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Popcorn Seasoning Recipes (Popcorn Gift Basket Idea!)

Updated: May 22, 2025 / By: Cassie Johnston / This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy

A beautifully packaged gift basket with microwave popcorn, boxes of candy, popcorn seasonings, and cardboard popcorn boxes.

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Even if you don't need a holiday gift, our three homemade popcorn seasonings are a great option to have on hand in your own kitchen when the popcorn hankering strikes! We've got recipes for all three seasonings, plus a full tutorial on how to package them up in a cute popcorn gift set below. Let's get popping!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Cassie Johnston (a light skinned brunette woman with glasses and a red streak in her hair) smiles toward the camera with a wall of photo frames behind her

This popcorn set just begs to be used for a cozy family movie night snuggled up on the couch!

We whipped up these popcorn seasoning recipes and popcorn gift set as a quick Christmas gift or host/hostess gift idea, and it's one of our favorite holiday food gifts we've ever created.

Here's why you'll love this recipe:

  • It's affordable. This gift set costs just a few dollars to make.
  • It's quick. You'll need less than 10 minutes to make any of these popcorn seasoning recipes.
  • It makes a great gift. It's a beautiful gift for neighbors, teachers, delivery people, or anyone who deserves a little bit of quality time with the family.

If you like these popcorn seasoning recipes and the gift set, you might be interested in our new book, Gifts in Jars: 80 Quick and Easy Homemade Food Presents for Any Budget.

Overhead of a thoughtful movie night gift basket with classic snacks like candy and popcorn with homemade popcorn flavorings.

How do you make a homemade popcorn gift set?

Pulling together a good popcorn gift set requires just a quick trip to your favorite supermarket! You can customize your gift sets with whatever you think your giftee will like the most, but here's what we used for ours:

  • A reusable woven basket
  • Popcorn boxes (hint: check the party supply section of your local supermarket)
  • Movie theatre-style candy boxes
  • Microwave popcorn bags (you can use a Ball® Wide Mouth Quart Jar of popping kernels instead if you know your giftee has a popcorn maker at home or doesn't mind making stovetop popcorn).
  • Homemade popcorn seasonings (recipes below!) packaged up with our cute labels in Ball® Half-Pint Jars!

You can also include anything else that fits with the movie concession stand theme! Some other options to consider: movie rental gift cards, fancy sodas, chip bags, and movie-themed decorations. Feel free to also add in pre-popped popcorn for easy snacking: like my homemade caramel popcorn, my Chicago mix popcorn, or my homemade kettle corn.

We filled our baskets with crinkle-cut paper, and then layered the items until they looked beautiful and ready to gift! You can then wrap the basket in a cellophane basket wrap and tie on a bow if you'd like!

What are some good seasonings to put on popcorn?

The popcorn flavor possibilities are almost endless-cheese popcorn, cheddar popcorn, spicy popcorn, sweet popcorn, oh my! We encourage you to experiment and land on your own favorite flavors-but we have done a lot of testing, and we've found that there are three flavors that will make almost everyone in the house happy, and that's why we included them in this gift set! The ones we are making here are:

  • Ranch: A classic for a reason, this ranch popcorn seasoning is herby, rich, and totally savory.
  • Dill Pickle: Tangy is the perfect word to describe our dill pickle seasoning!
  • Cinnamon and Sugar: Almost like short-cut kettle corn, sprinkling on this seasoning gives you a sweet and spicy flavor that is perfect for fall and winter.

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Top view of homemade seasonings in jars, two closed and one open.

📥 Download the Free Labels

I've made you some free labels for the popcorn seasoning jars that you can print off at home. Just fill out the form below to get them delivered right to your inbox.

📖 Recipe

Three jars of homemade seasonings lying on their sides with popcorn spilling from a box all around them.

