Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes

So…I put anchovies in popcorn.

Before you give up on me, hear me out. This Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes is really good!  It’s pretty much my new go to movie snack.

I’m not even totally sure where the idea came from (sometimes these crazy ideas just come to me!), but one evening when Hubby and I were preparing snacks for a movie night, I decided to add anchovies to my popcorn. I’m sure it was partly inspired by Vicky at Things I Made Today. In the summer, she posted a recipe for Radish and Anchovy Butter Toast, which pretty much turned me into an anchovy butter addict. The radishes I could take or leave, but that butter! I guess when I was making my popcorn that night, I must have thought “if it’s good on bread, it must be really good on popcorn”. Yes, yes it is. Plus a few chili flakes to add just a touch of kick. Yum!

Okay…if you hate anchovies, you might not like anchovy butter popcorn. But as long as you don’t go too heavy on the anchovies (lean more towards 3 fillets instead of 6, like I do), they don’t taste too fishy. They just melt down into the butter and give it a super savory, umami flavor. And some delicious saltiness too. Just make sure you stick with unsalted butter, or it might be too salty.

And don’t let convenience stop you from trying this delicious snack – it’s just as easy to make as regular buttered popcorn. All you need to do is melt the butter and anchovies together while waiting for the popcorn to pop, then toss in a few chili flakes. When the popcorn’s done, just toss it all together and you’re ready for a movie, or to binge-watch your current obsession on Netflix.

What’s your favorite go-to movie snack?

5 from 1 vote

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Print Recipe

Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes

Cook Time5 mins

Total Time5 mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup unpopped popcorn kernels or 6 cups popcorn
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil use the olive oil the anchovies were packed in for the most flavor
• 4-6 anchovy fillets (less if you like your anchovy flavor more subtle more if you love anchovies like me)
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Pop popcorn however you'd like. Meanwhile, add butter, olive oil and anchovies to a small skillet over medium heat. Melt butter and mash anchovies with a spoon. When butter is melted and anchovies are broken down, add chili flakes and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
• Pour butter mixture over popcorn and toss.

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Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes Nutrition Notes:

Did you know that popcorn is considered a whole grain? On it’s own (air popped) it is a healthy snack – it’s high in fiber (3.5 grams/serving), low in fat (1 gram/serving) and calories (93 kcal/serving) and almost sodium free. One serving is 3 cups. The problem with popcorn is how it’s prepared, or what’s added to it. More than half of the calories for this popcorn and almost all of the fat and sodium come from the addition of the butter, olive oil and anchovies. However, cutting the butter with olive oil reduces saturated fat and adding anchovies adds some omega 3 fats, which is not reflected in the nutrition information. When you eat popcorn, keep the addition of fats (especially fats that are mostly saturated like butter, coconut and palm oils) and salt to a minimum, and keep your portion sizes small.