Honey-Buttered Popcorn

This recipe is not for you if:

  • You prefer to use a knife and fork to eat ribs, fried chicken, or pizza.
  • Having sticky fingers makes you painfully uncomfortable.
  • You are wearing a very expensive suit and have a tendency to drop food down your front.

This recipe is right up your alley if:

  • The words "buttery," "sweet," "sticky," and "crunchy" elicit an immediate and Pavlovian drool response.
  • You think the best part of going to the movies is getting the large bucket of popcorn ~ which comes with a free refill.
  • You are my mom, to whom I am dedicating this recipe.

Popcorn is many things to different people. A movie snack, a charming Christmas-tree decoration, packing material. To my mom, it's a dietary mainstay, a comfort food, a quality-of-life issue. Others can wax poetic about their chocolates and their sea-salted caramels, but my mom would rather have a bowl of buttered popcorn any day of the week.

Falling not far from the tree, I'm pretty fond of popcorn myself. I can't tell you what the last movie I saw in the theater was, but I can tell you that I happily ponied up the additional quarter for real butter on our super-jumbo tub of popcorn. When I'm at my desk into the wee hours of the night, a giant bowl of air-popped popcorn achieves what caffeine no longer can: it keeps me awake and making deadlines.

Plain air-popped popcorn is considered a whole grain, which makes it a complex carbohydrate (that's the good kind). At 30 calories per cup, it's high in fiber and contains no salt or sugar. True, plain air-popped popcorn is a bit of a snore (unless you're eating it hand-over-fist to stay awake). But even the oil-popped version has only 55 calories a cup, and offers considerably more flavor.

This recipe takes all that popcorny goodness and gilds it with pure molten sunshine. (And by that I mean, tosses it with melted honey butter.) If you don't mind the sticky fingers, it just might be the perfect snack: you've got your crunchy, sticky, sweet, salty, and buttery, all in one bowl. With fiber! Be advised: This version is nothing like toffee-coated popcorn or Cracker Jack. Both of those are coated with a sort of candy shellac ~ they're dry and civil. With this popcorn, the butter is melty and the honey is gooey. If you're wearing a nice tie or, say, a wedding dress, you might want to throw on a smock before indulging.

So . . .

Mom, this is for you. Not just because you love popcorn so much, but also to celebrate the fact that you are taking a big step this spring to make a dream come true ~ and I'm really proud of you! {Hey everyone ~ my mom's becoming a beekeeper! How cool is that?} So, here's to you and your new hive! I can't wait for that honey to start rolling in. Get to work, girls!

Mom's Queen Bee Honey-Buttered Popcorn


  • 1/2 cup popcorn kernels

  • 2 tablespoons salted butter

  • 2 tablespoons local honey

  1. Pop the popcorn kernels in an air popper and place in a large bowl. Combine butter and honey in a microwave-save bowl and microwave for 10 seconds. Stir, then microwave again for about 10 seconds. Stir. (Repeat if butter is not melted at this point.)
  2. Using a tablespoon, drizzle half of the honey-butter mixture over the popcorn in the bowl. Toss gently using a wooden spoon or large spatula. Drizzle remainder of honey-butter over and toss again. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

  • If you want to change up the flavors a little bit, try adding a couple of drops of flavoring oil or pure extract to the honey-butter mixture before drizzling it over the popcorn.
  • Now that you've got the popcorn, how about watching a movie with it? Try The Secret Life of Bees.

Comments

  1. I love popcorn, and butter, and honey! I must make this.

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  2. I am going to have to try this out. Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks.

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  3. I have been craving popcorn lately, and this sounds delish! I usually go for kettle corn, but I could go for some sticky popcorn too! :)

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  4. Three cheers for your mom. I have been trying to find a bee keeping class for a couple of months now. Bees contribute so much more than honey and it it nice to know others have the same interest. Good luck to your mom! PS, your pop corn looks delish.

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  5. That sounds perfectly ooey-gooey! Congrats to your mom too! That sounds awesome. I have aspirations of being a bee keeper too someday. WOW!

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  6. ~Karen and Jeff: Yay for popcorn! Hope you get a chance to try this; and if you do, I hope you like it as much as I do.

    ~Rachelle: I love kettle corn too! This combines the sweet-saltiness of kettle corn with butter. A little different ~ I'm really liking it!

    ~flfarmgirl: Thanks for your kind words! I took the intro to beekeeping class with my mom (for moral support), and it was so interesting. I'm really excited for her. She just got the hive; bees are coming in May!

    ~Emily: You said it ~ ooey-gooey is right! And thanks for the congrats; I'll pass them along. :) I hope you get your bees someday too!

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  7. Honey butter sounds so good! Next time I make scones or biscuits I may try it on its own!

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  8. Love this, except that I do love to eat popcorn while I'm on the computer sometimes!!

    Hey, congrats to your Mom!! What a cool Mom job!

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  9. I love your photo. It does look the popcorn is covered in molten sunshine. Quite appealing!

    That is cool about your mom.

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  10. "Pure molten sunshine". Brilliantly put.

    I saw this recipe on my BlogHer side bar and said out loud, "Oh good hell."

    Making this tonight.

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  11. ~Maris: Oh, it's good for drizzling on biscuits all right! :) I use it for making honey-glazed pastry twists with left-over pie dough scraps too.

    ~RecipeGirl: I hear that! Left hand is for popcorn; right hand is for mouse. ;)

    ~Lisa: Thanks so much for your kind words! I'll pass your well-wishes on to my mom. :)

    ~Rookie Cookie: Aw, thank you!! I hope you like it!

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  12. That looks so amazing! Best of luck to your mom. I think it would be so cool to take up bee keeping. It probably wouldn't work out right now, however, in my city apartment! :-)

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  13. Ooooh, I love this recipe too. I want one when I watch DVD at home.

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  14. Yummm... I love popcorn! Reading a book and eating pop corn. Watching a movie and eating pop corn...

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  15. mmm I was just at home thinking honey would be really good on popcorn so i googled it and used your recipe.

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  16. Caan I knw ur butter 2tbsp mean in gm is how much?my kids n me love it

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  17. 2 tablespoons of butter equals about 1 ounce, or 28 grams. Enjoy! :) ~ Sandy

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