The Best Bagged Popcorn at the Supermarket
Tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Bridget to a taste test of bagged popcorn.
Note: Recently, we learned that our winning bagged popcorn by Cape Cod has been discontinued. Our top recommendation is now the Smartfood Delight Sea Salt Popcorn.
Buy our updated winning bagged popcorn:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
personally, i make homemade with my dad, and its FANTASTIC! it was extremely good, that buttery salty flavour, half a stick of butter plus some other stuff. i use a 40ish year old machine.
Orville’s microwave popcorn. Done.
Unfortunately the favorite popcorn has sunflower and canola oil which are both inflammatory oils. Would not buy this. I wish the test kitchen folks would look at the ingredients in including the evaluation what’s the best health choices for eating some of these foods that are being reviewed.
I do both. It depends on time & what I want.
trick question none of these are covered in cheese powder
Have you compared microwave popcorn?
Smartfood ftw
Enjoying Orville Reddenbacher kernels popped in coconut oil with Flavacol salt. Tastes like the movie theatre without the nuclear orange color. Can’t beat fresh popped.
Should be paying attention to what type of oil is being used!
You didn’t test my favorite, Nearly Naked popcorn. It’s sold by Costco and I haven’t looked for it at other stores.it literally flies off the shelves and customers really complain when they’re out of it. Just great white popped corn, cooked in coconut oil which may add a tiny bit of sweetness and some sea salt.
Dam you YouTube know I actually learned something there were three types of popped popcorn kernels the only problem is now I want to buy a bag of popcorn and count how much of each one I have a serious problem
Video just appeared on my stream. I also string popcorn from my hot air popper (wedding gift from 1986) for my Christmas tree every year (adding small red pompoms for color – cranberries dried out too soon). Popcorn popper still works great!
Boom is my favorite.
Microwave👍🏻🤷♂️
They blew it. The number one quality criteria should be the amount of partially popped / hard pieces in the bag. Number two would be any sort of stale oil taste.
The crowd favorite is also my favorite. Love popcorn 🍿
No surprise that skinny pop didn't pop up to the top because for me it does taste bland
I'm one of the minority still popping my corn on the stove with a bit of oil…no microwave for me. The best bagged popcorn is the one you like best. It needs no in depth analysis from a panel of judges with differing palates.
I still have an air popper!
I miss popcorn popped on the stove. Its so delicious, but microwaved popcorn is so easy.
My favorite bagged popcorn had been Popcorn Indiana but it didn't even make the final table. The winners must really good then.
Smartfood delight is a banger
I know you were just testing plain popcorn but, Trader Joe's Herb and Spices popcorn is the best popcorn on the planet!
I personally prefer the brand in the red bag, but you didn't taste-test it. Your mission, considering you accepted it, is incomplete. I disavow any knowledge of your actions, and in 10 seconds my commentary will explode like a popcorn kernel. 10, 9, 8…
Popcorn is the new potato chip! Healthier and we have a ton of corn in this country
These popcorns are very very very salted.
Also, they taste like Styrofoam, stale, and spongy
The manufacturers are slowly damaging folks with these toxic popcorns full of salt and poor ingredients added