Anchovy Butter Popcorn is a great savory treat. Melt butter and anchovies together, stir in chili flakes, and toss with popcorn!
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.
How to make Anchovy Butter Popcorn:
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 (I find an air-popper the fastest and easiest), 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?
Anchovy Butter Popcorn Ingredients:
- Unpopped popcorn kernels or 6 cups popcorn
- Unsalted butter
- Olive oil - Pro-tip: use the olive oil the anchovies were packed in for the most flavor
- Anchovy fillets - You can usually find anchovies refrigerated in either the deli section, or with the meat. If you can't find it there, it might be in a shelf-stable can with the other canned fish.
- Red pepper flakes
Want more savory popcorn recipes?
Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes Nutrition Notes:
Did you know that popcorn is considered a whole grain? On its 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 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.
Anchovy Butter Popcorn with Chili Flakes
Ingredients
- ⅓ 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)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Pop popcorn however you'd like. Meanwhile, add 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and 4-6 anchovy fillets to a small skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter and mash the anchovies with a spoon. When the butter is melted and anchovies are broken down, add ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
- Pour butter mixture over popcorn and toss.
Nutrition
Vicky Cassidy says
Anchovies all day. Every day. The whole tin if I'm cooking.
Aaron says
You better believe it! Anchovy butter popcorn has been my favorite beer snack for years. For the mix-in, I use half melted butter, half olive oil, a healthy sprinkle of good onion powder, and about one quarter as much anchovy paste as the oils volume. Whisk it all good with a small whisk to break up the anchovy paste. It doesn't take much to flavor a big batch of popcorn. Toss the popcorn well after pouring the mix in over it and that delicious salty flavor gets everywhere, It doesn't keep long, but that's never a problem: it all soon gets eaten. Yum!!!!!