S tove-popped popcorn can help you avoid some of the extra ingredients in bagged microwave popcorn. It may take a bit longer ...

So, that's how you make microwave popcorn with no microwave. But say you're facing the opposite problem: You've got a ...

Taste 6: Dane Rivera. Something about this popcorn tastes old. It has a very stale texture and the butter, while I can see it, doesn’t really give off a lot of flavor.

Microwave popcorn comes in a range of styles and flavors. For this taste test, we reached for “theater-style” and “extra butter” popcorn to find out which brands might satisfy our craving.

There’s no single best way to make popcorn, but after testing a bunch of methods, we’ve found a few tools we prefer over throwing a bag in the microwave.

Instructions: Pour 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of kernels into a brown paper lunch bag. You can find premium quality kernels at a fraction of the cost of microwave popcorn in pre-portioned bags.

Your pals Yadi Rodriguez and Peter Chakerian tackled 24 different name brands of microwave butter flavor popcorn, so you don’t have to. We popped them, tried them and ranked them as only we can.

Best microwave: Lekue Microwave Popcorn Popper - See at Amazon The Lekue Microwave Popcorn Popper is compact and produces small batches of popcorn with minimal unpopped kernels.