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Friday, May 25, 2012

Microwave Popcorn in a Glass Bowl

Last year I stumbled across Snack Girl's Homemade Microwave Popcorn and thought it was the neatest thing to put popcorn kernels into a plain (food grade) paper bag and microwave it.  We tried the paper bag trick several times.  Then, I started thinking about the added cost and the extra waste of these brown paper bags. 


Out of curiosity, I used a large 2.4L/2.5 quart glass pyrex bowl, put in 3 tablespoons of corn kernel, and covered with a lightweight dinner plate (left a small vent for steam).  Within 5 minutes, I had microwave popcorn!


The largest glass bowl I had was a 2.4 quart glass bowl.  Any popcorn kernels will do.  When it is time to buy more popcorn, I will try organic non-genetically modified (GMO) popcorn.


Put in 3 Tbsp of popcorn in the bottom of the bowl.   


Cover the bowl with a lightweight dinner plate or glass lid.  (I love my new Corelle Iris set from Walmart!).  Leave a small gap to vent some steam.  Make sure the gap is not too big or else popcorn will escape!  Ready for the microwave!


Set the microwave for 5 minutes.  Popcorn is ready when the popping slows down to 5-10 seconds between pops.  For us, it usually takes about 4 min 30 sec.  


Done!  Success!


I like to use melted butter in popcorn.  No complaints from the kiddies!   Since the glass bowl is nice and hot, I just rub a pat of butter along the sides of the bowl to melt it.  Toss the popcorn around the melted butter.  You can use butter, extra virgin olive oil and other seasonings afterwards.   


I like to use a Herb and Spice sea salt blend in a salt grinder.  I ran out of the blend and made my own with coarse sea salt, rosemary, coriander and garlic dip seasoning (from our local garlic festival).  


Making microwave popcorn takes a few tries, even with the commercial stuff.  You don't want to overcook and burn the popcorn but you want to pop most of the kernels. It all depends on your microwave's personality, the thickness of the glass bowl and the thickness of the dinnerplate cover.  It took about 4 min 30 seconds for ours to pop.  If you use a paper bag, it takes less time to pop, as the heat penetrates the paper bag quicker than the glass bowl and lid. 

We don't have microwave popcorn all the time.  It's a nice thing to have 2-3 times in a month.  Yes, I have read the dangers of using the microwave.  Here's one article that I came across that has some good information to keep in mind (Microwave Hazards).  I like to read different sides of a story and decide from there. 

Glass Bowl Microwave Popcorn

3 Tbsp popcorn kernels
1 large 2.4Qt/2.5L glass bowl
1 large dinner plate or glass lid, large enough to cover the bowl but leave a vent
Popcorn seasoning of your choice:  butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, etc. 

Place 3 Tbsp popcorn kernels in a large glass bowl.  Cover the bowl with a large dinner plate or glass lid.  Make a vent for steam to escape, approximately the width of a pinky finger.  Not too wide or the popcorn will escape!  

Microwave for 5 minutes or until there are 5 seconds between pops.  Do not burn the popcorn.  Microwave times depend the microwave, wattage, the thickness of the glass bowl and the thickness of the lid.  

Season popcorn as desired.  

 In case anyone is curious, I only had 8 unpopped kernels from this batch! 

Enjoy!


32 comments:

  1. Michelle, this works great! Instead of a plate, I used a glass lid from an old pan set, and set it slightly off center for a venting gap. Worked well! I had a Back-To-Basics plastic microwave popper that needed to be replaced after 10 years, but felt there must be a glass option that worked. Googling brought me to your blog. Thanks for your post!

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    1. Thanks DaisyLady! I'm so glad it worked for you! I do the same thing too! (Not everyone has a glass lid, so that's why I used the plate trick). Have a great day! :)

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  2. I did this same thing last night... my Beautiful Glass Pyrex bowl shattered in half in less than 2 min in the microwave.

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    1. That's strange! Pyrex should be fine in the microwave!

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    2. Oh noooo! I was going to try my 2.5 quart pyrex casserole dish with lid to try this. Won't be doing that, after hearing this! I would hate to lose it...I use it for no knead bread and have preheated it in the oven empty at 450 degrees for over half an hour countless times. Has anyone else had this happen? Do you think maybe the caseroles are stronger than the bowls???? Maybe the different kinds of heat make a difference?

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    3. We've done this several times in different homes (4 adult kids w grands) always using a Pyrex bowl and it's never failed, never broken the glass, and turns out great. Thank you for sharing this, popcorn tastes the best.

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  3. Oh noooo! I was going to try my 2.5 quart pyrex casserole dish with lid to try this. Won't be doing that, after hearing this! I would hate to lose it...I use it for no knead bread and have preheated it in the oven empty at 450 degrees for over half an hour countless times. Has anyone else had this happen? Do you think maybe the caseroles are stronger than the bowls???? Maybe the different kinds of heat make a difference?

