10 Cooking Trends and Ingredients That Changed the Way We Ate (and Drank) This Year

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At Food & Wine, we’re always looking for new inspiration in the kitchen. This year, we turned to our pantries. We leaned on umami-packed staples like MSG and oyster sauce to upgrade everything from smash burgers to gravy, and we taught the classic wedge salad some new tricks. We transformed the flavors of Marry Me Chicken and French Onion Soup into creative new dishes, and we learned that just about anything can be improved by chili crisp and pickle brine. Here are 10 cooking trends and ingredients we couldn’t get enough of this year.

French onion

Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

On a freezing cold winter day, there’s nothing like a bowl of classic French Onion Soup to warm you up. The onions in the beef broth are deeply caramelized, lending a hint of sweetness to each spoonful. The broth is rich and savory, getting its complexity from a few sprigs of thyme and a splash of sherry. But if I’m being honest, I’m mostly here for that gooey layer of melted cheese and bread on top, capturing the broth and a few whisps of onions. Over the years at Food & Wine, we’ve taken what we love about this soup and made French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, French Onion Baked Brie, and French Onion Pot Pie. That wasn’t enough for us, and in the last few months, French Onion Mac and Cheese, French Onion Roast Beef Sliders, French Onion Pasta, and even a French-Onion Stuffed Onion joined the family. It’s clear that this bistro classic is ready for anything. — Chandra Ram, associate editorial director, food

MSG

Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Thom Driver

If you’re not cooking at home with monosodium glutamate, aka MSG, then you’re missing out on major umami. I take a page from Calvin Eng, a 2022 F&W Best New Chef and co-author of the forthcoming cookbook Salt, Sugar + MSG, and keep a bowl of the flavor additive next to the salt cellar on my stove, adding a small spoonful to everything from ragu bolognese and beef stew to chicken soup and ranch dressing. Or Chef Johnny Spero, who makes a “dad salt,” his combination of kosher salt, black pepper, and MSG, to enhance the deeply savory flavors of smash burgers and more. Read all about MSG in Mari Uyehara’s James Beard Award-winning feature story, and keep it on hand to upgrade simple recipes like roast chicken. — Hunter Lewis, editor in chief

Pickles and their brine

Food & Wine / Photo by Robby Lozano, / Food Styling by Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Tucker Vines

I knew we had reached peak pickle as a society when I saw Grillo’s-flavored toothpaste. Pickles are showing up in other unexpected places, too: in Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke, and as a vessel for Jimmy John’s “picklewiches.” While these are extreme examples, I think most things can be improved by the fermented tang of homemade pickles or pickle brine, from panko-topped Fried Pickle Dip to a zesty marinade for fried chicken. Pro pickler and chef April McGreger puts it best: Pickle brine is just a seasoned acid, and as such it makes any vinaigrette or sauce sing. Just please don’t brush your teeth with it. — Audrey Morgan, senior editor

Wedge salads

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Wedge salads have garnered plenty of attention beyond traditional steakhouse menus, showing up in inventive variations from antipasti-topped slabs of iceberg lettuce, tahini and herb dressed wedges, and lightened up versions that lean on coconut cream and furikake to Po-boy inspired wedge salads with shrimp, hot sauce, and Old Bay breadcrumbs. But this year, our go-to Wedge Salad leans into the classic without going too far afield. It’s first dressed with a garlicky vinaigrette that slips between every layer of the tightly packed iceberg lettuce, and again by a blue cheese dressing for creamy effect. Then, this wedge gets topped with slabs of pungent gorgonzola and salty-sweet candied bacon. It’s not just a level up, it’s a bonafide top-tier salad. — Cheryl Slocum, senior food editor

Chili crisp

Food & Wine / Photo by Robby Lozano / Food Styling by Jasmine Smith / Prop Styling by Tucker Vines

There’s no denying that this spicy, pungent condiment made waves on restaurant menus and in kitchens (and courtrooms) over the past year. Once reserved for noodles and chicken wings, chili crisp has popped up in some surprising (but delicious) dishes. Packed with nutty sesame seeds, fiery dried chili flakes, crispy garlic, and an array of seasonings often including MSG, the beloved condiment brings new life to dishes like shrimp scampi and caramelized cabbage. And if that wasn’t enough, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams took it one step further this summer by partnering with Fly by Jing for a mouth-tingling, sweet, salty, and savory “Spice Cream.” — Paige Grandjean, food editor

