2021 was a year spent mostly indoors, waiting for vaccines to come - and for coronavirus to go.
It was a year in which, with little else to do; we scrolled through our phones endlessly, looked at memes to pass the time and - thanks to TikTok - learned to cook.
Yes, in the last 12 months a number of TikTok recipes have gone viral, triggering remakes and reviews galore, with supermarkets even reportedly running out of key ingredients, such was people’s gusto for the kitchen.
There are loads to choose from, sweet and savoury, simple and complex, but here are eight we found particularly delish.
Pasta chips
Pasta is already great, and arguably unimprovable, but someone managed to make it even more tantalizing when they chucked olive oil, cheese and spices on boiled pasta then fried it to make some crunchy crisps.
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Who could say no?
Gigi Hadid’s spicy vodka pasta
Hadid’s recipe is essentially penne alla vodka - a well established Italian sauce - but when she posted an Instagram story of herself making it last year it too off, and has continued to circulate round TikTok throughout 2021.
The creamy tomatoey and very much alcoholic sauce is comforting and easy to put together, so we’re not surprised it’s taken the world by storm.
Baked feta pasta
In yet another pasta trend this year, people baked tomatoes with feta, and mixed it all together with pasta (and seasoning) to create a creamy tomato sauce.
After the recipe went viral in Finland, supermarkets reportedly ran out of feta cheese for a short while, and people from other countries complained on social media that they were struggling to source the ingredients when the cheesy dish achieved worldwide fame.
Sold out of feta AND basil at my local grocery store. I HATE TIK TOK!
— Tyler Young (@ItsTylerYoung) February 4, 2021
I seriously underestimated TikTok. My local shop is completely sold out of feta because of this pasta dish craze 🙃
— Becky (@rebeccas_shelf) February 7, 2021
Never underestimate the power of the internet.
Salmon rice bowl
Moving on from pasta, the internet sought solace in a different carbohydrate - rice - in September, when they became enamoured with Emily Mariko’s salmon rice bowl.
The TikTok foodie shared her recipe - rice, salmon, kimchi, avocado, mayonnaise and sriracha, soy sauce and seaweed - and immediately people rushed to make their own.
This indy100 staffer can confirm that the hype it got is well deserved. Yum yum.
Squid Game dalgona candy
After Netflix original Squid Game achieved huge success this year, it wasn’t just the tense plot that stayed with people, but one of the deadly challenges - in which players had to chip out a small shape out of a sugary sweet with a needle without breaking it.
If they broke it, they were shot and killed.
So, making the show more interactive than its creators may have anticipated, people made the candy themselves as home and worked out whether they would survive the games.
Tortilla wrap hack
Wraps are delicious, but they can be hard to fill and seal without making a big mess. Until this TikTok hack in which people get the wrap, cut it at the halfway point halfway up then put a different filling on each quarter and fold it up.
Good stuff.
Pancake cereal
Cereal is nice, but pancakes are nicer, so it’s not surprising that videos of people making tiny circles out of pancake batter then eating them in a bowl filled with milk are going viral.
Looks like making it is time consuming and could lead to repetitive strain injury, but maybe it’s worth it?
Pesto eggs
Recently, people have been losing their minds over pesto eggs, in which an egg is fried not in oil or butter, but in pesto.
The oil in the pesto stops the eggs from sticking to the pan and makes it taste pretty good as well so it is a complete win-win.
Time to buy an apron and get cooking.
