Perfect Stovetop Popcorn
Learn how to make perfectly popped popcorn in under 10 minutes! You'll never go back to microwave popcorn after you make this recipe. It's healthy, too!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 8, 2024
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Little-known fact: I am a stovetop popcorn connoisseur. I’ve been making popcorn on the stove since my parents taught me in elementary school. Stovetop popcorn is infinitely better than microwave popcorn or air-popped popcorn. If you haven’t made it yet, you’ve been missing out!
I’m on a mission to make sure everyone knows how to make popcorn from scratch. Today, I’m sharing all of my popcorn-making tips so you can make perfect stovetop popcorn at home, too. All you need are popcorn kernels, a good pot with a lid, oil and salt. You can do it!
Of all the salty, crunchy, savory snacks out there, stovetop popcorn is one of the tastiest and cheapest snacks. I love that I can make it in under 10 minutes if I’m craving a snack, and easily adjust the amounts to yield a single serving or popcorn for a party.
The 10-minute buffer period is actually great, since it means I can’t reach into the pantry and mindlessly snack on popcorn. That’s why I don’t keep tortilla chips on hand—I eat them too fast.
How to Make Stovetop Popcorn
- Use a good, heavy-bottomed pot. Cheap pots don’t distribute heat evenly, and you can end up with hot spots that burn the popcorn.
- Don’t crank the heat up too high. It’s too easy to burn oil at temperature higher than medium heat, and if you catch even a whiff of smoke coming from the pot, your popcorn is going to taste burnt.
- Start with two popcorn kernels to gauge the temperature. Once those pop, your oil is hot enough. Add the remaining kernels and remove the pot from the heat for 1 minute. This primes the popcorn to pop without burning the oil.
- Tip the lid ever-so-slightly while the popcorn is popping. That way, the popcorn doesn’t steam itself in the pot and lose crispness. (See photo above.)
- If the popcorn starts overflowing the pot: Simply remove the lid and tip the excess popcorn into a bowl. Return the lid and return the popcorn to the heat until popping slows.
- Season with salt carefully. You can always add more, but you can’t take away too much.
Scroll down for my recipe!
Watch How to Make Popcorn
Cooking Oil Options
- Extra-virgin olive oil: You can absolutely make popcorn with olive oil, as long as you cook it over medium heat. Olive oil is my favorite oil to use and it’s the healthiest option.
- Coconut oil: Movie theaters cook popcorn in coconut oil and it is delicious. Opt for unrefined (virgin) coconut oil, which is more redeeming than the highly refined version used at theaters.
- Canola oil and other vegetable oils: I avoid canola oil since it’s usually highly processed. Avocado oil, grapeseed oil and safflower oil are good neutral options.
Recommended Popcorn Seasonings
- Black pepper and good olive oil: This variation is so good that it made it into my cookbook.
- Cinnamon honey butter: This popcorn is a little sticky, but irresistible. Whisk 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
- Spice it up: Sprinkle with cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes or white pepper.
- Lemon popcorn: Finely grate some lemon zest (one small lemon’s worth or less) over your batch of popcorn. This goes well with finely grated black pepper and Parmesan, too!
- Nutritional yeast: This is a healthy vegan alternative that offers butter flavor. Here’s how my friend Ali makes “nooch” popcorn.
- Melted butter: It’s hard to beat melted butter. Even just one to two tablespoons offer a lot of flavor.
Is popcorn healthy?
In the crunchy, salty snacks category, popcorn is definitely one of the healthier options. That is, if you make popcorn on the stove with a reasonable amount of high-quality oil and don’t douse it in butter or caramel afterward.
I make popcorn with extra-virgin olive oil and organic popcorn kernels, so I’d say my popcorn is as healthy as popcorn gets. Popcorn is a whole grain, and it offers some redeeming fiber. You can enjoy a big serving (2.5 cups) of popcorn for the same amount of calories as a handful of tortilla chips.
Movie theater popcorn and flavored microwave popcorn are another story. They’re typically made with highly refined oils and coated in artificial “butter flavor” chemicals and preservatives.
