• How to write a cookbook proposal and land a book deal

• 12 top Australian food blogs

• 5 things the most successful creators do differently, according to Kit

• Happy Horse brings recipes to life on video

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This week I’ve created a lot of new Instagram charts for you! The average number of Instagram posts/reels by a top food blogger in the past week was 4 and the most popular time to add those was 10 AM – 12PM Eastern. 54% of those posts/reels contain a call-to-action indicating the use of an auto-DM reply tool like Grocers List or ManyChat.

100daysofrealfood was the most active creator with 59 posts/reels, while chelseasmessyapron had the most comments overall, nearly 30,000 comments! kidfriendly.meals saw the highest engagement rates, averaging nearly 5,000 comments per post/reel, and buzzfeedtasty had for the single most viral hit of the week with a reel ranking Korean Fried Chicken that reached over 110,000 likes.

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Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 588 sites.

Cover: Cinco de Mayo

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• Pinterest changes

• AI search and the fight for fair traffic

• ChatGPT citation study

• Someone planted backdoors in dozens of WordPress plug-ins used in thousands of websites

Summer has officially climbed to number six in the recipe categories, while spring has dropped to number seven. Chicken remains the most popular ingredient, but chocolate has moved up to number two. New ingredient entries this week include mayo, parmesan, corn, and tofu.

Easy is still the top adjective used by creators. Six new adjectives entered the top twenty this week: grilled, perfect, fried, simple, smoked, and gluten free.

On social media, kidfriendly.meals was instagram’s biggest mover with an increase of 12K followers. Crowded kitchen and over the fire cooking dominated facebook growth with 14K and 13K new followers respectively. Among rising stars, alidaryder led percentage growth at 9.2%.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.

Rachel

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Fiber is about to trend

Half of Americans say it’s hard to afford food

social media

• Instagram’s “link in bio” may end

• You can now edit Instagram comments

seo & ai

• Google’s Mueller on SEO gurus who are “clueless imposters”

• AllSpice thinks AI can save recipe blogs

• Google’s March update finishes rolling out

• Raptive encourages blocking AI bots

I’ve just released a new chart featuring the food blogs with the largest recipe collections. Tasty.co takes the top spot, and the average top food blog now hosts approximately 1,000 recipes!

Spring flavors are dominating other charts this week. Lemon and strawberry have surged into the top ten ingredients, while chicken remains the most popular protein. “Easy” continues to be the top-performing descriptor, joined by newcomers like quick, cheesy, and no-bake. Spring and summer have both climbed into the top ten categories as readers pivot toward warmer weather.

kidfriendly.meals was the week’s big winner on Instagram with +15K followers. alidaryder saw massive growth at +22.4%, with mamagourmand and fantabulosity_blog also posting strong gains.

The data suggests brevity is essential right now. The most successful titles average just five words, and the peak posting window is between 8 PM and 11 PM Eastern. Because only 33% of blogs were active this week, staying on your publishing schedule is an easy way to stand out.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack.

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with a Moz Domain Authority of 40+ and 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 585 sites.

Cover: National Garlic Day, April 19

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• 2026 James Beard Awards finalists

• Reinventing a food blog after an 80% traffic drop

social media & ai

• Facebook monetisation is back

• How AI is helping food bloggers make their plate shots pop

• Raptive launches an AI tool to turn your content into social-ready assets

seo & tools

• What Raptive learned from Google’s first Discover algorithm update

• CookPal answers cooking questions inside your WP Recipe Maker card

• WordPress 7.0 delayed

You’ll notice we have a fresh new cover style this week to match some important updates behind the scenes.

I’ve refined my data criteria to ensure we are looking at the true “top tier” of the industry. To be included in our tracking, a site must now have a Moz Domain Authority of 40+, a combined social media following of 100K+, and run Raptive ads. By tightening these parameters, we’re now tracking a focused group of 585 elite sites, allowing for much sharper analysis in an increasingly crowded market.

If we haven’t yet met, I’m Rachel Cunliffe, food blog designer + statistician at cre8d design. Every Sunday, Best Served Hot provides exclusive trend analysis and clear-cut insights and industry news you need to know.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with a Moz Domain Authority of 40+ and 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded.

Cover: National Pecan Day, April 1

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• 2026 World Championship Cheese Contest

• California considers a ‘not ultraprocessed’ food label

• Five pizza trends

• AI raising the stakes in functional ingredient formulation

• The most innovative food companies of 2026

blogging & business

• Food blogger earnings

• Smart ways for food bloggers to use AI

• Using AI to eliminate busywork

• Raptive’s new AI workflow tool

• AI overviews threaten creator income

seo & search

• Google March 2026 spam update

• Why ‘search everywhere’ is the new reality for SEO

• Why zero-click search doesn’t mean zero influence

• ChatGPT citations favour a small group of domains

• Google launches Search Live globally

tools & platforms

• Pinterest’s new Pin promotion

• YouTube’s new Shopping affiliate program

Hello!

Naturally, Easter is front and center this week. It’s climbed to #4 in recipe categories, and carrots holding strong at #3 in ingredients, ham rising to #5, and eggs making a brand new entry at #7. Chocolate stays loyal at #4, and strawberry is climbing fast at #8. On the descriptor side, “vegan,” “healthy,” and “sweet” are all trending up. Five new adjectives entered the top 20 this week: spicy, classic, simple, mini, and keto.

On social, the_pastaqueen was Instagram’s biggest mover by far with an extraordinary +103K, and miguelscookingwithfire dominated Facebook with +81K. Among rising stars, nickskitchen led percentage growth at +10.2%, with ryannordheimer at +5.3% and fantabulosity_blog at +4.7% close behind.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack.

