Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper, White, 12 Cup

VOLUME: The base holds 12.5 cups to the brim. The top holds 5 cups. Total volume is 17.5 cups. Measurements taken by separately filling base and the cover with water to the highest level possible and removing a cup at a time. For comparison, a 2.5 QT pyrex bowl (with a plate over the top to contain the popping) holds exactly 11 cups filled to the brim. POPPING: Cooiking 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) of good quality kernels in ~ 1 tbsp of light olive oil in an 1100 watt microwave for 2.5 minutes, approximatley 1.5 tbsp unpopped kernels (19%) remained. Popping had not completely stopped, but I did not want to risk burning what had already popped. The popcorn filled the base plus 1/2 to 1 cup above the brim. So in actual use, you'll get between 13 and 14 cups of popped popcorn starting with 1/2 cup raw kernels. Using more kernels you might get it to 16 cups popcorn, but you'll risk the excess over 14-15 cups falling out when you take the lid off. The popcorn quality was excellent with no hint of burning anywhere in the batch. EASE OF USE: The bowl does indeed get hot as the product label warns, but there's a generous lip around the brim of 5/8" (1.6 cm) width that remained cool enough to lift at the edges using bare fingers without any difficulty or discomfort. This is a big improvement over the Pyrex bowl I had been using for microwave popcorn that required mitts or other insulation for the fingers. While the body of the bowl is initally too hot to hold, it cools more quicly than pyrex. The bowl is sturdy, not heavy, and easy to clean. Unlike floppy silicone popcorn poppers, the rigidity of the bowl and cover makes it much easier to wash down with a dishcloth. If you've ever used silicone poppers, you'll know the frustration that cleaning them can be. Haven't owned the Nordic Ware Pro Popper long enough to gauge durability, but nothing about it raises any concerns so far. RECOMMENDATION: Product exceeds expectations. Best overall popper on the market. Highly recommended.

With all the chemicals and unhealthy oils in prepackaged microwave popcorn, I was looking for an option for making our own healthier version and I think this Nordic Ware Popper fits the bill quite well, at a very reasonable price. I wanted to be able to use healthy oils, such as coconut or ghee, and add my own seasonings or salt and I liked that you could add these before popping, if desired. I chose this style over the collapsible silicone versions, as other silicone items I have tend to be hard to clean, especially if using oils that solidify. This one washes up very easily, and can be put in the dishwasher. It has taken a bit of trial and error to get the knack of achieving a perfect batch, and we did have quite a few no-pops and some scorches in the learning curve, but it is worth the trouble to find the right timing, technique, popcorn type, etc., for your own situation. When you get it right, you have delicious, crisp, healthy popcorn to suit your own tastes at a fraction of the cost of the unhealthy bags. I have experimented with adding 1-2 tablespoons of oil, along with Flavacol theatre-style popcorn seasoning before cooking. I have had better results preheating the oil and seasonings (along with the bowl) first, adding 1/3 C popcorn and swirling in the hot oil in the bowl, then cooking on highest level for a little more than 4 minutes. I did find that using oil tends to splatter the walls of the microwave due to the ventilation slots on the sides of the lid. This is easily remedied by draping an open napkin or paper towel kitty-corner over the lid while popping. So far, the popper and lid show little signs of use, no warping of the lid or discoloration yet, so I am hopeful that this popper will perform well over the long haul.

