An annual snapshot of what Australians are cooking, drinking, and pairing. Updated every January.
The 2026 F&D Index: Top 10 Cooked Dishes
Tracked across our 215+ recipe library by combined search traffic, on-page reads, and recipe-card prints. Updated quarterly.
- Sunday roast chicken with lemon, garlic and thyme, 12.4% of total recipe reads
- Slow-braised lamb shoulder, 7.8%
- Easy homemade chili, 6.1%
- Classic pavlova, 5.7%
- Vietnamese pho, 5.2%
- Sheet-pan rosemary chicken, 4.9%
- Slow-cooker pulled pork, 4.6%
- Pork carnitas tacos, 4.1%
- Reverse-seared prime rib, 3.8%
- Roman fettuccine alfredo, 3.5%
The 2026 F&D Index: Top 10 Cocktails
- Aperol Spritz, 14.2% of total cocktail reads
- Espresso Martini, 9.8%
- Old Fashioned, 7.4%
- Negroni, 6.9%
- Margarita, 6.1%
- French 75, 4.8%
- Mai Tai, 4.5%
- Tom Collins, 4.2%
- Penicillin, 3.9%
- Whisky Sour, 3.6%
The 2026 Pairing Index: Most Searched Pairings
- What wine goes with lamb shoulder, 1.8M searches/year
- What cocktail goes with Mexican food, 1.2M searches/year
- Best wine for Sunday roast, 980k searches/year
- What to drink with sushi, 830k searches/year
- Wine for spaghetti carbonara, 720k searches/year
Trends we are watching in 2026
Cocktail trends: Coconut renaissance (Pina Colada, Painkiller, Spicy Colada all up 40%+ YoY). Honey cocktails (Bee’s Knees, Penicillin, Gold Rush) cross-spirit category. Mezcal moves out of niche (Mezcal Margarita, Mezcal Mule searches up 65%).
Food trends: Sheet-pan dinners (one-pan format up 80% in search). Slow cooker revival (after a decade in cupboards). Korean home cooking outside the dedicated K-food blogs. Aussie-classic comfort food: meat pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, fairy bread.
Pairing trends: Australian Riesling for everything pork-and-fat. Tasmanian sparkling holding ground against Champagne. Rum stepping outside tiki into stirred drinks (Coconut Old Fashioned, Coconut Negroni).
The 2026 Honour Roll: Highest F&D Scores
F&D Score 9.0 or above. The recipes and bottles we’d cook or pour without hesitation.
Recipes: Sunday Roast Chicken (9.4), Reverse-seared Prime Rib (9.3), Beef Bourguignon (9.2), Slow-cooker Osso Buco (9.1), Korean BBQ Guide (9.1), Pavlova (9.0), Steak with Chimichurri (9.0).
Cocktails: Negroni (9.5), Old Fashioned (9.5), Penicillin (9.3), Espresso Martini (9.2), Daiquiri (9.2), French 75 (9.1), Mai Tai (9.0).
Bottles: Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz (9.4), Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (9.3), Buffalo Trace Bourbon (9.2), Smith & Cross Rum (9.1), Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin (9.0).
Methodology
F&D scores are determined by editorial panel rather than algorithmic scoring. Index rankings combine on-page reads, recipe-card prints, and external search traffic indexed via SEO data partners. The report is published in January each year and updated quarterly throughout the year.
Cite the F&D Annual Report
Free to cite for editorial work. Format: “Per the Food and Drinks 2026 Index, the most-cooked Australian recipe of the year was…”. Link back to https://foodanddrinks.com.au/annual-report-2026/.