Infographics

The Most Popular Recipe in Every State, According to Google

by:
July  6, 2018
33 Comments

Alas, that summer darling, July 4th, has come and gone. This week, many of us gathered in our backyards (or indoors in the A/C) to celebrate summer and family and a lot of really good food. Everyone’s got their go-tos, the stalwarts they turn to every year. And while each family, even each family member, may be known for a special signature dish, it turns out every state has its own as well.

In honor of the holiday, Google has released the stats for the most popular (i.e., most searched) dish in every state over the course of the last 12 months. The best part is you can actually click on each dish and access the most popular recipes for that dish as well. So if you want to make crab dip like someone from Maryland or ceviche like a Floridian, you’re just a few clicks away.

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Some of them are pretty surprising. Who would have expected crepes to be the most searched recipe in Idaho? Or zucchini bread to pave the way in Utah? Others, of course were more expected: quinoa in California, tortilla soup in Texas, quiche in Connecticut.

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I found the feature quite informative and got lost flipping through all the options. You can play with the Doodle here and see the full list below:

  • Alabama: Broccoli salad

  • Alaska: Halibut

  • Arizona: Spanish rice

  • Arkansas: Potato soup

  • California: Quinoa

  • Colorado: Spaghetti squash

  • Connecticut: Quiche

  • Delaware: Baked salmon

  • District of Columbia: Crab cake

  • Florida: Ceviche

  • Georgia: Squash casserole

  • Hawaii: Shoyu chicken

  • Idaho: Crepe recipe

  • Illinois: Italian beef

  • Indiana: Buckeye recipe

  • Iowa: Hamburger

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  • Kansas: Meatball recipe

  • Kentucky: Vegetable soup

  • Louisiana: Gumbo

  • Maine: Apple pie

  • Maryland: Crab dip

  • Massachusetts: Haddock

  • Michigan: Goulash

  • Minnesota: Sloppy joe

  • Mississippi: Taco soup

  • Missouri: Hamburger

  • Montana: Chili

  • Nebraska: Taco seasoning

  • Nevada: Chicken adobo

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  • New Hampshire: Apple crisps

  • New Jersey: Flounder

  • New Mexico: Pozole

  • New York: Chicken cutlet

  • North Carolina: Snow cream

  • North Dakota: Hamburger

  • Ohio: Sausage gravy

  • Oklahoma: Hamburger meat

  • Oregon: Teriyaki sauce

  • Pennsylvania: Asparagus

  • Rhode Island: Chicken parm

  • South Carolina: Chicken bog

  • South Dakota: Hamburger

  • Tennessee: Hashbrown casserole

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  • Texas: Tortilla soup

  • Utah: Zucchini bread

  • Vermont: Waffle

  • Virginia: Salmon cake

  • Washington: Pork chop

  • West Virginia: Meatloaf

  • Wisconsin: Meatloaf

  • Wyoming: Banana bread

  • Puerto Rico: Receta de tembleque

  • Guam: Fried chicken

  • Northern Mariana Islands: Orange chicken

  • U.S. Virgin Islands: Johnny cake

  • American Samoa: Pizza dough

How does your favorite dish match up with your state's? Drop the results in the comments below!

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Valerio Farris

Written by: Valerio Farris

Valerio is a freelance food writer, editor, researcher and cook. He grew up in his parent's Italian restaurants covered in pizza flour and drinking a Shirley Temple a day. Since, he's worked as a cheesemonger in New York City and a paella instructor in Barcelona. He now lives in Berlin, Germany where he's most likely to be found eating shawarma.

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33 Comments

Lisa
Lisa September 17, 2018
I don't even understand Oklahoma. Hamburger meat!? That's not even a recipe. UGH. We eat well here, I promise.
 
Kathleen D.
Kathleen D. July 13, 2018
Would have been appreciated if a recipe accompanied each state's dish . . those that are dishes. I'm from Michigan, love Goulash and have yet to find a decent recipe. Just saying . . .
 
Medora V.
Medora V. July 13, 2018
I would have thought that everyone in Maine already knew how to make apple pie ;)
 
Smaug
Smaug July 13, 2018
One of the many flaws with this "study"- if a dish is actually a local favorite, people will have their own recipes, or family recipes, or recipes from a friend. Recipes from popular local restaurants- authentic or not- will circulate. Newspapers and bloggers will print numerous recipes, particularly if it's something seasonal. All in all, people will have far better recipe sources than Google.
 
Janet K.
Janet K. July 13, 2018
At least it lists the District of Columbia. I just saw a list of the best hotels in the 50 states on the CN Traveler web site and DC was not listed. But why make crab cakes when they are so ubiquitous in DC?
 
Joel S.
Joel S. July 13, 2018
Doesn’t this list become kind of self-fulfilling? I know once I saw it, I googled chicken adobo, even though I really had no interest in making it. (I am gonna try it though, after having seen the recipes. It looks simple and delicious!)
 