Even if you’re buying unflavored microwave popcorn, the bags themselves pose health concerns. They’re typically coated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which is the same toxic substance that coats Teflon pans. PFOA’s stick around in the human body for long periods of time, and the EPA states that PFOA’s at sufficient levels can cause a host of health problems, including cancer.
Why make stovetop popcorn?
It’s super delicious and chemical-free. Granted, you could also make air-popped popcorn and it would be free of all the bad stuff, too, but it’s flavorless and dull. Snacks should taste good! Stovetop popcorn tastes way better with as little as one tablespoon of oil for eight servings.
If you want to drizzle butter to your stovetop popcorn (so tasty), go right ahead. Even one tablespoon of butter on those eight servings of popcorn adds a lot of real butter flavor. Do you know how much saturated fat is in a medium movie theater popcorn? An entire stick of butter’s worth.
Best Stovetop Popcorn
Learn how to make perfectly popped popcorn in under 10 minutes! You’ll never go back to microwave popcorn after you make this recipe. Recipe yields about 10 cups (about 4 servings).
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil
- ½ cup popcorn kernels, divided
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the oil and 2 popcorn kernels. Cover the pot and wait for the kernels to pop, which might take a few minutes. In the meantime, place a large serving bowl near the stove so it’s ready when you need it.
- Once the kernels pop, turn off the burner, remove the pot from the heat and pour in the remaining popcorn kernels. Cover the pot again, and give the pot a little shimmy to distribute the kernels evenly. Let the pot rest for 60 seconds to make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot before the kernels are ready to pop.
- Turn the heat back up to medium, put the pot back onto the burner and continue cooking the popcorn, carefully shimmying the pot occasionally to cook the kernels evenly. Once the kernels start popping, tip the lid just a touch to allow steam to escape (see photo).
- Continue cooking until the popping sound slows to about one pop per every few seconds. (If the popcorn tries to overflow the pot, just tip the upper portion of popcorn into your bowl and return it to the heat.)
- Remove the lid and dump the popcorn into your serving bowl. Sprinkle the popcorn with a couple pinches of salt, to taste, and any other topping you would like. Toss the popcorn and serve immediately, for best flavor and texture. The popcorn will taste good for several hours, though.
Notes
Where to buy popcorn kernels: Look for them near the microwave popcorn. I like to buy organic, which I find at Trader Joe’s or health stores.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
A word on safety
I burned some carpet in my house while making stovetop popcorn at age 10, and learned a valuable lesson to never leave hot oil on the stove unattended.
The risk here is entirely minimal. Don’t leave the kitchen, and remove the pot from the heat if you see any whiffs of smoke (which is unlikely). If the oil starts smoking at all, you’ll want to let start over. Let the oil cool before adding water to the pot to clean it.
If smoke ever starts billowing out of an oiled pot, whatever you do, do NOT remove the lid or add water. Turn off the stove, don’t touch or move the pot, and if it’s a small amount of oil (like for making popcorn), let it burn out on its own.
Here’s more information about grease fires. Teach your kids!
I’ve been air popping popcorn for ages, ever since I discovered the microwave bags are like poison lol! Perfect popcorn in very little time – thanks!
You’re welcome, Nina!
Came out perfect. We’ve had a bag of popcorn kernels my partner claimed was stale, but I knew they weren’t, so I cooked them using this recipe on the stovetop and found that it was in fact our air popper that isn’t working properly, haha. Easy to follow instructions and solved the popcorn kernel mystery! Will make again.
Great to hear, Indigo! I appreciate your review.
Hi Kate
I am trying to lose weight. Can I make popcorn with minimal oil? I use extra virgin olive oil in my cooking.
Noula
Followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect. So fun to share with kids. Love the suggestion of butter with maple syrup, butter and cinnamon. So good!
Thank you so much for these instructions. Made it for the first time with my kids and they absolutely loved it
That’s great to hear, Alice! Thank you for your review.
First time in my life: the pocone came out perfect without a single burnt kernel!
perfect explanation and good tips just made some banger popcorn with melted butter
Just made popcorn for the first time, your fit so thins worked perfectly. Thanks!
I’ve been using a popcorn popper gadget for ages. I thought I’d try this recipe to see if I could go without. 2 batches both came out chewy and partially burnt with tons of unpopped kernels! Guess I’ll stick to the whirly pop.
