Best Popcorn Machines

LesserEvil’s own kernels are also sold in 5-pound bags and cost $25 on Amazon. If you were to use 4 ounces of those kernels and cooked them at home, you’d get more than the content of that bagged option. Sixteen cups, in fact, according to the trade association Popcorn.org, which has a simple tabulation of the yield from unpopped kernels into popped goodness. The dollar difference in buying LesserEvil’s bagged popcorn is three times more expensive because that 5-pound container of kernels nets 320 cups, and it would cost you $99.20 to get the same quantity.

Did we mention that a lot of the store-bought stuff can contain sugar, salt, and higher calories, which undermine that whole nutritional angle? Well, you surely knew that, anyway. 

All of which argues for making popcorn at home, controlling the ingredients you’re consuming, and perhaps purchasing a device to streamline that production. Many popcorn makers are quite affordable, and my wife and I tried six of them, with somewhat surprising results.