Original Whirley Pop Popcorn Maker- Silver 6 Qt Aluminum Popcorn Maker with Metal Gear, Wabash Family Farms, With Included Good Time Guide

I have been a Whirley-Pop owner for a while now, and if you like popcorn I'd say it's a must have. I used to do the Alton Brown technique of tinfoil over a big mixing bowl on the stove, but it was a lot of work, was time consuming, and used up a lot of foil, so I gave the Whirly-Pop a try and I've never looked back. The results are superior to an air popper with very few dud kernals, and that's one less electrical gizmo I have to keep in the kitchen. Sadly I do not have a gas stove so I do not get the advertised "popcorn in 3 minutes," but making popcorn with it is still easy and faster than any other stovetop method I've tried. One thing to consider is since it's made of aluminum, take good care of yours and don't go dropping it on the floor or cramming it into an overcrowded cabinet. It's not too difficult to straighten out if you have an accident though. Mine has gotten a few dings in it but nothing that keeps it from working correctly. Just about any time I have a movie night these days I bring out the Whirley-pop and start making popcorn. My personal recommended kernels are Orville Redenbacher because they pop big, give me very few duds and have great flavor-- I've yet to find any other kernels that pop quite as nicely. For popping oil I use Kernel Season's, although whatever your favorite oil is it will work fine, though I recommend always using something butter-flavored! My favorite topping is home-made ghee and salt, hands down.

I had one of the electric popcorn poppers that heats and turns the crank for you, but it quit reaching the right temperature and also was a hassle to clean. I tried doing regular stove-top popcorn shaking my own saucepan back and forth, and that just burned the popcorn every time. I was worried I would get similar results from this thing, but it's working really well. Just slowly turning the crank makes all the difference I guess. Either that or maybe the aluminum is distributing the heat better than the pot I was using. I use flavacol (extra fine salt with an artificial buttery flavor and color available here on Amazon) with refined coconut oil and a good brand of popcorn kernels and nearly every kernel pops and the popcorn comes out great. It's just important to absolutely turn off the stove as soon as the popping is slow but before it stops. The last few kernels will still pop after the heat is turned off, but nothing will burn. Dumping the popcorn out is a little tricky. The other flap that's clipped down keeps coming open and burning my hand while I hold the other flap open, but I feel like I'll get the hang of it. Cleaning it up isn't that bad. I figure I'll use this only for popcorn so I'm never going to try wash all the oil out with soap and water, I'll just rinse it and wipe it clean with a paper towel. All the salt in the flavacol will probably keep this kettle well seasoned. I also tried doing glazed popcorn with sugary glazes also found here on Amazon. These worked pretty good as well. The sugar combined with the oil and boiled into a very sticky concoction, but it all coated the popcorn and wiped right out of the this kettle. The lid has lots of crevices that made it a little more difficult to clean all the spots of sticky colored sugar, but it did all come off. I've popped 2 batches of sweet glazed popcorn and two batches of regular popcorn and there have no been no problems of burnt popcorn or burnt spots on the bottom of the kettle.

I’ve had one of these popcorn makers for many years. I love it. It really makes popcorn exactly like the ones in the movie theater do. It’s the same premise, it’s just that you do it on your stove top and you have to do the cranking. Anyhow, I recently bought this for one of my best friends for Christmas and she is absolutely delighted. She said it makes the best homemade popcorn yet! It heats up very quickly and your popcorn is done within two minutes. Also, this pan you don’t wash every time you use this. You take it apart and wipe it down with paper towels because they say the inside gets seasoned and you’re not really supposed to be washing it. They are right when they say that because really does end up making popcorn that taste delicious! You can buy pre-measured packets from the same company with different flavors. So far the only one that I’ve ever bought is the movie theater popcorn one. It’s delicious. They are kind of expensive for these kits, but worth it because I don’t eat popcorn every single day and a five pack of the popcorn kits last me for a couple of months anyway. You can also use your own popcorn and oil and still have delicious popcorn. I have invested in butter flavored coconut oil and Flavocol popcorn salt, along with a jar of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn. The results are very much like a movie theater.

