Honey jerkies have traditionally been fan favorites, combining the sweetness of honey with a savory meat like beef, chicken or turkey. Consumers are drawn to the natural sugars in honey that can provide a quick energy boost and the concentrated source of protein in the meat, making for a delicious, wholesome, filling snack.
Jerky lovers are also grabbing their favorite noshes that reflect upon one of the biggest crazes of 2023: “swicy” — a combination of sweet and spicy. Why is everything swicy? Today aimed to answer that question earlier this year with research by Dataessential. Sweet and spicy pairings on menus are up 30% in the last year, and hot honey is projected to outpace nearly all other flavors by 2027. Market research firm Mintel found that 70% of consumers who like spicy food would like to try hot honey-flavored foods.
Menu developers have answered that call with sweet heat meat creations, formulating everything from hot honey pepperoni pizza to spicy honey breakfast chicken sandwiches. Manufacturers in the CPG jerky space are following that lead, formulating a wide range of meat snacks that pair honey with insert-your-spicy-ingredient-here. Honey not only helps retain moisture in jerkies, enhancing the texture and palatability of the meat, but swicy flavor pairings are endless.
Here are a few of our favorites, and we can’t wait to see what innovative swicy jerkies hit supermarket shelves next.
