comments to see if anyone even mentioned getting rid of the microwave! We cook ours on the stovetop in a regular pot. We use a little coconut oil & butter. When it’s done popping we put sea salt on it. Sometimes, we’ll sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese on it too.
I posted some links of sites giving the facts about the hazards.
OK, I feel old. We were doing this in Home Ec class in the 70s, when microwaves were still fairly new. We’d make popcorn bags and sell them between classes as a healthy snack. Thanks for the reminder!