Camp Stove Popcorn
Half a cup of kernels, a little fat, a lid. The cheapest volume of food you can carry.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 1.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 200
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 1 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 7 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Popcorn kernels | 1/2 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut oil | 2 tbsp | solid at room temperature, so it packs in a small jar without leaking |
| Salt | to taste | fine grind sticks better than kosher |
| Nutritional yeast or a seasoning blend | 1 tbsp | optional |
Method
- Set the pot on low heat and melt the oil. When it thins out and shimmers, it is hot enough.
- Add the kernels and stir until every one is slick with oil. Two or three of them should sit right on the bottom.
- Put the lid on with a small gap, or tip it so steam escapes. A sealed lid gives you soggy popcorn.
- Shake the pot every ten seconds or so. Popping starts in about two minutes and runs another three.
- When the pops slow to one every couple of seconds, take the pot off the stove and leave the lid on for a minute.
- Salt it in the pot, put the lid back on, and shake.
The original version of this uses butter and an Instant Pot on saute. Butter does not travel without a cooler, and coconut oil is the better trail fat anyway: it is solid in a jar, it has a high enough smoke point to run a pot at popping temperature, and it does not go rancid the way an open bottle of olive oil will over a week.
The lid gap is the part people get wrong. Popcorn is mostly steam escaping a kernel, and if that steam stays in the pot it condenses back onto what already popped. Leave a vent and the finished popcorn stays dry. Keep the pot moving too, since unpopped kernels sitting on a thin backpacking pot burn in seconds over a canister stove’s narrow flame.
Packing
Kernels in a zip bag, oil in a small screw-top jar. Half a cup of kernels expands to roughly eight cups popped, so bring a bag to hold the result or plan to eat it out of the pot.
Variations
- Curry powder or smoked paprika added to the oil before the kernels blooms into the fat.
- A tablespoon of sugar stirred in with the kernels makes kettle corn, but it scorches fast and it will glue itself to your pot.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/instant-pot-popcorn