The biggest food trends of 2024
Food, glorious food… it’s certainly been a big year in your kitchens.
“2024 has been the year of simplicity when it comes to everyday cooking,” says taste digital editor Rebecca Nittolo. “Affordable ingredients, like eggs and rice, have dominated, while weeknight dinners have been all about speed and ease. But that doesn’t mean food was boring this year! Social media kicked off trends like THAT flavour-bomb cucumber salad and the now-famous ‘marry me’ chicken, while our audience lapped up fun dessert hacks, anything with hidden molten brie inside and experimental cooking (of just about everything) in an air fryer. What a tasty 12 months!”
The biggest food trends on taste this year
We took a deep dive into our database to have a look at what you’ve been searching for on taste in 2024 and what types of dishes have had you busting to make this year. We found some incredible new trends, some of them quite surprising!
Eggs
They’ve been around since the chicken came into being, or did the egg come first? No matter, eggs have gone viral on taste a lot in the past 12 months. Our most popular recipe was air fryer poached eggs – literally, every time we air fried an egg, it went viral. You also flipped over frittatas and Scotch eggs and, as Christmas nears, searches for eggnog have also been rising. Why eggs? Well, they’re pretty hard to beat for versatility, as well as affordable protein, as the cost of living has us tightening our belts.
Cucumber salad
This fad might have started when a TikToker in a hoodie became obsessed with slicing up cucumber and shaking it in a jar with other ingredients to create flavourful cucumber salads, but it’s caught on. The cucumber salad was the second most-searched recipe on Google this year! At taste, we saw a 63 per cent jump in searches compared to last year – that translates to an awful lot of slicing, dicing, tossing and shaking, but Deputy Digital Director Jade was all for a fresh take on a staple.
Ice-cream hacks (and the rise of the Ninja CREAMi)
We really love ice-cream here at taste, but we also love a good appliance! Mix the two together and you get the best ice-cream maker in town: the Ninja CREAMi Ice Cream Maker. Our recipe mastermind Elisa Pietrantonio had loads of fun (perhaps, too much!) creating and taste-testing all kinds of frozen treats in this handy machine so that they could share the very yummiest with you. Ninja Creami aside, you also loved that we used a scoop of store-bought ice-cream to make a 5-minute creamy sangria and that we covered ice-cream balls in biscuit crumbs to make air-fried ice-cream. You also thought condensed milk ice-cream was very cool – our adults-only 4-ingredient Milo and Baileys ice-cream had you all screaming with joy on social media (and it earned our Senior Producer Marina the lasting nickname ‘Milorina’.
More forward planning
The cost of living pressures, combined with a lack of time, has seen a rise in searches for freezer-friendly meals on our site. The temptation to just thaw, heat and eat whenever you are time-poor or just dead tired – instead of dashing out and spending money on takeaway – has led to families wanting to plan their meals ahead of time. From pasta bakes to rissoles and chicken dinners and even sticky date pudding, there are hundreds of freezer-friendly options available on taste.
‘Marry me’ dishes
Well, there’s nothing like a homecooked meal to win a heart. This trend all started with chicken breasts cooked in a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce – apparently it’s so good it will make the person eating it want to marry you. ‘Marry me’ chicken recipe searches increased by a whopping 747 per cent this year on taste. And it’s not just chicken you’re wanting to “marry” now – you’re also into ‘marry me’ salmon and even ‘marry’ me soup. We say yes, yes, yes, to all of these!
Easier-than-ever desserts
In the last 12 months, we’ve started to notice that you want desserts that are more fuss free than ever – desserts, such as those made with bought biscuits and other baked goods, as well as desserts made with only a few ingredients. Earlier this year saw our 3-ingredient chocolate mousse go viral on socials. We get it: you want to impress without the stress. Even this Christmas it’s out with the classics and in with treats like Christmas crack, rocky road and white Christmas. Luckily, taste has all the easy desserts you could ever want, and then some.
Cookies
Cookies are always going to be popular with the taste community, but this year we saw a clear increase in searches for cookie recipes. Google’s #7 search term of the year was ‘Crumbl cookie’, which may have played a part in the yearn to bake a batch or two in 2024. You might like to give our fully loaded, mouth-watering rocky road cake mix cookies a whirl – cookie fan (and Content Producer) Georgia thinks they’re about as close as it gets to the Crumbl version.
