Who doesn’t like a bowl of popcorn? It’s one of the greatest snacks ever. It’s always a must when watching a movie, you can have it while working, it’s easy to make, it’s a one-pot dish, and most importantly everybody loves it.
But what if you take comfort food and try making it in a comfort machine like an Instant pot.
Since the Instant pot makes cooking easy and convenient, is it able to do the same with corn kernels?
According to a majority consensus, making popcorn in Instant pot is extremely hard.
But is it?
Below we will tell you some of the common mistakes and the proper way of cooking popcorn in an instant pot.
Ways To Avoid Popcorn fail in Instant Pot
- Using the sauté option
Most of the time people don’t know what setting they should choose to cook popcorn.
For popcorn, you require extremely high heat, and the only way of getting it inside the Instant pot is through the sauté option.
To maximize the heat, click the sauté button and through its sub-option change it from low to high. Wait a bit more till the display shows Hot, which will indicate that the pot is sufficiently hot. Place your kernels inside and start cooking.
- High smoke point
Oils have smoke points. A smoke point indicates the temperature beyond which the oil will start to burn. Burning oil will, in turn, burn your food. So using oils with smoke points lower than 400 degrees Fahrenheit, for example, butter with a smoking point of 350 degrees F will cause your kernels to burn instead of pop. Using oils with smoking points over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, such as coconut oil, ghee, canola oil, and avocado oil are much better alternatives.
Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil and 4 tablespoons of butter according to taste. Put your kernels inside and start cooking.
- Kernels not covered in oil
A common mistake made by a lot of people is that they don’t bother covering each kernel in oil by mixing them with a spoon. Instead, they dump the oil then dump the kernel and hope for some popcorn. Such a technique will only give you burnt-corn not popcorn.
Thoroughly mix your kernels into the oil then start cooking.
- Don’t add too much
Adding a lot of kernels inside the pot will not allow even the transfer of heat. Some kernels that receive more heat will burn and those that don’t will remain uncooked. To avoid this problem, only add ½ a cup of corn kernels which is enough for 2 people to eat on a movie night.
- Cover the lid properly
Having the lid securely placed on top of the Instant pot is an essential part of the process. Having it open will not only give an outlet to your corn, but it will also keep a majority of the kernels inside from popping. So make sure your lid is secured properly.
- Keep it moving
Moving your kernels is a professional tip. Cooking popcorn inside an Instant Pot is not the best thing. But if it’s the only kitchen tool you have, then make sure you are shaking the pot 1 to 2 times within a single minute by grabbing the inner pot with an oven mitt or something similar.