Every December, Google shares their list of Australia’s top recipe search trends of the year. Every year, it gets a little more random, and this year’s list is no exception. The 2023 results are a particularly head-scratching mix of TikTok trends, royal recipes and nostalgia trips, and to be honest, bear no correlation to the most popular recipes on Good Food for 2023 (more on those soon).

From King Charles’ coronation dish to a rather racy-sounding cocktail, these are the recipe searches that surged in 2023. Make yourself a Grimace shake (or shake your head grimly) and enjoy.

1. Coronation quiche recipe

Was it only this year that Charles went from Prince to King and was responsible for a huge spike in egg sales in the process? In the interests of affordability, adaptability and ease of sharing, the spring veg-packed quiche made a brief but high-profile comeback throughout April and May when the king-to-be declared it the official Coronation dish, enabling us mere mortals to eat like a king on a beefeater’s budget. Whatever next, a new Beatles song?

2. Grimace shake recipe

For years, I thought chicken one-pots (or Cypriot grain salad) were the top-searched recipes of the year. How naive! In 2023, it was all about the purple blob from Macca’s and his thick, fruity shake. The Grimace shake made a brief but apparently memorable appearance on US McDonald’s menus only throughout June and July and FOMO-fearing Aussies couldn’t stop googling (and TikToking) the recipe. To save you from having to do the same, just blitz vanilla soft serve, frozen blueberries, strawberry jam and a dash of milk. We’re lovin’ it (apparently).

3. Coronation chicken recipe

It was a big year for royal-approved recipes, with the recipe invented for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953 making a comeback for her son’s special day. According to bbc.com, the recipe originally known as “Poulet Reine Elizabeth” involved poaching chicken in water and wine before coating it in a creamy sauce consisting of mayonnaise, whipped cream, apricot and tomato purée, curry powder, lemon, pepper and red wine. Mmm! The dish was traditionally accompanied by a well-seasoned salad of rice, green peas and pimentos. Or whacked between slices of bread to make a curried chook sanga, of sorts.

4. CWA ANZAC biscuit recipe

The Country Women’s Association (CWA) knows a thing or 1000 about baking, with cookbooks stretching back to the 1920s covering all manner of Aussie classics, including, yes, the great ANZAC biscuit. Little wonder then, that we googled the CWA recipe in droves in the days leading up to ANZAC Day on April 25th. Chewy, crunchy, warm from the oven or fresh from the lunchbox, we couldn’t get enough of them. Here’s our take if you can’t wait until next April.

5. Chicken Honolulu recipe

This sounds like a Red Rooster meal from the 1980s (quarter-barbecued chook, crumbed pineapple ring, fries, $4.99) but is it actually another name for Hawaii’s sticky, tangy Huli huli chicken or perhaps Australia’s national dish? It’s a mystery, quite frankly. Former Ready Steady Cook host Peter Everett joked that his grandmother’s Honolulu Chicken, cooked with almonds and tinned pineapple pieces, is in fact Australia’s National Dish when he was lightly grilled on Adam and Poh’s Great Australian Bites SBS TV show this year. Who are we to argue?

6. Lamb stew recipe

Now we’re talking. In 2023, stews made a long, relentless winter with added Collingwood premiership pain just about bearable. Lamb stew, we’re particularly looking at you. From Karen Martini’s slow-braised lamb stew with added barley and veg goodness to Danielle Alvaraz’s perfect Persian-style chickpea and lamb shank stew, we were in slow-cooked, meaty heaven. And if you think it’s just a winter thing, Adam Liaw’s summer stew proves otherwise. It’s the dish that keeps giving, and you keep googling.

7. Pornstar Martini recipes

Move over spicy margarita(actually, please don’t), the Pornstar Martini might just be the cocktail of 2023 if the millions of views on TikTok and spike in Google searches are anything to go by. Dry martini fans, look away now, this is a drink of the sweet and fruity variety, a heady combo of passionfruit liqueur, vanilla vodka, lime juice and champagne or prosecco sure to get the party started. It’s also known as Passionfruit martini, which is the same but obviously so much better.

8. Marry me chicken recipe

According to the internet, marry me chicken is so good, that if you make it for your partner they’ll want to marry you immediately, which sounds to me like the perfect reason to never make it but live and let live, huh. This simple sun-dried tomato, cream and chicken breast combo, also known as Tuscan chicken (as the multitude of comments on Tik Tok love to remind us), has amassed tens of millions of views, and proposals, I assume. Katrina Meynink’s creamy tomato one-pot chicken has all of the flavour (and more), and none of the hype. Win win.

9. Chicken and leek pie recipe

The classic golden oldie has enjoyed a revival this year, trending on social media and proving that a great pie never goes out of style. The term “easy chicken leek pie” has had more than 125 million views on TikTok, but there’s really only one recipe you need. This Karen Martini chicken, leek and mushroom pie is a fairly traditional pie, old-fashioned even, but delicious, creamy and rich, and perfect with simply dressed salad greens.

10. Modak recipe

These sweet Indian dumplings known as Modak or Modakam are popular in many Indian states and cultures, and are gaining popularity in Australia, judging by its first appearance in Google’s top recipe search term list. We’re not sure what the sudden Aussie craze can be attributed to, but we’re here for it.