Retro finger food
Small handheld sweet and savoury treats have been huge on the site this year. And I mean huge! And, for some reason, you’re desiring finger food recipes that our parents and grandparents used to make. Searches for recipes for vol-au-vents (puffed pastry cases with savoury fillings) have risen by a mega 552 per cent since last year, and bruschetta (grilled bread slices with tasty toppings) by a staggering 82743 per cent. Could bruschetta be the new pizza? Because both vol-au-vents and bruschetta have been such hits, we decided to make them into wreaths so you can also enjoy them at Christmas time, too. Take a look at our vol-au-vent garlic bread wreath and our bruschetta garlic bread wreath recipes.
Potato hacks
Potatoes are inexpensive, delicious and there are just sooo many ways you can hack them. Recipe creator Tracy Rutherford’s brie and cranberry smashed roast potatoes, where baby potatoes are cooked, moulded into a mini muffin pan, stuffed with cheese and cranberry sauce, then cooked in the air fryer until the cheese is all oozy, have caused an absolute social media frenzy in the lead-up to Christmas. With 4.2 million views (and counting), and more than 2.6k recipe shares, these lovelies will be in hot demand at your place this summer.
Superfood breakfast puddings
Searching for a healthier breakfast option has been all the rage in 2024, with seeds and oats as the standout ingredients. People wanting recipes for creamy chia seed puddings went up by 343 per cent compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the more traditional overnight oats (where you soak the oats in milk and yoghurt overnight and then wake up to a healthy brekkie) rose by 106 per cent. If you can’t decide between the two, we have a great solution: chai-spiced overnight oats, which contains both chia seeds and oats to give you a leg-up for the day ahead.
Cocktails
When it comes to drinks, the ’90s classics are back in vogue. The Sex and The City gals were renowned for their love of cosmopolitans (cosmos) which saw a stiletto rise of 3339 per cent in searches on taste this year. I’m quite a fan of the cosmopolitan slushie this hot summer. Also getting tossed back on a regular basis is the refreshing mojito, which had a meteoric rise in searches compared to last year (12,675 per cent). We do know that a 2024 survey by data consultancy CGA by NIQ found that 40 per cent of those who drink cocktails choose a mojito, making it the world’s most favourite mixed alcoholic drink. At the same time though, we’ve noticed that mocktail searches on taste are also going up, as some people opt for a more responsible refreshment.
Cereal
Using breakfast cereals in treats has been done for decades (think chocolate crackles and honey joys) but, in 2024, you’ve all really been smitten with our new-found love for coming up with delicious ways to use corn flakes in sweets. Our corn flake biscuits had a 104 per cent jump in popularity, compared to 2023, and turned out to be one of our most popular Facebook recipes for the whole year. And our cornflake Christmas crack is currently taking over Christmas – you can’t get enough of this no-fuss slice that offers a serious crunch with its chocolatey salty topping that balances out the sweet, sugary, toffee coating.
Cake decorating
You might like your baking nice and easy, but you certainly don’t scrimp on the icing! We have seen lots of recipe searches for buttercream in the last 12 months, and searches for frosting were more than five times that of last year. All that icing means a lot of beaters to lick (the kids must love you!)
Low-GI meals
While it’s true that people want to be able to have their cake (with loads of frosting) and eat it too, it’s also true that more people seem to be watching their carbohydrate intake. Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic condition in Australia, according to Diabetes Australia, which is probably why we saw low-GI dinners rise by a super 1334 per cent this past year as people become more conscious about their health. A low-GI diet, based around healthier complex carbohydrates, will also help you to feel fuller for longer and give you longer lasting energy. Take a look at these ultimate low-GI recipes which are low in simple carbs, but high in flavour.
Brie
This is the cheese of 2024, and it’s wandered off the typical cheese board and danced into a whole host of amazing appetisers and dishes. Whipped into a fluffy dip, stuffed into potatoes, baked into a crinkle pie, you haven’t been able to get enough of this soft cow’s milk cheese. If you simply like to dip a cracker into a tender wheel of brie, you just have to try this sensational air fryer baked brie with hot honey on your platters.
