How to Get Seasoning to Stick to Popcorn Like a Pro

Making popcorn at home should be simple, right? You just pop the kernels in your Popper, sprinkle your favorite seasonings, and enjoy. 

But if you’ve ever found yourself wondering where all the flavor went, only to find the seasonings sitting in the bottom of the bowl, you know getting those flavorings to stick can be tricky. 

That’s why we put together this guide to help you keep those seasonings where they belong! 

Now read on to learn how to get seasoning to stick to popcorn:

Start With Warm Popcorn

Sprinkle the seasoning right after popping, while steam is still rising. Warm popcorn holds onto oils and seasonings better than cool ones. 

Use a Binding Agent

Another way to get dry seasonings to stick better is to use binding agents like melted butter, oil, or a cooking spray.

• Melted butter: Drizzling melted butter over your popcorn before adding seasoning helps, but it can make it soggy. 

• Clarified butter: If you don’t want your popcorn to get soggy (who does?), use ghee instead of regular butter. It doesn’t have milk fats so it keeps your snack crisp.

• Oil: Put some oil in a mist bottle and spray a light layer over the popcorn. This gives you more control over the amount you add versus drizzling oil.

• Cooking spray: A few spritzes will do the trick, and you can find sprays in flavors like butter or olive oil. 

Grind Coarser Seasonings

The thing with granulated seasonings like parmesan or chili flakes is that they tend to bounce right off your popcorn. 

Wonder why it’s different with the salt movie theaters use on their popcorn? It’s because they use a superfine salt called flavacol. It has much tinier particles than regular salt, which makes it cling to kernels better.  

Luckily, you can use a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle to grind your coarse seasonings into a similar consistency. For cheese, try a microplane grater.

Toss Well

The way you toss your popcorn matters just as much as what you put on it. If you do it right, you’ll coat every kernel evenly. 

Here are some tips:

• Use a huge bowl (and by huge, we mean twice the size of your popcorn). The extra space gives you room to toss and no spills.

• Keep tossing the popcorn as you're adding seasonings. Think of it like flipping a pancake rather than stirring soup.

• If you’re using your Popsmith, hold the two handles — wear an oven mitt when touching the shorter one — and shake gently to distribute the flavoring. Don’t shake too hard, or you might spill!

Work in Batches

Try not to dump all the seasoning into the popcorn at once, especially for bigger batches. Instead, do it gradually to give proper attention to each portion. Add your binding agent, sprinkle seasoning, toss, and repeat. 

From Bland to Well-Seasoned

Now that you know how to season popcorn, you’ll enjoy perfectly flavored popcorn with every bite. No more sad seasonings lost to the bottom of your bowl. 

Ready to put these tips into practice for your next movie night? Grab your Popper and get popping! We also have seasoning ideas in case you need inspiration.