This past weekend, my family and I flew to San Diego for a quick vacation to visit my grandparents. My brother’s birthday fell on the last day of our trip, so we spent most of the afternoon celebrating with a DIY healthy sandwich bar for lunch, lemon sorbet, a special cake, and presents.
Since I couldn’t quite figure out how to bring this cake on the airplane with us, Grandma and I started plotting my brother’s birthday dessert a couple of weeks ago. Although San Diego has plenty of gourmet bakeries that create gorgeous custom cakes, most of those didn’t work for us…
Because my brother is allergic to eggs.
So that meant that Grandma scoured the town and internet, searching for a bakery that offered vegan cakes. She eventually found one, asked me for flavor advice, and ordered the customized dessert—complete with a cute edible photo of my brother as the cake topper!
Grandpa also prepared a surprise for us, and for the big reveal, he arranged the sofa and extra chairs in the family room to all face the TV. We sat down, settling in to the cozy cushions while Grandpa fiddled with the DVD player, and started laughing as soon as the screen came to life.
He had transferred movies on their first video camera from the film to DVDs, and we chuckled our way through Mom and Grandma’s version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (complete with four CalTech nerds and three wrench ends—my family has a geeky Big Bang-like sense of humor!).
Next came the baby videos… Starting with me as the oldest child, just two weeks after I was born. Boy did I cry a lot! And apparently, when my parents visited San Diego for my first Thanksgiving, I discovered the simple joys of playing with puppies and letting them lick my face. We laughed a lot during those clips too!
Even though we devoured plenty of birthday cake, this Easy Coconut Oil Popcorn would’ve been the perfect snack while watching all of those old family films. Movies and popcorn go together like two peas in a pod, especially when the snack is as simple as this recipe is to make!
It starts out with melting coconut oil in a pot on the stove. I prefer dark colored pots with glass lids so I can see when the popcorn finishes popping. Once the coconut oil melts, add 3 popcorn kernels to the pot, and cover with the lid. These are the “test kernels,” and they’ll tell us when enough heat and pressure has built up inside of the pot to pop open the rest of the kernels.
After all 3 burst, remove them with tongs, and add in the rest of the kernels. It’s important to shake the pot back and forth every 3 seconds. This frequent shaking prevents the kernels from burning and helps them pop more evenly.
When you can count more than 3 seconds in between pops, the popcorn is done! Carefully pour it into a big bowl, sprinkle with salt, and…
Grab a handful!
| Easy Coconut Oil Popcorn | | Print |
- ½ tsp coconut oil
- ½ cup (70g) popcorn kernels
- ½ tsp salt
- Add the coconut oil to a large pot, and melt over medium-low heat. Add 3 popcorn kernels, and cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid. Continue to cook, shaking the pot back and forth every 3 seconds, until all 3 kernels pop. Remove the pot from the heat, and carefully take out the 3 popcorn pieces with tongs.
- Add the remaining popcorn kernels to the pot, and place the lid back on top. Continue to cook, shaking the pot back and forth every 3 seconds, until more than 3 seconds elapse between pops. Immediately remove the pot from the heat, and pour the popcorn into a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt.
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, sugar-free}
We love to do our organic popcorn the coconut way! Olive oil is another favorite. I’ll be sure to keep your other flavors in mind to try.
We love olive oil too Christie! I hope you enjoy any other flavors that you try!
I love popcorn – it is one of my favorite snacks! I made some similar to this in my Stir Crazy to take on a road trip and it is fantastic! I’ve never been brave enough to try it over the stove, but maybe I will now!
Popcorn for road trips is a great idea Melissa! It’s really easy to make on the stove — I promise! That’s actually how I learned. As long as you shake the pot every few seconds, the popcorn should turn out just fine. I hope you try it sometime!
I’m glad you found an egg-free cake, what is a birthday without cake?! This popcorn looks delicious, it looks like a foolproof way to make stove-top popcorn, pinned!x
Thanks Eve! So true about birthdays without cake… It’s as if they didn’t happen at all without that special dessert!
I too love to pop my corn on the stove with coconut oil. Odd thing I found to season it other than salt… Turmeric. I found I enjoy it a lot on my popcorn. Try it sometime.
That sounds really interesting Lori; I’ll definitely have to try turmeric sometime!
Cinnamon and salt has been really tasty for me when I make popcorn on the stove with coconut oil! Tumeric sounds delicious too; I’ll have to try it. Maybe even try southwestern seasoning… Humm.. All the ideas!
I’m a huge cinnamon fan, so that sounds amazing! As does the southwestern flavor too. You’re full of great ideas Dahlia — I’d love to hear how those turn out if you try them!
Omw! Just tried cinnamon on popcorn for the first time and I really enjoyed it! Thank you for the tip!
I had serious doubts that this would work with my measly pan and lid. You should have seen me once they started popping. This is life changing, and slightly addicting! Thank you so much for showing me the coconut way. This popcorn lover is forever indebted to you!
I’m so glad this recipe worked and you enjoyed the popcorn Rachel! That means a lot to me! 🙂
These were so perfect and so easy! Love the recipe ❤️