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
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!
Was sceptical at first but this was such a simple and fantastic recipe! Thank you so much for sharing and making it so easy to understand :)
Hi Kate, ran across your recipe when I was looking for pre popped corn to buy. I had the ingredients on hand ,so I tried it. With coconut oil and white corn. It was the bomb! I usually use a Whirlipop, but this came out great. Thank you again this will become my new Fave.
Hello!
Have you ever made it with cheddar cheese? I am curious as to how to make cheddar cheese popcorn.
Thank you!
Hi Jewels! I haven’t tried that. It’s tricky to get real grated cheese to stick to popcorn, in my experience, but you could try it. Usually, store-bought cheddar popcorn is made with processed, dehydrated cheese powder.
Our air popper broke and the kids were begging for popcorn. Having seen my grandmother make popcorn on the stovetop about 40 years ago, I decided to learn how to do it myself. Honestly best popcorn I’ve ever had and every kernel popped. The video really helped. I went with coconut oil which made all of the difference. It wasn’t initially clear on how much oil to use so I decided to wing it. Came out great!
My gone rang just as I put the oil and a few kernels on the medium heat….came back in 5 minutes and nothing had happened….waited and waited…nothing.
Cleaned pot, added new oil and kernels…
medium heat…..nothing happened….had to use microwave for my fix….better than nothing..,.Confused n Dallas
I’ve had trouble cooking popcorn with olive oil. Partiallly due to huge quantities in some recipes (cooking for one). This worked perfectly halved. I added extra EVOO (Mediterranean diet). Black peppper and EVOO–fantastic.
(BTW, EVOO can be heated–someone mentioned this. It’s a myth about heat and EVOO.)
It’s been forever since I’ve popped popcorn on the stove, but my 10 year old asked if we could try it. I found your recipe and directions just perfect and easy. Thank you for sharing.
I love it! What a great snack. Thank you for your review, Cara!
Love your recipe and works perfectly, I recalled an episode of, “Frasier”, where Niles puts Tobasco sauce on his popcorn. So I melted some butter with tobasco and am addicted to it now.
Thank you for your tips, they are really helpful. I made the recipe and my family enjoyed it a lot and told me its the best popcorn ever (especially with olive oil and little salt )
So I have coconut oil, but it’s solid, not liquid. Is this what you are talking about when you say coconut oil? I know once it heats it will melt but I have not used it much and want to be sure I’m on the right track!
Yes! That is correct, Emmie.
Perfect result!!!
Used Sunflower oil as was all I had and in a cast iron casserole dish….half the kernels didn’t pop…what am I doing wrong?!
Hi Katie! Your kernels just needed more time on the stove. As long as your heat is not too high, you shouldn’t have an issue with them burning.
Absolutely amazing result ! Thanks a million
I make stovetop popcorn often, but always over high heat. I followed your instructions to cook over medium heat and it turned out so much better. The popcorn usually ends up being a bit tough, with a hard center, but it turned out perfectly this way! I tried it with a little pepper too, and loved it. Thank you!
This recipe is perfect. Thank you! Only heating to medium and then resting the oil for 1min before putting all of the kernels in are amazing tips.
I was going to write how delicious this popcorn is while eating it at the same time, but the flavour and my innate greed got the better of me. This is a wonderful recipe. I hadn’t made stovetop popcorn in years. I had been leaning on the microwave kind, but really, the taste was meh at best. I followed your directions exactly, using grapeseed oil for the popping—so easy to do. For the topping I used olive oil and some cajun spice blend. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Hooray! I’m so glad you loved it. It’s really the best. Thanks for your review, Judy!
Thank you for this post. I have a stir crazy popper that I use, but I hate cleaning it. I never learned how to make stovetop popcorn when I was a kid cause my parents had a kettle style popper that you could just throw the kettle in the dish washer as it wasn’t attached to the heating element. Will be making a lot more popcorn now.
Wow. A GAME CHANGER. I’m never going back to microwave popcorn. I feel so stupid for all the money I’ve spent on Orville what’shisname!
Perfect Popcorn is right! I didn’t have a single un-popped kernel and the popcorn was light and crunchy.
I drizzled with a blend of extra virgin olive oil, ghee & sea salt. Removing the pot from the heat, for just a minute, after the test kernels had popped is genius!
Thank you for that tip. Thank you as well for the prompt to teach children about grease fires.
GREAT recipe. I’ll never make it any other way again! Thanks!
Love the recipe and also the music of the video. My 2 year old is dancing with joy to it, would you share who is it by?
Hi Claudia! How adorable! I’m sorry to disappoint, but I download my songs from a licensing website, so they’re not public domain—otherwise, I’d be more than happy to share!
Thanks….might have used too high heat….(overcooked some)…but still most was crispy and tasty….fun change from my ten years of air popped
Thanks so much for your recipe. Our microwave died this weekend and my son has a serious popcorn habit … we had a great time making this on the stove and it turned out great! There’s no going back now …!
Much better this time…lower temp-perfect‼️
Wow, first time making popcorn like this and beyond perfect! THANKS so so much for the recipe!!
You’re welcome, Tashia! Thanks for your review.
I know this recipe states “about 4 servings” but that doesn’t really help me to gauge how big of a pot or serving bowl I should be using. Any recommendations?
