By Kaitlin Valdick, Nutrition Intern

Tik Tok is a wealth of inspiration for food lovers with the most innovative and craziest food trends. But the real question is, are these food trends as good as the screen makes them seem?

In this post, we will look at a few recent Tik Tok food trends of 2023 that I’ve personally tried. Keep reading to learn more on my honest thoughts of these top five Tik Tok food trends!

1. Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

This trend was flying around TikTok a lot during the first half of the year. Cottage cheese had already made its comeback into society (I have always been team cottage cheese) and now people were deciding to try to “healthify” their ice cream. Cottage cheese is known to have lots of protein and lower in calories. Plus, it is so creamy. So why not blend it, throw in some fun flavors, freeze it, and call it ice cream. For those who haven’t seen this trend, that is the short story. The longer story is you take full fat cottage cheese and blend until smooth in a blender or food processor. To that you add maple syrup and other flavors of choice. The most popular was frozen strawberries and then graham crackers crumbled in at the end. You then place your cottage cheese mixture back into the original container and place in the freezer until ready to eat. This high protein, lower calorie ice cream was blowing up on TikTok and everyone was saying how surprisingly good it tasted. In their words (not mine) “exactly like strawberry cheesecake ice cream”. So, naturally as a cottage cheese and ice cream lover I tried it out myself. While I can’t say I loved it, I did not absolutely hate it either. It does taste more like cottage cheese than expected even with other flavors trying to mask the salty cheese flavor. I also found that there is a precise time to freeze it. Too little and you have runny goop, too long and you have icey, un-scoopable ice cream. There is a happy medium that makes it that creamy, thick texture you see everyone achieve. I say, if you are interested, give it a shot. You never know if the flavor is for you, plus there are so many routes to take with it. It is not for everyone, but if you are looking for a lighter ice cream it never hurts to try!

Rating*: 3/5 Stars

2. Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough

This is the second cottage cheese recipe that has taken the internet over. Cottage cheese cookie dough is another yet attempt to add protein into a beloved treat. The cottage cheese acts as a binding ingredient instead of egg so you can still achieve the dough-like consistency. I have seen many renditions of this recipe with almond flour, oat flour, protein powder, no protein powder, etc. I tried this one with my own different twist, using different protein powder flavors, just for flavor. The one thing I could not shake about both of the “doughs” was the texture. It was a little grainy and chalky for my liking. It was thick and sticky like cookie dough though which I was impressed by. It was one of those moments when my brain was saying, “it looks like cookie dough, it feels like cookie dough, but it doesn’t taste like cookie dough”. The taste itself was not terrible at all, I actually did not mind it. However, I was expecting a little more cookie dough flavor. This I think depends on type of protein powder used so everyone may have a different experience. Overall, I liked it enough that I can finish the batch, but I might not make it again just because the labor of it is not worth it for me personally. It definitely could be a great high protein alternative if you enjoy it!

Rating*: 3.75/5 Stars

3. Vegetables with Cottage Cheese and Mustard

This one might be too niche, but if you know what I am talking about you know. To give anyone who has not heard of this trend a synopsis, it is a woman who talks us through her lunch that helped her lose weight during her weight loss journey, while also battling Lyme disease. These lunches consist of a wide variety of vegetables including hearts of palm, broccoli, carrots, radishes , chicken apple sausage, some fruits, electrolyte drink, and the star of the show, cottage cheese and mustard. It is not the foods themselves that everyone was shocked by, yet the fact that she dips the sausage and vegetables in the cottage cheese and mustard mixture. I have tried this myself and I can truthfully say that I actually liked it. I can see how it might not be for everyone, but I surprised myself with how much I actually enjoyed the combination of the two as a dip. If you are looking for a creamier dip that is high in protein, this may not be the worst thing to try. 

Rating* 4.5/5 Stars

4. Baked Oats

We have seen overnight oats for years, but baked oats has just come to the forefront in the past year or two. Instead of letting your oatmeal sit overnight in the fridge, you blend up all your ingredients together and bake them like a cake. It even turns out like a cake too. Depending on the length you bake your oats, they can come out gooey, or they can turn out fluffy. It is like eating dessert for breakfast. And these do not disappoint. I tried a chocolate protein baked oats recipe and it turned out exactly how I thought it would. Just like a mini personal cake. It does take longer to make than traditional oats or your favorite grab and go overnight oats, but if you have the time these oats are so much fun to make and taste great!

Rating* 4/5 stars

5. Honorable mention: Healthy “Snickers”

This trend has been a thing for a while but I thought I would bring it up anyways because not everyone knows about it. Lots of people make what everyone calls a healthy “Snickers”. It is a date that has been pitted and filled with peanut butter and a single peanut, then covered with dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. If you don’t like dates then this might not be the recipe for you, however these little treats are so good. While it tastes absolutely nothing like a Snickers bar to me, I love the sweet and savory taste of these that really hit your taste buds like a Snickers would. Dare I say I prefer them to a bunch of candy bars… 

Rating*: 6/5 Stars

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