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Viral Food Carousels: 178 Outliers From Our Top-Scoring Niche
31.1% of food carousels reached 2× their creator’s usual, the highest of our 13 niches. What 178 food and recipe outliers did, with real examples.
Food is the niche where Instagram carousels most often beat their creator’s usual. In our sample of 9,923 scored carousels, 31.1% of food and cooking posts reached 2× their creator’s usual, against 23.8% overall: the highest rate of our 13 niches.
The outliers are bigger, too. The 178 food carousels in our library have a median score of 2.5×, the highest of any niche, and this month’s two highest-scoring carousels across the whole library are both food posts.
Is food the easiest niche to go viral in?
On our numbers, it is the niche where outperforming is most common. A carousel’s score is its likes plus comments over its creator’s usual, which is the median of up to 20 of their carousels posted closest in time. Here are the 389 food and cooking carousels in our sample against all 9,923:
- Beat their creator’s usual: 53.7%, against 49.3% overall
- Reached 2×: 31.1%, against 23.8%
- Reached 3×: 20.6%, against 14.9%
Food leads all 13 niches at 2× and 3×. The next best, design, reached 2× 27.6% of the time and 3× 19.0%. Only at the lowest bar does another niche edge ahead: education beat its creators’ usual 54.1% of the time.
Two caveats. These base rates come from the mix of creators we track, not a random slice of Instagram, and they describe what happened, not why. And food is a small group: the 178 outliers come from 25 creators, so a handful of accounts carry a lot of weight.
What does a 2,894.7× score mean?
The highest-scoring food carousel in our library is a 9-slide how-to by @heatherjanecollum, posted on 11 September. It got 68,025 likes and comments, 2,894.7× its creator’s usual. The caption: “Healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to give up foods you love. If you know me, you know I’m a brownie lover.”
A score that high comes from a small starting point: this creator’s usual is about 24 likes and comments (68,025 ÷ 2,894.7). The result is real, but the multiple says more about the size of the jump than about the size of the account.
The second-highest, a 6-slide list by @organic_arc captioned “The steak Mac & cheese”, scored 436.9× with 792,132 likes and comments against a usual of about 1,800. Both were posted in September, and they are this month’s top two outliers across every niche we track. Our guide to how outlier scores work explains why we rank by score rather than raw likes.
The rest of the top food outliers
- 104.4×: @qissagoi.ae, 27,498 likes and comments, 6-slide opinion. First slide: “Iced matcha latte Matcha didn’t go viral because of its taste. It went viral because it looked good. Oat milk with 2 pumps of vanilla”
- 51.1×: @success.recipes, 452,259 likes and comments, 11-slide how-to. Caption: “They don’t call them ‘marry me’ recipes for nothing”.
- 49.7×: @oneplategirluk, 342,679 likes and comments, 17-slide list. Caption: “Chili chicken & creamy sweet potato”.
- 37.3×: @nutrition.protocols, 82,428 likes and comments, 10-slide list about emergency food storage.
- 22×: @chef.marykh, about 81,400 likes and comments, 8 slides. The same creator’s 7-slide reference post, captioned “chef dictionary — part VII”, scored 15.4× with 22,550.
- 13.6×: @drmarkhyman, 167,856 likes and comments, 8-slide list. First slide: “american chicken european chicken”.
Recipes, a drink trend, a glossary, food storage and a comparison between two countries’ chicken: the niche is wider than recipe cards.
Most food outliers run nine slides or more
The typical food outlier has 9 slides, one more than this month’s outliers across all niches (8). The spread across all 178:
- 2–5 slides: 14%
- 6–8 slides: 29%
- 9–12 slides: 48%
- 13–20 slides: 9%
That is 57% at nine slides or more. @oneplategirluk’s 17-slide post is among the top five. The wider data points the same way: across all niches, 10-slide carousels reached 2× their creator’s usual 26.5% of the time and 11–15 slide ones 27.7%, against 17.3% for 2–3 slides. A recipe has ingredients, steps and a finished dish to show, which may be why the niche runs long, but the data can’t confirm that.
