You’re putting the finishing touches on your self-care routine, game night, or family movie night preparations when a “little bit more” salt makes the evening’s star snack much, much too salty. No one wants to eat or serve excessively salty popcorn. What a disaster. Or is it? Can you fix it? How do you fix it?
- Spread The Love, Make More Popcorn!
- Add A Little Richness With Fat
- Add A Complimentary Seasoning
- Neutralize The Salt With Sweetness
- Turn Your Popcorn Into Dessert
- Turn Tonight’s Snack Into Tomorrow’s Supper
There’s no need to despair. We’re here with six simple tips and tricks to help you use up that over-salted popcorn and potentially make it even better. Don’t be surprised if you find your new, go-to popcorn flavor here.
Can I Add More Popcorn to Decrease the Salty Taste?
Your first reaction may be to toss out your super salty snack and start over. If you have extra or are going to pop more anyway, a simple way to fix an oversalted bowl of popcorn is to add more popcorn. If you only seasoned a portion of your popped kernels, add more unseasoned popped kernels to dilute the overpowering flavor and spread it around.
You will put that extra salt to work and waste nothing. Bonus: you now have more perfectly seasoned popcorn to place around the table or pass around the couch. More for them and you.
Can I Add Butter to Decrease the Salty Taste?
Movie theater popcorn is salty, but it’s mellowed out by the richness of all that lovely butter. Take a leaf out of their book. Try adding butter to your bowl of salty popcorn to neutralize the taste. If butter is not your favorite or you’re watching your waistline, there are many other fat alternatives to adding butter to popcorn.
Each of these ideas will help to soak up and change the flavor profile of some of that excess salt in a different way. Use a spray if you prefer.
- Olive Oil: herbed olive oil is especially nice here
- Coconut Oil: adds a light taste that goes well with both sweet and salty popcorn
- Bacon Fat: if you’re a bacon lover, just trust us on this one
- Truffle Oil: a garlicky, musky earthy flavor
Do you have a little microwave and your popcorn bag does not fit? For the solution, read the article here
Can I Add Other Seasonings to Decrease the Salty Taste?
Salt may not be the only popcorn seasoning you have lying around. Maybe all you need is a complimentary taste to turn salty into stupendous. Herbs, spices, citrus juices, and all kinds of sauces can have a huge impact on the taste of mistakenly over-salted popcorn. There are so many popcorn seasoning recipes out there, all you’ll need to do is omit the salt.
Here are a few ideas to get you started. Pro tip: anytime you add a liquid to freshly popped kernels, try to use a fine sprayer. It will give you a good, even coating without the sogginess.
- Ranch Style Popcorn: dried dill, chives, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper
- Easy Cheesy Popcorn: parmesan cheese, or for a vegan option, nutritional yeast
- Dill Pickle Popcorn: dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, and coriander
- A Taste Of Italy Popcorn: dried oregano, dried basil, paprika, or your favorite Italian seasoning
- Spicy Popcorn Seasoning: Tabasco, sriracha, wasabi powder, or spicy taco flavoring.
Can I Add Sugar to Decrease the Salty Taste?
We’ve got more than savory solutions to your oversalted popcorn issue. Turn salty popcorn into a slightly sweetened treat with your favorite candy popcorn, kettle corn, or other salty and sweet popcorn recipes.
These recipes are usually a mixture of oil, sugar, and salt. You’ve got the salt all worked out, so now you need to add the sweetness for balance.
Mix things up with maple sugar, brown sugar, or muscovado sugar in your kettle corn. Or try a dusting of confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder or cinnamon for an even faster salty popcorn fix.
While we’re on the topic of balancing salty popcorn with sugar, why not go all out and make dessert? Typically, salty foods like peanuts, potato chips, and pretzels work great in sweet snacks and desserts, and so does popcorn.
Think popcorn balls, caramel popcorn, butter toffee popcorn, white chocolate, or dark chocolate drizzles. Toss in your favorite nuts, chocolate chips, sandwich cookies, or chopped-up candy bars.
With a little imagination, too salty popcorn can become everyone’s new favorite family night dessert.
Do you have grandparents or parents that have no teeth but want to eat popcorn? Read the article here
Can I Use My Popcorn as a Breading?
If you don’t plan on neutralizing or balancing out your oversalted popcorn, but you can’t bring yourself to toss it out either, plan ahead for tomorrow’s dinner.
Salty popcorn can be crushed into a tasty breading for chicken, fish, and even shrimp. Just search for “popcorn crusted“ and add on your favorite protein to find recipes. When it comes to popcorn breading, too salty isn’t an issue.
How Much Salt Should I Use On My Popcorn?
You’ve probably heard the saying, prevention is the best medicine. This goes for salty popcorn too. Choosing a good popcorn salt and the right fat so the salt will stick, along with adding the salt to your pan before popping can keep the level of seasonings you’re adding in check.
If you do choose to salt the pan and then add more salt to taste afterward, the general rule of thumb is to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per 1/2 cup of un-popped kernels.
We hope these handy tips and tricks will get you through your next salty popcorn emergency with a smile. Split the salt between multiple batches of popcorn, add complementary flavors, get creative with oils and fats, or sweeten the deal with a touch or a drizzle of chocolate.