Lazy baking
We hear you, taste community: you love a baked good but you want to make it in the quickest, most convenient way possible. This is why we saw recipe searches for dump cakes, where all the ingredients are dumped (or layered) in a cake pan and baked, escalating by 338 per cent. Easy chocolate mug cakes were also very popular, with searches rising by 133 per cent – who doesn’t love the indulgence of tossing ingredients into a mug and then cooking them for just a few minutes before diving your spoon into a sweet, dense, chocolatey cake? We also saw desserts in a tray gaining ground – lots of impossible pies, doughnuts, cheesecakes, cakes, and more, trending on social media. With no stand mixer in sight (or even hand-held beaters!), these desserts are simply mix and bake, and we will entirely forgive you if you just want to hand around a few spoons and eat them straight from the tray.
American dishes
Recipes that have come out of the US have been more popular than Donald Trump in 2024. You’ve elected to bake more cookies, anything banoffee (that winning combo of banana, cream and caramel), apple sauce, and chowder. You’ll go all swoony over our top-rated seafood chowder that has raked up more than 140 glowing reviews.
Beef
We think Aussie beef is the best in the world. At the 2024 World Steak Challenge, we won the best steak, best Wagyu and best sirloin. Our beef is so good there has been a growing demand for it around the nation which, in turn, means more people searching for beef recipes on taste. More affordable cuts used for slow cooking reign supreme (our braised steak and onions has been hugely popular all year) and summer is always a great time for a delicious Thai beef salad or to throw a good steak on the barbie.
Mediterranean
Ingredients from a typical Mediterranean diet – whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seafood, beans and nuts – have long been known to be good for your health. This emphasis on plant-based foods and healthy fats is translating to rising searches (up 96 per cent) for recipes on our site for Mediterranean dinners and more. Searches for Italian dishes, many of which use budget-friendly pasta, have also risen by 61 per cent.
Rice
Just like eggs, the current cost of living has seen you seek more ways to use affordable rice in your meals. We all love the fact that rice is filling and can be used in so very many different ways – think egg fried rice, rice pudding and rice salad. Interestingly, congee (a Chinese rice porridge) went up in popularity by 85 per cent, and our family-friendly little tuna and brown rice patties was one of our top social media performers in 2024.
Custard powder
Our taste community has always loved custard, but that powder Nan used to love so much is making a comeback. We’re not talking about serving up some dollops of custard with canned peaches, but using custard powder in all kinds of baked beauties. Searches for recipes have gone up by 73 per cent, with custard powder biscuits an obvious standout (the addition of chunks of white chocolate in these bikkies also helped!) If you love custard treats, you would also love our apple and custard charlotte, custard powder scones and gingerbread eggnog custard pie.
The rise of the vego dinner
Meat not your thing? That’s okay, with a 76,026 per cent increase in searches for vegetarian dinners year on year, meat didn’t seem to get a look in on many a dining table in 2024. Your top-notch vego choice was our creamy Tuscan gnocchi bake. It not only tastes dreamy thanks to a slightly sweet and tangy sundried tomato pesto, but it’s also a great budget meal, making it perfect for families looking for a hearty dinner at a low cost.
Risoni
It was the pasta no-one wanted in lockdown, but now this small misunderstood pasta shape is on-trend again. Risoni recipes searches went up by an astonishing 550 per cent this year, possibly because risoni (also known as orzo) is shaped like a long grain of rice and so is very accommodating in dishes. Our ‘marry me’ chicken risoni bake was our #3 new recipe of the year, but we know you’d also love our one-pan ratatouille risoni and Tuscan salmon and risoni tray bake.
Is keto over?
Personalised health is on the rise as people adapt their eating to their wearable trackers and own unique needs. However, possibly due to our busy lifestyles and budget restraints, we’re seeing a decline in searches for those hard-to-sustain diets such as keto and paleo. Instead, easier-to-maintain healthy ways of eating are climbing and we’re seeing a boost in searches for low-GI dinners, protein, Mediterranean, gluten free, and low carb.
So, that’s 2024 on a platter. We can’t wait to see what you’ll be making, baking and stirring up next year.
Originally published as The biggest food trends of 2024
Five to try: Sydney’s best gluten-free restaurants
Living the gluten-free life is nowhere near as difficult as it once was. So if you want pasta, a pizza or crave a croissant, here’s our pick of top places around Sydney.
Five to try: Sydney’s best acai bowls
Acai bowls were a thing. And then they weren’t. Then they were again. So take your place in line and check out our list of the best places to try acai in Sydney right now.