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Making homemade popcorn seasoning is so much easier than you would think. Today I’m showing you how to make 7 of our favorite popcorn flavors, from herby ranch to cinnamon sugar! These seasonings have been munched down on in thousands of kitchens since I first published this recipe years ago – yours next?
save this recipe!The day I learned that popcorn is a whole grain was a pretty big day. Suddenly my favorite mindless-munching snack was a wholesome one, and let’s just say I ate a lot of popcorn after that discovery.
But while many store-bought flavored popcorns are loaded with butter and sugar, you can make your own homemade popcorn seasoning at home that’s healthier (and cheaper!) than the store-bought stuff.
Reader rating
“My adult grandchildren always look forward to the different flavours of popcorn I’ll bring to a game or other event. Sara, these top their choices, especially the Mexican Chocolate and Taco.” —Vivian
How to Scale Popcorn Seasoning for Holiday Gifts
This is the question I get asked most. My easy rule is to multiply each blend by 6. That fills an 8-ounce jar for most flavors, and each jar seasons six 4-cup bowls of popcorn.
- Ranch (4-ounce jar): 1 Tbsp each dried dill, dried chives, garlic powder, and onion powder, plus 1 ½ tsp salt and 1 ½ tsp pepper. Tag: use 2 ½ tsp per 4 cups popcorn.
- Dorito (8-ounce jar): ¾ cup nutritional yeast, plus 1 ½ tsp each garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and salt. Tag: use about 2 ½ Tbsp per 4 cups popcorn.
- Taco (8-ounce jar): 6 Tbsp taco seasoning and 6 Tbsp nutritional yeast. Tag: use 2 Tbsp per 4 cups popcorn.
- Coconut Curry (16-ounce jar): 1 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut, 1 Tbsp curry powder, and 1 ½ tsp salt. Tag: use a heaping ¼ cup per 4 cups popcorn.
- Cinnamon Sugar (8-ounce jar): ¾ cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp cinnamon, and 1 ½ tsp salt. Tag: use about 2 ½ Tbsp per 4 cups popcorn.
- Gingerbread (8-ounce jar): ½ cup plus 1 Tbsp powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 ½ tsp ground ginger, and 1 ½ tsp ground cloves. Tag: use 2 Tbsp per 4 cups popcorn.
- Mexican Chocolate (8-ounce jar): 6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 6 Tbsp powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp cayenne. Tag: use about 2 ½ Tbsp per 4 cups popcorn.
Whisk each blend in a bowl before you funnel it into the jar, since nutritional yeast and powdered sugar both settle into layers. On the tag, write the amount to use and the one step people skip: toss the popcorn with a teaspoon of oil or melted butter first. Shredded coconut has natural oils, so give the Coconut Curry jar a shorter use-by date than the others.
A jar pairs nicely with a bag of kernels. For the rest of your list, check out my 47 gift ideas for foodies.
Savory Popcorn Recipes
Ranch Popcorn Seasoning:
- ½ tsp dried dill
- ½ tsp dried chives
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Dorito Popcorn Seasoning:
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Taco Popcorn Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Coconut Curry Popcorn Seasoning:
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ tsp curry powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Sweet Popcorn Seasoning Recipes
Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Gingerbread Popcorn Seasoning
- 1 ½ Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
Mexican Chocolate Popcorn Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
Make it stick!
There are a few ways to make the seasonings really stick to the popcorn. I always like to spray the popcorn lightly with either flavorless or olive oil. Spray or drizzle the oil over the popcorn, then toss to coat the whole batch. Then sprinkle on your seasoning and toss once more for evenly coated popcorn.
Another way to keep seasonings from falling off is to swap regular sugar for powdered sugar in sweet recipes. This light sugar coats each kernel without sinking to the bottom. Ready to get popping?
