From Restaurant to Home Kitchens, What’s On 2025’s Menu?

It’s not a total mystery that most of the food trends we see in social media originate in the restaurant world. And so when it comes to incorporating new concepts and ideas for our clients, our Senior Creative Director, Neil Bertucci, often starts his research by simply going out to eat at different restaurants in and around the Twin Cities. As a former restaurant owner, Neil loves to talk to those he knows in the industry, discover what’s new on their menus, and get a feel for what’s coming down the pipeline. We recently connected with Neil to talk a little more about the lifecycle of food trends and get the lowdown on what’s on deck for 2025. 

How do restaurant trends make their way into home kitchens? 

To me, it’s a trickle-down effect with the professional restaurant chef at the top of the “trend food chain.” Concepts and ideas often start with restaurants and then are brought into the home cook’s world through social media. A great example is birria tacos. They emerged on the West Coast restaurant scene from Mexico, expanded across the country, and then became a social media trend that’s still super popular right now.

Do trends change once they leave the restaurant world and enter the mainstream?

I see content creators adopting restaurant trends and showing people how to simplify them, so you don’t have to be a professionally trained chef to execute them. They also show ways to locate ingredients that maybe you wouldn’t normally use or find in your usual grocery store, which gives home cooks a reason to explore and experiment with new flavors and concepts that may have been unknown or unfamiliar to them.

What is one of the biggest restaurant-born trends that you are seeing for 2025?

Meatless or plant-based protein is a huge trend right now. As our culture continues to move away from the reliance on only meat-based proteins for various reasons, the restaurant world is definitely accepting this different style of eating and including whole vegan sections on their menus. In fact, if your restaurant isn’t doing some sort of healthier, veggie-based offering, it will be difficult for it to keep up — that’s how much the world has shifted in terms of protein consumption. I traveled to Melbourne a few years ago, which has a great culinary scene, and it was hard to find meat on their menus. It was such a vegan and vegetarian-focused culture even five years ago. I think we’re working up to that in the U.S. 

How do you see the plant-based protein trend showing up in 2025?

Smokey flavors are going to make a comeback. They were always popular for meats, especially in restaurants, and they’re already used to infuse craft cocktails but we’ll see them moving into places where you wouldn’t expect it, like beer, pastries, gnocchi, and veggies. Smokey flavors add depth and complexity, making them great for elevating familiar dishes and evoking a sense of nostalgia, which is another trend in and of itself. 

Mushrooms are definitely increasing in versatility everywhere. In my opinion, they’ve been an underutilized and often understudied ingredient in American cuisine for so long, but there’s been a lot more interest in them within the last five years. People are way more educated about mushrooms now and are willing to forage and experiment with them. They’re not only a great source of protein that easily mimics meat, but they bring out umami-driven flavors really well, plus they’re really useful for dehydrating, creating sauces, and making stocks.

Pickles and pickling will continue to be strong. The art of pickling and preserving never really goes away because it’s so versatile — whatever it is, you can pickle it! Forraging plays a role here too, especially in restaurants. The popularity of foraging for ramps and fiddleheads and things like wild asparagus are a great segue into pickling as well. Bread and butter and dill pickles like the ones your grandma used to make are a great foundation for people to start learning from and then they can experiment from there. It’s a great way to make use of an abundance of fresh ingredients.

Sourdough bread reached peak craze during COVID, but I think we’re starting to see it expand into so many more executions now. The fermentation byproduct of sourdough that contains wild yeasts and healthy bacteria has become an ingredient in things like crackers, baking mixes, and pastas. Restaurants are taking a different approach to sourdough in things like sweets and pastries, such as brownies and bagels — it’s definitely not just for bread anymore.
Interested in hearing about more trends like these? Check out our Ingredient 2025 Trend Report and while you’re at it, sign up for our bimonthly newsletter, The Feed. It’s so good you’ll want seconds.