Make Your Own Popcorn Pods

Popcorn is hand’s down one of my favorite snacks.  I prefer it popped in a pot with oil. I know I’m going to start a fight, but here is my brutal opinion… air popped tastes soulless and microwave bags of popcorn are downright vile.  That leaves me in something of a dilemma if I want some at work, but I think I’ve come up with a compromise.

I bought one of these reusable silicon microwave popcorn bowls.  It cleans easily, is durable and even collapses down to stow away in a desk or commuter bag. It can pop about a 1/4 cup of kernels and doesn’t require oil, but you can add it to improve flavor and adherence of your seasoning to the popped corn.

So I suppose I could just schlep a bag of kernels and several bottles of various spices and seasonings to work, but I have a better idea.  All those sets of food containers come with a ridiculous excess of “salad dressing” containers.  Guess what?  They hold 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels with a bit of room to spare.

So in each little cup goes popcorn kernels, a dash of oil and various spices or flavoring.  I’m experimenting with mostly savory concoctions (italian herbs, cheese, chili powder, garlic powder, dash of salt), but there is no reason you couldn’t make sweet popcorn like cocoa powder, cinnamon, etc.  I don’t do melted butter, sorry.

Shake vigorously before dumping the contents of your popcorn “pod” into the silicon microwave popcorn bowl and microwave for 2-4 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave.  To easily “calibrate” for your microwave, listen for a pause of 3 seconds or more between pops, and you’re done. Any longer and you risk burning your popcorn.