This 3-Ingredient Hidden Valley Ranch Popcorn Is The Perfect Movie Night Flavor Bomb

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Popcorn is truly the definitive movie theater snack — and you can't go wrong with a bowl of microwave popcorn for your own at-home movie nights, either. And yet, sometimes it seems as though even the best microwave popcorn brands fail to capture the iconic taste and sensation of diving your hand into a bucket of theater popcorn. That's why it may be a good idea to step it up and create a totally different — yet totally satisfying — flavor experience. Enter Hidden Valley Ranch buffalo ranch popcorn. With just three extra ingredients (melted butter, Hidden Valley Original Ranch seasoning, and hot sauce), you can turn your basic bowl of popcorn into something spicy, savory, and tangy.

Simply stir together all three ingredients and toss your freshly popped popcorn in it to coat evenly. Because there's salt in the ranch seasoning and you'll be adding extra butter, it's best to use air-popped popcorn for this snack rather than microwaved. You can also add some extra salt to taste if you're starting with unflavored popcorn. If that's not what you have on-hand, however, just keep that in mind and adjust the flavors accordingly. You can also make a mild version of this by skipping the hot sauce and simply drizzling ranch-seasoning-infused butter into a bowl of your favorite microwaved popcorn.

If you're into seasoned popcorn, the sky's the limit. Some movie theaters have their own butter and seasoning bar so you can flavor your popcorn any number of ways. (If you've ever been to a theater with a child and they have a seasoning bar, chances are, you may have tasted some very ... interesting ... popcorn in your time.) For home use, you can snag popcorn seasoning packs, such as Kernel Season's Popcorn Seasoning Mini Jars Variety Pack, which comes with a variety of flavors, including white cheddar, garlic parmesan, salted caramel, nacho cheese, and, yes, ranch. But you can also DIY a fun popcorn bar by using seasonings you may already have at home, such as furikake, pumpkin spice, or buffalo sauce spices (garlic and onion powders, cayenne, etc.).

On a popcorn seasoning thread on Reddit, one user recommended a Korean-inspired mix consisting of melted butter, sesame oil, garlic salt, ground ginger, and some pepper flakes. They also suggested a citrusy-spicy popcorn with melted butter and Tajín, among other combos. And of course, all this doesn't even get into the world of popcorn mix-ins! For your spicy Hidden Valley Ranch popcorn, consider some savory additions like veggie straws, kale chips, nuts, etc.