5 Ingredients or Fewer

Soy Sauce Butter Popcorn

by:
July 29, 2016
5
1 Ratings
Soy Sauce Butter Popcorn
Photo by Posie Harwood
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

Compound butters are one of life's greatest pleasures, as is a giant bowl of popcorn. I found a recipe from Kikkoman for Sriracha butter popcorn, but thought using a different product (soy sauce) in butter would be even better. Soy sauce butter is rich, savory, umami-laced, and literally so delicious I eat it with a spoon—it takes popcorn to seriously great levels. Grated cheese, Sriracha, and sesame seeds are all excellent but not necessary additions. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon Sriracha (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
  1. Pop your popcorn however you like: My favorite method is to air-pop it in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid. Heat the pan over medium-high heat and add 3 kernels. Once the test kernels pop, add the rest of the kernels, reduce the heat to medium, and shake constantly until the kernels all pop (or until there are a few seconds between each pop).
  2. Melt together the butter and coconut oil, then whisk in the soy sauce. Whisk in any extra mix-ins, as I listed above (Sriracha, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese). Another excellent topping is a few tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds.
  3. Pour the soy sauce butter over the popcorn and toss to coat.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Tvine Topouzian
    Tvine Topouzian
  • Marcus Engstrom
    Marcus Engstrom
  • Josh Mitchell
    Josh Mitchell
  • Rita Goeckeritz
    Rita Goeckeritz
  • Posie (Harwood) Brien
    Posie (Harwood) Brien

Popular on Food52

12 Reviews

Tvine T.
Tvine T. September 8, 2017
I am a huge popcorn enthusiast and I had high hopes for this recipe but unfortunately I have a tummy ache right now and wondering where I went wrong. Popped the kernels as instructed and they turned out perfect, then I decided to make a second batch and popped some more. All is well. Wisked the butter, oil and spices over medium heat and poured it immediately over popped corn. The whole thing deflated like, all the air came out and it all became a huge mush of gew. I decided to eat it anyway but now I regret the whole thing.....feeling quite disappointed. Can anyone tell me where I went wrong? These comments kind of give me the impression this was not supposed to turn out this way.
 
Marcus E.
Marcus E. May 30, 2017
I do this but use nutritional yeast along (and Parmesan) as a topping. It's so good! Also try subbing extra-virgin olive oil for the coconut oil.
 
Anita
Anita November 28, 2016
Can this be made ahead and stored in an airtight container or will it just get soggy? Wanted to bring with us for a weekend getaway.
 
Brian
Brian August 5, 2016
The hardest thing about making popcorn (IMO) is getting an even distribution of butter. I feel like much of it absorbs into the top level of popcorn before I have a chance to shake it up, resulting in a bunch of over-flavored kernels and a LOT of under-flavored ones.

Any tips on getting the butter (or compound butter, or any other flavorings) evenly distributed throughout the bowl?
 
Leno
Leno August 11, 2016
I add it as soon as I pull the lid off of the pot and mix it with a hard spoon really, really well. You have to be very quick in adding the butter but it's worth it I think.
 
Josh M.
Josh M. August 4, 2016
"air-pop it in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan"... wait... what?
 
breakbread
breakbread August 1, 2016
About 28 years ago, I made a version of soy-sauce popcorn for my then-boyfriend, who because husband, and now father of my 18yo son (whose bday is this week). Popcorn with soy sauce is a family inside-joke; it was so delicious it even resulted in a parking ticket for some reason we can barely remember, a lost tie and a baby ten years later. Enjoy this recipe (it looks delicious), be mindful of parking times and know it is good karma!
 
breakbread
breakbread August 1, 2016
*became
 
Rita G.
Rita G. August 1, 2016
I'm a popcorn enthusiast. I've eaten popcorn for lunch and/or dinner more times than I'll admit in public. This recipe did not disappoint. It is delicious. It wasn't anything like the flavors I imagined when I read the recipe. It's richer, deeper...more umami. The combination of coconut oil, butter and soy sauce is a complex flavor. I didn't use all the butter/oil mix. I just drizzled it over the popcorn to taste. Lucky for me. Now I have left over for a fresh batch of popcorn and lunch tomorrow. Thank you Posie for a great recipe.

 
Posie (.
Posie (. August 1, 2016
Love that you enjoyed it!
 
Stephanie G.
Stephanie G. July 31, 2016
This was very greasy. I would suggest cutting back on fats by half.
 
Posie (.
Posie (. August 1, 2016
Definitely is a lot of butter; I recommend making the full amount of soy sauce butter, starting with drizzling some over and tossing it, and stopping when it's the amount you like. Everyone has different preferences for the right level of "butteriness" for popcorn I think!