How To Make Popcorn In An Air Fryer Like A Movie Theater

This article promises to be an enjoyable read, you might wonder why. Should the title not give it away, then I’m at a loss for what more to say. We’ll dive into the process of popping corn using an air fryer.

Most of us have made popcorn one way or another, whether it be in an air popper, stove, and microwave. The microwave is the most popular choice that most of us had used to cook popcorn with. The cool thing about this is, we’re going to be broadening our horizon with the air fryer. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t cook the popcorn any other way.

There is a possibility that the question that I know that’s coming, I should just answer now. You will be able to make popcorn regardless of the air fryer brands, all you have to do is just follow the instructions.

What You Will Need To Learn Before Making Popcorn In An Air Fryer

I won’t lie to you; you’re going to experience a lot of heartaches. The reason you will have heartache because you might fail multiple times. Consider your few attempts of making popcorn in the air fryer to be an epic failure. But once you do get it right, your hard work will pay off.

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t state this fact, one of the negatives of cooking popcorn in your air fryer is the fact the popcorn can damage your air fryer. Some air fryer brands will not come with the inside being closed. This means, above the air fryer basket, you’ll see the fan and vent don’t have a lid to cover up the top. That’s because you need the opening so that air can circulate through. Something as light as the popcorn kernel could easily be lodged in the fan or vent. Not only will this cause your air fryer to stop working but it can be a fire risk.

Even though your air fryer may cause a risk when you’re cooking popcorn, the decision is up to you. It is not recommended to cook your popcorn in an air fryer, but you still want to have popcorn, the stove and microwave are still your best bet.

If you read up to here and you still want to cook your popcorn in the air fryer, then there will be more information for you. I will also show you what you can do to cook your popcorn in the air fryer without any form of problem.

Ingredients for Popcorn

The key ingredient that you’re going to need to make popcorn is popcorn kernel. You can use your popcorn kernel from a jar and even if it comes from a bag. It doesn’t matter where you get your popcorn kernel from as long as it’s unpopped.

The last ingredient that you will need to make basic popcorn is oil. You can spray any kind of oil on your popcorn kernels like coconut oil, olive oil, and even avocado.

Those two ingredients are the only things that you will need to make a simple popcorn.

101 Learning To Make Popcorn In The Air Fryer:

The first thing that you will do, coat your popcorn by spraying it with oil. Let your popcorn cook for 15 minutes at 390°F, you will need to monitor it so that it doesn’t burn.

Before you put your popcorn into the air fryer you will need to find a lid, so that it doesn’t go flying around your air fryer. While the popcorn is cooking, you will hear popping sounds. You will see unpopped kernels in the air fryer just as you will see in a microwave. Once the popcorn is done, season your popcorn with salt and butter.

Pro Tips

One of the hardest things to do as a professional chef is to ensure that each kernel is popped all at once. The best thing you can do to ensure that all of the kernels are cooked properly is to cook them in batches and to remove the fully popped one. If you do not remove the earlier pop kernel then they will burn.

As we mentioned before, each brand of air fryers is going to be different one way or another. You should read your owner’s manual for your air fryer so that you understand its functionality. When you cooking popcorn in your air fryer, it’s going to come with its challenges. You’re going to notice that your popcorn isn’t being cooked properly in the air fryer. Don’t feel discouraged about this, even though you will fail your first couple of batches. You will eventually get good at it.

In one of the previous sections, we mentioned that using your air fryer to cook popcorn may be a fire hazard. Because the popcorn will be flying around, there is no lid to protect the fan and vent. I will now tell you what you can do to work around it, you can make a lid using aluminum foil to cover the top of the basket of the air fryer.

If some of these tips don’t help you to cook like a chef then I don’t know what will. Some of these tips will help you to think on your feet. One of the things that you might probably have a little bit of difficulty with is cooking in batch. But as I said, cook little at each time, keep an eye on it, take out the early pop kernel, and you shouldn’t have any on cook kernel once you’re done with it.

How To Make Popcorn In An Air Fryer

Here is a recipe that you can try out for yourself.

Air Fryer Popcorn

Ingredients:

popcorn kernels (¼ cup)

oil (¼ tablespoon)

butter (2 tablespoons)

salt to taste (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Set your air fryer temperature at 400°F.
2. Use aluminum foil to make a bowl shape and line the air fryer basket.
3. In a zip lock bag place the kernel in it along with the oil. Shake the bag until the kernel is properly coated then lay it on top of the foil in a single layer.
4. Place basket into the air fryer and let it cook for five minutes.
5. Melt the butter in the microwave while the popcorn cook.
6. Take out the basket from the air fryer, in a large bowl take out the popped popcorn and set it aside. Put in the basket with the unpopped kernels back into the air fryer.
7. This time let the unpopped kernel cook for three minutes, take the basket out and pick out the pop popcorn then place it in the bowl. You can do one of two things, discard the unpopped kernels or place them back into the air fryer to cook some more.

Conclusion

Another one in the bag, not only have you learned how to cook popcorn like a movie theater. You also learn cooking popcorn in an air fryer come with some risk and how you can reduce the risk. I hope you learn a lot as well. See you at the next one.