Spice-infused Oil Is the Key to This Festive Popcorn

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I hate to tear you away from the mass produced tri-flavor popcorn tin, but there’s an even more delightful popcorn that’s perfect for cozying up with on the couch. It’s your own homemade holiday-spiced popcorn, and it pairs uncommonly well with hot chocolate and marshmallows. This recipe uses common pantry spices and if you’ve ever baked a pumpkin pie, I’m guessing you have them already. Grab the nearest two-quart pot, and let’s get poppin’.

Unlike my strong feelings for great coffee, I’m not a popcorn snob in the slightest. I like it all—pre-bagged, microwaved, air-popped, or kettle. Recently, despite distinct memories of disliking this method, I’ve returned to the classic stove-top pop. I don’t know what drove me away because I’m quite enjoying myself. Not only does the ruckus of exploding kernels bring a smile to my face every time, but there’s more freedom with flavoring. You can add hot or savory sauces to your drizzling butter, after the popcorn finishes popping, or you can flavor the actual fat you use to heat up the kernels. That’s exactly what we’re doing with this recipe.

How to infuse cooking oil with flavor

Before you add the unpopped kernels to the fat in the pot, add spices first to infuse it. This is a technique commonly used in Indian cuisine called tadka (also called tarka, chhonk, baghaar, and other names depending on the region, or referred to as tempering spices). You add whole or ground spices to oil, or ghee, and allow it to heat up and “bloom.” This can mellow overpowering notes in the raw spices, and the flavors of the toasted spices infuse the oil. If you’re using whole spices, the large pieces can be removed to leave behind a subtle, aromatic fat. Ground spices remain dispersed in the infused oil making for a robust dish, and in this case, popcorn. 

How to make holiday-spiced popcorn

To make a bowl of holiday cheer, add the fats to a medium-to-large pot over low heat. You’ll see in the recipe I use both butter and cooking oil. I like the flavor of butter more than just straight oil, but adding a splash of canola oil raises the smoke point so my butter doesn’t burn. Alternatively, you could also use ghee which has a higher smoke point than butter. Add salt, and all of the other spices. Swirl the pot to moisten all of the spices and allow them to cook over medium-low heat for 20 seconds to 1 minute depending on how hot the oil has become. You’ll notice the smells of the spices become quite fragrant, and the butter might start to foam.

Dump the unpopped kernels into the pot all at once. Cover the pot and give it a shake so all of the kernels get coated in oil. Extra points if you get the spiced oil up on the inside of the lid. Then crank the heat up to medium. The oil has already heated up so the popcorn should start to pop within a minute. Shake the pot occasionally as the kernels pop, just to make sure the spiced fat is coating the kernels. Crack the lid when the pot is at rest to let steam escape. Take the pot off the heat once the popcorn has significantly slowed and the pot is nearly full of spice-coated popcorn. Pour the popcorn into a bowl.

If you’re using ground spices like in the recipe, it’s best to crank up the heat when you add the popcorn, and pop the kernels as quickly as possible to reduce scorching of any spices that stick to the bottom of the pot. When I poured my popcorn out, the last five or six popcorn pieces on the bottom had some overly toasted spice areas. Any spices that did scorch actually clung to the pot instead of to the corn. 

If you want to avoid scorched spices (it didn't bother me), then I suggest infusing the oil with the same method but using whole spices instead (like broken cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and cardamom pods). Then remove the spices and you’ll be left with an aromatic fat to cook the popcorn, or save it as a drizzle post-popping. The flavor won’t be as robust, but it’ll be wonderfully fragrant. My popcorn turned out incredibly flavorful, buttery, and perfectly salted. My whole apartment still smells like toasted gingerbread cookies and warm holiday spices even hours later. 

Holiday-spiced Popcorn Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup un-popped popcorn kernels

Heat the butter, oil, salt, and spices for about 1 minute over medium-low heat to infuse the oil. It will get foamy and you’ll notice the fragrance become rather strong. Add the popcorn kernels, cover the pot and turn the heat up to medium. Shake the pot to coat the kernels with the infused fats. Once the popcorn begins popping, shake the pot occasionally to coat the popped popcorn with more seasoned fat. Take the popcorn off the heat when the popping slows down to one pop every three to five seconds. Pour it into a bowl and enjoy immediately.