What’s your snack personality? If it’s crunchy, spicy, salty and buttery, then I’ve got your new favorite right here – spicy sriracha popcorn! It’s also really easy to make, and get this, has only four ingredients. Is it snack time yet?
Spicy Sriracha Popcorn
Three words. Spicy. Sriracha. Popcorn. Background: I’m a popcorn fiend. I go to movies I’m not all that interested in seeing just to eat massive amounts of the stuff. I also make popcorn at home all the time and have passed the popcorn addiction on to my son. Now, as much as I love a bowl of basic buttered popcorn (after all, I’m a basic girl), I’ve found the secret to the best bowl of popcorn around, sriracha seasoning! This life changing (too dramatic?) powder will turn that basic bowl of popcorn into your new favorite snack. Fair warning, you will both love me and hate me for introducing you to this addicting, spicy, salty, crunchy, buttery snack. And who says it has to just be a snack? It’s really perfect any time of day or night (and yes, I’ve had it for breakfast). Like I said, it’s addicting. Personally, I think spicy sriracha popcorn tastes best while watching little league baseball, but you’ll find your own happy place. #illbringthesnacks #baseballmoms
Four Delicious Ingredients
That’s right, four ingredients are all you need to get your hands on some spicy sriracha popcorn! But because there are only four ingredients, you need to choose wisely. Here are my thoughts/recommendations on the ingredients (affiliate links):
- The Popcorn: arguably the most important ingredient in a popcorn recipe. Because people have gotten so used to buying microwave popcorn, your local grocery store might not sell a lot of their bagged popcorn kernels. And if you get a bag of stale popcorn, you’ll have a bowl of stale popcorn! I love using the smaller white popcorn variety in this recipe, and Amazon sells my favorite brand, Snappy. I’ve been ordering it for years and I really like it.
- The Butter: If you’re going to do one thing for your popcorn loving self, make it this – use real, salted butter. Land O’ Lakes is my favorite.
- The Salt: BUY SOME POPCORN SALT! It’s super fine and clings to the popcorn instead of falling to the bottom of the bowl. As you can see from the photo below, popcorn salt (on the far right) is much finer than kosher salt or table salt.
- The Seasoning: You know that sriracha sauce with the green top and the rooster on the label? Well, some brilliant food scientist figured out how to make it into a powder. I love science!! I use the McCormick brand of sriracha seasoning, but you can find others. And this isn’t fake spicy, this is capital letters SPICY. In the best way.
Get Popping
There are lots of ways to make popcorn, and I think I’ve tried them all. They all have their place, but these days I’m a huge fan of my air popper. The thing to realize with air poppers is that you are going to have a few unpopped kernels (just like you do any way you pop popcorn), and you may also have a few kernels fly out of the bowl. What’s the big deal? The key is to keep the lid on the popper for 20-30 seconds after you turn it off. Then the last few kernels that are hemming and hawing about whether or not they’re going to pop can make up their minds. If you take the lid off right away, then yes, you’ll be chasing popcorn around your kitchen.
My popper takes 1/2 cup of kernels to make a giant bowl (about 12 cups) of delicious popcorn. That’s a good return on investment, don’t you think?
Pour on the Good Stuff
While the popcorn is popping, you can melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a glass measuring cup. Now, of course you don’t need to use a measuring cup, but you’ll love the spout when you’re pouring the butter on the popcorn. Trust me, you’ll get less mess and better butter distribution. And who doesn’t want that?
One thing you don’t want to do is pour all of the butter onto your perfectly popped corn at once (rookie mistake!). Pour about a third of the melted butter in an even swirl onto the popcorn. Next give a few shakes of popcorn salt, then a few shakes of the sriracha seasoning. Now either toss the popcorn in the bowl, or use your hands or a big spoon, and start getting that butter and seasoning distributed. Do that two more times and you should have perfectly buttered and seasoned spicy sriracha popcorn!
Warning: once you start eating your spicy sriracha popcorn, you won’t be able to stop! I recommend making a double batch so you have some to share with your family and friends/baseball buddies.
Spicy Popcorn Goodies
- An air popper!! Life changer.
- The best popcorn. I like the Snappy brand of white popcorn for this recipe.
- I like the McCormick brand of Sriracha seasoning, but there are lots of options online, and sometimes you can find it in the spice aisle of your store too.
- You might think this is unnecessary, but don’t forget the popcorn salt! It’s the perfect super fine touch your popcorn needs.
- Glass measuring cup with a spout to pour on the butter. This will make your popcorn making life much less messy, and give you perfect butter distribution.
- A big covered bowl to bring your popcorn to the ball park.
Disclaimer: any links to products in this post may be affiliate links. This means I would get a small commission if the product was purchased. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. I only link to products I like and use myself, or are similar to what I use if the exact item isn’t available. Thank you!
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Spicy Sriracha Popcorn
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: snacks
- Cuisine: American
Description
What’s your snack personality? If it’s crunchy, spicy, salty and buttery, then I’ve got your new favorite right here – Spicy sriracha popcorn! It’s also really easy to make, and get this, has only four ingredients. Is it snack time yet?
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels (I like using white popcorn kernels for this recipe)
- 3 tablespoons salted butter (not margarine), or to taste
- popcorn salt (very fine), to taste, approximately 1/4 teaspoon
- sriracha seasoning powder (very spicy), to taste, approximately 1 teaspoon
Instructions
- Add 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels to your air popper (follow the instruction manual for your machine)
- Turn on the air popper and place a large mixing bowl under the spout to catch the popped corn. Stay close to the machine, once it starts popping it goes quickly! Turn the machine off before it’s completely done, leave the lid on for an additional 20-30 seconds to allow additional kernels to pop. Pour all the popcorn into the bowl.
- Add 3 tablespoons of salted butter to a microwave safe container. I like to use a small glass measuring cup. Microwave for 45 seconds or so until completely melted, bubbly and hot.
- Once the popcorn is finished, pour about 1/3 of the melted butter on top, sprinkle with a little popcorn salt and sriracha seasoning. Give the bowl a toss to distribute. Do this two more times so the butter and seasoning are well distributed throughout the popcorn.
- Start snacking! Warning: once you start, you won’t be able to stop.
Notes
- I prefer air popped popcorn for this recipe, but you can use any kind you like.
- Follow the directions for your air popper.
- Never leave the air popper unattended when it’s on.
Keywords: popcorn recipe, sriracha seasoning, spicy popcorn, sriracha popcorn