‘Marry me’ everything

Morgan Hunt Glaze / Prop Styling by Joshua Hoggle / Food Styling by Marianne Williams

Taylor Swift released the song “Cruel Summer” in 2019, but it didn’t hit number one on the Billboard 100 until four years later. Marry Me Chicken is the “Cruel Summer” of recipes. Stick with me! Editor Lindsay Funston created a recipe called Marry Me Chicken for Delish in 2016, but it has gone viral on TikTok in the past year, launching countless iterations of the chicken cutlet dinner (Funston’s video producer blurted “I’d marry you for that chicken!” after taking a bite). The real star of this dish isn’t the chicken, but the sauce it’s baked in: a luscious tomato sauce made with sundried tomatoes, butter, and cream that’s a little nostalgic (sun-dried tomatoes had their heyday in the 80s), and extremely delicious. The cooks in our test kitchen had plenty of fun with the concept of a sun-dried tomato cream sauce, making Marry Me Chicken Stuffed Shells and even Proposal Chicken Parmesan. — AM

Cabbage

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Every year, it seems like there is a new “it” vegetable. It was kale, then brussels sprouts, and this year you could argue that Jimmy Nardello peppers were on every menu. But there’s something really beautiful about the humble cabbage. With its hefty weight and bowling ball shape and size, this single vegetable offers a lot in all those layers. From Buttery Irish Cabbage cooked in plenty of salted cultured butter to Charred Cabbage with Ssamjang Butter and Charred Cabbage with Coconut, Garlic, and Chili Crisp, we’ve seen cabbage taken to new heights with simple, flavorful ingredients and techniques. — Breana Killeen, senior food editor

Oyster sauce

Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

With a lip-smacking flavor that’s simultaneously sweet, savory and tangy, paired with a deep umami quality that summons the impression of a seared steak or shiitake mushrooms, oyster sauce is one of those ingredients that, once you start cooking with it, you wonder, ‘why isn’t everyone using more of this?’ Well, in 2024, everyone was (finally!) using more oyster sauce, adding it to dishes beyond stir-fried vegetables and noodles, leaning on it to instantly elevate a simple brown butter sauce drizzled over pan-roasted asparagus, and to give a more satisfying flavor to Thanksgiving gravy. To power up your pantry for 2025, grab a tall bottle of premium oyster sauce: Megachef Oyster Sauce and Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce are two excellent options. — Karen Shimizu, executive editor

Bouillon cubes

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Thom Driver

Listen, if you have the time to roast chicken or beef bones, then simmer them down with aromatic vegetables and herbs for hours, good for you. Nothing can replace the deep flavor of homemade stocks for elevating soups, stews, braises, and rice dishes. But if you’re short on time, shelf-stable bouillon cubes or pastes are concentrated flavor bombs that give rich, lip-smacking flavor and a pleasant golden hue to all kinds of recipes, from Matzo Ball Soup to French Onion Dip to the umami-packed seasoning for Chicken Suya. Try bouillon cubes from Maggi, Wylers, and Knorr, or pastes like Better Than Bouillion Roasted Chicken Base. — HL

Averna

Tim Nusog / Food & Wine

Averna, a bitter Italian liqueur, is one of the most recognized in the amaro category. The Sicilian-made liqueur dates to the 1860s, but it’s been a bartender favorite and cocktail darling since the mid-aughts. Its medium-bodied profile and balance of sweetness and light bitter notes make it the ideal gateway amaro. As the category continues to grow and new generations of spirits enthusiasts discover the beauty of amaro, folks keep coming back to the classic. The complex blend of botanicals and herbal infusions provides an excellent modifier in countless cocktails, namely the Black Manhattan, a bittersweet riff on the classic that’s been making a return to cocktail menus across the country recently. There’s a reason why it continues to be one of the best-selling amari coming from Italy. Though Averna dates to the Benedictine monks, this herbal elixir is so hot right now. — Prairie Rose, senior drinks editor

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