Posted on 02/28/2025 5:43:27 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
People are opinionated about microwave popcorn brands, and in this instance, I am people. Throwing a trifolded bag in the microwave for a few minutes brings back childhood memories of sleepovers, Blockbuster rentals, and jamming out on my Walkman. I want steaming popcorn that is equal parts buttery, salty, and crunchy—if it doesn’t leave my fingertips slicked with grease, I’m not interested. Nowadays, popcorn is still a top-tier snack in my eyes, though I’ve started dressing it up a bit more for variety. Otherwise, my criteria for a great bag of microwave popcorn has largely stayed the same.
And so I brought these strong, smart, and correct opinions to our latest staff taste test. We tried seven popular brands of microwave popcorn to find the one that best balanced saltiness and butter flavor, while maintaining a yellow-but-not-too-yellow color and an airy, snappy crunch. I admit, I came to this taste test with my biases—both Pop Secret and Act II are brands I grew up with. But the panel of tasters and I went in blind, guaranteeing some upsets, heartbreaks, and disappointments. (Orville Redenbacher, I have a bone to pick.) Thankfully, there was one clear winner that we unanimously agreed on—we just had to get through the flops first.
Firmly in its Flop Era: Skinny Pop
The Hard No: Act II
The Salt Lovers’ Dream: Pop Secret
Strangely Sweet: Orville Redenbacher’s
Desperately Dry: 365 Organic
Good: Newman’s Own
Perfectly Balanced: Jolly Time
(Excerpt) Read more at bonappetit.com ...
Best ever was jalepeno Orville Redenbacher. But they discontinued it many many years ago.
None of them compare to Jiffy Pop on a stove top.
Nothing beats popcorn, home made with coconut oil. No more microwave popcorn.
The best: skip the microwave and make it the old-fashioned way. Use coconut oil (movie theater secret) and Flavocol salt (the same as what was once included in the way of a little packet inside a bag of Jollytime popcorn). Add melted butter if that’s your thing.
Yeah, I’m old :).
Jolly Time here.
I have memories going back 70 years or so about that stovetop Jiffy Pop.
Microwave popcorn just can’t hold a candle to popcorn cooked in coconut oil.
Just ordered for the State of the Union....
Anything with lots of butter. The more butter the better.
There’s no such thing as good microwave popcorn.
Jiffy Pop or old fashioned pop corn in a covered pot on the stove. Soaked in butter and loaded with salt.
If your fingers aren’t dripping with butter grease when done, then you never added enough butter. If your veins aren’t ready to pop from high blood pressure, then you never added enough salt. If your stomach isn’t bulging with pain, then you never ate enough.
I love popcorn!
That is the plain hard truth. Might as well eat Styrofoam instead of microwave popcorn.
There is no such thing.
Get a Whirley Pop. It pops just as fast and makes better popcorn.
In my childhood and that of my Mom, every Sunday evening was popcorn time.
Never found any microwave popcorn I liked. Jiffy Pop is marginal, popcorn made in a pan on the stove is best.
I don’t eat much popcorn these days. It tastes good but I hate digging the hull fragments out of my bridgework.
Um. No.
Skinny Pop Butter and Sea Salt is THE BEST microwave popcorn on the market.
I have a Hotpop silicone popper that goes in the microwave. It never burns the popcorn and has minimal unpopped kernels. It needs no oil. It costs under $20.
For salt, I grind it very fine in a electric coffee grinder I have so it’s a dust that sticks to the kernels.
Cooking it on the stove in a pan is a much cheaper alternative to potato chips and Doritos.
So what was the best – – Jolly time?
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