Poor Man's Popcorn

Popcorn is delicious. However, buying bags of microwave popcorn gets expensive (not to mention they are terrible for you), and buying an air-popper will take forever to make a return on the investment. So how do you make popcorn on the cheap? The Poor Man's way, of course.

Things you will need:

1. Popping corn (you can get this anywhere that sells bulk food. I got mine from WinCo for about $.88 a pound)
2. A large, microwave-safe bowl
3. A lid for said bowl, or a microwave-safe plate (not a paper plate, it needs to be heavy)
4. Any toppings you want

Step 1: The Dumping

Measure out your popcorn into the bowl. One normal microwave bag is about 1/4 cup of kernels. For a single snack serving, I normally just use a small handful.

Step 2: The Covering

Cover the bowl with the lid, but don't seal it. There will be a lot of steam generated by the corn and you don't want the lid exploding off in the microwave. If you don't have a lid, flip over a plate and put it on top.

Step 3: The Cooking

Put the bowl in the microwave and cook as per normal bag popcorn standards. Heat on high until there are about 2-3 second between pops. Depending on how much you made and the power of your microwave, this is normally about 1:45 to 2:30 minutes. 

Step 4: The Eating

Carefully remove the bowl when you are done; it is going to be very hot. Remove the lid/plate away from your face, and behold your popcorn success. 

At this point, you can add whatever you want to your popcorn. Salt, pepper, butter, cheese, etc... Go crazy and experiment. 1 pound of popcorn kernels is about 50 servings of popcorn, so revel in your frugality and snack away!

Comments

[Penolopy Bulnick]

I didn't know you could just pop popcorn in a bowl! Eye opening!

[elmotactics]

It's the big secret the popcorn companies don't want you to know. They even sell "special" microwave bowls for popping corn -.-

[nanaverm]

The microwave popping bowls let the steam out, so the popcorn doesn't get tough. They also have a catching area at the bottom for the "old maids".

I wonder if one could put a paper towel on the inside of the plate to absorb moisture, or if it would start burning? Either way, I wipe down the bowl before removing the popcorn.

[garnishrecipes]

Awesome! I wanted to buy popcorn kernels, but I don't have an air popper or one of those gimmicky microwave-poppers. I'm glad to know I can pop some kernels anyway :D

[quatch]

any benefit (or burning?) from adding a few tablespoons of oil as with stovetop poppers?

[elmotactics]

I've tried it dry and with a small amount of oil and didn't really see a difference. The only way really to burn popcorn like this is to leave it in the microwave too long. It basically works the same way an air-popper does, which doesn't use oil either.