The stove top aluminum popper is easy to use. Since I have a glass top stove, this popper is perfect as you don't have to "shake" the popper as you would a regular pot n lid to keep the popped kernels from burning. This popper has a "sweeper" that you crank that keeps the popped kernels off the bottom while the un-popped kernels heat up to pop. Just be sure when done with the process and everything is cooled off that you throughly wash the popper pot and all sides of the aluminum lid. Oil has a tendency over time to accumulate and get harder to clean from the top gears of the lid. It's fairly easy to clean with a dish brush fortunately. The popper does a wonderful job of popping the kernels.

This is replacing my old method of using a steel bowl that I would cover with tin foil and have to shake a lot to make popcorn. The whirley-pop is way easier and faster. Make sure you get this ~$40 whirley-pop and not the $80 one! There appears to be an $80 one that is identical in size / gear type, but for some reason they are charging double! Here are my thoughts on the process: (1) I am not impressed with the little sample package of popcorn/salt/"butter". It makes a huge mess and doesn't taste very good. It also sits kind of heavy (too salty?) in the gut. Instead I use 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels and 2 Tbsp of canola oil. Do not add salt. (2) I put it on medium (gas) heat, about a 5 out of 10. I put a large oven mitt on my left hand to hold the wood handle. Then I use my right hand to slowly turn the crank, which is very easy to do. (I tried not using an oven mitt and got splashed with a drip of hot oil) (3) Within 3 minutes, it begins popping and boy does it go fast. The agitator will start to get difficult to turn, be careful not to force it or you will break it. Just stop cranking when you feel resistance. (4) Turn off the heat and then I transfer the popcorn to another bowl, where I will add salt and shake. This part is difficult because I'm using the oven mitt and trying to let gravity open the lid flap. This means that half the popcorn doesn't want to come out. I've had some bad experiences here. Sometimes the popcorn will come out in a big rush and end up on the floor. Or the other half of the lid will pop open unexpectedly and cause a mess. I may try taking off the oven mitt and using my fingers to open the lid, I just didn't want to do this because it is very hot. (5) Clean up is relatively easy once it has cooled. I just wipe it out with a paper towel. The lid has a lot of nooks and crannies that are hard to clean, but I just don't worry about it :) 1/2 cup of popcorn seeds is the max I think this can handle. That's a good portion for 2 people that like popcorn. If you have 3-4 people you might need 2 batches, but at 3 minutes per batch, that's not too bad. Time will tell how long it lasts, but I really think this is going to be the best option for most people that want to make popcorn for a small family.

I purchased the Whirley Pop Popcorn maker to make popcorn. We always used microwave popcorn when we wanted that snack. I grew up making popcorn on the stove with a pan, which you shook as the popcorn popped. I have a glass top stove so am careful not to do things to the stovetop that might scratch it. The Whirley pop works great and doesn’t need to be shook on the stovetop. The popcorn pops quickly and almost all corns pop. My husband was so excited when he saw it draining in the kitchen after the initial wash before first use. We’ve made popcorn using it several times now.

My wife and I have popcorn every Friday night. For years we made microwave popcorn. About a year ago we started making on the stove in a large heavy pot. The popcorn tasted so much better cooked fresh but it was always hard to cook all the kernels before the popcorn started to burn. It also took a while for the pot and oil to come up to temperature. My daughter told me about the Whirley-pop popcorn kettle and had heard that it made great popcorn. When I saw how inexpensive it was I bought it immediately. I was not disappointed. It makes awesome popcorn every time. The pot is very thin aluminum and feels cheap but I believe this thin metal allows the pot and oil to come up to temperature quickly (within not much more than a minute) and able to cook a half cup of kernels in about another minute and a half. There are almost no uncooked kernels when it is finished. While our favorite seasoning is garlic salt, we now have a second favorite and that is kettle corn. Just throw in a 1/4 cup of sugar with the kernels once the oil is hot and pop as normal. One bit of advice. 1. I recommend the metal gear 2. When poping popcorn, as soon as it becomes hard to turn the handle, because of the popped corn, stop turning take off the heat and let the last kernels pop before pouring out the awesomeness. 3. If making multiple kettles of popcorn, wipe out the bits or kernel between batches otherwise they may burn when cooking the following batch. 4. If making multiple kettles of kettle corn be sure to wash the pot which becomes coated with sugar. If you do not there is a good chance the remaining sugar will burn. We really love this kettle and know you will too.

Love the pot!