Oh popcorn. What a long and tumultuous relationship we’ve had.
There was, of course, the early childhood stage: occasionally that unmistakable smell and sound of kernels popping on the stove would fill the house and I knew a special treat was on the horizon.
Then there was the teenage stage. I was responsible for more of my own meals by then and hey! Popcorn can totally be a meal, right??
As often as I could get my hands on it, I ate popcorn. Breakfast, lunch, snack – didn’t matter. I basically ate it until I never wanted to see it again.
And then for a while… I just didn’t eat popcorn at all. Sad times.
Now that I’ve developed some self control, I love whipping up homemade popcorn before hubs and I sit down to watch a movie.
The best part of making popcorn from scratch: you can throw in any ingredients you have hanging around and make it your own.
I usually try different flavor combinations each time, but I made this version with lemon, thyme and parmesan cheese recently and I’m hooked!
Salty, cheesy, herby, lemony… and gone 5 minutes into the movie.
Maybe I should start making larger batches?
Or I guess I could just stick to that whole self control thing.
We’ll see.
Cheesy Lemon Thyme Popcorn

Serves
2Ingredients
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
- vegetable oil
- fine grain sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Combine the cheese, thyme and lemon zest, set aside. Melt the butter in a small microwavable dish, set aside.
- In a medium pot, pour in enough vegetable oil just to cover the bottom and set over medium heat. Throw in a couple of popcorn kernels; when they pop, you know the oil is ready. Pour in the rest of the kernels and place a lid on the pot, leaving it cracked so steam can escape. Shaking the pan almost constantly to keep the kernels moving, cook until the popping slows to a few seconds between each pop. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl.
- Pour the butter over the popcorn, stirring to combine. Stir in the parmesan mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Devour!
Mmmmmm, lemon and cheese! Nice.
This is right up your alley!
I was cruising food gawker and saw this and went right to the kitchen to make it. I’m stuffing my face right now. SO good!
Awesome!!
Oh My Goodness! I am craving it right now. I do like to pop my kernels right in the microwave in a brown paper bag, but I definitely try your seasoning. Oh I heard, but haven’t tried ti yet, that when you melt the butter and you remove the “foamy” part, it won’t make your popcorn soggy. I gotta give it a try soon. Hope to meet you at the food buzz fest in October.
I’ve never heard of this butter trick, but it definitely seems worth trying. I guess I need to make some more popcorn! 🙂
Holy moly! I used to have popcorn for dinner a very long time ago and wish I had known about this recipe back then..
Nowadays I don’t eat popcorn anymore. So sad. So very sad. It really doesn’t fit in a low carb life style.
Love your blog btw!
Bummer. Thanks Mia!
What a delicious recipe! I stumbled upon it looking for a savory popcorn recipe that used lemon and I’m so glad I did. I also made carmel corn tonight but your recipe beat out the sweet. I used olive oil instead of butter and it was delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thanks! I’ve been putting olive oil on popcorn recently myself – I think I enjoy it even more than butter!