Lists lead, and how-tos take a bigger share than usual
The food page counts 109 list outliers (median 2.6×), 29 how-tos and 15 stories (median 2.2×). Lists are 61% of the niche’s outliers, against about half across the library.
How-tos are the interesting part. They are 16% of food outliers, against 445 of the library’s 3,924 outliers, about 11%. They also hold two of the top four food scores: @heatherjanecollum’s and @success.recipes’. Stories go the other way: 8% here, against about 13% across the library.
For the full set of list posts, see the food list carousels. For how the step-by-step format is built across niches, see our how-to carousel examples.
Creators from other niches post food outliers too
Food has the third-fewest creators of our 13 niches, and several of them also appear elsewhere in our library. @drmarkhyman and @nutrition.protocols also have outliers in health and fitness. @deathtostock and @itserinconfortini (9.8×, 12 slides) have outliers in personal finance. And two of the transcribed first slides come at food from an angle: “how spices got their names” (@etymologynerd, 2.2×, 5-slide list) and a coffee menu as the first slide of a 5-slide list by @arcami.space (3.0×), whose caption points to an interior design studio.
Food seems to work as a crossover subject: creators we also track in other niches posted about it and beat their usual.
Food first slides: a comparison, a promise, an argument
Five of the top six food outliers have no transcribed first slide in our data, so the captions above are the only words we can show for them. The first slides we do have fall into three patterns.
They name the comparison and stop. “american chicken european chicken” is four words and no verb. The reader knows the whole premise before swiping. In our hook patterns, that is the “vs”.
They make a precise promise. “5 high protein takeout copycat meal preps” (@successmealprep, 3.8×, 12-slide list) gives a number, a nutrition goal and a familiar craving in seven words. The caption adds that every meal is macro tracked, with 37 to 52g of protein each.
They argue why something spread. @qissagoi.ae’s matcha post claims the drink went viral for how it looked, not how it tasted. It is the niche’s highest-scoring first slide we have a transcription for, at 104.4×.
Five recipe carousel ideas, from copycats to glossaries
Each idea below borrows a real outlier’s structure, not its words or photos.
- The lighter version of a favourite. From @heatherjanecollum’s 9-slide how-to. Pick a dish people love, then show your version step by step: the finished dish, the ingredients, one step per slide and the result.
- Same food, two places. From @drmarkhyman’s 8-slide list. Compare how one food differs between two countries, shops or brands, one difference per slide. Only state what you can source.
- Takeaway copycats. From @successmealprep’s 12-slide list. Promise a number of homemade versions of popular takeaway meals, and give each one its own slides with the figure your audience cares about, whether that is cost, time or protein.
- The glossary series. From @chef.marykh’s 7-slide reference post, numbered part VII. Explain one kitchen term per slide and number each instalment, so readers have a reason to look for the next part.
- Why a food trend took off. From @qissagoi.ae’s 6-slide opinion. Pick a dish or drink everyone saw this year and argue, in a few slides, the reason you think it spread.
Keep the shape and change everything else: your dish, your photos, your words. More examples are on our food carousel ideas page.
Food and recipe carousels that beat their creator’s usual
Frequently asked questions
What are good recipe carousel ideas for Instagram?
Start from structures that already outperformed: a lighter version of a favourite dish as a how-to, takeaway copycats (“5 high protein takeout copycat meal preps”, @successmealprep, 3.8×), a two-country comparison, a numbered glossary series or an opinion on a food trend. Lists make up 109 of the 178 food outliers in our library.
Do food carousels go viral more often than other niches?
In our sample, yes. 31.1% of food and cooking carousels reached 2× their creator’s usual and 20.6% reached 3×, against 23.8% and 14.9% across all niches: the highest rates of our 13 niches. Food outliers also have the highest median score, 2.5×.
How many slides should a recipe carousel have?
Food outliers in our library typically use 9 slides, and 57% use nine or more. Across all niches, carousels with 11–15 slides reached 2× their creator’s usual most often (27.7%), and 2–3 slide carousels least often (17.3%).
Why do some food carousels score in the thousands?
Because the score compares a post with its own creator’s usual. @heatherjanecollum’s how-to scored 2,894.7× with 68,025 likes and comments, against a usual of about 24. A score that high means a small account had one post that did far more than its normal level.