I wanted a legitimate reason to eat popcorn for breakfast because I was craving it and feeling blerghy about trying to eat anything else. I googled around and found various ways of turning popcorn into cereal with milk but that was definitely not what I wanted, and I found some weird methods of squeezing kernels in water, but I didn’t want that either. I wanted popcorn in a pancake.
So I made some up, and it turned out really tasty. It is, however, very, very, very rich because of all the butter, so don’t expect a light and airy meal here. It makes four 6-ish-inch pancakes and I could barely eat two, whereas I usually eat about four of my regular (and much healthier) pancake recipe.
I sized this recipe to work off of a 70g bag of premade “lightly salted” popcorn. You can pop your own or use a flavoured popcorn if you like. The popcorn with sugar on it weighs more, so if the line of popcorn you like has a “lightly salted” version around 70g but the flavoured version weighs more in the same size bag, it should be fine.
Also, I ate a handful of the popcorn out of the bag as I cooked because I just assumed everyone is going to do that anyway, so really, the 70g doesn’t have to be exact!
Further, if you need this recipe to be gluten-free just ensure that all of the ingredients are gluten-free (particularly the oats and popcorn).
Note that it doesn’t come out as a pourable batter like regular pancakes, so you’ll need to put some in the pan and flatten it down:
Use your spatula to gently press it flat in the pan so it cooks through and is easy to flip.
Here’s how it looks flipped over, with a nicely crisped surface all over. No soggy weird popcorn here, just crispy popcorn pancakes!
This is why we need scratch’n’sniff technology for the web.
I ate mine plain but you could add whatever toppings you like. Pour salted caramel over it and call it dessert! Or still breakfast. You’re an adult, you can choose to eat whatever suits you and I’m not going to judge. Unless you’re a kid reading this blog, in which case go pick a room in your house you’re allowed to go into, clean it, and then show your parents this page and ask for it for breakfast, with the promise that you’ll wash the dishes afterwards. That’d make me make some for my kids!
- 57g butter (half stick, ¼ cup)
- 100g porridge oats/quick oats (1 cup)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 70g bag of lightly salted popcorn (or flavour of choice)
- 3 large eggs
- 120 ml water (1/2 cup)
- additional butter for frying
- Melt the 57g of butter carefully in the microwave so it's not too hot (it can still have softened lumps in it), set aside.
- Place oats in a food processor and process until very fine. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and mix in salt and baking powder.
- Place about half of the popcorn (or less, if your processor is small) in the food processor and grind down to fine crumbs. It's okay if some chunks remain. If you see any hard kernels, remove them. Transfer to the bowl with the oats. Repeat with the rest of the popcorn until it is all ground down. Note that if your kitchen is dry, it will become highly statically charged in your food processor and try to leap out all over the place when you go to pour it. If this is a problem, put a bit of water on your fingertips and flick it into the processor's bowl, or give it a tiny misting of water from a clean, food-safe spray bottle.
- Break the eggs into the popcorn/oat bowl and use a silicone spatula to work the eggs into the mix, folding up from the bottom regularly to ensure all of the dry ingredients get mixed in. The mixture will be crumbly.
- Pour in the melted butter and mix thoroughly.
- Add the water and mix thoroughly.
- Place a knob of butter into a frying pan on medium heat until it's melted and bubbly. Scoop about a quarter of your mixture into the pan and press it down flat with a spatula. When the edges start to brown, flip the pancake with the spatula and cook on the other side until its edges are browned, then carefully remove to a serving plate. Repeat three more times for the rest of the batter.
- Serve hot with any toppings as desired.
Nifty! Imma try this asap!