Caviar chicken nuggets and postpartum mocktails: 2025’s top trending Google searches

Search engine Google revealed its annual ‘Year in Search Trends’ report today. Which food and drinks were global consumers clamouring to find out about in 2025? Sarah Neish reports.

Each year, Google unveils the top trending searches of the past 12 months; those searches that saw a high spike in traffic “over a sustained period” compared with the previous year, in this case in 2025 compared with 2024.

According to the newly released report, 2025 was a year when Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding topped the list of entertainment searches. Fingers were also clicking on keyboards to find out how people could create their own ‘AI action figure’, and baffled adults across the globe were desperate to find out ‘why kids say 67’.

Paris Saint-Germain F.C was the most-searched for sports team globally, while Regretting You by Colleen Hoover topped the list of book searches (Hoover’s novel was turned into a film of the same name this year, starring Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Dave Franco, and Mason Thames).

But what food and drink terms were we looking up in 2025?

Broken planes and sangria

The highest trending cocktail search of 2025 was for a concoction known as the ‘Broken Plane’. A riff on the Paper Plane cocktail, it replaces Bourbon with gin and Aperol with elderflower liqueur, creating, according to Google AI, ” a bright, floral, and slightly bitter drink with equal parts gin, elderflower liqueur, Amaro Nonino, and fresh lemon juice.”

In second and third places were the London Calling cocktail (a gin-based sour with fino Sherry adding distinctive, almost salty notes) and the classic French Martini (vodka, Chambord and pineapple juice).

Perhaps more surprisingly was that Spanish staple sangria, a traditional mix of red wine, brandy, lemonade and chopped fruit, was in fourth place. Concluding the ‘top five trending cocktails’ of 2025 was the Azalea (the signature pink cocktail of the Masters golf tournament, which has a base of either gin or vodka, mixed with pineapple juice, fresh lemon juice, grenadine, and garnished with a lemon or a cherry).

Here are the top 10 cocktails of 2025 in full:

• Broken Plane
• London Calling
• French Martini
• Sangria
• Azalea

Monocane mocktails

Made world-famous after being served in Universal Orlando’s Burning Blade Tavern, the blue and green-hued Monocane shot right to the top of trending mocktail searches this year. Made with lemonade and three different syrups (pineapple, blue raspberry, and passion fruit) the alcohol-free drink comes with a sprinkle of “emerald prism powder” on top for a shimmering effect. The Monocane’s soaring popularity follows the May 2025 opening of the new Epic Universe within the Florida theme park, and the drink is said to be a nod to the fictional drug from The Invisible Man.

Also making it into the top 10 trending mocktail searches was ‘postpartum cocktails’, indicating an increase in new parents researching unique alcohol-free creations for mothers.

According to Google, these often include ingredients like fruit juices, coconut water, and bone broth, which provide essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes lost during labour and delivery. The Glow Mama Mule, for instance, blends alcohol-free ginger beer, orange juice, and lime juice, garnished with citrus slices, while the Berry Berry Cooler combines mixed berries, coconut water, and lime juice, topped with sparkling water and garnished with mint, offering antioxidants and electrolytes.

Here are the top 10 mocktails of 2025 in full:

• Monocane
• Sunrise
• Lavender lemon drop
• Blackberry Bramble
• Dirty soda
• Caramel apple
• Elderflower tonic
• Hugo Spritz
• Raspberry leaf tea
• Postpartum

Caviar chicken nuggets

The two food recipes that saw the biggest spike in searches this year were both ways of ‘upgrading’ ordinary food items, giving them a new lease of life. Enter ‘caviar chicken nuggets’ and ‘hot honey’.

Caviar chicken nuggets were made famous by Manhattan restaurant Coqodaq, which features fried chicken nuggets topped with caviar on its menu. Described as ‘chicken nuggets meet decadence’ diners can choose from nuggets crowned with ‘ocean trout roe’ or ‘Golden Dourkenki Caviar’. Customers left gleeful reviews, finding the pairing of a childhood favourite food with a luxury ingredient like caviar an intriguing novelty. The trend has since spread outward from New York, and according to Grazia, “caviar, once the preserve of oligarchs and Bond villains, is now having a comeback. But in a messy, democratic way.”

There is also a buzz around ‘hot honey’, made by infusing the deliciously runny yellow spread with chili peppers or chili flakes. People across the globe are drizzling it on pizzas, roasted vegetables, cheese boards, and even bacon.

The phrase ‘Marry Me Chicken’ also trended high this year, as hungry home chefs looked up how to make this rich, creamy, garlicky chicken dish with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, and herbs like fresh basil. The meal is rumoured to be so delicious that it inspires marriage proposals, hence its name. Often served over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes, Marry Me Chicken is indulgent comfort food at its best.

The humble chili con carne also got a makeover for 2025, with ‘white chicken chili’ searches trending. Unlike a traditional chili recipe, this stew uses a chicken broth base, thickened with cream, and contains chicken and white beans such as cannellini or butter beans rather than mince and kidney beans, and is seasoned with spices like cumin, oregano and green chilies.

In terms of stand alone ingredients rather than dishes, bean sprouts and bell peppers (possibly due to the ‘hot honey’ trend) proved popular this year.

Here are the top 10 food recipes and ingredients of 2025 in full:

• Hot Honey
• Marry Me Chicken
• Chimichurri
• Chia Pudding
• White Chicken Chili
• Lasagna Soup
• Bean Sprouts
• Zucchini Bread
• Bell Pepper
• Roasted Chicken

Key takeaways

The highest-trending search terms of 2025 often relate to new twists on existing food and drink favourites: white chicken chili in place of chili con carne, chicken nuggets pimped with caviar rather than ketchup, and cocktails swapping out their traditional spirit base for a different one (eg. Bourbon for gin). However, not everyone wanted to add razzle dazzle to their gastronomy, with long-established classics like ‘roasted chicken’ and ‘sangria’ still making the top 10 trending searches in their categories.

Check out db’s round up of last year’s biggest Google search trends related to drinks, including Sleepy Girl Mocktails and Porn Star Martinis, here.

 

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