Ask Lemmy

[My microwave is] full of esoteric lights and dials and meters that I would never understand.

Mine has only 1 button, to open the door.

And I like it this way.

So there are two kinds of microwaves:

• those that use sensor for popcorn (typically it is on top, there are some that use audio)
• those that have no sensor and just use a timer (those ask you how big is the popcorn bag)

You should use the popcorn button on the first ones, with the second type it is better to follow the instructions on the popcorn bag.

I don't have a microwave oven.

I do popcorn at 30% power until the first pop and then switch to full power until the popping is really slow; it really cuts down on unpopped kernels.

You can do 50% power, but I feel that the slower 30% power really helps to get every kernel up to a nice baseline before you go full power.

The rare time I make microwave popcorn, I just hit the 3 for 3 minutes on high and then listen for the popping to have ~2 seconds between them and pull it out. Never had issues with this in every microwave I’ve used this for.

I used to have a microwave that the popcorn button worked perfectly in and it was amazing.

After it died we replaced it with the same make and model and the new one’s popcorn button is crap. I’ve now timed how long the bags need to be in, so I just put that in instead. Never use the popcorn button anymore. It’s annoying but effectively it just is two extra buttons before starting so it’s not horrible.

Although now I have one of those electric kettle popcorn makers like the movie theater and pretty much only use that now. But it definitely can’t match microwave popcorn for convenience.

Yeah, I don't have a piece of shit microwave, the button makes perfect bags every time, regardless of brand or type.

The quality of the button is almost directly proportional to the quality of the microwave. Basic ones just are a timer, which is useless. As you work your way up you get various sensors for things like humidity and even microphones to determine kernel pop timing.

The quality of all of those programmed buttons is directly related to those more advanced sensors.

Yes, but my microwave's popcorn button is customizable, so it's easier.

Yep, worked great.

Microwave popcorn is just nasty though...

Air-popper + microwave for the butter.

Sacrilege making popcorn in a microwave

Have a new ge with settings like that. nukes everything.

Have a LG at a different place with fancy settings and it sings to me and sometimes sends me texts. Works perfectly every time.

I never did until one of my kids used it and it did OK. Ours leaves a bit more unpopped kernels than timing it manually, but pretty minor difference.

So the button is being used, especially when the kids wanna do their popcorn.

Nope. 1,200 seconds for popcorn. No more, no less.