Aluminum 6 Qt Whirley-Pop Popcorn Popper

Our family loves popcorn. We have been eating microwave popcorn like crazy for some time but all the brands we use taste kind of chemical-ish. We just don't like them that much. Also tried a glass jar that lets you microwave it yourself but never got good popping out of it. Either stuff didn't get popped or stuff got burned. Most likely both. Anyway, microwaves suck. Cooking on the stovetop kind of stinks too because you have to stand there shaking the pot like crazy to keep stuff from sticking and burning. Basically this product replacing pot shaking with turning the little dial. Much easier. You don't really have to watch either, and you never get burned popcorn or kernels that have not popped. It produces a great product. You do have to stand there and turn the knob periodically (or throughout the popping process) but it's worth it for quality popcorn. We tend to add a little lime powder and make "hint of lime" popcorn that's great. Cheap popping corn doesn't work as well as Orville Reddenbockers. We'll try other brands when this runs out. Pretty sure the recipe tells you to use like a quarter of a cup of popcorn and a tablespoon of oil. That's nonsense. I use a half a cup of popping corn and a capfull of oil. There seems to be a lot of flexibility in how much oil you use. I've tried using coconut oil but it's no more delicious. I think just basic canola oil is best. Salt and stuff after everything is popped and out of the pan. Then you basically never have to clean it. We still make microwave popcorn sometimes because it's just eaiser and doesn't disrupt the watching of the movie. But when we want something delicious, we use this. The construction is pretty so-so. Very thin aluminum and the top just clamps on there with clamps that don't seem like they will last. The gear mechanism is plastic, and the little stirrer is just a wire that doesn't seem to stay put. Still, it's worked reliably for me, so who am I to complain?

This has got to be the best popcorn maker on the planet, or anywhere else for that matter. We love popcorn and used to drag out an old frying pan to pop it in, with mixed results. Seemed the only place to get good popcorn was at the theater but we watch all our favorite movies at home. We tried "air" poppers and healthy or not I'd rather eat an old newspaper. We contemplated an electric unit but didn't want yet another large appliance taking up counter or cupboard space and I don't like that some have teflon coating that eventually will flake off. Then came Whirley-Pop. Our first batch was made using the sample theater pack shipped with the unit. It was delicious and yes just like at the movies. For the second batch we used the usual Orville's brand popcorn and oil which produced the best results we have ever had with this brand. If you love popcorn don't waste your money and time on expensive electric poppers. Get a Whirley-Pop. It's easy to use, easy to clean and makes the best popcorn you've ever had. Just follow directions closely and do not use high heat. On our electric range we use #6 on a #1 through #10 knob scale, but I don't recommend going above #7. Begin using the stirring crank immediately and stir until the crank starts to show some resistance but do not force it ( I suspect this is how some people break the gear). By this time the popping will have begun to slow and you can remove the unit from the heat and it will finish with a few more pops. Pour out the popcorn into your favorite bowl and allow it to sit for a couple minutes. Simply wipe out the pan with a paper towel and store it for reuse. I usually wash the lid and crank mechanism using dish soap. Now making popcorn is fast, easy and delicious, I wish I had bought this a long time ago.

Two tablespoons EVOO, two tablespoons of kernels (Tiny but Mighty) and 3.5 minutes later: one great bowl of popcorn. This is fun to use. The directions are clear, concise and so easy to follow. Try it and I’ll bet you’ll be hooked.

