Buzz
While seasoning popcorn with dry spices is simple enough—just sprinkle them on—there’s a whole array of exciting flavors waiting to be explored. These flavors come in the form of sauces, and some work wonderfully on popcorn.
However, simply pouring or drizzling liquid flavoring onto a bowl of warm, fluffy popcorn can lead to uneven seasoning and soggy bits, which is far from ideal. To ensure a perfect distribution, you need to mix your sauce with butter first.
By blending your sauce with butter (or a vegan butter substitute), you’ll achieve an even coating throughout your bowl, without turning your popcorn into a soggy mess. We've tried this method before with soy sauce butter and fish sauce butter, and it works with almost any liquid flavor. Hot sauce is a great choice—there's an endless variety to experiment with! But my personal favorite lately is maple syrup, which offers a sweet and salty flavor, akin to kettle corn (without the actual texture of kettle corn).
To sauce your popcorn, melt two tablespoons of butter (or a butter substitute) in a small pan over medium-low heat, or cut it into pieces and microwave it in 5-second intervals, stirring each time until it’s fully melted. Add a teaspoon of your preferred sauce and mix it in with a fork. (Feel free to adjust the amounts depending on how much popcorn you’re preparing.) Test the flavor by dipping a piece of popcorn into the mixture and add more sauce if needed, making sure to whisk each time to keep the mixture smooth. Drizzle it over your popcorn and toss to coat. Then, it’s time to experiment with new combinations! I highly recommend the fish sauce, soy sauce, maple syrup, and hot sauce mixes, but don’t hesitate to raid your condiment shelf and get creative. You can even combine sauces—maple hot sauce butter is an idea I think is pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.
