7 Takeaways From These Major Recipe Creators’ Most Viral Instagram Posts Of 2024
If you’re a recipe creator looking to step up your game, you’re in the right place.
I’ve combed through hundreds of Instagram posts from some of the biggest names in food content to uncover the secret sauce behind their most viral posts of the year.
From repurposing old faves to hopping on trends and sharing personal stories, these takeaways are packed with ideas you can start using right now. Let’s dive in!
FoodByMaria: The Multi-Million Follower Repurposing Prodigy
@foodbymaria’s Maria Koutsogiannis has a whopping 2.4M followers. She focuses on Greek and Mediterranean dishes inspired by her roots (check out her recipes here).
Top Posts of 2024 (Spoiler…STUFFED PITAS)
Maria’s top posts are a masterclass in repurposing the killer content you already have AND doubling down on what’s working.
I mean, 9 of her 10 top posts for the year are some variation of a stuffed pita (buffalo chicken dip, spinach and artichoke dip, cheeseburger, etc). And guess what. They have millions of likes.
The lesson? You probably haven’t squeezed enough out of your most popular posts and recipes. So go tweak your most popular recipes. Then do it again.
Crowded Kitchen: The Series Wizards
Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team with 1.9M followers, are the duo behind @crowded_kitchen.
In just 9 months, they were able to grow their audience across all their platforms by 2 million (more on that in their edition of The Spill here!).
Top Posts of 2024 (Viral Series Won)
2024 was defined by their Better Than Store-Bought series where they recreate popular snacks and treats like Choco Tacos, freezer pops, peach ring gummies, and SO many others.
Half of their top 10 posts of the year were Better Than Store-Bought recipes. They also have an Infuse Your Booze series that includes recipes like this Tequila Por* Mi Amante that snagged the #5 spot.
Also worth noting, 2 of their top 10 posts were Valentine's Day recipes (these Slice and Bake Heart Cookies and these Heart-Shaped Fondant Potatoes…are you sensing a theme?). It pays to share timely content. More on that later!
What's Gaby Cooking: The Behind-The-Scenes Queen
Gaby Dalkin (@whatsgabycookin) has amassed 1M followers. She’s a 2x New York Times bestselling author, mom of 2, and restaurateur. OH and she has a collection at Crate & Barrel. No big deal.
Top posts of 2024 (Personal stories reigned supreme)
This year, Gaby shared tons of incredible recipes. But guess what. Not a single one of them cracked her top 10.
So what exactly did make the cut? 7 of her top 10 posts were about her family. This year, she welcomed her second baby to the family and he and her daughter were heavily featured.
Outside of that, her top posts included a kitchen tour, her restaurant announcement, and her pregnancy workout regimen. Far from recipes, they make her SO real.
She’s also made a habit of posting recap posts of her month like this one:
And while this is the only one that made her top 10, the others weren’t far behind.
The Defined Dish: The Traveling Goddess
Alex Snodgrass is the mastermind behind @thedefineddish. A 3x New York Times Bestselling Author with 879K followers, Alex is all about keeping things healthy and simple.
Top posts of 2024 (Family Trips and Remakes)
Travel played a major role in Alex’s top recipes of the year.
Her #1 post (this Cucumber Salad with Crispy Chickpeas) was inspired by a dish she had in Hawaii. She also shared carousels of her family trips to Cabo and Hawaii that didn’t touch on recipes at all and still cracked the top 10.
Outside of travel, she leaned into remaking dishes she and her family loved! Like this Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta that was inspired by her daughter’s favorite meal at summer camp. And these Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sliders, her husband’s go-to at one of their favorite restaurants.
Like Gaby, Alex’s family plays a major role in her Instagram strategy. Something that makes you feel like you really know her.
Healthy Little Peach: The Master of Variety
Rounding out the creators we dove into is @healthylittlepeach’s Ashley McCrary. Her 870K followers stick around for the balance of healthy AND comfort foods.
Top posts of 2024 (A Little Bit of Everything)
What stands out for Ashley is the variety of posts she has in her top 10. Here’s a quick breakdown:
3 of her top 10 were drinks! A pretty big deal since there were only 4 drink recipes in the top 50 posts we’re digging into.
Her #1 post for the year was a partner post (this Dill Pickle Popcorn)
Her second most popular post wasn’t a new recipe (Sour Candy Grapes, YUM)
Ashley proves you can win doing more than 1 thing. You can have an insanely successful partner post, repurpose years old content and lean into viral trends.
Oh! And drinks (including mocktails!) can be super popular too.
6 Takeaways to Inspire You (and Help You Crush 2025 and Beyond)
Now that you’ve seen the top post of 2024 for these 5 creators, let’s get into what YOU can learn from them to have your biggest year yet.