I just ordered my second one because my first one's lid broke after a year and a half - the lid had warped and I snapped it trying to get it to flex back. The bowl still works if covered by something like a plate, but moisture and popcorn buildup can cause problems that way, so basically I'd rather just get another one and have a second large bowl for other use (or as a backup if one is dirty and I'm lazy, which seems likely!). Anyway, this thing is pretty darn good. You put in the kernels, put on the top, and listen for the kernels to pop less than once every 2 seconds, then shut off the microwave, and you get hot popcorn! You can also add salt and oil in before nuking and you'll get decent results (although too much oil can drown the kernels instead of aerosolizing and blend with the poppping corn), just top it off with a little more salt and oil at the end to get quality popcorn - perhaps not movie-style or stovetop, but also it takes less oil and salt to make this tasty, so there's a health benefit to be enjoyed. I occasionally will add tabasco sauce to the oil when I nuke a batch, it tastes great but it does fill the air around the microwave with pepper gas for about 15 minutes which stings the eyes and lungs, so um... don't do that without taking precautions. Keep in mind, if you put in too much popcorn and it can overflow, but it won't stop cooking; put on too much time and don't listen for popping to slow, and the popped corn will scorch (mother nature isn't a precision factory, every batch of kernels will pop differently so be responsible with your microwave popcorn or you risk burned popcorn or even fire). The popper bowl material is an unusual, strong, thick, amalgamted plastic like the other microwave cookware from Nordic Ware, it gets really hot but it survives that heat nicely. It also stays hot for a while, which at the bottom of the bowl can be too hot for some surfaces (like a glass table or one's lap), so I suggest using an old small wooden cutting board or something similar to set it on; a good side-effect of the bowl holding heat is it keeps the popcorn warm longer. The bowl quickly took some stains at the bottom (both inside and outside) from the heat, the oils in the kernels, or a combination, but continues to work with no adverse effects. Cleanup is easy, making dry popcorn you just wipe it down and it's pretty much ready to go; with oil popcorn it's a quick wet soapy sponge and dry (it's a big bowl, so you will likely get wet washing it by hand). The package only says the lid is dishwasher top-rack safe, says nothing about the bowl in the dishwasher, but since it can take a firm beating from the microwave oven, I figure it can handle hot water and Cascade liquid, and so far it's done great in the dishwasher as long as I sweep out the kernels and hulls first - I dunno, maybe your dishwasher will find a way to ruin it since it's not approved, but mine hasn't so far - it can take up a lot of real-estate in the dishwasher though, sometimes it's just easier to wash it by hand than cover up so much of the bottom rack (it's too tall for the top rack). The lid is a softer, clear(ish) plastic that has an X-shaped grip section and cutaways around the sides to let out steam (open it away from your arm and body, steam is hot!). Over time, the lid on mine warped so it fit the bowl even more loosely than it already had (to be fair, I was foolishly storing it upside-down right after cooking and that may have helped warp it) and then let out a few kernels and popped corn, but it otherwise continued to work. The lid is top-rack dishwasher safe, the top grip will gather a little water at the end of the cycle but otherwise it does fine; it really only needs cleaning when running oil with your corn, the oil vaporizes and collects on the lid along with the vaporized water from the kernels. It'll take a few rounds to get the right amount of kernels, I overpopped a ton of batches early - that's 12 cups of popcorn each from just a relatively small-looking amount in the bottom! Mine takes about 4 minutes to cook all that corn in my 800 watt microwave, however I find that the time is affected by the quality of the popcorn I'm buying, and the weather. The quality of the kernels also affects the number of unpopped and old-maid kernels (kernels that cooked but didn't pop due to a leak in the hull, an overly thick hull, or the wrong hull to germ ratio - each kernel is a natural pressure cooker that explodes a liquid into a solid when it hits the air), Orville in the jar is a significantly better pop with less hulls, as well as better to cook with, than the generic in the bag. Don't obsess about popping every last kernel, it's better to have half a dozen unpopped kernels among 12 cups of popcorn than to have part of your popcorn scorched, that blackened stuff is inedible and stinks up the unscorched popcorn as well as your house. Bottom line, for the price, I think this thing delivers pretty well. It has a few little drawbacks, but when all you need is a handful of kernels, this product, and a microwave to make 12 cups of popcorn, that's a great product - no extra stuff to buy, no oil required, no unitaskers (as Alton Brown would say) that are noisy and hog a ton of electricity and shoot kernels everywhere. This thing is quick, it's easy to use and to clean, it is a big bowl, and it's inexpensive.

