How Consumers Are Cooking With Digital Recipes

Fusion isn’t just a culinary style. Increasingly, consumers are using the digital space to connect their home kitchen to their grocery store of choice.

According to a new report from New York City-based commerce advertising platform Chicory, 89% of consumers say they use digital recipes and 43% say they are using digital recipes more often. They aren’t just scrolling at home or work: Up to 75% of consumers look for recipes on their mobile device while they are at the grocery store. Organic search based on keyword is the most popular way that consumers find recipes online, followed by food blogs and websites and social media platforms Pinterest, Facebook and TikTok.

In 2022, recipes in Chicory’s network racked up more than two billion views. In addition, total add-to-carts in the company’s network rose 20% over the previous year, underscoring the fact that more consumers are shopping or making grocery lists through in-recipe ads.

The embrace of digital recipes can be attributed in large part to the shift to cooking more at home, a trend that started with the pandemic and continues through an era of high inflation. Chicory’s latest findings confirm that 55% of shoppers are cooking more at home.

Just because people are cooking at home, however, doesn’t mean they are would-be culinary professionals. For example, nearly 60% of consumers polled by Chicory said they are more likely to buy pre-packaged produce when buying groceries online. This past holiday season, 90% of shoppers said they would purchase some pre-made options.

"The growth of our network in 2022 reflects consumer demand for convenient and simple online grocery shopping experiences," said Yuni Sameshima, Chicory’s CEO and co-founder. "In 2023, we predict that online grocery activity will increase, as will industry competition, making it essential for brands to expand their digital footprint and adopt in-recipe commerce media."

As for what consumers have been cooking at home, Chicory also highlighted trending recipes. The most popular recipe of 2022 by total views was Green Bean Casserole, followed by Simple Taco Soup, The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup, Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup and Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup. Top ingredients for the recently-concluded calendar year, based on total recipe views, were the staples of salt, butter, ground black pepper, eggs and fresh garlic.

Chicory’s recipe network now spans 5,200 recipe sites and the company has direct API integrations with more than 60 grocers across the United States.