How many calories are in buttered popcorn?
A small single-serving bag of buttered popcorn weighs 28 g and carries 148 calories. Per 100 g, ready-to-eat butter flavored popcorn runs 530 calories, and most of that is fat rather than carbs. The number people misjudge is the cup: one popped cup weighs just 14 g, so it lands at 74 calories.
You'd need to walk about 30 minutes to burn the 148 calories in one small bag (28 g).
How long does it take to burn off 148 kcal of buttered popcorn?
One small bag (28 g) is 148 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 148 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 30 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 18 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 21 min |
| Jogging | 17 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 33 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (28 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Buttered popcorn quick facts
- US servings from one cup to a large bag
- Movie theater buttered popcorn is a different food
- Microwave bags and homemade buttered popcorn
- Sodium catches up faster than fat
- How does buttered popcorn compare
- Most popular buttered popcorn brands
- FAQ
Buttered popcorn quick facts
The row used here is FNDDS 2708235, "Popcorn, ready-to-eat, butter flavored", from the 2021-2023 survey files. That is the popcorn most Americans actually have in hand: already popped, already buttered, poured out of a bag or scooped from a bowl. It is also the only butter row in the database that comes with household serving weights attached, which is what makes cups and bags countable instead of guessable.
Popcorn popped at home in oil with real butter on top, and microwave bags that pop in their own fat, are separate records with different numbers. Both are in the tables further down.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 small bag (28 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 530 | 148 | — |
| Total fat | 32.53 g | 9.1 g | 12% |
| Saturated fat | 4.38 g | 1.2 g | 6% |
| Carbohydrate | 53.38 g | 14.9 g | 5% |
| Dietary fiber | 10 g | 2.8 g | 10% |
| Total sugars | 0.6 g | 0.2 g | — |
| Protein | 8.88 g | 2.5 g | 5% |
| Sodium | 764 mg | 214 mg | 9% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0% |
| Potassium | 226 mg | 63 mg | 1% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two label lines are missing on purpose. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for survey foods, so those rows would be invented rather than measured, and an invented row is worse than no row. Total sugars are real and tiny at 0.6 g per 100 g, which is why popcorn tastes salty rather than sweet even when the bag says butter. The Daily Value percentages follow the FDA reference amounts on the Nutrition Facts label.
US servings from one cup to a large bag
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup, popped | 14 g | 74 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.3 g | 150 kcal |
| One small single-serving bag | 28 g | 148 kcal |
| 4 cups, popped (a bowl) | 56 g | 297 kcal |
| One medium single-serving bag | 57 g | 302 kcal |
| One large single-serving bag | 85 g | 450 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 530 kcal |
The cup and the bag weights come straight from the USDA household measures for this record. The 1 oz line and the 4-cup bowl are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, which is why the ounce lands at 150 while the 28 g bag lands at 148.
Here is the trap. Popcorn is mostly air, so a cup weighs 14 g, less than a slice of bread. That makes the "1 oz" printed on most snack bags equal to two full cups, not one. Pour four cups into a bowl in front of a movie and you are at 297 calories before you have thought about it, and a large single-serving bag at 85 g is 450, which is lunch-sized. Counting cups is the cheapest correction available: two fewer cups is 148 calories gone.
Movie theater buttered popcorn is a different food
Concession popcorn is not the same product as the bag from the grocery aisle, and USDA treats it separately. Theater popcorn with added butter runs 656 calories per 100 g, because the "butter" poured over it is a liquid topping oil that soaks all the way down the tub.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie theater, with added butter | 656 kcal | one medium order, 182 g | 1194 kcal |
| Movie theater, no butter added | 603 kcal | one medium order, 143 g | 862 kcal |
| Ready-to-eat, butter flavored | 530 kcal | one large bag, 85 g | 450 kcal |
A medium buttered order at 1,194 calories is not popcorn behaving badly, it is portion size plus topping. Skipping the butter pump takes the same order down to 862, and that is before the smaller tub. The saturated fat is the sharper number: at 35.48 g per 100 g, a 182 g medium works out to roughly 65 g of saturated fat by our own arithmetic on the USDA figure, more than three times the 20 g Daily Value. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans put saturated fat under 10% of daily calories, and one tub clears that on its own.
Microwave bags and homemade buttered popcorn
How the kernels got hot matters more than how much butter went on afterward.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-eat, butter flavored | 530 kcal | one small bag, 28 g | 148 kcal |
| Microwave bag, butter flavored | 518 kcal | one regular bag popped, 85 g | 440 kcal |
| Popped in oil, with added butter | 525 kcal | 4 cups, 56 g | 294 kcal |
| Air-popped, with added butter | 430 kcal | 4 cups, 56 g | 241 kcal |
| Air-popped, nothing added | 385 kcal | 4 cups, 56 g | 216 kcal |
The 4-cup lines are our own scaling from each USDA 100 g figure rather than USDA servings. Air-popping is the single biggest lever on the list: pop the kernels dry and add butter, and you are at 430 per 100 g instead of 525, because you skipped the oil the kernels would otherwise absorb during popping. That is 53 calories saved on a 4-cup bowl, with the butter still on it.
