Oh yes, we did.

I don’t need no words, scroll me on down!

Yes. Typically I do sides once a month, but you know what? I have had a busy month and I needed something super quick to throw together and once you start eating the popcorn you will have completely forgotten about the semantics of my blog post. Burned butter is definitely at the top of my list of “world’s most favorite things.” While I technically didn’t exactly steal modify this recipe from someone else, I also didn’t exactly come up with the whole idea myself. You see, I was at Trader Joe’s one day and I find this lemon-thyme-burned butter bag of popcorn. Isn’t their stuff great? It was pretending to be French, but come on Trader Joe’s; we know it’s not French.

Instead of buying a bag I thought hmmm… wouldn’t that be so much better if I made it myself? So I did, and it really is amahzing. I added red pepper flakes and some grated parmesan because, well, why the hell not? It certainly doesn’t need either, but they do add a certain “je ne sais quoi” (since we are pretending to be French today).

It’s okay if you drop some on the table. Just pick it up and eat it. The floor too, if you don’t have a dog.

One recipe note: do not brown/burn the butter with the thyme or lemon zest already in there. They will burn. That’s why they call it “burned butter,” because, you know,  you burn it. On purpose. Adding the seasonings after it’s off the burner while it’s cooling will still marry the flavors quite nicely. If you think 3 tablespoons of butter won’t be enough, by all means throw some more in there. You know us at LWK – we’re flexible. If you are using some plain-jane, salt-free or air popped popcorn, as Thug Kitchen would say: “Put some ‘o that salt up in there, bitch!” Somebody needs to make a Thug Kitchen website filter. That would be fun.

Moving on from people that swear more than I do… this is a wonderful little nosh to have appropriately placed around a room in bowls when you have a party. Or, I like to serve popcorn in coffee mugs because, especially with something this buttery, it yields just the right amount for one person. And it’s a little bit adorable. Assuming you have adorable coffee mugs, anyway.

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Popcorn with lemon thyme burned butter

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Serves	4-6
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 bag microwave popcorn (popped)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• zest of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (plucked from the stem)

Optional

• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Directions

Step 1

While you are popping your popcorn, start melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it becomes a good chestnutty brown (keep an eye on it so it doesn't go too far), about 5-10 minutes.

Step 2

Take off the heat and let cool for a minute or two. The add the lemon zest, thyme, and red pepper (if using) to the warm burned butter and let sit for another few minutes. Pour the popcorn in a large bowl, drizzle with the butter, sprinkle with parmesan (if using) and mix well. Serve warm or at room temperature.