I was in Target recently and noticed they have some bowls on the shelf marketted as Microwave Popcorn Bowls. I usually use a plastic mixing bowl and haven’t had any problems. These Microwave Popcorn Bowls were a normal bowl shape, but the plastic was a bit thicker. Other than that I didn’t notice any sort of design feature that would make it excel at making popcorn.
So is there anything special about a Microwave Popcorn Bowl that makes it work better than a regular bowl?
At the risk of sounding completely stupid, how do you do your popcorn in the microwave? The only micro instructions I’ve seen for popcorn involve a paper bag and oil. I’m curious, especially if it involves very little/no oil.
We have one, you have to use oil. We’ve never made microwave popcorn in another bowl, but I assume that the thicker plastic prevents “scarring” from hot oil.
It works okay, I’d rather have stove-popped.
I’ve never seen one in person, only online. I always assumed they had some metal in them to provide some ‘real’ heat. Microwave pizza plates have metal in them to help toast the pizza.
Moved from IMHO to CS.
Microwave popcorn works fine in normal plastic bowls FYI.
You can microwave plain popcorn and it comes out fine. I usually put 3 tablespoons of popcorn in a bowl and microwave for 1:30. It seems to work out alright, although I do have about 20% unpopped kernels. I don’t know if that’s because of the corn I’m using or because I don’t have a special Microwave Popcorn Bowl.
Back in the 90’s I had one of these things. It did an okay job, but eventually I just found easier to buy bags. It did leave lots more unpopped unkernels than bags. I see that they are still being sold, so I guess they work well enough.
Popping does require a disposable paper “concentrator” at the bottom of the bowl (at least for the bowl I linked), which may not be so easy to find nowadays at your local stores. Perhaps other bowls have come up with a concentrator that does need to be replaced.
The bowl’s not covered? Doesn’t the popcorn end up everywhere inside the microwave? And if so, why do need a bowl?
You definitely need a cover. I put a plastic lid over the bowl loosely so that steam can escape but not the popcorn.
I’m amazed by the lengths people will go to for microwaved popcorn. A tabletop air popper costs about $10, pops about as fast as the microwave, lets you pop HUGE quantities at once, lets you pick exactly what brand of popcorn and toppings you want…why wouldn’t you get an air popper? It was one of the first appliances I ever bought. Microwaves are for melting butter!
Man, now I’m all hungry…
Air popped popcorn tastes like styrofoam to me. The kernels are dry and the rest is chewey and dry no matter how much butter or whatever I put over it. Yet I’ll still eat the stuff when I’m on a diet because its the healthiest way to eat popcorn.
Outgoing mail in mailboxes, microwave popcorn in plastic bowls – my subscription fee has paid for itself!