I felt compelled to write a review after owning this popcorn popper for more than four years and seeing it churn out a perfect batch time after time. The manufacturer deserves praise for this product. It works just as well -- indeed slightly better -- than the day I bought it. I use a half cup of kernels and a little oil, over a gas stovetop burner on high, and it consistently makes a fully-popped batch with zero waste. I have to hunt to find a single unpopped kernel. Nothing is burnt. It's fast, extremely economical, high-performing and durable. I can't ask for anything more. Although it is lightweight aluminum, it has proven perfectly durable, even though I was a bit skeptical of the thinness of the metal and the little stirring arms when I got it. The whole family, including kids, use it. It's been dropped once or twice, too! You don't really need the heat retention of thicker metal like cast iron for popping popcorn, as long as the bottom is hot enough, which I've never had trouble obtaining. I use oil only: olive oil most times, corn oil in a pinch. I followed a reviewer's advice not to wash it with soap and water or put it in the dishwasher. All I do is wipe it out after a batch. As with cast iron, it has developed a light seasoned coating on the bottom, which enhances the non-stick quality of the bottom surface. That's why I say it works slightly better now than it did the first day. Early on I would sometimes get a kernel stuck to the bottom; now that doesn't happen at all. All popped kernels rise to the top and the unpopped fall to the bottom till it's done. And I use cheap generic popcorn most times. The gears and stirring rod still work just fine. You don't have to crank it fast. A lazy one rotation a second always works for me. If you feel a kernel slip under the stirring rod at the bottom (you'll feel a slight drag), just reverse direction and it usually comes out from underneath. I don't know if other people crank it rapidly but perhaps that leads to more wear on the gears? That said, my kids still crank it fast and I've had no problems. The only maintenance I've done on it a couple times is to bend slightly the little metal clips that secure the cover's side flaps to the pot. After many openings and closings, these can get a little loose. It's just like the metal clip that keeps a typical mailbox shut. Just press it inward slightly and it secures tightly, good as new. I don't think I'll ever go back to electric poppers or microwave bag popcorn. Microwave bag popcorn tends to burn or waste a lot, it's relatively expensive, and it's got all kinds of fake flavors I don't enjoy. (If you like those, you can always buy "movie theater" flavored oil at the store.) Popping our own corn, everyone can add whatever amount of butter, salt, etc. they like. I've owned a few electric models, and besides being noisy, they're slower, they've failed after a few years, and while better than microwave bags, electrics still tend to spit unpopped kernels into the bowl. And if you have kids, you might know the drill with electric poppers: if the bowl gets bumped, the butter-melter is removed, the lid knocked accidentally, popcorn goes flying everywhere. Whirley-Pop is tidy. Of course you have to watch younger kids if they're novices using the stove. But compared to an electric popper, I've gotten a far better return on my investment with Whirley-Pop. It's simple, so there's far less to break: no switches to fail, fans to break down, or coils to burn out. Storing it is easier too. There's no parts to keep track of -- it stores as a unit under the cupboard. Again, a boon with kids. The only "pro tip" I've developed is to pour in the oil, then the kernels, crank it once or twice to spread them out and coat them with oil, then give it a little side-to-side shake. The stirring arm tends to push the kernels all to the outside initially. Shake it a little, and you get a nice even layer of kernels on the bottom. Then apply heat. I leave it heating like that, without stirring but giving an occasional little shake, for the first minute or two until the first pop -- all the kernels heat evenly and tend to pop more at one time. What really gets them all going, however, is that there's a cascade when the steam escaping from popping kernels creates more heat energy in the pot. This might be why electric poppers take so long -- they're blowing out all the heat energy they've generated in the bowl converting water to steam, whereas Whirley-Pop confines it as steam for cooking. Just take care to have your hand aside when dumping the batch out, since steam will escape if you dump it immediately, which I tend to do -- either because the gas stove burner grid still retains a lot of heat even when the burner is off or sometimes I'm overzealous in measuring a half-cup and it starts to get jam-packed. But in this case, just dump from the top and keep going, and everything turns out fine. All-in-all, this machine has been fabulous: works flawlessly, extremely economical, easy to maintain, and durable. If ever it breaks, which I don't expect, I'd buy another one immediately.

When combined with the movie theater type popcorn that includes oil (coconut), salt and corn this makes a great batch of tasty popped corn. It looks and tastes just like the theater and it's a lot fresher than you may get at most movie concessions. A couple of comments here, if doing it without the pre-measured packets, make sure you use enough oil and enough salt. You can measure the free packet that comes with it for reference, try it with full salt first, if you don't like that adjust it later. You can use butter too, but don't cook that in the batch, add it after. The mechanics of this involve turning the crank very slowly, and with a full load it may bog down completely at the end of the pop, take care not to burn. If overloaded and a big bowl is handy, dump a little out quickly and put back on the heat and keep turning. Don't force this too much, the gears are not metal and I'm not sure how they would hold up under stress, my gut tells me they will break. Make sure one side is locked down when pouring out the contents or the corn will get spilled. The crossbar is normally latched, but on one side the two lids, one can be latched to the pot ridge and secured. Cleaning is easy, I suggest hot water a touch of soap early on after popping, I usually just fill the pot and let it soak till I've eaten the popcorn and returned later to finish the clean. I would not use the dishwasher, it may do damage. You might employ a little peanut oil or something edible to the crank gearing to keep it moving freely. Recommended for popcorn lovers who like their corn movie theater good.

I absolutely love this product. I love using it to make popcorn. It helps to mix the butter and the flavoring while allowing the popcorn to pop evenly and not burn. If you have popcorn, I highly recommend this item. I use it at least twice a week. Easy to clean.

