The Best Buttery and Cheesy Vegan Popcorn

This is the best vegan popcorn recipe! It's cheesy and buttery while still being dairy free. Made with vegan butter, nutritional yeast and salt, this popcorn has the best flavour. It makes the perfect snack and you will love how easy it is to make on the stovetop or in a popcorn maker. 

Table of Contents

• Why you will love this recipe: 
• Ingredients and substitutions: 
• How to make (step-by-step): 
• Top tips: 
• Recipe variations and add ins: 
• How to store: 
• Frequently asked questions: 
• Other vegan recipes you will love: 
• Recipe

Why you will love this recipe: 

• The flavour! This dairy free popcorn recipe is the perfect balance of salty, buttery and cheesy, while still being dairy free.
• It's so easy to make and is ready in just a few minutes. 
• You can make this popcorn on the stovetop or in a popcorn maker or air popper. 
• It's an easy, healthy snack. It's so much healthier than microwave popcorn and has fewer calories than most store bought popcorn or movie theatre popcorn.
• It's such a flexible recipe - you can change up the seasonings to give it the flavour you prefer. 

If you love vegan snacks you will also love my healthy protein cookies.

Ingredients and substitutions: 

• Popcorn kernels - You can use any brand of popcorn kernels that you like including the popular Orville Redenbacher. I recommend using non-GMO popcorn kernels if you can. 
• Vegan butter - this is used to give this popcorn a delicious buttery flavour, just with no dairy, no lactose, and no animal products. If you aren't vegan you can use real butter instead.
• Coconut oil - this is used if you are making the popcorn on the stovetop to prevent the kernels from sticking to the pot. You could swap this for another oil such as avocado oil or olive oil. If you make the popcorn in an air popper you won't need to use this.
• Nutritional yeast - nutritional yeast is what gives this popcorn that yummy cheese taste, just with no cheese and no dairy! If you don't like cheesy popcorn you can simply omit this from the recipe. 
• Salt - popcorn just isn't popcorn without salt. You can add as much or as little salt as you like and feel free to change up the flavour of the popcorn by using truffle salt, seasoning salt, sea salt, garlic salt or onion salt!

How to make (step-by-step): 

To make on the stovetop: 

Step one:

First, add the coconut oil to a large pot on the stove on medium-high heat.

Step two:

Once the oil is melted, add 4-5 popcorn kernels to the pot and cover it with the lid. Once the kernels pop, remove them from the pot and add in the remaining popcorn kernels. 

Step three:

Cover the pot with the lid and continue to cook the remaining popcorn, shaking the pot frequently to allow the kernels to pop evenly. The popcorn only takes 1-2 minutes to pop so watch it closely. 

Step four:

When the popping dies down, remove the pot from the heat and transfer the popcorn to a large bowl.

Step five:

Lastly, add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl, and toss the popcorn well to coat the popcorn evenly. Then enjoy!

To make in a popcorn maker: 

Step one:

Add the popcorn kernels two your popcorn maker and run the popcorn maker until the kernels are popped. 

Step two:

Transfer the popcorn to a large bowl and add the melted vegan butter, salt and nutritional yeast. Toss everything well until the popcorn is evenly coated. Then enjoy!

Top tips: 

• Make sure you use a large pot if you make this popcorn on the stovetop. This recipe makes a big batch of popcorn, so if you use a pot that is too small it will overflow from the pot and make a big mess of your stovetop.
• This popcorn recipe makes a large batch of popcorn. If you are only serving one or two people you can cut it in half. 
• While the popcorn is cooking on the stovetop, make sure to shake the pot frequently so that the kernels don't settle on the bottom of the pot. If you don't shake it you could end up with burnt popcorn. The kernels will only take a couple minutes to fully pop so watch the pot closely. 

Recipe variations and add ins: 

• Instead of coconut oil you can use any type of cooking oil that you like to pop the popcorn including avocado oil or olive oil. 
• If you are avoiding salt, omit it from the recipe. 
• You can omit the nutritional yeast from the recipe if you don't have it or don't want cheesy popcorn. 
• To change up the flavour feel free to use other types of salt such as seasoning salt, dill, garlic salt, onion salt etc. 
• You can add other seasonings such as garlic powder, black pepper or onion powder to give this popcorn a different flavour.

How to store: 

Store any leftover popcorn in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Just give it a good shake before serving as the seasonings tend to settle at the bottom of the container. 

Frequently asked questions: 

Other vegan recipes you will love: 

• Vegetarian shrimp
• Healthy curry cashews
• The best blondies
• Mascarpone
• Peanut butter and oatmeal cookies

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Recipe