W B.
W B. July 12, 2018
This is surely a joke.... NC with snowcream, really? From the east to the west, barbecue rules. This peron or person who made this list must have been made it after a couple of snorts of some of NC's white lightnin'!!
 
Scomfort
Scomfort July 12, 2018
What? It very rarely snows in most of NC and then only a few inches. I am seriously confused by this. Where is BBQ?
 
Joel S.
Joel S. July 13, 2018
I would imagine that folks in NC already KNOW how to barbecue. No need to google it!
 
Aisha
Aisha July 13, 2018
I live in NC and snow cream makes perfect sense for the past year. It rarely snows but when it does and actually sticks and pikes up excitement ensues because who knows when it will return. Many local friends posted about snow cream. I even shared my pina colada snow cream recipe. Though my family is from the New England area so the snow out here is nothing in comparison.
 
Eric S.
Eric S. July 12, 2018
As someone who lived in Alaska, and enjoyed a halibut charter now and again, I am not surprised by the result.
 
Liz P.
Liz P. July 12, 2018
Dear Food52,
You note, in your write up, that Idaho searched for zucchini bread. Alas, when i looked below and the research results, I found that you confused us with Utah, that is the state to the south of Idaho. In Idaho we were searching for crepes. Crepes Suzette is often served after we churn the butter from our cows, chop the firewood and work from dawn to dusk in our fields. Bon appetite !
 
Eric K.
Eric K. July 13, 2018
Those crepes sound delicious and well-earned! And thank you, Liz, for catching zucchini bread; this has been fixed.
 
sue
sue July 12, 2018
Quiche - Who knew my home state was going to be so retro :-)
 
Stephanie
Stephanie July 12, 2018
Same! would like to be able to view the recipes?
 
Traveler
Traveler July 12, 2018
Were we supposed to be able to click on/access the recipes? If so, it didn't work for me and I used two different browsers to access the site. The title is "The Most Popular Recipe in Every State, According to Google."
 
Traveler
Traveler July 12, 2018
Ooops! I just realized we were supposed to look each one of them up on Google. Hard to do since the map is so small and it is hard to access the smaller states.
 
Smaug
Smaug July 12, 2018
I think you were intended to be able to reach "most popular" recipes through this site, but I doubt you're missing much. The methodology is going more towards things people are just curious about- for instance, California is full of people who've been told they must eat quinoa and are wondering what the #%&$ to do with the stuff. Most popular on Google is apt to mean what's at the top of the page; if you search for "cookies" on Google you get 15 million entries, and few people go through them all. This whole article is based on an extremely undependable methodology and a lot of unwarranted conclusions, things that plague so much of the "science" surrounding food.
 
BerryBaby
BerryBaby July 7, 2018
Valerio’s question at the end is, “How does your favorite dish match up with your states?”
Answering his question , not complaining.
 
Maximus_Matthias
Maximus_Matthias July 7, 2018
It says most popular recipe...not most popular main dish!!! Stop complaining and red the title correctly.
 
Maximus_Matthias
Maximus_Matthias July 7, 2018
Read* the title correctly...lol
 
Smaug
Smaug July 7, 2018
Perhaps you red the article so fast that you blue right by all the references to favorite dishes.
 
Maximus_Matthias
Maximus_Matthias July 7, 2018
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA 😂 I see what you did there Smaug😬
 
Steve
Steve July 7, 2018
TAKE ALL MY UPVOTES!, SMAUG!
 
Smaug
Smaug July 7, 2018
I searched desperately for a pun involving "white and", but it was not to be.
 
Eric K.
Eric K. July 6, 2018
Squash casserole is fine, I guess. But Georgia peaches like fried chicken.
 
BerryBaby
BerryBaby July 6, 2018
Teriyaki sauce? That’s not a dish! I’m in Oregon and I would think crab cakes, halibut, anything with strawberries that are in season. Not a valid accounting IMO.
 
Ttrockwood
Ttrockwood July 8, 2018
My thought is that these are dishes the people searching *need a recipe for* , therefore what is most common people already have a favorite preparation/recipe and are not going to need help for those.
 
Steve
Steve July 6, 2018
Oklahoma: Hamburger meat

1. Get a cow
2. Peel it
3. Grind it up
 
sue
sue July 12, 2018
Now that right there is funny :-)
 
Smaug
Smaug July 6, 2018
Perhaps mindlessly counting computer clicks is not the most accurate way of assembling data. In this case, it seems to be more a matter of which dish, or ingredient, has the most people baffled. Quinoa? Pizza Dough? These aren't even dishes.
 
BerryBaby
BerryBaby July 6, 2018
I agree . Ours (Oregon) was teriyaki sauce. It GOES with something , it’s not a dish.
 
Smaug
Smaug July 6, 2018
I seem to recall reading one of these a while back- something like "favorite Memorial Day dishes in every state"- that came up with chili in New Hampshire and yoghurt dip in New Mexico. People have come to place blind faith in any numbers they're presented with, without bothering to know where they actually came from.