I had to stop eating corn a few years ago due to a food sensitivity, and of all the things I had to give up (tortilla chips! corn on the cob! grits!), popcorn hit me the hardest. I loved making huge bags of popcorn in the microwave at home to demolish on the couch—for the toasty smell and salty fingertips as much as the light-as-air snacking.
I’ve tried a few different avenues in my effort to re-create that sensation. The best method I’ve found is to break up rice cakes into bite-size pieces, coat them in butter and spices, and bake them in the oven until crunchy and toasty. This sweet and salty version is one of my go-tos; I like using unsalted rice cakes so I can season them myself to taste, but if you can only find salted or lightly salted, use a lighter hand with the salt (or skip it entirely). Four tablespoons may seem like a lot of butter or olive oil, but you really do need to fully coat your rice cake pieces in fat so they get nicely crisp and extra toasted in spots like the blistered bits at the bottom of the popcorn bag (my favorite part). —Kendra Vaculin
