Why Every Microwave Has a “Popcorn” Button

[Hyperfixed] has a podcast episode that does a deep dive into exactly why bags of microwave popcorn advise against using your microwave’s popcorn setting (in North America, anyway.) The answer …. Why Every Microwave Has a “Popcorn” Button, But Every Bag Warns You Not to Use It. There are really two questions involved: one is “what does the Popcorn button actually do?” The other is “Why does every package of microwave popcorn say not to use it?” The answer to the first question is “it depends”.

Microwave ovens are amazing things, but the popcorn setting on any given microwave oven could be anything from just a dumb timer, to a setting that tells the oven to monitor popping sounds or humidity levels (because popping releases steam). These kinds of microwave oven features were figured out ages ago, meaning the technology to precisely handle a bag of microwave popcorn not only exists in equipped ovens right now, but has existed for decades. The problem is not all microwaves are so equipped.

A microwave oven where the popcorn setting is just a dumb timer is really an invitation to under- or overcook the bag. And when overcooked, microwave popcorn scorches and could even burn. That brings us to the answer of the second question: why does every package warn not to use the popcorn setting.