30 Healthy Popcorn Recipes That Satisfy Every Snack Craving

By Anisha Jhaveri

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Crunchy, buttery, full of carbs… popcorn is the ultimate “happy food.” No, really—studies have shown that the serotonin found in the gluten-free whole-grain can have relaxing, mood-lifting effects. No wonder it’s such a popular party appetizer, late-night snack, and most importantly, a snacker’s ultimate companion for movie nights.

But as healthy as popcorn can be on its own, concession stands and pre-packaged varieties often serve it drenched in salt and butter—or even worse, artificially flavored goop masquerading as butter.

We’ve found 30 recipes from bloggers around the Web that pump up popcorn’s nutritional profile. Made with a dash of butter, topped with cinnamon sugar, or a sweet and salty combo, there’s a tasty option for every craving. Better still, we’re pairing each variation with our recommendation for a film to watch along with it.

Sweet

Photo: Sweet As a Cookie

1. Apple Pie Popcorn

Out of apples? Inept with an oven? No worries; you can still have all the flavors of the traditional baked treat—just pack it into a batch of popcorn instead of piled into a crust. With triglyceride-lowering cinnamon, apple pie spice, and vanilla, the recipe maintains all the flavors of the original while a touch of stevia keeps it sugar-free. Better yet, once your popcorn is popped, the whole thing takes less than 30 seconds to put together, making it easy as… well, pie!

Movie: Waitress

2. Chocolate Chip Coconut Popcorn

Coconut flakes—armed with cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber—get toasty in an oven before joining a generous heap of vegan chocolate chips and stevia-sweetened, freshly popped corn. If a macaroon and a chocolate chip cookie had a health-conscious baby, we bet it would taste something like the flavors here.

Movie: Stranger Than Fiction

3. Pumpkin Popcorn

Unlike many pumpkin spice snacks, which often rely on artificial flavorings, these morsels call for just two tablespoons of unrefined sweetener and a spoonful of real, canned pumpkin. A seasonal treat that fills you up with beta carotene instead of scary chemicals? Surely that scores this popcorn some extra points.

Movie: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

4. Clean Eating Caramel Popcorn

With just three whole-food ingredients, caramel popcorn just doesn’t get any easier (or healthier) than this. Instead of a mound of sugar dissolved into saccharine syrup, this blogger cuts …read more

Source:: Greatist