Why is My Popcorn Chewy?

As discussed earlier, it is very important to cook the popcorn in the right way. If it stays under-cooked, then you get the soggy taste and if it is over-cooked then you get burnt taste. When cooked perfectly you get a flavor, crispy and soft taste of it. Many times it happens that you use the right recipe but still you get a rubbery, tough popcorn balls or the chewy balls.

This question is super common for almost everyone who has cooked popcorns. This happens due to several reasons and for all the varieties of popcorn. Although the popcorn become chewy, for most of the times, the flavor remains intact and so is the nutrition you get from popcorn. You can definitely avoid the chewy issue by using the hacks mentioned below.

Not Enough Oil

Whenever you prepare popcorn, you often feel that lesser the oil, less the calories. This is why you add less oil while cooking your popcorn. This leads to the chewiness of the popcorn. When you add oil on to the popcorn, it doesn’t mix with the corn; rather it acts as a protective barrier between the heat and the corn to ensure that the texture comes out to be perfect.

When you do not use enough oil, all the corns do not get the protective layer and so their texture changes. This mostly happens when you use air fryer to cook popcorn.

Not Enough Salt

Some people avoid using salt as an ingredient while cooking popcorn. Generally, popcorn is absorbent and the salt used plays a significant role in making it fluffy when it explodes. When there is no salt, the popcorn absorbs the air around that eventually gets watery inside and so you get the soggy taste. You might not add salt to the popcorn when you cook it for birds, then you can add some dry soil around the cooking area to avoid the chewiness.

Not Enough Heat

You need to give your kernels evenly and at the right temperatures. When there is uneven cooking of kernels that leads to burnt or chewy flavor to the popcorn. When the corns do not get proper heat, they lose their moisture and do not explore properly and when it gets over heated, the kernels pop up too fast leaving the insides unattended which leads to the chewiness again. You can check this healthy vegan popcorn recipe to understand how to cook the popcorn in the optimum form.

Popcorn Itself

Sometimes, popcorn may have already lost the moisture and texture before you cook them up. When this happens, popcorn isn’t cooked properly and it loses its flavor and taste. It is possible due to wrong storage or they have had their expiry date. You can understand this in Does popcorn go bad article.

Conclusion

Above-mentioned are the probable reasons why you get that chewiness in your popcorn. You can easily avoid it with the mentioned technique. If you are thinking of trying kettle corn instead of popcorn than you can check the difference between the two and then take the decision. Also, if you have braces than check whether you can have popcorn wearing braces with us.