I have been looking for the perfect popcorn maker for quite a long time. Being a big fan (who isn’t?) of freshly-popped theater popcorn, I knew I didn’t want some cheap air popper that you have to melt the butter and poor over the popcorn, leaving cold, uneven, soggy,(shudder) pockets of yuck. And trying to get the salt on your popcorn evenly, forget about it. I then was looking and at smaller popcorn carts, (something fun for the grandkids), but a friend who owned one said they were a pain to keep clean. At any rate, I finally ended up with the good, old-fashioned Whirly-pop, and couldn’t be more happy with my purchase. The entire ensemble is a thin aluminum, but seems durable and worked quite well for its purpose. It came with a packet of oil, kernels and flavored salt. I measured the kernels so I would know how much to use next time, and it was exactly one half cup, so that is what I will use for my six quart pot for the perfect fit without overflow. I couldn’t get a good measurement on the butter-flavored coconut oil, as it was a semi solid stick, but I would start with about a little less than a 1/4 of a cup of butter flavored coconut oil, and add about an 1/8 teaspoon of the the flavored salt. Now these are estimates, but it will give you a good place to start. I washed and dried the pot well before use, and then put all of the ingredients in at once on medium and kind of spun the wooden handle a bit to help break up the semi solid coconut oil and mix up the popping corn and flavored salt. The design is simple, put practical. As I spun the handle, it mixed the kernels and oil and flavored salt, but once the pot started getting more full, using the handle was useless for stirring, so I just shook the pot a few times to make sure everything stayed moving. In I would say three minutes, every single kernel was popped, except one partially burst one. Not one burned piece of popcorn. Each was flavored nicely and evenly with butter and salt flavoring. I added several pictures, and I will explain each one. The first one is how full 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels will get you in the 6 quart pot. The next is with the stirring mechanism removed. There are snaps on both sides you just pull up and the lid comes off easy. The third picture was after I had filled two of the 4 included cute popcorn boxes for my grandkids, so this was essentially the bottom of the pot. No burned popcorn, no leftover kernels. (Impressive!!) The fourth is of the actual packet they sent with the pot containing the popcorn, the oil and the salt. I’m thinking you can probably buy the little packs of everything in one from Amazon if it’s more convenient for you. The fifth is a picture of flavacol, the actual salt they use at theaters, and a jar of butter flavored coconut oil. I had purchased both from Amazon and used it just popping my corn in a pot with a lid. (Not fun) lol. Notice the size of the box of flavacol… you can probably use it for other dishes, or share with neighbors, but this one box will last you a loooong time if you only use 1/8 of a teaspoon at a time lol. You can probably buy a smaller box of it, but I really suggest you getting some if you really want that theater experience. You can buy any kind of butter-flavored coconut oil, but this is the one I ended up with from Amazon. All in all, a fantastic easy to clean gizmo that makes fabulous theater-type popcorn in minutes. Enjoy!!

There were a lot of stressed out reviewers of this (and related) products. The gears, the metal, the lid, yadda, yadda. OK, it's cheap, but it works and it makes great popcorn quite easily. Based on reviews, I bought this one with nylon gears and not the one with metal gears. The thought of metal shavings in my popcorn kept me away from what would otherwise seem like a worthy upgrade. The nylon gears can be easily lubed with vegetable oil, and they don't bind at all. Just take it easy. Turn gently. Don't force it if the popcorn gets jammed. Just shake the handle and wiggle the crank back and forth. You don't have to constantly turn the crank. For the most part, the popping alone makes the popped kernels got to the top and the unpopped kernels fall to the bottom. The lid comes off with some dexterity, so you can clean it, but we only rinse or wipe it out. I've never gone to the extreme of getting it commercial-kitchen clean. It doubt if it would pass a commercial kitchen inspection because it probably wouldn't hold up in a Hobart dishwasher. But if you're willing to treat it gently, you will be happy with the function of this product, especially considering the price. Yes, the metal is thin, and the top is even thinner, but it's sufficient, doesn't waste material, isn't heavy (my kids can use it just fine) and the lid fits securely. No surprises. I would recommend this if you're done with noisy air poppers and hate the unpopped kernels from microwave popping. I won't even discuss the gross fat-encased pre-made microwave packages that are so popular these days. This device will leave at most one or two unpopped kernels as long as your corn is fresh and hasn't been allowed to dry out (the internal moisture is what makes kernels pop). Use peanut oil (it won't smoke and cause the popcorn to have an off-taste) and don't use too much heat! We use about 20% on the dial of the smaller front burner of our gas range. Just start low and work up if you have to. No sense in scorching your popcorn. It will taste better at the lowest effective heat. I suspect you could melt this entire pot if you put it on the highest heat. I have no complaints about this purchase whatsoever.