Rating Every Viral Recipe I Tried This Summer

I tried a lot of viral recipes this summer. Some absolutely deserved the hype, some needed a little tweaking, and a few made me understand immediately why the internet could not stop talking about them.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I’m always down to test a recipe that looks good enough to make me stop scrolling. But I also want to know if it’s actually worth making. Is it delicious? Is the texture right? Would I make it again? And most importantly, is it worth you spending your groceries and your time on it?

So before we officially move into cozy fall cooking, I went back through some of the biggest viral recipes I tried this summer and rated them.

And yes, there were some VERY clear favorites.

Here’s how they stacked up.

Pancake Batter Fried Chicken — 9.5/10

We have to start here because this one was IT.

Using pancake mix to make fried chicken sounds a little questionable until you actually taste it. The pancake batter gives the chicken this ridiculously crispy, craggly coating with just the slightest sweetness that works so well with savory, seasoned chicken.

The crunch alone made this one worth trying.

This recipe ended up taking on a life of its own on social media, and after making it, I completely understood why. The coating gets beautifully golden, the chicken stays juicy, and you get that sweet-and-savory situation that reminds you a little bit of chicken and waffles without actually having to make waffles.

My rating: 9.5/10.

I would highly recommend this one. The crunch and flavor were almost perfect, and this is absolutely a recipe I would make again.

Sweet Potato Nachos — 8.5/10

These were sooo good.

Instead of tortilla chips, thin slices of seasoned sweet potato become the base for loaded nachos. I topped mine with steak, sautéed peppers and onions, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, pico and all the good stuff.

Flavor-wise? No complaints.

My only issue was texture.

The sweet potatoes tasted delicious, but I wanted them crispier so you still get that crunch you expect when you’re eating nachos. Next time, I would play around with slicing them even thinner and getting them extra crisp before adding all of the toppings.

That small tweak could easily push these into the 9s for me.

My rating: 8.5/10.

Definitely worth making, especially if you love sweet potatoes or want a fun alternative to traditional nachos.

Jersey Mike’s Italian Sub Sandwich Bag — 8/10

This was one of those recipes I saw and immediately thought, Okay, I need to try that.

The viral sandwich bag takes everything you love about an Italian sub—deli meats, cheese, peppers, onions, dressing and seasonings—and chops it all together before serving it right inside a bag of chips.

Basically an Italian sub meets a chopped salad meets chips.

What’s not to like?

My version had salami, ham, cheese, tomatoes, onions, banana peppers and plenty of that Italian-style seasoning and dressing. Eating it with the chips gives you the salty crunch you want with every bite.

I left the lettuce out of mine, though, and I actually think that kept me from experiencing its full potential. The lettuce would have added freshness and another layer of crunch to balance all of the meat, cheese and dressing.

So this one deserves another round.

My rating: 8/10.

Very good as-is, but I’m convinced I can make it even better next time.

So, Which Viral Recipe Was My Favorite?

Pancake batter fried chicken takes it for me.

A 9.5/10 is hard to beat, but more importantly, it’s one of those viral recipes that doesn’t just feel like something you make once because the internet told you to. It’s genuinely good enough to add to the rotation.

The sweet potato nachos weren’t far behind. Give me a crispier sweet potato base and we may have a serious contender.

And that sandwich bag? I’m absolutely going back in with lettuce next time because I need to know if that takes it from an 8 to a 9.

That’s the fun part about trying viral recipes. I don’t expect every single one to be perfect. Sometimes the idea is great and just needs a little tweaking to turn it into something I’d actually make again.

Want to See Everything Else I Tried?

These are only a few of the viral recipes I tested this summer.

I put the full roundup in my Instagram carousel, including the recipes, my ratings and exactly what I thought after trying each one.

So if you’ve had some of these recipes sitting in your saves wondering whether they’re actually worth making, head over to the Instagram carousel to see every recipe I tried and how I rated it.

And tell me which one I need to test next because you already know I’m willing to take one for the team 😂.