Hot-Air Poppers

For the healthiest popcorn, go with a hot-air popper

Hot-air popcorn poppers use no oil, making popcorn a healthy, low-calorie snack. To many palates, however, air-popped popcorn is dry and much less flavorful than corn that's popped with oil. Fortunately, you can jazz up air-popped corn with a misting of oil and a sprinkling of salt, cheese or minced herbs.

With its clear yellow plastic chute and white base with black accents, the Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Corn Popper (*Est. $20) won't be picking up any design awards, but reviews say it's a winner nonetheless. Slate's Torie Bosch says that a large batch of kernels cooked up "airy and crunchy" in about 90 seconds. Owners posting to Amazon.com say that this air popper is easy to use and leaves very few kernels unpopped. Many owners note that this popcorn popper lasts for years, but it's not without design flaws: the PopLite lacks an on/off switch, and you have to use a very large bowl to catch kernels. One owner recommends pre-heating the machine before adding kernels and tilting the machine slightly so that kernels can't help but fall into the bowl.

It's worth noting that this popcorn popper has a more expensive sibling, the Presto 04821 Orville Redenbacher Hot Air Corn Popper (*est. $25). Reviews say that the two models are identical, except for the chutes (the Orville Redenbacher's is clear rather than yellow.) The Wall Street Journal's review praises this "classic" popcorn popper's ease of use and cleanup, but calls the popcorn "high on the fluff factor" and pretty flavorless. Most owners posting to Amazon.com are happy with this popper, but the PopLite works just as well and costs less, making it the better choice.