How Not to Burn Your Popcorn

Healthy Snacking and Independence

This post was sponsored by Quinn Snacks, but the opinions of the product and our recommendations are entirely our own.

Popcorn has got to be one of our family’s favorite snacks. And Quinn Snacks Popcorn is officially our family’s new go-to. One of my favorite things about Quinn Snacks Popcorn is that they are clean eating, farm-to-bag, sourced from American farms, and are totally transparent. My other favorite thing is that these kids actually really like it! It’s a quality snack that they want to eat and is a healthy snack for the whole family. AND that they can prep themselves. Dave and I really value independence in our kids. We’ve been teaching them to use the kitchen to prep their own meals for a few years now and it’s important to us that they are able to make healthy options too. Our oldest is now using the stove to make eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, and helping prep dinner with Dave. The middle kiddo makes his own sandwiches, chops food for dinner prep with his very own knife, and can cook with the microwave.

Popcorn is an easy place to start because it doesn’t involve open flames and the microwave is isn’t rock science…or is it?!

Let me tell you, making popcorn in the microwave has turned into an EVENT. We all know about the dreaded popcorn button. I have burnt my fair share of popcorn bags and also had just as many partially popped bags. We’ve all worked somewhere that someone burnt popcorn and the smell lingered. It’s an issue. The boys have discovered this and get into intense discussions on the regular if they should use the button, set it for 3 minutes and hope for the best, or try to figure out the exact amount of time for the ideal popped to un-popped ratio. Of course, while they’re arguing about it, they usually end up burning most of it!

Through much scientific experimentation:

popcorn button
set the timer for varying minutes over how long we thing it should cook
continue to add 30 seconds every time the timer reaches 1 second and the pops are still popping
setting the microwave for 1 minute intervals
shaking the bag six times and spinning in circles and then microwaving it

…we have come to the conclusion that the ideal stop pop point is when the popcorn is still popping, but you can only hear one pop at a time. We set the microwave for 3 minutes and then anywhere between the 2 minute and 2 minute 34 second mark, it’s ready! Maybe that’s just our microwave, but it seems to be a consistent win factor. No burnt kernels, a few un-popped, and lots of fluffy pops ready for the noshing.

Quinn Snacks Popcorn Flavors Taste Test

Speaking of the eating, the boys really wanted to do a taste test to see if they could guess which flavor was which. They’re a little bit into kid YouTubers these days and figured they could hop right into the craze. I’m not super sure they have YouTube careers in their future, but they sure had a good time with this!

My favorite flavor was the parmesan and rosemary when I’m craving savory, and the maple when I need something a little sweet but not over the top. The boys’ favorites were…

So you could definitely say we’re all big fans. And we have a new favorite snack. And a new activity to add to family night…because when you have this much popcorn, who could resist a popcorn fight?!