How adventurous are you with your food?
If you’ve been anywhere near social media the past year or so, you’ll have seen the rise of content creators delivering tasty meals with full flavor profiles, banishing boring foods to the realms of history forever.
But what if you’re not sure where to start? What flavor profiles work best for you? We have some ideas on where to start, on flavors that you can enjoy and work into your current rotation of meals to give you more delicious meals that everyone enjoys.
Honey Hickory
Honey hickory instantly invokes images of BBQs and good times. It’s got those sweeteners you love, or the honey blended expertly with the hickory smoke for the savory packet you can really get stuck into. And the best part is, honey hickory works across a range of salts from chicken to pulled pork, grilled dishes, and more. It’s a versatile sticky sauce that slightly caramelizes, giving you a glossy glaze and a crisp edge when it hits heat.
Honey hickory is especially good with pulled pork, and if you’ve ever looked at where to buy pulled pork, you’ll see that honey hickory is a popular flavor, turning this shredded dish into something crave-worthy.
You can buy it as pulled pork with honey hickory glaze already added, or you can try brushing the sauce onto your food in the last 10 minutes of cooking or tossing wings in it after they’ve finished cooking.
Maple and Brown Sugar Glazes
If you’re after a deeper, more rounded sweetness, you need to dive into maple and brown sugar glazes. The brown sugar brings the molasses notes, while the maple syrup brings the richer woodsy layer to the glaze.
This is the perfect pairing for foods like roasted vegetables (carrots, squash, sweet potatoes), salmon, chicken thigh, or pork tenderloin.
The trick for this glaze, however, is in the timing. If you add the glaze toward the end of cooking, the sugars caramelize instead of burning, and you get that sticky glaze everyone loves. And you can make it yourself with a simple mix of maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, and a little mustard to give you a little something to elevate your midweek meals with ease.
Buttery Garlic
A timeless classic for a reason. Melted butter carries flavor really well, and when you pair it with garlic, you get that punch that makes all food taste better. You can add your garlic butter to literally any food you wish — steak, shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, breads, pasta, green beans, you name it.
You can change things up by adding in extras such as lemon juice for added freshness, or you can add in herbs such as parsley or chives — it’s completely up to you.
Chili
Chili these days isn’t about the “heat” scale; it’s about the flavor. Chipotle gives you a smoky warmth, and jalapeno honey gives you a balance of mild heat and a sweetness.
Smoked paprika, however, is perfect for adding depth to soups, stews, and marinades without blowing your head off.
And the best part is you don’t need a lot, just a spoonful, and you can change the flavor in anything from potatoes to eggs, tacos, burgers, and even corn on the cob.
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