Spicy Ranch Popcorn Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you get spices to stick to popcorn? ›

Use melted butter or oil: Before adding the popcorn seasoning, toss the popcorn with melted butter or oil. Canola, sunflower or olive oil works well. This will help the seasoning adhere to the popcorn. Shake the popcorn: Place the popcorn in a large paper or plastic bag, add the seasoning and shake the bag vigorously.

The seasonings stick best with added oil or butter, but spritzing the popcorn with water works almost as well for oil-free popcorn. Our favorite simply seasoned popcorn recipe uses a little melted butter, Parmesan cheese, salt, dried oregano and garlic salt.

Ranch Popcorn Seasoning is a savory mixture of dried herbs, spices, and Parmesan. Sprinkled over freshly popped popcorn that's been drizzled in real butter, it makes a delicious snack or perfect movie night treat!

You add seasoning after popping the popcorn. However, keep in mind to always add your seasoning while the popcorn is still hot. That way, moisture residue from popping steam will help your seasoning stick to the popcorn.

Some alternatives to butter for seasoning popcorn include olive oil, coconut oil, or non-dairy butter substitutes. These options can add a rich flavor and help the seasonings stick to the popcorn.

Frank's original RedHot Cayenne Pepper sauce gives the perfect twist you always needed in your spicy popcorn. A perfect snack for a movie night with family and friends.

Just add 1-3 Tablespoons of Tabasco pepper sauce to your oil before popping your corn. Pop as usual. Tastes great!

It's not the combination you first think of when pulling out that bag of popcorn, but it has been a long-standing spicy snacking tradition in Mexico, where it's a street food classic called Palomitas con Salsa or popcorn with hot sauce.

Without Oil or Butter (Air-Popped Popcorn)

If you don't want to use oil or butter, other liquids like hot sauce, vinegar, lime juice, honey and coconut nectar can also work. Or, if you want something as simple as it gets, a sprinkling of plain water will do the trick, too.

Movie theaters use butter-flavored oil, which has a lower water content than butter so it makes popcorn less soggy. Real clarified butter has the same effect. To make it, melt 2 sticks butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Let sit for a few minutes; the butter will separate into 3 layers.

What is the healthiest thing to put on popcorn? ›

Even when a restaurant does start with premade ranch, they will often fold in extra fresh herbs, and maybe even more buttermilk, to lighten and bring in some brighter flavors that can be lost in shelf-stable bottling.

Because while some restaurants do use a bottled shelf stable dressing, what you are referring to is a powdered ranch mix (typically the Hidden Valley brand) that the restaurant cooks add milk/ buttermilk and sour cream to make their dressing.

Another no-brainer here: ranch is a solid sandwich condiment, especially if you're including chicken, turkey, bacon, and/or veggies... like this turkey bacon ranch sandwich suggested by The Spruce, which also features tomatoes, avocado, a pretzel bun, and easy-to-make, made-from-scratch buttermilk ranch.

You just need to mist your popped popcorn with a little bit of liquid so your seasonings can stick. You can fill a small spray bottle with water or one of the flavor ideas below to make misting easier. I like to mist my popcorn as it lands in the bowl so each layer of popcorn gets a little spritz.

Melt sugar in large pot on low over stove, stirring so a brown liquid forms. Then add in popped corn and stir so all sides of each puff get coated. While the sugar is still hot, sprinkle salt on top of the popcorn so it gets stuck in the sugar.

To get the spices to stick to the nuts, use egg whites, butter, coconut oil, olive oil or blanch the nuts in boiling water. Some recipes call for nuts to be fried in oil prior to seasoning, but this adds unnecessary fat – you can make them just a delicious without all the extra calories.