From getting personal to finding partners you really believe in, there are tons of takeaways you can steal in 2025.
1. Repurposing Is Key
You don’t always have to create a brand new recipe to have a winning post. This Sour Candy Grapes recipe is 3 years old, but was Ashley’s second most popular post of the year.
And this Sloppy Jane recipe is from 2018! It also happened to take the #2 spot in terms of popularity-wise for Alex.
The reality is, you probably already have A TON of content. So before you create something brand new, make sure you’re getting as much out of what already exists (especially the most popular recipes) as you possibly can.
Because how much easier is it to create a new Instagram post for an existing recipe than to create a brand new one entirely from scratch?
2. Lean into Timely content
Whether it’s holidays, seasons, or viral trends, timely content is killer for performance.
These Valentine’s Day Slice and Bake Heart Cookies took the #4 spot for Lexi and Beth.
Ashley took advantage of a major trend that was happening with this viral cottage cheese flatbread. It paid off and landed in her top 10 posts of the year.
Other winning ideas:
Easy recipes for back to school (like this one!)
Healthy recipes and treats for the New Year (like this)
Fun recipes for football season (like this) or fall (like this)
Before you start planning your recipe/social calendar, take a look at what’s coming up and see if you can put a timely spin on a recipe idea you have.
And while you don’t have to jump on all the trends you see, it’s a great way to get more eyeballs on your content when executed well.
3. Double Down on What’s Working
FoodByMaria’s Maria Koutsogiannis has this DOWN. I mean, just take a look at her top posts of the year. Almost all variations of the same thing, with this viral Greek Pita Stuffed with Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip taking the cake with 1.7 million views.
Lexi and Beth’s Better Than Store-Bought series is another killer example of this. They recognized that their audience was loving to recreate popular snacks and treats and went at it…hard.
So whenever you see something that’s working, don’t be afraid to double (even triple) down. It’s a guaranteed way to keep the ideas flowing.
4. Your Audience Wants to Get to Know You
Sharing personal stories that make your audience feel connected to you as a person, not just a creator, will never go out of style.
Just ask Gaby. Everything from her fertility journey, to her kids with Santa made her top 10 posts of the year.
But she’s not the only one who leans into her family on her platform.
3 of Alex’s top 10 posts of the year include her family. Like this one featuring their trip to Hawaii.
And even if they’re not part of the actual post, they’re often part of the story (“my family loves this one,” or "this was inspired by my daughter’s favorite recipe at camp,” etc.).
So the next time you’re on the fence about getting personal, do it! It makes you more relatable and helps your audience really get to know you. Because at the end of the day, people want to support anyone they feel connected to.
5. Have a Cookbook? Share It!
Similar to forgetting about popular recipes that aren’t brand new, it’s easy to let your existing cookbooks slip through the cracks. But even if they’re not new, there’s SO much value in sharing them consistently.
Alex happened to pair a giveaway with this post about her cookbook that landed in her top 10.
And while this happened to land in the top 15, this post about Gaby’s 5th cookbook making the New York Times Bestseller list, it was still really well received.
So whether you have a brand new cookbook or one that’s been around for a while, don’t forget to share it! And if you don’t have your own cookbook yet, maybe this is the reminder you needed that this is your year to make it happen.
6. Partner Posts Can Blow up
No one wants to feel like they’re getting sold to. But at the end of the day, you partner with brands to help them sell their products, right?
But that doesn’t mean your partner posts have to feel super salesy to work.
Here’s an amazing example from Ashley.
And guess what. This post was her best-performing post of 2024.
Alex does an incredible job with this partner post, too (it landed in her top 5 posts of the year FYI).
So find partners you really believe in. Because when the recipes and stories feel authentic (because they are!) it’s a match made in heaven.
7. Reels Are Still King
Of the 50 top posts we’ve looked at, 41 posts (82%) were reels. Which means reels are still absolutely dominating performance-wise.
Not surprising, but it helps to see the performance in black and white.
But don’t count static posts out fully, either! 5 of the remaining static posts were carousels, 4 were single photos.
So yes, continue to lean heavily on reels, but make sure you’re mixing in some static posts from time to time too.
Now It’s Your Turn
And that’s a wrap! These 7 takeaways from major recipe creators prove that you don’t have to do it all to win. Just do what works (and sprinkle in a little personality).
Whether you’re revamping your most-loved recipes, getting seasonal, or sharing behind-the-scenes moments your audience loves, there’s no one-size-fits-all.
So go out there, get creative, and make 2025 your most viral year yet. You’ve got this!