Have a wonderful Easter,
Rachel

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 984 sites.

Cover: Easter Sunday

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• Beef tallow is trending

• Six new food books

• 58% of Americans listen to podcasts monthly

seo & ai

• Small publisher search traffic 60% down over two years

• Google tests AI-written titles in Search

• WordPress.com lets AI write and publish posts

• Google developing opt-out of AI features in search

tools & strategy

• Laughing Spatula’s road to 1 million pageviews

• Dad What Cooks’s systems to grow traffic

• Instagram tests clickable links in posts

Easter has surged to #4 in recipe categories, carrots jumped to #3 in ingredients, and ham is climbing fast — the holiday table is clearly being planned. Gluten-free is trending up in both categories and descriptors, while stuffed and cheesy are also on the rise. New adjectives this week include “fried,” “hot,” “dairy-free,” and “fresh,” and six brand new ingredients entered the top 20: cheese, pudding, sugar, brownies, pineapple, and shrimp — with Summer already sneaking into #10 in categories.

On social, Miguel’s Cooking With Fire was Facebook’s biggest mover with +30K, followed by Joshua Weissman at +11K. On Instagram, plantyou led with +6K, and crowded_kitchen and theloopywhisk both added 4K. The Belly Rules The Mind was again the fastest-growing creator by percentage at +2.1%, with Frida Sofia Eats at +1.7% and Eden Eats at +1.2% close behind.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.

Have a wonderful week,
Rachel

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 977 sites.

Cover: National Taco Day, Tuesday 31 March

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• Cashews are America’s #1 snacking nut

• We haven’t hit peak protein

• Fiber is about to be everywhere

• Chocolate made with cultured cocoa to launch this year

seo & business

• How much can I earn as a food blogger?

• Google: Trending Posts & Discussions Added To What People Are Saying

• How Emily Christensen monetized her blog in one year

• Publishers are getting serious about AI scraping

tools & strategy

• WordPress 6.9.3 is out

• Recipe card translations

With Easter just around the corner, holiday planning and spring flavors are officially taking over the data. While chicken and dinner recipes continue to firmly hold the top spots overall, ingredients like carrots and ham are trending up this week, and salmon and eggs have made an appearance as brand new top ingredients. We’re continuing to see “Easter” actively climb the category ranks, and words like “delicious,” “grilled,” and “spicy” have debuted as brand new top adjectives.

Facebook saw another week of solid growth numbers. Miguel’s Cooking With Fire added another 44K followers, Panlasang Pinoy grew by 23K, and Joshua Weissman picked up 22K. The Belly Rules The Mind was once again the fastest-growing creator by percentage, jumping an impressive 6.9%, followed by Vincenzo’s Plate at 5.3% and Eden Eats at 4.7%.

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 974 sites.

Cover: International Waffle Day (March 25)

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• Fiber is trending

• What’s working in SEO for food bloggers in 2026

• What the best food blogs have in common

• Google sending more food bloggers traffic?

• Strategically launching a food blog

• Google still 74% of desktop search

• More AI recipe disasters

• WordPress sites hacked more often

• WordPress AI plugins

• WordPress 7.0 Beta 3 is out

We’re also seeing “Easter” and “Spring” climbing the category ranks, and “fresh” has made an appearance as a brand-new top adjective. Winter comfort categories are continuing to slide down.

Facebook saw some solid growth numbers again this week. Miguel’s Cooking With Fire added 44K followers, Panlasang Pinoy grew by 24K, and Joshua Weissman picked up 21K. The Belly Rules The Mind was the fastest-growing Instagram creator by percentage, jumping 6.5%, followed closely by Vincenzo’s Plate at 6.1%.

Have a wonderful week,

Methodology: Top food blogs are defined as those running Raptive ads with 100K+ combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. Lifestyle, cocktail-only, and aggregator sites are excluded. This week we’re tracking 972 sites.

Read more

• Food prices projected to plateau

• Pantry Recipe Finder launches

seo & ai

• ChatGPT hits 900M users

• Google patent hints at replacing webpages with AI versions

• Google’s Discover core update finishes rolling out

• How to monitor brand mentions in ChatGPT

tools & strategy

• WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 is out

• WP Recipe Maker 10.4.0 is out

• Recipe Card Blocks

Hello!

So, (Northern Hemisphere) spring is almost here! While comfort foods like chicken and pasta still lead the pack, fresh flavors are starting to make a real move. Recipes featuring lemon, carrots, and bananas are trending up, and “Easter” has officially hit the top categories as people start planning for the holiday. It’s a clear shift away from heavy winter meals toward brighter, spring-inspired cooking.

Social growth was mostly flat for the biggest accounts this week, but we saw some big breakouts on Facebook. Miguel’s Cooking With Fire added 72K followers, Joshua Weissman grew by 36K, and HungryHappens picked up 20K. On Instagram, Todd Wilbur was the fastest-growing creator by percentage, jumping more than 10%.

Have a wonderful week,

Read more

• How to turn your food blog into a business

• ‘People think blogging is easy, I’m working longer hours than when I was a teacher’

• Why AI optimization is just long-tail SEO done right

• Google’s Jeff Dean: AI Search relies on classic ranking and retrieval

• WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 released

content & social media

• Cabbagecore: why are fashionable people going wild for the green vegetable?

• Why YouTube subscriber counts keep dropping

• Social media updates Feb 2026

Thank you for subscribing! This week’s news is a big update for the WPRM plugin: now readers can download a PDF version of your recipe, and there’s finally a super handy undo/redo version while you’re editing recipes.

Every Sunday, Best Served Hot provides exclusive trend analysis, clear-cut insights, and industry news you need to know.

If you find this analysis valuable, please consider sharing this Substack with your food blogging friends.

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