7 Best Microwave Popcorn
Today we’re talking about popcorn. Seven of the best options for popcorn. Who doesn’t love popcorn? I love popcorn.
what’s a night on the couch watching your favorite show without some microwave popcorn? There’s nothing quite as relaxing as listening to those kernels pop and knowing that you’re about to indulge in a delicious, big bowl of salty, buttery popcorn.
The popcorn section of the grocery store is quite expansive, a little overwhelming, a little bit daunting.
There are just so many microwave popcorn options that it’s hard to decide which ones are the healthiest, which ones taste the best, and which ones you should be adding to your shopping cart.
So these seven popcorns are the tastiest, the crunchiest, and the creme de la creme of popcorn.
The brands that were tested, taste tested by experts were act II, cousin Willie’s, Kroger brand, Orville Redenbacher’s, pop secret, skinny Pop and tiny but mighty.
Now, there were some things involved in testing these popcorns. There were certain things that these taste testers were looking for.
They wanted a texture that was airy and fluffy with a crunch. Chewy popcorn earned automatically that popcorn a lower ranking. They also wanted a rich, buttery flavor that wasn’t overpowered by salt.
They wanted a popcorn that tasted buttery but wasn’t dripping in butter and leaving their mouth filling filmy. Popcorn that tasted plain was pushed towards the bottom of the list.
They popped each bag for 1 minute, 45 seconds up to two minutes. So here’s how these popular seven brands of popcorn stacked up.
Tiny but mighty
So coming in at number seven was the tiny but mighty popcorn. Now, I’ve actually had this popcorn and I really like it. The kernels are super, super small.
The reason for the small kernels is to help with digestion and help the popcorn from sticking to your teeth.
So that’s actually a big win with tiny but mighty. Although this is the only brand on this list that actually uses real butter in the ingredients, the taste testers found that there wasn’t a lot of butter flavor, which was a little bit disappointing.
It tasted a little bit like plain popcorn. And the other reason this falls at number seven is the texture.
Even though you would think it would be super crunchy because it’s small kernels, it was a little bit on the chewy side, which automatically made it last on the list.
Skinny pop
Number six on the list is skinny pop. This is because this popcorn laughed a crunch. Each piece was super chewy, didn’t have a lot of flavor, and there again was really no butter or salt flavor.
It tasted a lot like regular, unflavored popcorn.
Even though the skinny pop is touted as a healthier option, it actually contains more sodium than any of the other popcorns that were taste tested.
So with that, they were kind of left wondering where is all of this lack of taste coming from? It has the most salt of any other brand, supposed to have a butter flavor, a crunchy texture. But none of that actually happened with skinny pop.
Act II
Number Five is the Act II popcorn. Buttery flavor. Again, it was more chewy than crunchy. And even though it had a little bit more butter flavor, it still really tasted just like plain, unsalted, unbuttered popcorn.
That seems to be the trend with the microwave popcorns falling a little bit lower on the list. The taste tester said this popcorn was mediocre.
I mean, it was palatable, but it was definitely not what they expected with the name buttery in the title.
Cousin Willie’s
Number four is the brand cousin Willie’s. Now, I’ve never heard of this brand. It has the ideal ratio of crunchy to fluffy, which we haven’t seen yet in today’s list. Where it really missed the mark though, was with the flavor.
But it had a flavor, although it was an artificial flavor. In fact, it says artificial flavor right on the front of the package.
The texture was everything they wanted, but the artificial flavor of the butter left kind of a weird aftertaste and film in their mouth.
It made it really difficult to eat the popcorn because of that weird film and taste that it left behind.
Kroger
Next up is the Kroger brand of microwaved popcorn. In the butter flavor, this popcorn produced some chunks that were really, really chewy.
There was really not a lot of crunch to this popcorn, which is something that we definitely want in our popcorn, is that airy, crunchy texture. The butter flavor was light, it tasted really good and not artificial.
But where this popcorn fell short is that the saltiness overtook any of the other flavor, the good flavor of the butter. If you like salt and you like really salty popcorn, then this one is definitely for you.
Orville Reddenbacher
Number two comes from Orville Reddenbacher, the king of popcorn and this is their buttery microwave popcorn. This is a quintessential popcorn brand. Like it has a high expectation to live up to.
And lucky for good old Orville Redenbacher, it lived up to the hype. It was crunchy and the flavor of the butter was really good.
Even though the pieces were crunchy like they wanted, they still had that airiness to them, which is a perfect kernel of popcorn. Certainly was a good popcorn. It was a bit salty for their taste.
But again, if you really enjoy a buttery, salty popcorn that’s light, airy and crunchy, definitely go for Orville Reddenbacher.
Pop secret
And number one, the creme de la creme of microwave popcorn goes to no other than pop secret. It’s no secret that pop secret is the best popcorn.
Each piece is large and fluffy and has the perfect crunch. The butter tastes real, nothing artificial, and it’s not drowning in butter.
The texture balances perfectly, the saltiness, the butter, the light, big, airy, fluffy, crunchy popcorn kernels doesn’t leave your mouth coated in butter, but you still get that rich, yummy, buttery flavor.
It wouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone if you ate an entire bag while watching your favorite movie.