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  4. you will be fine, if it is microwavable. I have gone away from plastic to all Pyrex for storage and reheating. it is not a problem, including with the lids. they go from freezer-oven-microwave without a problem. Cheers!!

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    1. Just don't put a refrigerated pyrex pan into a hot oven. It explodes. Horrible mess to clean up.

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  5. The downside of the Internet: you find out favorites like microwave popcorn have a dark side. The upside: this! Works great for me!

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  6. what about using corning ware casserole dishes.. I bought several different air poppers and they are garbage. the kernals fly out without popping and I have popcorn all over the kitchen so have returned all and am looking for an alternative.

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  7. The post is talking about best kitchen accessories.Thanks for this useful post.

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  8. made this popcorn for over a month with a large pyrex (older) yellow mixing bowl. Today after removing it from the microwave the bowl split into several large pieces. I was amazed as pyrex is made to withstand a lot. Anyone have a similar experience? we love making popcorn this way but don't want ot keep sacrificing bowls.

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    1. My bowl broke too... Don't know if it was just cold surface or what... So my wife took out a large white ramekin looking thing.. For the top, a glass steamer insert for venting... WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!! I used a little butter, salt, pepper and yes, yes yes Tabasco....So good...

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  9. Oh no! Sorry to hear about your pyrex bowls breaking! I'm surprised too as I always thought that pyrex bowls are microwave safe. The only thing I could think is that pyrex bowls are still glass and heat sensitive. If there any tiny scratches or cracks, it could get bigger over repeated use in the high heat of the microwave. Glass would swell quickly in fast microwave heat and then cool fast when taken out. Did you place your pyrex bowl on a cold surface? I usually put my hot popcorn bowl on a hot pad, trivet or tea towel. Did you put in ice cold butter into the popcorn? There's also the idea of trying silicone mixing bowls instead of pyrex.http://www.amazon.com/iSi-Basics-Flexible-Silicone-Mixing/dp/B000S17WOI I'm not sure about the safety of silicone leaching into food so that would another avenue to research. Years ago, I have cracked my Corningware hot casserole dish (from the oven) by mixing in room temp canned mushroom soup, so I feel your frustration!!!

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  10. I've been using a 4 quart Pyrex mixing bowl for popping corn for some time with no problems. For a lid I use a 10" Corelle dinner plate: it just fits inside the rim of the bowl. As for seasoning the popped corn I enjoy butter & habanero/salt.

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  11. Pyrex will break if it is exposed to extreme temperature change quickly. If you take it out of the oven and place it on a wet surface it will break. Maybe the quick change in temperature of the microwave and the moisture of the corn causes it to break. Or there could be a bit of water in the microwave that heats up on the cooler surface of the dish causing it to break.

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    1. Water at atmospheric pressure cannot get any hotter than 212F. Under pressure, as inside a kernel, it can get much hotter, of course. So, the kernels are what get very hot, not water sitting on a surface. :)

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  12. Even I did this few weeks back... It was yummy and i must say my Borosil microwavable bowl came in handy. Looking for more such recipes.

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  13. Popcorn seasoning of your choice: butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive ... popcornoil.blogspot.com

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  14. has anyone tried flavouring with peanut butter instead? alsop I tried this but on high temp it burnt the corn so going to try it on a lower heat

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  15. This works with a glass bowl.
    As an aside, popcorn is non-gmo already, but it is treated with pesticides.

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    1. That's not true in the US - all of our corn is GMO unless it is specifically labeled as organic or non-GMO.

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    2. Popcorn is NOT Gmo. At least according to this website: https://www.growingupherbal.com/qa-is-popcorn-gmo/. But non-organic popcorn is grown with a lot of chemicals.

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  16. The Pyrex we can purchase today is not our mothers' Pyrex. World Kitchen bought the Pyrex and Corning merchandise lines from Corning corporation in New York. You may notice old Pyrex is clear. World Kitchen uses a different formula which includes lime to produce their glass. It has a green cast (or sometimes it looks more blue). There is much anecdotal evidence online reporting how easily new Pyrex breaks.

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  17. Bad idea! Bowl broke!

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  18. I'm no kitchen expert or scientist but I can't help but wonder if maybe the bowls broke because they didn't have any liquid in them. They always say you shouldn't put empty containers in the microwave and even though the popcorn kernels are in there the bowl might think it's empty and react to the high heat by splitting.

    On a slightly different note, many years ago when I was in my twenties with much less experience under my belt I thought I would try making popcorn on top of my gas, yes gas flame, stove in a clear Pyrex Bowl so I could watch it pop. Bad idea. Big time. First the bowl shattered, then because the popcorn landed all over the stove it began to catch fire from the flame before I even could react. I don't even remember for sure how I got it put out but it seems like I might have already learned that baking soda worked so maybe I sprinkled baking soda over it quickly. So now I have burnt popcorn and broken glass all over my kitchen floor. I tiptoed out gingerly, went to bed and said I'll deal with it in the morning. Therefore I am one that would be leery about putting CorningWare in the microwave.

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