Hi! You can always check the nutrition facts if you need more insight. :) It’s roughly 2.5 cups.
I do a slight modification on yours, I do 1 TB of a high quality, unflavored olive oil and 1 TB of a harissa flavored high quality olive oil. I season as you do but love that little extra kick I get with the harissa flavor.
The popcorn came out perfect using this recipe. I topped the popcorn with salt and nutritional yeast. Delicious!
Perfect Recipe! Followed each step like you stated and Wowzaa!!! Excellent result !!
Thanks Kate , God bless you
I made this on a cheap pan and it turned out great! Always burnt popcorn – this time every kernel popped to perfection! Best popcorn recipe out there.
Recipe worked a treat for my first time making stove top popcorn. Will be the only way from now on! Keen to try different flavour combos.
This turns out perfectly every time!
I have a⁹ popcorn machine & forgot the amount used. I think it was 3 tablespoons of oil to 3/4 cup of corn. Does that sound right?
Hi, I’m not sure I quite understand. This recipe is for stovetop and not a machine so I can’t speak to those amounts.
I also consider myself a stove top popcorn connoisseur – but my favorite cooking oil is clarified butter. Clarifying the butter takes out the solids so it won’t burn at popping temperatures and it gives all the popcorn a nice, subtle butter flavor without adding additional fat. Best part is butter heats much faster than oil. I can pop a pot with clarified butter in about 2 – 3 minutes – about the same time required for microwave popcorn.
Thank you for sharing, Grace. Great to know you have a go-to method too. :)
Thumbing through my phone tonight and found your popcorn recipe. Mentioned it to my wife and we got up and made some in less than ten minutes. Great flavor. Thank you.
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Ben. Popcorn in the evening is the best.
Just made this with the maple syrup, butter, and cinnamon. It was amazing. I’m on a very restrictive diet and this was such a help! Thank you!
I’ve used these directions for awhile now on my gas stove after my last popcorn popper died and it always turns out great. I use Avocado Oil due to its high smoke point. The changes I add 2 Tablespoons to the popcorn after the one minute rest and shake the kettle some until the butter has completely melted. Saves the extra steop of melting butter and pouring it over the popped corn. My grandsons grind the Kosher salt to a fine powder in a mortar and pestil, regular salt is too salty, and add that after popping. Has come out perfect everytime.
After reading so many of the comments:
Use a pot that you won’t mind getting discolored. Mine has from the heat
I leave the lid on and have not had a problem with soggy popcorn
On my glass cooktop only one kernel popped so I called it and followed the rest of the steps. No unpopped kernels when itwas done. It was old popcorn.
Thank you for sharing, Christine!
Delicious and I still ended up with lots of un-popped burnt kernels. Any ideas why?
Hi! Did you use a big enough pot? Or, they could have been on the older side. I’m glad you enjoyed what you did have, Nathalie!
Perfect delicious popcorn!!! Great recipe.
I’m glad you loved it, Debbie!
Just tried this for the first time. Success! Thank you
This was pretty amazing. Someone in a vegan FB group mentioned the “recipe” and I ALWAYS burn my popcorn, so I tried it. Mine actually started popping quite a bit during the minute rest. Next time I’ll try to make sure the oil is a little less hot. There were just a few loser kernels left at the bottom, but definitely a winning method Thanks.
OMG! After burning the last 5 attempts at making popcorn, your recipe got us perfect ones, FINALLY!!!
Coconut oil was an awesome twist and the heat got us a bowl of yumminess!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you
Hooray! I’m celebrating for you. I’m glad you loved it.
How do you make 1 serving? I have no self control. Lol
Hi Shana! You could try cutting the ratios back. Let me know!
Wow! My first time ever making stovetop popcorn and I’m blown away. We usually do air-popped, which is fairly tasteless and requires a ton of butter and salt to be enjoyable. This method produced much tastier popcorn as a base, which went to the next level with a modest amount of butter and salt afterward. Thanks so much for sharing the step-by-step tips! Super helpful! xo
This turned out perfectly. I made a double batch, which was perfect for 3 adult, above average popcorn eaters. It overflowed my 6qt pot by a bit. I used high-temp olive oil and topped with melted butter and popcorn salt. Yum!
I’m happy you loved it, Claire! Thank you for your review.
I just made this recipe, amazing, I used vegetable oil and a sprinkle of salt, my family loved it so much that I had to make another bowl !!!
Wonderful to hear, Ava! Thank you for your review.
Thank you for the recipe!! I can’t wait to make it today. Can I make this ahead of time and it’ll stay good for a day? Trying to make some for a baby shower and put it in little baggies for tomorrow morning! Thanks!
Hi! It’s best fresh, but you can make ahead. Just be sure to store in an airtight container.
Did not go through all the comments, so, would you have a “Go To” pan you would recommend for your wonderful popcorn recipe?
Hi Glen! I have all my kitchen essentials on my shop page and you can find a link to my pans there.
Excellent instructions… Followed them and got lovely popcorn as a reslult… Thanks Kate (and cookie )
Super east and good!
Best recipe ever! I’ve burned countless batches in the past… this one is perfect and all the tips help so much! Happy Holidays
I’m happy you think so, Chris!
This recipe is marvelous and definitely healthy! Thanks for sharing, Kate!
I’m glad you loved it, WJ!