The Seasoning Blend You Need For Pizza-Flavored Popcorn

Ever since popcorn became the definitive movie theater snack, it's had a place in our hearts, our stomachs, and our at-home movie nights. But sometimes you're not in the mood for standard butter-style popcorn. Sometimes you wanna shake things up and add a little pizzazz. Or should we say ... pizza? We at Chowhound have dipped our toes into seasoning blends that transform your popcorn before. Today we're looking specifically at a seasoning blend you need to make your popcorn taste like pizza fresh from the kitchen: Italian herb seasoning.

You probably already have the ingredients that make up Italian seasoning in your pantry, so you can whip up a blend in no time. Typically, pre-made versions of the seasoning feature some combination of basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, and oregano. This will give you the same herbaceous flavors found in marinara sauce, making delicious, buttery popcorn that reminds you of your favorite pizza. If you make your own, you can also easily adjust the blend to suit your personal flavor preferences, but buying it already made from the store will save you time and effort.

Honestly, you could stop at the seasoning blend and a little butter and salt and that alone would be a tasty movie accompaniment, but let's really crank this bowl of popcorn's flavor up to the max. First: the tomato. You can't have marinara sauce without it, right? If you're making popcorn on the stove, our suggestion is to take some sun-dried tomatoes and blend them in a food processor with the butter you intend to cook your popcorn kernels in. This will imbue each piece with that roasted, smoky tomato goodness. If you're using microwave popcorn: first of all, get yourself one of the best microwave popcorn brands on store shelves. With that done, simply toss some of the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes into the bag and give it a good shake before adding your herbs. This will also give the kernels more moisture for the herbs to stick to.

Next, the cheese and pepperoni. You could use white cheese powder to mimic the mellow notes of mozzarella, or you could just grate some fresh parmesan over the whole thing while it's still hot, so that the cheese melts and sticks to the popcorn. For an extra savory hit, we suggest air-frying pepperoni slices to turn them into little crisps that you can easily crumble up and sprinkle over your bowl. This winning combination will scratch that itch for pizza and keep you coming back for more.