Ina Garten’s 10-Minute Truffled Popcorn Is the Ultimate Oscars Snack

Awards show season is wrapping up and that can mean only one thing, the Academy Awards are here. And what better way to watch the ceremony than with a big bowl of popcorn? But not just any popcorn. Make it worthy of any Oscars night menu with Ina Garten’s Truffled Popcorn.

Ina Garten’s Truffled Popcorn is ‘highbrow and lowbrow at the same time’

In her 2010 Barefoot Contessa cookbook, How Easy Is That?, Garten discussed her Truffled Popcorn recipe (get all the details on page 32). She explained she got the idea from Dan Mathieu, a caterer in Boston, Massachusetts. He “told me he makes truffled popcorn for parties and I had to go right home and try it,” she wrote. 

Garten’s reaction when she made the popcorn for the first time was “Wow!” 

“I love things that are highbrow and lowbrow at the same time, like potatoes with caviar,” she wrote. Her Truffled Popcorn, like many of her Barefoot Contessa recipes, is simple. “It’s just three ingredients —popcorn, white truffle butter, and salt,” Garten wrote. “It doesn’t get any easier than that.”

How to make the Barefoot Contessa’s Truffled Popcorn

Garten’s Truffled Popcorn is a 10-minute recipe, according to Food Network. As the cooking show host mentioned in her book, the ingredient list is extremely short. On it is microwave popcorn (Garten suggests Newman’s Own Natural brand), white truffle butter, and kosher salt. 

Garten walked viewers through how to make the popcorn on her cooking show, Barefoot Contessa. 

“I’m going to make the fastest hors d’oeuvre in history,” the Modern Comfort Food author said from her “barn” in East Hampton, New York. “It’s truffled popcorn. It may also be the best hors d’oeuvre in history.” 

“So I’ve got popcorn. I’m just going to put it in the microwave,” Garten said, leaving it to “do its thing.” She then moved to the counter where she talked to viewers about truffle butter, “the key ingredient” in the popcorn. 

“I just love truffle butter. I buy a lot of them and keep them in the freezer,” she said, sharing that two ounces is all that’s needed. “You do butter with popcorn. Why not truffle butter?” she added, noting her “love” of the “high low thing.” 

She melts the truffle butter in a small pot on the stove. But as she warned, “You don’t want to overcook the truffle butter. You just want to heat it until it’s melted.” When the popcorn’s ready she puts it in a big bowl. “Then drizzle just enough truffle butter over the top,” she said.

Finally, she sprinkles on the last ingredient, kosher salt, saying “salt with popcorn” is a must. 

“I would say that’s the fastest hors d’oeuvre ever,” she added. “Oh, my god this smells so delicious. Truffles and popcorn. That’s unbelievable.”

Tips from reviewers on making Garten’s popcorn

Lastly, here’s what reviewers have to say about Garten’s Truffled Popcorn. One reviewer 

“This recipe is much better if you don’t use microwave popcorn,” one reviewer said. “Make it in a pan, which takes only a few minutes longer and produces a much better foundation for the truffle butter.” Other tips from the same reviewer included using a specific type of popcorn because it “tastes incredible and doesn’t get soggy” and ditching kosher salt for black truffle salt. 

Another reviewer said Garten’s Truffled Popcorn isn’t for everyone. “I have to qualify this rating: I love truffles, and I really like both popcorn and truffle butter,” they began noting theirs turned out “very good.” “Still, if you don’t like truffles or other kinds of fungi, like mushrooms, you probably won’t like it as much as I did,” they said. 

Watch the Oscars — with or without a bowl of Garten’s Truffled Popcorn — on March 27, 2022, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.