Easy Kettle Corn
It's just popping corn, sugar, and oil. Make it with extra light olive oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil. If you like sweet and salty, just add a little salt. - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Makes: 6 to 8 cups
Ingredients:
- 2 Tablespoons sugar, preferably super fine
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oil
- 1/4 cup popping corn
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
Instructions:
- Combine sugar and oil in a small bowl.
- Add popping corn, stirring until it’s well coated.
- Place in paper lunch bag, fold top over & staple shut.
- Place bag on a dinner plate and microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes or until popping slows way down.
- Remove with oven mits. Plate and bag will be hot.
Note: Be sure to put the paper bag on a plate before microwaving to keep your microwave clean.
Great recipe but half of the kernels dont pop. Also, do you know how to make it w/o a paper bag?
This recipe works perfectly with the WW collapsible microwave popcorn popper. I think there are lots of those plastic-y contraptions available from other kitchen supply stores.
Turned out perfectly. Don’t try date sugar. Why? Because, the chemical reaction in white and date sugar is completely different. I see why regular sugar is always king. Date sugar just burned and lost the sweetness. Thank you again, Jenny….Please continue bringing up more wonderful recipes.
Elizabeth
Hopefully those Staples ain’t metal. Have you ever seen what’s going on inside your microwave while you’re cooking those Staples….? and for a whole 2 and 1/2 minutes at that…… I’m surprised your microwave still works better yet your lucky your house has not burned down. Sorry but Jenny can’t cook in the microwave maybe other places just not there
Hi Jenny. Not sure what I did wrong but I tried this recipe twice and at 2 1/2 minutes it didn’t even begin popping so I left it in longer and then it burned. I use tender Amish popcorn the first time and I thought maybe it was too tender so I tried Orval’s and that didn’t work either. What am I doing wrong?
Do you know the wattage of your microwave?
First want to say I love your bread recipes. Have made 10 loaves now, and each one was AWESOME!
Responding to trying the kettle corn recipe. Made for the first time, and turned out quite well. Used powdered sugar as did not have a fine sugar and Canola oil. I used scotch tape instead of a staple, as have had staples catch bag on fire. I read where some had problems with burning. Some microwaves require elevating the bag on a bowl or an inverted plate. God Bless!
We loved the popcorn Jenny Me and my 12 year old had a movie night for her birthday It was very easy to make thank you
Loved this recipe. One question…..can you please tell me where you bought your stackable measuring cup set in the little red pot with a lid? Thanks.
Pier One.
Why in the world would you staple a bag that you were gonna put in the microwave?????? Duh!!!!
I have put stapled bag into microwave and no sparks appeared. Its safe. Staples are not dangerous in microwave . You do not have to staple bag you can just fold.
I used exact measurements in recipe. I used organic coconut oil, Oriville Redenbacher original and every kernel popped ???
I used painter blue tape to seal bag
Never put staples in the microwave unless you want to ruin your microwave!
I tried it and the bag caught on fire around the staples. ?
It was fine in my microwave and I have a 700 watt, it takes about 2x as long to pop the entire bag of popcorn, and there was no problem with staples. I’ve popped popcorn in lunch bags in the MW without stapling the bag. You can just fold down the opening 2-3 times if you don’t want to use staples.
rubber band the top, nix on staples
All tea bags have staples & I microwave them daily..
Amazing and so good! Love the clean up too. A must try for all.:)
Jenny, I’ve tried many of your recipes and have totally loved them. There is so much work to keeping up your site, writing recipes, making videos, and responding to posts. You are a blessing!
While I realize not everyone sews as I do. I make my own individual coffee bags with 1/2 of a filter, ground coffee, then sew around it to close. I’ll sew sheets of wax paper to make individual servings of snacks, etc. So, I was thinking sewing closed the paper bag for anyone who is hesitant about using staples might be an option.
Good idea, thank you.
Why not just fold the bag over. No need for metal staples.
Just fold down the edges a few times, this is the only use I have for paper lunch bags – to make microwave popcorn! I’ve done it with staples and just folding the bag over, they both work. 🙂
I have tried making my own kettle corn before and thought it was good until I made yours. I used a third of a cup cuz I couldn’t find my one fourth cup measure. Jenny you have to get an Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn popper. I put your recipe in it and it popped perfectly crispy crunchy. That popper uses up all the oil and you don’t have that greasy bag to throw away or have to put it on a hot plate to get out of the microwave. You won’t believe the difference. Even when you think you don’t need a recipe for this cuz it’s so simple you came up with one. Thanks
I can’t find the microwave popper online. Can you please send a link?
https://www.amazon.com/Presto-04830-PowerPop-Microwave-Multi-Popper/dp/B00005IBXK
This is the Orville popper – Presto PowerPop Microwave Popcorn Popper
I posted the direct link above.
Thank you.
I’d love one of those but they have a large storage footprint. 🙁
I agree about the Orville Redenbacher Presto popper. I’ve used it for more years than I can remember and recommend to everyone and they all end up loving it too.
Where did you get your measuring cups? This pop corn is great
I’m not sure, maybe Sur La Table.
Thank you for that now we eat popcorn every day!
Hi Jenny, I made this recipe tonight. I’m delighted in how it turned out. I did use coconut palm sugar. Delicious, coconut palm sugar is low on the glycemic index and is not refined. A healthier alternative to regular sugar. I did find the 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels too much, a lot were left unpopped. But that is a minor adjustment.
i just tried this method and this recipe is essentially flawless. No more annoying cleanup, just happy snacking! Great video. 🙂
Jenny, Sita, I made it too this evening. Fast, easy, yummy. Video was good. The plate is important to keep clean up easy. May still need to wipe out the microwave tho’.. But better than having a pot to clean, imo. For fine sugar, you can place the regular sugar in a small coffee grinder (the $20 pulse kind by Krups etc.) and pulse a few times to make sugar finer. If you pulse too much, you will make powdered sugar. But at least you know how to make powdered sugar too.
Jenny, I meant to add a big THANK YOU for your site, cooking, video and humor. The recipes and video how-tos are much appreciated. Thank you very much for these cooking tips and recipe ideas etc.
Sounds good, Jenny, but — is it a problem microwaving those staples?
I make popcorn all the time this way – paper bag and 2 or 3 staples. If you look at my other microwave popcorn video you can see me put it in the microwave and watch it pop in there – no problem.
Hi Jenny,
Love your idea… although as to the staples in the microwave question…
The staples are just small enough not to create a ‘visible’ reaction.
Albeit ‘seeming’ to be ok by the lack of sparking and visible reaction, bare metals in a microwave will damage the magnetron tube and reduce it’s life.
I would suggest finding a tape or plastic (microwaveable clip) or such…