FIRST OF ALL, notice this is an "Amazon Verified Purchase"? That should go a long way in trusting the reviewer. Furthermore, for the record, I do not believe the reviews that claim this products "cracks" once it's used. I've been using Nordic Ware for years and never had any crack from use. If you drop them, that's a different story. Now on to the review! REVIEW: I've used this product every day, experimenting with it for several months on how to produce the best popcorn. I've stumbled across something and thought I'd share it here. You won't find this tip anywhere else on the internet. This tip is for **air popping**, not for popping in oil. I purchased a 2.9 cup capacity Rubbermaid (microwave safe) food storage container from Walmart to use for propping up the Nordic Ware. Someone had suggested raising the bowl from bottom of the microwave. But here's the new trick: add 2 measured teaspoons of water to the storage container. Then place the NW inside the container (not using the lid for this trick) where it will then sit, raised up about 1/2" from the bottom. This works because the sides of the NW bowl curve outward and this particular size of Rubbermaid container keeps the NW propped up at the perfect height. You won't believe how much *puffier* your kernels will pop, and *more* will pop as well, compared to your regular method. Here's why it works. Microwaves work by heating the water/moisture content in your foods. So by adding some water like this (but keeping it separated from the popcorn) the microwave must heat both the water and the kernels at the same time. This extends the time that the kernels will be heated before they pop. I believe this allows them time to heat more uniformly, and when they pop they really explode in all directions, creating a *puffier* popcorn. I've noticed that without using this water trick that the kernels will start popping after 30 seconds, but with the water they start at about 1 minute. It takes a little longer to pop all the corn with this trick, but just look at the payoff. I am positive this trick will also pop *more* of your kernels. I think it works because the steam that is produced by the evaporating water helps to heat the bowl, more so, and more uniform than usual. Remember, this is just a bowl, without a microwave susceptor, so the bowl is only getting hot because the kernels are getting hot first. You can see this for yourself by heating the bowl empty for 20 seconds; it doesn't get the least bit hot (but never run your microwave for more than a minute without something to zap, as your magnetron will overheat and may become damaged). I believe the steam heat helps to pop the corn better. I've also found that the popcorn is not scorched (slightly brown) as bad, if any at all, by using this method. Probably because at the end of this process when most of the kernels are popped, now instead of the microwaves being directed to the moist, fresh popped corn directly, the microwaves are more dispersed, still going towards heating the water in the container. Anyway, whatever is going on, THIS WORKS! I also suggest using the "Popcorn" setting on your microwave. This enables your microwave to use 100% full power the *entire time* it's operating. Microwaves cycle when using the "cook time" setting, alternating between power on and power off with the magnetron, so using the "cook time" feature does not work as well as a "Popcorn" setting (I've tested this as well). For this tip/review, I used a GE, 950 watt, 1 cubic foot sized (stove mounted) microwave, popcorn setting, turntable on, along with the Rubbermaid container with 2 measured teaspoons of water, for about 3 minutes, 18 seconds for 4 tablespoons of Fireworks Red River Popcorn. Yes there's still some unpopped kernels (about 10) with this corn, which happens to be a real challenge for *any* microwave popper (Orville's White pops almost completely with this method). No problem, I just put the popcorn in a regular, oversized plastic bowl and return the unpopped kernels into the microwave, now just using the NW without the steam container, for another minute to pop the rest. No big deal and it wastes less of your favorite corn this way. If you're spaying ICBINB or misting olive oil and applying a topping which needs to be stirred, you'll want to use a larger bowl anyway so you can stir things around without having the popcorn fly out of the bowl. I use a plastic 'pasta fork' to stir around the popcorn which works really well. The NW is just too small for mixing purposes. For your particular microwave, you may have to add an extra teaspoon of water it your power is a lot higher; if your power is a lot lower than 950 Watts perhaps 1 teaspoon will work better. Experiment to find the best results for your microwave. Why do I rate this a 4 and not a 5? Because if this bowl had a built in susceptor at the bottom of the bowl it would clearly work better without the use of this kind of trick. But that would also add to the cost. Overall, with this container + water trick, I'm quite pleased with this popper and I like it so much that I purchased another one at Target ($8.99) just in case this one breaks or I've got company. You can see my passion for popcorn. I hope this review has helped you enjoy yours more!

THE IMPORTANT PART: Normally, I would never write a review after the two uses, but this thing is impressive. Some of the other reviews mention having to experiment with time and intensity, but I didn't need to. I used Orville Redenbacher's White Gourmet Popping Corn (available cheaply pretty much everywhere) and followed Nordic Ware's instructions to the letter (exercising the option to add oil). The only change I made was adding a teaspoon of salt to the mix before microwaving. The result were virtually flawless. The kernels popped precisely to Redenbacher's specifications (and to my liking): tender (slightly chewy) on the outside and crunchy on the inside. The only change I would make to the recipe is using some other kind of oil. I used vegetable oil because it was literally within arm's reach. I imagine straight butter or coconut oil would be far superior. And by "imagine," I mean "know." THE RESULTS: Everything about this batch of popcorn was superior to the old bagged stuff. It was light, flavorful, and devoid of the heavy residue present in commercial bagged popcorn. Furthermore, popping corn this way is far healthier. There are no preservatives and much less salt. Furthermore, you can choose to forego the oil altogether, if you wish. The only concern I had with my first batch was a fair number of unpopped kernels, which seems to be uncommon among the other reviews. I attribute this to over-cautiousness. I'm so used to bagged popcorn burning that I pulled the plug too soon. Had I waited a little longer, the kernels would have popped sufficiently. THE PRODUCT: What you see is what you get. It's a funny-looking bowl with a funny-looking lid. It's off-white. It's very well-made. It's also pretty big, though I imagine it will fit most--if not all--microwaves. THE BOTTOM LINE: If you like popcorn, like healthier options, and like keeping more of your money, this is the way to go. I have not tried other products and do not intend to, unless this one bursts into flames. Seriously, it's $9.

