How to Make Vietnamese Butter Popcorn
Butter popcorn may seem difficult to make and something you can only buy at stores, but it's actually very simple. With just 3 ingredients—corn kernels, butter, and sugar—you can make butter popcorn in a pot at home in 5-10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 70g corn kernels
- 40g butter
- 30g sugar
- Deep pot
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
The corn used for butter popcorn is a special type of popcorn corn, which is widely available in pre-packaged forms. There are many brands to choose from. This recipe uses Popcorn corn. Regular corn either won't pop or will have a very low popping rate, and the kernels that do pop will be small and not as tasty. It's best not to use regular corn.
As for the butter, you can use any type, but unsalted butter is the most suitable because if you use salted butter like Tuong An butter, the popcorn will taste salty. You can read the article on types of butter to understand and differentiate them.
Regarding the pot, it's best to use a deep pot to give the corn space to pop. With 70g of corn (half a bowl), it will fill a 3-liter pot when popped.
Make the Butter Popcorn
Place a pot on the stove, melt 40g of butter, then add the corn. At this point, set the heat to medium. After about 1 minute, the corn will start popping. Once the popping begins, it will happen quickly. You need to quickly cover the pot and shake it to prevent the corn from burning, then place it back on the stove. When you no longer hear popping sounds, the popcorn is ready. Turn off the heat and transfer the butter popcorn to a bowl.
Using this type of corn ensures nearly 100% of the kernels will pop.
Caramelize the Sugar
The butter popcorn is ready to eat, but it isn't sweet yet. If you prefer it sweet, add 30g of sugar to a pan along with 30ml of water. Cook until the sugar dissolves and thickens, then turn off the heat. Add the butter popcorn to the pan and toss to coat the popcorn evenly with the caramelized sugar.
Do not add the sugar directly to the butter at the beginning as some packaged popcorn instructions suggest, as the sugar will burn, resulting in a bitter taste.
