TikTok truly knows how to take things viral, with the social media platform itself turning into a trend that doesn’t seem like it will slow down any time soon. Food being a common uniter among generations and cultures makes it one of the most popular topics on the app. In the first few endless weeks of lockdown, people flocked to TikTok for community, content and creativity, craving the comforting or crazy connections they used to make on a daily basis. Their enthusiasm for simple or unnecessarily complicated – but on a whole, delicious – food recipes allowed culinary creations to skyrocket in popularity. Some foods are reminiscent of the earlier days in quarantine, when we had the time to nurse a sourdough starter, while others reflect the stir-crazy feelings a year after the pandemic took hold of the world. Here are some TikTok food trends to revisit – or try out – while we wait for what’s next on the eating horizon.
Delicious dalgona coffee
This whipped coffee drink is what dreams are made of for those who have missed sitting in a coffee shop pretending to do work. Originally mentioned on a South Korean TV show when likened to Korean honeycomb toffee, the #dalgonacoffeechallenge was one of the first food trends of 2020 to take TikTok by storm. It’s deceptively simple to whip up, with high returns on aesthetic and taste for little effort and ingredients. Just whisk together instant coffee, hot water and sugar and dollop it onto cold or warm milk. If you need a bit more guidance, check out this recipe from My Korean Kitchen.
Cereal-ously sweet
From a deceivingly simple food to a deceivingly time-consuming dish, mini pancake cereal capitalized on TikTokers’ sweet tooth – and eye for small, cute things. Most people who attempted the trend agreed the results were certainly delectable, but perhaps not worth the effort to do again on a regular basis. You’ll need to make a batch of pancake batter, put it in a pastry bag and pipe out little round pancakes. Seems easy, but it’s tedious and not the most fun to clean up, which is usually the case with pancakes. However, the cuteness factor keeps this trend afloat, and it has propagated a mini donut cereal.
What’s better than bread
So many people took up breadmaking in the midst of quarantine, so much so that yeast was in short supply at the grocery store at one point. Perhaps the most commonly seen kind on TikTok and Instagram was banana bread, as it’s a great way to use up overripe bananas, it’s easy to make and customize and above all, it’s delicious. I like adding chocolate chips or walnuts (or both), but you can’t beat the classic. Those who were more dedicated tried their hand at making their own loaves of bread, with stories of tending a sourdough starter filling my feeds. And those who wanted something a bit more fun created cloud bread, as light and fluffy as its name.
Perfect pastas
How could I not mention the latest TikTok food trend? You’ve probably seen baked feta pasta everywhere recently, so I won’t say too much more, but it is another easy and delicious recipe to replicate. Just toss a block of feta cheese – if you can find one, they’re in short supply at the grocery store – with cherry tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings (think garlic, basil and oregano) into the oven until roasty and melty and toss with freshly cooked pasta. The burst, juicy tomatoes will combine with the creamy, melted cheese to create a luscious sauce. People have made a variety of sheet pan pasta recipes, using different cheeses like goat cheese or adding more vegetables. At its heart, it’s nothing necessarily new, but I’m glad it’s become popular.
I would also be remiss to not mention Gigi Hadid’s version of spicy vodka pasta she posted on her Instagram stories – not TikTok, hence why it doesn’t get a full mention. Another delicious viral recipe, albeit not as simple as baked feta, tomatoes and pasta.
Let’s wrap it up
This is a fun one, reminiscent of the layers of a Crunchwrap Supreme. Place four layers of ingredients in each quadrant of your tortilla, and you’re ready to wrap. @ellcarter1 seems to have been the first one to make such a creation on TikTok, and she demonstrates in her video. You can go with classic flavor combinations like ground meat, lettuce and tomato, sour cream and cheese; or breakfast-style, like scrambled eggs, bacon, spinach and cheese.
