Although it’s not that cold here in LA, I started drinking a lot more soups, especially miso soup. But sometimes when you have so much of it, you want to figure out what else you can do with it in the kitchen. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do with miso paste, and one thing I love is miso butter.

Another thing that I love (even more?) are snacks – I love snacks. Snacks are excuses to eat more often. Snacks are excuses to also eat a little bit of everything you’re not supposed to for a meal.

A snack I’ve started to love is stovetop popcorn. I’m not sure why I only did microwaveable popcorn throughout my upbringing through adulthood. I’d get the kind in the packets that you throw into the microwave and watch kinda blow up-but it was always kinda stale and meh. Little did I know  how simple it is to just to pop your own popcorn on the stovetop and how much more satisfying it was. Also, popcorn is a great source of fiber. protein, vitamins and minerals for digestion/pregnancy (OH, especially with Miso.) I know a typical add-in for savory/sweet popcorn is also furikake (which is also easily added into everything else for a burst of flavor) but hey, miso butter is already bursting with flavor. If you want, go on in with that furikake. So hell yeah, enjoy some of this miso butter popcorn and let me know what other things you like to add.

Miso butter popcorn

Ingredients

Preparation Time

8 min

Cooking Time

5 min

Serving Size

2-4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 C popcorn kernals
• 2 tbsp butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 tbsp miso paste
• 3 tbsp sugar (optional)

Directions

Step 1.

Heat up your olive oil in a large pot under medium heat with 2-3 popcorn kernels and cover the large pot.

Step 2.

Once the popcorn kernels pop, move the pot aside and pour in the 1/2 C popcorn kernels in. Wait for about 60 seconds and bring the pot back to the stovetop. Shake the pot occasionally so the oil can evenly coat the popcorn kernel and popcorn doesn’t burn.

Step 3.

Once all of the popcorn has popped, set aside the pot of popcorn.

Step 4.

Cream the butter with the miso paste in a bowl and transfer to a nonstick pan. Mix until everything is melted together and toss a few tablespoons of sugar if using.

Step 5.

Pour the miso butter mix over a bowl of popcorn, mix well, and serve immediately.