Microwave butter bags look mild at 518 calories per 100 g, close to the ready-to-eat bag. The saturated fat is where they part company: 14.3 g per 100 g against 4.38 g in the ready-to-eat row, because the bag is loaded with palm or hydrogenated fat that has to be solid at room temperature. A full 85 g popped bag carries about 12 g of saturated fat by that arithmetic, roughly 61% of a day's Daily Value from a snack. Store brands land in the same place; SkinnyPop's butter bag is 500 calories per 100 g on its label, and most buttered ready-to-eat brands sit at 500 with a 28 g serving printed as 140.
Sodium catches up faster than fat
Fat is what people watch on popcorn. Salt closes the gap faster than you would expect. A medium 57 g bag of ready-to-eat buttered popcorn carries 436 mg of sodium, or 19% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, against 24% for total fat. Per 100 g the figure is 764 mg, about a third of a teaspoon of table salt.
The homemade version breaks that pattern completely. Popcorn popped in oil with butter has 223 mg of sodium per 100 g, under a third of the seasoned bag, because you are the one holding the salt shaker. If sodium is the thing you are managing, popping your own is a bigger win than any butter swap.
The other side of the ledger is real too. Popcorn is a whole grain, one of the few MyPlate counts that people eat as a snack, and this row carries 10 g of fiber per 100 g. A medium bag delivers 5.7 g, or 20% of the Daily Value. Very few salty snacks put fiber and sodium on the same line at nearly the same percentage.
How does buttered popcorn compare
| Popcorn | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttered popcorn | 530 kcal | 1 cup, 14 g | 74 kcal |
| Ready-to-eat, plain | 482 kcal | 1 cup, 11 g | 53 kcal |
| Movie theater, with butter | 656 kcal | 1 cup, 14 g | 92 kcal |
| Caramel coated | 428 kcal | 1 cup, 35 g | 150 kcal |
Our take: the butter flavoring costs less than the reputation suggests. Butter flavored is 530 per 100 g against 482 for the same plain bag, a difference of 48 calories, and almost all of it is fat rather than carbohydrate: 32.53 g against 23.26 g. Caramel corn is the sneakiest row on the table, because it is the lowest per 100 g at 428 and still the highest per cup at 150 calories, purely because sugar coating makes each cup weigh 35 g instead of 14 g. For weight loss, buttered popcorn measured in cups is a genuinely good snack. For a night when you will not measure anything, the plain bag is the safer thing to open.
Most popular buttered popcorn brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| SkinnyPop Butter Popcorn | 500 cal |
| Jiffy Pop Butter Popcorn | 412 cal |
| Act II Butter Lovers Microwave Popcorn | 424 cal |
| Halfpops Butter & Sea Salt | 475 cal |
| Snack Worthy Buttered Popcorn | 500 cal |
| Arizona Snack Company Buttered Popcorn | 500 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Buttered popcorn FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of buttered popcorn?
One popped cup weighs 14 g and carries 74 calories, at 530 calories per 100 g. Popcorn is mostly air, so a cup is lighter than almost any other snack you measure that way. Two cups roughly match the 1 oz serving printed on most bags, which is 150 calories.
How many calories in a bowl of buttered popcorn?
A 4-cup bowl weighs 56 g and works out to 297 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. That bowl also brings 18.2 g of fat and 428 mg of sodium. Six cups would be closer to a large single-serving bag, which USDA lists at 85 g and 450 calories.
How many calories in movie theater buttered popcorn?
A medium theater order with butter runs about 1,194 calories at 182 g, because concession popcorn is 656 calories per 100 g once the topping oil soaks in. The same medium size without the butter pump is 862 calories. The tub size, not the corn, does most of the damage here.
Buttered popcorn vs air-popped popcorn calories?
Air-popped with nothing added is 385 calories per 100 g, against 530 for ready-to-eat buttered. Add butter to air-popped kernels and it is 430, still well under the 525 of popcorn popped in oil with butter. The oil absorbed during popping costs more calories than the butter added afterward.
Is buttered popcorn healthy?
It carries 10 g of fiber per 100 g, which is 10% of the Daily Value in a 28 g bag, and popcorn counts as a whole grain on MyPlate. The catch is 764 mg of sodium per 100 g. Measured in cups it is a strong snack; eaten from an open bag it is not.
How many carbs are in buttered popcorn?
There are 53.38 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, or 14.9 g in a 28 g bag, which is 5% of the Daily Value. Of that 100 g total, 10 g is fiber and only 0.6 g is sugar. Net carbs are lower than the headline number suggests for a crunchy snack.
How much sodium is in buttered popcorn?
Ready-to-eat buttered popcorn has 764 mg of sodium per 100 g, so a small 28 g bag gives 214 mg, or 9% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. A medium 57 g bag reaches 436 mg. Popping your own in oil with butter drops it to 223 mg per 100 g.
How many calories in a bag of microwave butter popcorn?
A regular popped microwave bag weighs about 85 g and comes to roughly 440 calories, at 518 per 100 g. Saturated fat is the row to watch: 14.3 g per 100 g, more than three times the ready-to-eat bag, because the fat used in microwave bags is solid at room temperature.
Similar foods
- Kettle corn — 74 cal per cup
- Sesame sticks — 151 cal per oz
- Popcorn — 73 cal per cup popped
- Peanuts — 164 cal per ounce
- Peanut Butter — 191 cal for 2 tbsp
- Churro — 189 cal each
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the popcorn for you, cups and all.
