Budget Cooking Hack: How to Make Popcorn in a Paper Bag in the Microwave

Our “eating healthy on a shoestring” series continues with one of my favorite “cooking” hacks: making popcorn in a brown paper bag in the microwave!

Why make your own brown-bag popcorn?

Cheaper: Homemade popcorn saves you money: It’s less than one-third of the price of store-bought.

• Homemade: $0.09/serving, Jolly Time brand ($0.12 if you count the paper bag)
• Store-bought: $0.31/serving, Orville Redenbacher brand

Safer: A chemical in the lining of some microwave popcorn bags, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is considered “likely to be carcinogenic” by the Environmental Protection Agency.¹ Now, I haven’t seen any research proving that the amount of PFOA in popcorn bags causes cancer. But since DIY popcorn is cheap and easy, why risk it?

Healthier: Skip the calories (and inflammation) from butter and oil in favor of a sprinkle of popcorn salt, soy sauce, or my personal favorite, Table Tasty popcorn seasoning. (Sodium free, but tastes surprisingly salty!)

How to make popcorn in the microwave in a paper bag:

1. Put ¼ cup of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag.

2. Loosely fold down the top. (The bag will expand with cooking.)

3. Microwave for 2 – 2½ minutes, until popping slows to once every 2 seconds.

4. Carefully unroll the top, add seasonings, and enjoy!

Note: Don’t walk away from the microwave! Leaving brown-bag popcorn in the microwave too long can burn your popcorn or cause the bag to catch on fire. (!)

Don’t have paper bags? Check out how to make popcorn in the microwave without a bag.