'Marry Me Chicken' Was The Top Google Recipe Search In The US For 2022

'Tis the season for gingerbread houses, peppermint Starbucks drinks, Trader Joe's holiday items, and reflecting on the year as it wraps up. And when it comes to food trends, 2022 was a rollercoaster of a year. Some of the best food trends of 2022 included picturesque floral lattes, the return of espresso martinis, and somewhat healthy tea-based cocktails. However, the worst food trends of the year ranged from odd to downright nasty. Not only did we lick caviar off the back of our hands, but we sipped on vinegar-based cocktails and slurped up pickle-flavored soft serve. Cheers to hoping these trends don't follow us into 2023!

Of course, Google and TikTok are surefire platforms you can use to suss out which foods most people had on their minds this year. For example, according to Food & Wine, the most popular TikTok food of 2022 was cloud bread, which garnered 3.4 billion views. Cloud bread in its most basic form is made with eggs, cream cheese, and cream of tartar, The Spruce Eats shares, which turn into fluffy, rounded slices that are gluten-free. But of course, the social media platform elevated cloud bread to the next level. A video with 1.9 million likes boasts a royal blue roll, made with extra ingredients like cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla extract.

On the other hand, Google's most sought-after recipe was a little more mainstream than bright blue dough. This year, America went nuts over "Marry me chicken."

'Engagement chicken' walked so 'Marry me chicken' could run

In 2022, America's top Google recipe search was for "Marry me chicken," up 160% from 2021. According to The Modern Proper, this dish is as delicious as it is easy to make and uses plenty of pantry ingredients. All you do is cook chicken breasts in a skillet with heavy cream, chicken stock, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, and an array of seasonings like bouillon and red pepper flakes. Overall, the dish should come together in less than an hour.

Has this dish actually inspired marriage proposals? The jury's still out on that one, as the recipe name was actually derived from something called "Engagement chicken." According to Food 52, "Engagement chicken" was born when a Glamour magazine editor made a lemon chicken recipe for her boyfriend in 1982, and he later proposed. It's also been modified to make Food Network chefs the Neelys' version, "Get Yo' Man Chicken."

While Delish has been credited with sharing the original "Marry me chicken" recipe in 2018, it of course made its way to TikTok as well. A video with 19.3 million views shows the creator making it over pasta, claiming it's one of his favorite meals. And while Americans ate up this chicken dish in 2022, the door is still open for additional variations of "Engagement chicken." As one user commented, "Do you have a recipe for 'come over for the weekend and leave mid-afternoon on Sunday' chicken?" Maybe somebody will make it happen in 2023.