We Taste-Tested 9 Brands of Microwave Popcorn—Here Are Our Favorites

There isn’t a single person on our team who doesn’t love popcorn—most of us keep popcorn kernels in our pantries ready to pop up and douse with butter for easy snacking. Though most of us would prefer to make it the old-fashioned way—on the stovetop in a lidded pop or in a Whirley Pop—we don’t mind tearing open a bag of microwave popcorn every now and then. It’s straightforward and fuss-free, and takes just minutes to make. Though there are many microwave popcorn options available today, it can be difficult to suss out which are worth buying.

To find the very best microwave popcorn, our editors taste-tested nine different brands of butter-flavored microwave popcorn you’re likely to find at your local grocery store or online. We prepared each according to the package directions, then tasted them in random order without knowing which popcorn brand was which. After happily munching our way through nine different popcorn brands, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner—along with several other worthy contenders—we’d be happy to keep in our pantries.

The Criteria

All popcorn—including microwave popcorn—should have a crisp exterior with a light, fluffy interior. Butter-flavored versions should taste like real butter—or like the best buttery movie theater popcorn (which arguably doesn’t taste like real butter, but who doesn’t love it?)—even if there isn’t an ounce of it in the ingredients. It should be nicely salty, but not excessively so. The corn should have a toasty flavor, but shouldn’t come across as scorched. It should taste fresh, unlike the stale remnants at the bottom of a popcorn machine.

Overall Winner

Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn

“Nice and buttery with a good hint of salt,” our senior social media editor, Kelli, wrote. Like Kelli, our associate visuals director, Amanda, editorial director, Daniel, and I all enjoyed the dairy-forward flavor of this popcorn. “This is good and has some of that fake butteriness I like,” Daniel wrote. (It turns out he has a soft spot for artificial butter flavors.) Though I thought this popcorn had just the right amount of salt, our associate editorial director, Megan, thought it was slightly too salty. She did, however, like its fluffy texture.

Runners-Up

• Bowl & Basket Classic Popcorn
• Act II Butter Microwave Popcorn
• Nature’s Promise Organic Buttery Flavor Microwave Popcorn

Though none of the other popcorn brands we tasted were quite as good as our winner, our editors enjoyed the microwave popcorn from the three brands above. Daniel was a huge fan of the Bowl & Basket Butter Classic Popcorn. “Perfect, big fluffy popcorn puffs,” he wrote. “This just hits that totally classic movie theater popcorn mark.” Kelli described its flavor as “buttery and almost nutty,” and I thought it was nice and savory. Megan, once again, thought it was just a touch too salty. 

Our staffers had mixed feelings about Act II Butter Microwave Popcorn. Kelli, Amanda, and I would have all liked more salt and butter, and I found the flavor slightly too artificial. Megan and Daniel, however, were fans. Megan liked its slightly buttery flavor and thought the “nicely crispy” popcorn tasted “fairly natural, like homemade popcorn.”

Of all the popcorn we sampled, Amanda thought Nature’s Promise Organic Buttery Flavor Microwave Popcorn had the most prominent corn flavor. Still, she thought it could have used more salt. On the opposite side, Megan thought this popcorn was nicely nutty and pleasantly crunchy, despite finding it rather salty. Like Megan, Daniel liked its texture, noting, “Good, big fluffies.”

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Buttery Flavor Microwave Popcorn
• Act II Butter Microwave Popcorn
• Bowl & Basket Butter Classic Popcorn
• Jolly Time Simply Popped Butter Microwave Popcorn
• Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn
• Nature’s Promise Organic Buttery Flavor Microwave Popcorn
• Orville Redenbacher’s Butter Popcorn
• Pop Secret Homestyle Microwave Popcorn
• Stop & Shop Microwave Butter Popcorn

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Popcorn is the main ingredient in all of the brands we tasted. All the brands also contained palm oil, salt, and natural flavors. Some brands use sunflower oil in addition to palm oil, and many brands include a salt called potassium chloride and preservatives or acidulants to help enhance flavor and shelf-life, such as rosemary extract, ascorbic acid, citric acid, TBHQ (tery-butylhydroquinone), and mixed tocopherols. Annatto, a natural additive from the achiote tree, is also another common ingredient used to give popcorn a vivid yellow hue.

Our winner, Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn, is one of only two brands we tasted that includes actual butter in its ingredients list (the other brand, Stop & Shop, didn’t make our top picks). Even though palm oil is the primary source of fat in the formulation, that touch of butter made for richer, more flavorful popcorn.

It’s notable that every brand we tried has it on the ingredient list. Since the fat is affordable and shelf-stable, many manufacturers use it to prepare a variety of processed foods, including microwave popcorn. It’s worth noting that there are environmental consequences of harvesting and producing palm oil.

Overall, our editors enjoyed most of the popcorn brands we tasted. With the exception of Megan, our staffers liked their popcorn on the saltier side and didn’t mind the flavor of artificial butter. Some, including Daniel, wanted more of the artificial-tasting butter, which reminded them of classic movie theater popcorn.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill our tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.