Best Homemade Popcorn Seasoning Recipes
Ingredients
Pick a Seasoning
- Ranch: ½ tsp dried dill, ½ tsp dried chives, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper
- Cinnamon Sugar: 2 Tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp salt
- Gingerbread: 1 ½ Tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Coconut Curry: ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, ½ tsp curry powder, ¼ tsp salt
- Dorito: 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp onion powder, ¼ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp paprika, ¼ tsp chili powder, ¼ tsp salt
- Mexican Chocolate: 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder,1 Tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp salt, pinch of cayenne pepper
- Taco: 1 Tbsp taco seasoning, 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Base
- 4 cups popped popcorn
- 1 tsp oil, 5 mL
Instructions
- Mix: In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for your seasoning of choice.
- Pop: Prepare popcorn in either the microwave or traditionally on the stove. Spray or drizzle oil onto popcorn, tossing to evenly coat.
- Serve: Sprinkle seasoning over popcorn and toss to coat once more. Serve warm.
Notes
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
Just to let you know — the boxes labeled P, f, F, and X to the left encroach on the content at times, and the amount of screen real estate taken up by the “live eat learn” row and the recipes row beneath it, along with the ad banner at the bottom, makes it hard to view your site.
Thanks so much for letting me know! I will definitely take a look at this and do some testing. Appreciate your feedback so we can keep making the site better!
Why does some recipes call for yeast????
Sometimes nutritional yeast is used for flavor!
Hi Sarah.
Thanks for your popcorn recipes! Five stars for sure!
I found your website while looking for a healthy alternative to commercial popcorn seasonings, which often contain all sorts of peculiar chemicals and food additives. I eat a diet that is probably 90% organic for the sake of my health, so in my house chemical food additives are definitely not on my menu. When I want tortilla chips I even buy organic ones to avoid the glyphosate (a toxic pesticide ) which is to be found in virtually every food made from non-organically grown corn.
The only one of your recipes that I have tried so far is the Doritos Seasoning recipe. It is very nice but may I suggest a couple of tweaks? When I tasted that recipe, I felt that it was missing something. I looked at the ingredients for the seasoning the manufacturer uses on store-bought Doritos and I see that they add five different types of sugar to the seasoning: maltodextrin; sugar; dextrose; molasses; and corn syrup solids. They also add the non-carbohydrate, plant based sweetener stevia extract.
Note also that store-bought Doritos have at least six different chemical listed in the ingredients and note well that when ready-made foods list “spices” as an ingredient, those spice mixtures are purchased from a manufacturer who may include chemical additives in the mix. The final manufacturer is not required to list every ingredient in those spice mixtures.
Anyway, I decided that a bit of sugar might improve the flavour. I blend up your Doritos Seasoning 8 batches at a time, so I have a good quantity to hand when I feel like some seasoned popcorn. Thus I use 16 tablespoons of yeast, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of onion powder, etc; multiplying each ingredient by eight times the quantity in your original recipe. So in an 8 batch quantity, I add 2 teaspoons of organic coconut sugar. I personally find that the coconut sugar improves the flavour, though I may add a bit more coconut sugar next time. I am still experimenting with my tweaks.
I notice also that store-bought Doritos also contain malic acid. This in acid that was originally found in apples, so I don’t think it is hazardous to eat. Manufacturers of snack foods often add malic acid to give the food a bit of an acidic tang. When I next make your recipe (in an eight times quantity) I will try adding ¼ teaspoon of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) rather than malic acid to add a slightly note of tartness to the seasoning powder.
Possibly malic acid can be purchased but ascorbic powder is definitely easy to find and I myself always have some to hand since I take generous amounts of vitamin C every day. Since most people are chronically deficient in vitamin C, adding some to any recipe cannot hurt. That amount of ascorbic acid indicated above may need to be increased subsequently but I like to add additions to any recipe in modest quantities and then increase the amount as needed, to taste. I don’t want to add too much of a new ingredient and accidentally spoil a whole batch.
Also, I have not tried it yet but I am thinking of making some of your Ranch Seasoning and adding a bit of skim milk powder your recipe to see what happens.
So those are my suggestions and I hope they are of use to yourself and your readers.
All the best to you and thanks again for the popcorn seasoning recipes! 🙂
Dr. Zook
Our son made your popcorn 🍿 for us.
The Dorito flavour was super while watching a Blue Jays baseball game.
I look forward to trying other flavours.
Thank you !!!
Thanks for the kind words Wilma, happy eating!