[camhart]

I've found I burn the popcorn often with this. Maybe just a lack of experience (we always had an air popper growing up). You can also use small amounts of butter (or I guess oil if you wanted) with the silicone popper or air popper. Having enough oil to cover the base seems like a lot more oil? I could be wrong, just guessing.

[cosmodisk]

There's an element of practice too. Ideally, you want a very thin layer of oil to cover the base, or maybe even less. It doesn't need to be a lot. Also an average saucepan would produce quite a lot popcorn

To prevent burning, shaking and occasionally lifting off the hob is required. Also not adding too much corn helps a lot. The maximum a saucepan can take is when the entire base is covered with them.

[ibiza]

I use this method as well. To add some specifics, I use a 4 qt saucepan to produce enough for two people. I use enough oil to liberally cover the bottom (glug glug). This is not diet food, excess oil tends to remain in the pot anyway, and I believe most of the heat transfer is oil to corn as opposed to from the pot itself, so you need ample hot oil for a good batch.

To judge when the oil is hot enough for the corn, I add 3 kernels to the initial pot + oil. Once those 3 kernels pop, add enough corn to cover the base of the pan, swirl the hot oil w/ the new kernels, replace cover, but leave slightly ajar to allow steam to escape, and then yeah, a couple more swirls & you should have a perfect batch in about a minute or so.

[MrDunham]

I've found 50% oil by volume to kernels works great.

Eg 1/3 cup kernels, fill same cup halfway (1/6 cup), add flavacol to the oil in the measuring cup & stir, mix with kernels in a saucepan over heat. Love life

[hombre_fatal]

1/6 cup is 320 calories of oil. Definitely not the most calorie-thrifty way to make it.

[stevenwoo]

You may be using too high a heat. I've found the highest setting on my stovetop makes it a pretty high probability some popped kernels will burn (or many if I make a mistake) but a lower setting is sufficient to pop almost every kernel and reduce the risk of burning with techniques people describe in other posts. The air popper I tried tended to leave quite a few unpopped kernels with the same corn kernels I use on the stove top.