Orville Redenbacher’s vs Pop Secret Popcorn – What’s the Difference?

Here you will find a comparison of Orville Redenbacher’s and Pop Secret Popcorn. If you already have a favorite between these two brands, please vote for it in our poll at the end of this article.

Orville Redenbacher vs Pop Secret

Taste Test

We completed a taste test of the two classic butter popcorn varieties pictured above. Here is what we found:

The Pop Secret was slightly fluffier than Orville and had a light butter taste. One of our testers said it could use more salt. Another person said it tasted a bit blanded.

Orville Redenbacher was the clear winner of our taste test. It was more flavorful with almost a perfect amount of salt and butter. One person said it tasted close to movie theater popcorn with another person stating it tasted freshly popped and not from the microwave.

Overall, we don’t think most people would be disappointed eating Pop Secret on its own. However, when it is compared directly with Orville Redenbacher, it’s no match.

Appearance

For what it’s worth, Orville Redenbacher is on the left, and Pop Secret is on the right in the photo above. Unlike some of our past comparisons like Cracker Jack vs Crunch ‘n Munch, it is extremely difficult to tell these two popcorns apart visually. We suppose that is to be expected for most regular popcorns.

Ownership & History

Orville Redenbacher’s – If you’re in your mid to late 30s or older, you may remember Orville Redenbacher, the man, appearing in his popcorn commercials. He was known for wearing a bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses in these commercials while spreading the wisdom of his superior popcorn.

Redenbacher not only looked smart on TV, he actually was smart. He obtained a degree from Purdue in agronomy (soil science & crop specialist) and had a notable career in the agricultural industry. During his free time, he worked with popcorn and eventually acquired a seed corn plant company where he and his partner Charlie Bowman experimented with hybrid strains of popcorn.

After extensive experiments with hybrids, Redenbacher and Bowman developed a new strain of popcorn. This lead to the men launching the popcorn company called Orville Redenbacher’s in 1970. Today, the brand is owned by ConAgra. Mr. Redenbacher died in 1995.

Pop Secret – Pop Secret is one of the many brands of Synder’s-Lance who is known for its pretzels among other snacks. Synder’s-Lance is owned by its parent company, Campbell’s Soup Company. Pop Secret was first sold in stores in 1986 and was initially manufactured by General Mills.

Popularity

Orville Redenbacher’s and Pop Secret are the two most popular popcorn brands in the United States. Based on data from Statista, 65.59 million U.S. people consumed Orville Redenbacher’s in 2020. 49.16 million Americans ate Pop Secret in 2020. In third came Act II at 49.16 million, store brand at 45.36 million came in fourth, and fifth was Cracker Jack at 45.36 million. Clearly, you’re not alone if you enjoy any of the above-mentioned popcorn brands.

Products

While this article focuses on the classic butter popcorns for each brand, there several other varieties of popcorn produced by Orville and Pop Secret. These products are:

Ingredients

The ingredients for Orville Redenbacher’s and Pop Secret classic butter popcorns are listed below.

Orville Redenbacher’s – Whole grain popping corn, palm oil, salt, butter, color added (annatto, turmeric, paprika), natural flavors, mixed tocopherols (Vitamin E for freshness).

Pop Secret – Whole grain popcorn, palm oil, salt, natural flavors, annatto, paprika.

Poll: Orville Redenbacher vs Pop Secret

Pick your favorite between Orville Redenbacher and Pop Secret!