Homemade Popcorn Seasoning Recipes

America's favorite movie snack gets even better with gourmet popcorn seasoning recipes. Plus, the seasonings make a great gift!
4.34 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Homemade Food Gifts
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 132 servings (1 teaspoon of seasoning)
Calories: 8kcal
Author: Cassie Johnston

Ingredients

Ranch Popcorn Seasoning

  • 2-4 tablespoons fine sea salt to taste, omit if using microwave popcorn
  • 1-3 teaspoons black pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons dried dill
  • 1 tablespoon dry mustard
  • 1 tablespoon celery seed
  • 2 teaspoons paprika

Dill Pickle Popcorn Seasoning

  • 2-4 tablespoons fine sea salt to taste, omit if using microwave popcorn
  • 2-4 tablespoons white vinegar powder to taste, optional but recommended
  • ¼ cup dried dill
  • 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder

Cinnamon and Sugar Popcorn Seasoning

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup ground cinnamon
  • 1-2 tablespoons fine sea salt to taste, omit if using microwave popcorn
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder optional

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients for your chosen seasoning to a small bowl and whisk until well combined.
  • Transfer the seasoning to a Ball® Regular Mouth Half-Pint Jar. Print out the labels, cut them out, and then slide them above the flat lid of the jar, but below the ring. 

Notes

  • These seasonings will stick the best on buttered popcorn (like from our movie theatre popcorn method), but you can also get the seasoning to stick to air-popped popcorn by using a coffee grinder to grind the seasoning into a very fine powder. 
  • You'll want to omit the salt (or at least greatly reduce the amount) if using these seasonings on microwave popcorn, which is almost always pre-salted.
  • The vinegar powder is a bit of a strange specialty ingredient for the dill pickle seasoning-we know!-but we promise it goes a long way to adding that tangy pickle flavor. Same with the vanilla powder for the cinnamon and sugar-100% optional, but it does elevate the flavor quite a bit!
  • How much to use of the seasoning on each batch of popcorn will depend on personal preference. Just remember to start small: you can always add more, but never remove the seasoning.

Nutrition

Serving: 1teaspoon | Calories: 8kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 46IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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Frequently Asked Questions about these Popcorn Seasoning Recipes

You sure can make your own popcorn seasoning-in fact, we recommend it! Not only can you fully customize your flavor, but making your own saves you tons of money.

Getting popcorn seasoning to stick is easy, thanks to the magic that is butter! If you've ever had homemade melted butter turn your popcorn soggy, no worries! You can solve that problem by making homemade clarified butter (which we cover in our movie theater popcorn recipe post), or you can just purchase ghee from the supermarket-which is already clarified butter-and use it melted on your popcorn. You can typically find ghee in the oil or international food sections of your store. Voila! No sogginess and perfect popcorn seasoning distribution!

Once the popcorn is well-coated in butter, just sprinkle on your seasoning of choice to taste and then toss or stir to distribute.

Protip: The coffee grinder

Want to season your popcorn without adding butter or oil? No problem! Our handy trick is a coffee grinder. Yup! Use a coffee grinder to turn your favorite popcorn seasoning into a very fine powder (think powdered sugar consistency)-it will then adhere much better to popcorn without any fat on it.

Our popcorn seasonings are all shelf-stable, but we do recommend keeping them in an airtight container-which is the perfect use for a Ball® Jar! We're putting ours in Ball® Half-Pint Jars, which hold enough to make a few batches of popcorn.

Cassie Johnston

Cassie is a holistic nutritionist, cookbook author, and all-around food lover. She grew up cooking dinner with her parents every evening, and her passion for home cooking has been strong ever since. Cassie is the author of two published cookbooks (Cooking with Greek Yogurt and Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My!) and dozens of recipes published in major magazines and newspapers. Cassie has been sharing her award-winning recipes on Wholefully since 2010. She loves dark chocolate, homegrown tomatoes, motorsports, and anything that sparkles. She lives in Indiana with her family on a small homestead.

Gifts in Jars Book cover

Looking for more gift ideas?
Check out our new cookbook:

Gifts in Jars

This full-color cookbook has 80 quick and easy handmade food gift ideas for every budget!

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