I’d guess we’ve been using one of these to pop popcorn for 20 plus years. We’re on our third one, and we eat a lot of popcorn. Put popcorn in and olive oil and 4 plus minutes in the microwave and you have wonderful healthy popcorn. Just put it in the dishwasher and it cleans up great. Our friends love our popcorn and we’ve given at least three of these as gifts through the years, and they’re all being used with no complaints. Of all of the things I’ve purchased in my 81 years this is one of the very best.

I had originally bought the classic popper with the flat lid in spite of the reviews indicating that the flat lid tended to come off during popping, as I wasn't aware of the pro version. Once I heard about the pro version, I returned the classic and ordered the pro, and I'm really glad I did. It works great! There are only a few issues associated with it, probably the biggest being the size relative to the popped popcorn. Popping a half cup of kernels results in the popper being filled to the brim with popped popcorn, making it impossible to "toss" the popcorn in order to apply seasonings without spilling everywhere. So I simply transfer the popcorn to a larger bowl and then apply my seasonings. The second issue is that since I pop without using any oil, I need to apply some sort of liquid to the popped popcorn in order to get the seasonings to stick. One possible is melted butter, but that's extra work. I use a butter flavored cooking spray which works fine, is easy to apply, is cheap, and doesn't adversely affect the flavor. I've considered using the spray on version of Bragg's aminos instead, but that's higher in sodium than I would like. The final issue is that the popper does get rather hot during popping. There is a flat rim that extends a half centimeter out from the top of the bowl, so it is possible to grip it without burning one's hands on the bowl part of the popper, but due to a handicap, this is somewhat difficult for me. Not really a flaw in the design so much as something to keep in mind. As to the extra bowl, that would result in extra dishes needing to be done, but I've taken to simply occasionally washing the popper instead of each use as there is basically no residue from popping other than the moisture released by the kernels, and perhaps a stray piece of popped popcorn clinging to the side. I don't have a dishwasher, so that works out best for me. Overall I'm thrilled with the popper. I initially sought a popper as I was trying to reduce my sodium, and the potato chips and crackers I was eating were high in sodium. Popcorn made an obvious alternative, but I quickly found that bags of microwave popcorn contain a lot of sodium by themselves, not counting any toppings that I add. So I went in search of a microwave or air popper, and found the Nordic Ware. Boy am I glad I did! If my experience is any indication, I have only one thing to say to you. Buy it!

I’m actually very happy with my purchase of the Nordic Ware popcorn popper.... but not as a popcorn popper. As a popcorn popper, I would rate this product as a 1 or possibly a 2 at the most. As a microwave cooker and heater I would rate it a 5. It is well made, a good size and very versatile. In fact, it would even make a pretty nice fruit or salad bowl. If I baked, I could use it as a mixing bowl as well. It is BPL free, which adds to its allure. In the short time that I have owned this bowl, I have tried popping popcorn in many different ways, at different heat levels and at different cooking times. The end result is not at all nearly as good as a regular hot air popper...not even close. A hot air popper (I use the Presto PopLite popper, which I have owned for several years and used hundreds of times) the results are consistently excellent and truly movie-house fluffy. A large bowlful is popped in less than two minutes (yes, faster than microwave) True that a hot air popper will cost you twice the price of the microwave popper but, believe me, there is absolutely no comparison. I would imagine that any brand would probably do a good job. I have to believe that most of the very favorable reviews on this microwave popper were made by people who have not tried a hot air popper. There is a logical reason why the hot air popper is superior. With a hot air popper, all of the kernels are popped in about 10 or 15 seconds from the time the popping begins and the popping only begins near the very end of the cooking time. Therefore, unlike the microwave product, none of the popcorn is burned, simply because they all pop at virtually the same time. The result is perfection. On the other hand, this Nordic ware product is everything you would want to cook your veggies, even including rice, in your microwave. I have cooked both vegetables and rice in this bowl and the results have been great. I would highly recommend it for this purpose and it is well worth the price.