Microwave Popcorn Popper Review

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Popcorn is my absolute favorite snack; one of my best drunk purchases ever was an 8 pound jug of Orville Redenbacher. So, when Amazon targeted me with an ad for this microwave popcorn popper I had to click through.

I will admit that making popcorn in a pot on the stove isn’t that difficult, so I left the microwave popcorn gadget in my cart for a long time because I knew I didn’t need it. But when the price dropped to just $11, I snagged it so that I could review it for all of you.

I cooked up two batches of popcorn: one on the stovetop and one with this silicone microwave popcorn bowl. I wanted to determine if I needed this product for my popcorn addiction. I’m judging the original Salbree microwave popcorn popper on three themes: form, function, and value.

Form

This popcorn popcorn popper comes in over a dozen colors, so you’re sure to find your favorite. I am sure that the pink version was targeted to me was a big part on why I clicked through the ad originally. And the neon pink color does make me pretty happy. Otherwise it seems relatively well-made and made of flexible, heat-resistant silicone.

Function

Function is the key to this product. Does it pop popcorn? How many popped kernels will it leave? And, most importantly, does it taste great? I was suspicious that this product could produce a tastier popcorn than I make on the stovetop. Especially when I realized you don’t add oil to the bowl (to ensure nothing burns). Clearly, cooking oil must add some delicious flavor?!

The microwave popcorn popped far faster than the pot on the stovetop. My microwave popcorn was half popped before the pot got hot enough to start popping.

Surprisingly, this popcorn popper made popcorn just as tasty as my stovetop version. The kernels were just as crunchy and there were far fewer un-popped kernels in the microwave popcorn popper as compared to my stovetop version.

The kernels in the microwave popcorn popper also appears to be fluffier. And I didn’t burn a single piece. I can’t say the same about my stovetop version. In my defense there, I never burn popcorn but in this case I was using an electric range I’m not as familiar with. That said, the microwave popper would make it much less likely to burn your kernels.

I also like that this gadget collapses and takes up very little space. It also has markings on the inside of the bowl for 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup measures for portioning your popcorn. You really only need to dirty this one dish to make an excellent batch of popcorn.

One con here is that the Salbree popcorn popper only pops up to 1/2 cup of dry kernels whereas on the stovetop, you’re only limited by the size of your biggest pot. I like to pop really big batches of popcorn at once so that we can have snacks throughout the week. But, the microwave maker is so quick and easy, I might find myself cooking smaller batches on the fly more often.

Value

This is a relatively inexpensive product even at its non-sale price of $15.20. But, if you put this on your wish list or in your cart, Amazon will probably let you know when it’s on sale. And at the sale price of $11.20, it’s a steal. If you usually buy microwave bags, you’ll probably end up spending less over time since bulk popcorn kernels are far cheaper than packaged stuff.

Final Thoughts

I was very skeptical of this product. I did not expect it to make tasty popcorn. But now, this might be one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. The popcorn really did taste as good as the popcorn popped on my stove top—and it was a much faster process that dirtied only one bowl. And I like anything collapsible to save space in my kitchen. I really recommend this for anyone that enjoys freshly popped popcorn.