It’s been another busy year in the culinary world, from the flood of new viral trends to the enduring power of pop culture food moments.
To recap 2022, Google recently released its annual year in the Search report, highlighting the most popular search terms across various categories, including recipes. While these aren’t the most searched-for dishes on Google, they are the recipes that saw the greatest increase in traffic this year compared to 2021.
TikTok recipes, like last year, continued to dominate the internet, but classic dishes held their own. So do you want to know which ones were the best? Here are the top recipe searches on Google in 2022.
1. Sugo
According to Google, this year’s winner was simplicity. Sugo, which translates to “sauce” in Italian, is made with only a few ingredients: tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions, and basil.
A classic tomato sugo can be used in various recipes due to its versatile flavor.
2. Cincinnati Chili
Unlike its Texan counterpart, Cincinnati Chili has a sweeter flavor due to the use of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and sometimes even cocoa powder or unsweetened chocolate.
While considered a divisive dish, the regional favorite received much attention in February when Cincinnati Bengals fans shotgunned cans of Skyline-branded Cincinnati chili to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl victory.
The century-old midwestern dish is typically served over spaghetti and topped with cheddar cheese, diced onion, and red kidney beans. It can also be paired with oyster crackers, hot sauce, or poured over a Coney Island hot dog.
3. Marry Me Chicken
There’s a reason why #marrymechicken has 59 million TikTok views. According to legend, if you cook this dish for your partner, they want to propose to you. This popular one-pot chicken recipe is simple and oh-so-juicy, with a flavorful cream sauce made with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs, and parmesan cheese.
To round out the decadent meal, serve the chicken with pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes. What a lovely combination of ingredients.
4. Quick Pancake
Who doesn’t enjoy a good stack of pancakes? The tried-and-true breakfast staple rarely disappoints, whether served with butter and maple syrup, topped with fresh fruit, or filled with chocolate chips. People were all about efficiency when it came to making flapjacks in 2022.
5. Mango Pie
This year, mango pie sparked a lot of interest, especially after musician and podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway shared his mother’s recipe for the dessert on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. The pie, originally made for Thanksgiving, has a graham cracker crust and a custard made from canned Alphonso mango pulp, Cool Whip, and cream cheese.
Salt & Straw, a Portland-based ice cream company, even paid tribute to the recipe by releasing a new Thanksgiving flavor called Mom’s Mango Pie.
6. Green Goddess Salad
The Green Goddess Salad recipe created by Melissa Ben-Ishay, founder of Baked By Melissa, has 22.7 million TikTok views and may be one of the most-talked-about salads on the internet. (It was even redone by Lizzo!)
Tossed in a vegan pesto dressing are chopped green cabbage, cucumbers, chives, and green onions. Ben-Ishay adds a twist by scooping the salad with tortilla chips and serving it as a dip.
7. Jennifer Aniston Salad
Another salad that went viral this year was the one that Jennifer Aniston allegedly ate on the Friends set every day for ten years. The salad contained bulgur wheat, cucumbers, garbanzo beans, red onions, feta cheese, pistachios, parsley, and mint in early 2022.
The actress, however, revealed in a June interview with Shape that the viral salad was not the one she ate. Instead, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, garbanzo beans, salami, crunchy turkey bacon, chicken, pecorino cheese, and Italian dressing were used to make the salad.
8. Grinder Sandwich
TikTok user @ohheyimgray shared a video of her boyfriend, @joshcookswright, making a 21-ingredient “Italian Grinder” sandwich for her in March, and the recipe quickly went viral. The TikTok tag #grindersandwich now has over 117 million views, with countless users sharing their own spin on the deluxe sammy.
Homemade toasted focaccia bread is topped with melted cheese, turkey, ham, soppressata, capicola, prosciutto, pepperoni, and tomatoes. It’s then topped with a “Grinder Salad,” which consists of iceberg lettuce and sliced red onions in a mayo-based dressing and topped with parmesan cheese.
9. Bella Hadid Sandwich
Last year, Gigi Hadid’s spicy vodka pasta recipe went viral. This year, her sister Bella took first place.
Hadid sparked a social media frenzy after posting a TikTok of her picnic with a friend, revealing what was on the sandwich she was eating. A month later, the supermodel shared the recipe, which calls for 21 ingredients. Turkey, salami, cheese, lettuce and red onion mixture, pepperoncini, sliced tomatoes, basil aioli, and balsamic vinaigrette top the viral sandwich.
10. The Bear Spaghetti
If you’ve seen The Bear on Hulu, you’re probably familiar with chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto’s famous Family Meal Spaghetti sauce. The recipe shown in the final episode calls for 10 garlic cloves, basil steeped in olive oil, and two 28-ounce cans of San Marzano tomatoes because the smaller cans taste better.
In addition to the three highlighted ingredients, the sauce included halved—rather than chopped—onions browned in butter, as well as red pepper flakes.
Learn more: 7 Restaurant Chains That Use Real Ice Cream In Their Milkshakes