Kaylee's not-a-blog » Food » Tips » stovetop Popcorn

One of my guilty pleasures is microwave popcorn, which isn't viable in my van.
Last winter, I had bought a bag of popping corn (DollarTree $1 for 20oz(567g)), intending to use it while visiting a friend who has a popcorn air popper.
An emergency caused us to cancel, so that bag of corn has been sitting in my snacks tub for months.

It finally occurred to me to try making it in my taller pot on my butane stove.
First time, it worked perfectly, was very easy, and took almost the same amount of time as microwave popcorn. :)
I had been nervous about the risk of being spattered by hot oil, however the pot's cover has small vent holes, which, combined with the height of the pot, were enough to prevent spattering.

• place a single layer of kernels in pot (see example below)
• add a bit of oil (enough to form a thin layer at the bottom)
• place the lid on the pot, with the vent holes away from you (just in case tiny amounts of hot air or hot oil vent)
• leave the lid on for the entire cooking period
• start stove at about medium heat (will vary by stove)
• wait until the first kernel pops (should take about 30 seconds to one minute), then immediately start shaking the pot over the flame
  (I make small circles such that most of the pot is always over the flame)
• [optional] start gradually reducing heat as popping progresses
• continue shaking until popping stops (should take about 2-3 minutes total), shut off flame
• wait a few (about 3-10) seconds, to let any almost-popped kernels finish
• [optional] carefully pour popcorn into a bowl, add salt and/or butter and/or other flavor enhancers :)
• enjoy! :)

• If one uses too much corn, the popping corn will raise up the lid.
  This startled me the first time it occurred, but nothing bad happened since I immediately shut off the flame. :)
  There were some excess unpopped kernels left over, which I left in the pot for my next batch.
• Once I used much less corn than my usual, and it (correctly) stopped popping far sooner than I expected (I run a stopwatch during most cooking), and I left the flame on long enough to burn just the bottom few.
  I should have turned the flame off after 3 seconds of no popping, waited a few more seconds, then inspected the contents.
  Instead, the smell of burning popped corn prompted me to turn it off.
  There was minimal badness, and I learnt from my mistake. :)
• I used up my bag very quickly, and really wanted more, but was near the midpoint of my remote camping period, so a town run wasn't viable.
  From now on, my minimum restock level is two bags. :)

Pictures:

Tall cooking pot, with vent holes at nearer edge:

Kernels at bottom of pot, with a bit of oil:

Popped corn in pot:

Final, ready to eat:

After eating, almost no waste:

Numbers:

My pot is about 5" across and about 5" tall.
I use about 30g of popping corn (I guessed the first time, then tweaked to optimize the final yield of popped corn to my pot size).
That results in a volume of about 1 liter, with a calorie count of 100 (for just the corn).
On average, I use 2.5 grams of butane (range of 2.0 to 4.0 g).
Cost is about 9 cents per serving (about 6 cents for the popping corn and oil, 3 for the butane).

Bonus: A bag of popping corn is significantly more compact (space efficient) than the equivalent amount of microwave popcorn, and there's far less packaging. :)