11 Jul 2025
72% of consumers look for foods and treats with diverse textures, according to our global consumer survey. But which textures are truly on the rise and where are they emerging? With our Taste Tomorrow global AI-powered trend tracking tools coupled with human intelligence, we’ve analysed millions of social media mentions and search queries across 7 languages and 16 countries. That gives us an overview of the most talked-about textures consumers are craving, from chewy cookies to patisserie that is both soft and creamy and crispy and crunchy.
Discover what textures are worth exploring next.
Rich fillings and stuffings
Trending now: caramel cores and creamy centers
Croissants filled with a pistachio ricotta cream, snickerdoodle caramel-filled ice cream sandwiches or bomboloni; sweet buns filled with Italian pastry cream. Treats with a decadent filling are booming. The visual appeal of a spilling caramel centre and the textural contrast of biting into a cream-filled cannoli are deemed irresistible. Especially in Turkish, English, Spanish, French and Italian markets, where interest for these types of snacks went up 24% to 61% over the past year.
Creamy fillings with strong flavours such as chocolate, caramel and hazelnut are most sought after for cakes, chocolate, cookies and pastry. These classic options evoke comfort and are often chosen out of nostalgia. A more trendy option is pistachio, which also adds a beautifully vibrant colour. The caramel filled chocolates by Sanders Candy are typical treats that benefit from this trend. For their 150th anniversary they released a white chocolate birthday cake variety with colourful sprinkles for extra texture.
While people love the indulgence of biting into a snack to find a gooey caramel core inside, many consumers are concerned about the high sugar content and use of artificial additives. To meet this demand for more mindful indulgence, it can be beneficial to explore ways to offer these sensory treats in a healthier way. This could include using clean-label ingredients, reducing sugar or fat content, or offering smaller portion sizes.
A chewy bite
Trending now: soft and chewy textures to sink your teeth into
With 1.4 million online mentions over the past year, chewy is the second-largest texture trend right now. In many markets, chewiness is a totally new texture to apply in pastry. While it's a well-loved feature in many Asian cuisines, chewiness is unexplored by most Western consumers. But people in German, French and Turkish markets are most open to trying something new, with interest in chewy textures going up 49%, 29% and 24%. In English-speaking markets, we see a 16% rise.
We expect to see popular chewy Asian treats such as mochi rice balls pop up a lot. But also pastry that uses the tapioca boba pearls known from bubble tea. Ingredients that are on the rise because of this love for a bite with a bit of pull are:
Taro is a starchy root vegetable that gets a fluffy and chewy quality when cooked. Taro balls – mashed taro with a starchy flour – are a popular ingredient in Taiwanese desserts.
Glutinous rice flour, mainly known as the ingredient for mochi, but can also be used for cakes, cookies, pancakes and mochi derivatives such as mochi ice cream and mochi donuts.
Chia seeds, ideal for a creamy and chewy texture in healthy and plant-based treats. Once soaked, these seeds form a gel or pudding-like texture.
Tapioca, known from the bubble tea pearls but also loved in Brazil for its use in comforting puddings, crepes and tortillas.
Textural contrast
Trending now: multi-sensory experiences that excite and engage the palate
Crunchy AND creamy, fluffy AND crispy or chewy AND gooey, consumers love the excitement of textural contrast. That can be found in classic treats such as macarons and lava cakes, but the biggest driver behind the 1.6 million conversations and search queries on texture mash-ups; new creations that blend unexpected textures. The trend has more than doubled in the English language, but is also large in Italian (+48%), Spanish (+38%), Turkish (+37%) and German (+29%) markets.
Consumers go crazy over adventurous and creative hybrids or multi-layered desserts. Think of the cookie pie by Tiff’s Treats that has a crispy cookie exterior and a soft and fluffy cake-like inside. The Dubai Chocolate Crookie from Chip City: a croissant with chocolate chip cookie dough, drizzled with chocolate and pistachio cream and topped off with crunchy kataifi. Or the bursting boba cookies by Molly Bz, soft-baked bites filled with popping boba pieces. All treats that offer many sensations in a single bite.
According to our data, consumers are looking for ready-to-consume products with a variety of textures. Of course, you can create a completely new treat to meet that demand, but it’s also possible to make tweaks to your classics. Draw inspiration from Oreo offering extra-thin and double-stuffing varieties to create texture-based innovations inspired by your top sellers.
Crispy, crunchy and crackly textures
Trending now: crunchy textures that prove – the louder, the tastier
In bread, a crispy crust is seen as a marker of quality and freshness. For baked goods and chocolate, crunchiness adds enjoyment. It’s a multisensory experience you can feel, taste and hear. In many markets, this is the fastest-growing textural trend:
Turkish +116%
French +83%
German +64%
Portuguese +51%
Italian +47%
English +20%
Ingredients that benefit from the popularity of crispy textures are nuts and phyllo dough. The hype around phyllo dough is visible through treats as Greek spanakopita and Turkish börek being featured on the TikTok and Instagram pages of food content creators, like the crinkle pie or crinkle cake, wrinkled filo pastry with filling in between and an egg mixture poured over. These creations resemble an extra-crunchy quiche through the dozens of super-thin and super-crispy layers.
Nuts and seeds are a natural and healthy way to add both crunch and flavour. That’s why walnut, pecan, almond and hazelnut are popular additions to baked goods. But, the trendiest nut right now is pistachio, which has experienced a huge surge in popularity ever since the Dubai Chocolate trend. Our Taste Tomorrow research shows a 122% growth in the past 12 months. Kataifi – another Dubai chocolate ingredient – is also quickly becoming a go-to ingredient for an interesting texture. This shredded dough, often referred to as angel hair, is up 785% in social mentions in the past year according to our data. We predict lots of Middle Eastern-inspired creations with this crispy dough to enter the pastry market soon.
Use texture as a driver of indulgence
Whether you opt for gooey centers, chewy bites, crispy layers or unexpected mash-ups doesn’t matter. As long as you offer consumers a multi-sensory experience. Start by giving small textural twists to fan favourites or experiment with bold, new treats. Who knows, the right texture could make your new product the next new viral sensation.