Hi Stephanie! I’m sorry to hear that! Making popcorn is definitely one of those recipes you have to make a few times to master. Your temperature was too high—the popcorn should never burn. It really helps to use a nice heavy-bottomed pot, too. Thin pots will scorch.
I made this popcorn and, like Monika, its the first time I ever made it with no burned kernels. Your method worked perfectly. THANKS!
I’ve been following this recipe for perfect popcorn ever since I found it. I like to add a tiny bit of salt and a lot of nutritional yeast.
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Kate.
Thanks for offering these instructions! Back in 1982, when I shared a two-BR on Boston’s Beacon Hill with two other girls (the third roommate was illegal — we pretended she was my visiting cousin) we used to make popcorn in Leslie’s big old soup pot at night and sit up late talking.
This was something I never knew how to do. When I was in college we had popcorn poppers. Thank goodness for the internet! I have a great big heavy-bottomed pot for making borschch, and something reminded me of Boston days, and I googled…
Urszula would top the popcorn with brewer’s yeast or spirulina. This time around I just used a German version of popcorn salt. Once I figured out what temperature was required on my stove everything went swimmingly, and I really enjoyed my fresh hot popcorn.
Here in Western Europe it is not possible to buy the salty snacks my family likes in the States, so being able to make this popcorn will be a very welcome thing. And, of course, this is a more healthful alternative — so, no regrets!
Absolutely delicious! Eating it right now. Thank you for the recipe!
This came out perfectly very first try. It made me wonder why I hadn’t been doing this for years.
What would you say is the brand of kernels that make the best tasting, puffiest popcorn?? I’m not sure which is the best to buy…thx
I try to buy organic when I can and find a great result.
Fabulous. 65 yo and never knew the two kernels before.
really good and so simple! wish i looked this up sooner!
Great to hear you liked it, Anna!
Popcorn is my favorite snack while watching TV and movies. This is my go-to recipe. Perfect every time. I try all kinds of flavorings.
BTW- Your ratatouille is the bomb.
Thank you, Frances!
This is a definite keeper! It is so easy to make and we get perfect popcorn every time. Once we had a feel for the amount of olive oil we don’t measure it. It’s quite forgiving. 1/3 cup popcorn is plenty for this house of two. Easy clean up, though just wipe the pot out with a paper towel and keep the pot on the stove.
Fabulous Friday afternoon activity with little boys, and delicious results! Can’t believe how much cheaper and tastier this was than bought popcorn, and 1/2 cup filled up the entire pot! They can’t wait until next Friday ;)
Best popcorn ever!
perfect!
I love trying new things with the resources I have at home. This recipe was amazing! We melted some butter and added salt for taste. Genuinely so tasty! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome, Jessa!
Made the perfect popcorn first go!! This recipe is elite for home made popcorn! Very happy kids this afternoon
I love to hear that, Rhi!
First time making stovetop popcorn, thank you for excellent directions! This is how I’ll make it from now on! Thank you ☺️
You’re welcome, Myleen!
The coconut oil is a complete game changer !!! Makes it taste like it has a ton of butter…love, love, love.
Wow. Seldom leave reviews but felt compelled. I’ve loved popcorn since childhood; my mom would bring me fresh popped corn even after I’d gone to bed. I’ve also been making stovetop popcorn for most of my adult life, which equals quite a few years. :O) This recipe rocks! I would make mine at a slightly higher temperature, and have never heard of taking the pot off the burner for a minute after adding all the popcorn. This was the best, tasty and tender popcorn that’s ever come off my stove. Many, many thanks, Kate!!
You’re welcome, Julie!
Can’t wait to make this with my son!
I’m recently hip to seed oils and popcorn was a fave snack of ours.
Looking forward to all of the variations as well.
Do you use white or yellow kernels… I’m seeing both at the stores. TY
Made this first with butter and it was a bust, the butter burnt before the kernels popped. Tried it tonight with coconut oil- came out perfect! So delicious!
Great to hear, Haley! I appreciate your review.
Can this be made without oil? Anything to change in process if so?
This is best as written.
This was so good, thanks for all the tips, mine was a tad bit burnt but that’s my fault :). I will definitely be making this again.
That’s great to hear, Ana.