Styling and Photography By Laurie Mosco

It’s officially spring! Let’s do some spring cleaning – starting with our snack stash! Time to make room for the latest trending flavors.

Tis the season to try out new seasonings! Here’s the top hot flavors for 2023 that are a must try.

Cajun/Creole

Local has long been a food trend. But for 2023, it’s regional flavors that have major appeal. The frontrunner – Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole (Food Business News). So much so that even major spice brand McCormick introduced a new Vietnamese x Cajun Style Seasoning.

While we are used to seeing Cajun and Creole seasoning as a rub on seafood and meat, let’s spice things up a bit.The bold, spicy, earthy flavor of a Cajun/Creole spice mix really lends itself to snack party favorites – nut mixes!

Make sure they’re full of texture and Cajun flavor like Nassau Candy’s Cajun Crunch Mix. Bursting with spicy flavor and the perfect crunch, the mix includes peanuts, Cajun hot sticks, sesame bites, and pretzel sticks.

Protein is another big draw for snacks. Nothing brings the bold Creole flavors and protein power like Sahale Creole Bean + Nut Mix. The expertly crafted blend of chickpeas, fava beans, roasted pecans, peanuts, pepitas, crisped brown rice, and red bell pepper doused in signature spices offer a bold, flavorful touch of heat.

Trying something new can be hard. Make it easy on yourself by trying trending Creole flavors on a snacking classic – tortilla chips like Hola Nola Creole Tortilla Chips. 

Handmade, hand cut, and following traditional cooking methods Hola Nola’s Creole Tortilla Chips taste like homemade. The tortilla chips come in a microwavable bag that can be heated for that just-made experience.

Craving something spicy AND poppable? There’s Cajun Hot Corn Sticks. They taste great on their own, but can bring an extra zip and crunch to custom snack mixes, or as a salad topper.

Mexican Desserts

Even with the new focus on regional, global flavors are still trending too. One area that’s particularly popular is Mexico – specifically their dessert flavors (Food Business News).

One such dessert that’s becoming a flavor favorite – Churro. That cinnamon spice and crunch is popping up everywhere.

The classic, Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll gets a Churro take, featuring a touch of cinnamon added to the iconic mix of peanuts, caramel and a fluffy nougat center. For chocolate fans, there’s Chuao Dark Chocolate Cheeky Cheeky Churro, with crisp, airy cinnamon churro pieces blended with rich Dark Chocolate.

Even better-for-you snacks are getting in on the “cin-ful” taste of cinnamon churros. Exhibit A — Cinnamon Churro Branchout Banana Bites. Banana slices dried to a marshmallow consistency, coated in cinnamon and sugar offer a snack full of festive flavor along with potassium and fiber.

From the Ground Up’s You Need This Cinnamon Churro Puffs pack two food trends in one. Plant based ingredients along with a sweet and spicy cinnamon churro flavor. Add in a crisp crunch and everyone will be flocking to the snack bowl. 

But the dessert that everyone is going to be talking about this summer is Mexico’s Mangonada (Food Business News). A Mangonada is a frozen blend of Mangos, Chamoy chili sauce, and chili powder. 

While mangonadas might be a little challenging to create, there are some ways try those flavors with mangonada -inspired snacks.

A great place to start is with the Mexican Candy brand Lucas. Many of their candies feature Chamoy paired with fruit flavors for a unique combination that you just have to experience to understand. These candies are mostly single servings making it less scary to try.

For the closest to a mangonada, go with Lucas Mango Polvos, candy powder mixed with chili powder that has a sweet and sour mango flavor. To experience the full flavors of Chamoy, there’s Lucas Chamoy Muecas. Here you get a chamoy-flavored lollipop that comes with a chili flavored powder dip to dunk and create your own custom snacking experience.

For the truly unique mangonada-like experience, try Lucas Mango Skwinkles Salsagheti. Chewy mango flavored candy strings coated in chili powder with a tamarind-flavored Gusano chili sauce to go on top bring a whole new meaning to spaghetti with sauce.

Lucas is a specialty candy that can be hard to find. But don’t worry. There are other ways to try the mangonada flavor. Like candy classic Nassau Candy Fruit slices in Chili Mango flavor.

Even us health conscious snackers can get in on the sweet and spicy flavors of mangonadas with Peeled Snacks Chili Mango dried fruit snacks. Peeled Snacks’ unique gentle drying process dries the mango while locking in that just-picked taste. Chili adds just the right kick to kick up snack time a notch.

Sweet Heat

Sweet Heat isn’t just reserved for Mangonadas. There are many other spice blends and food products bringing the sweet heat.

For straightforward sweet heat, create a dip or baste some chicken wings with Maille Mike’s Hot Honey Dijon Mustard. The longtime classic French mustard heats things up by pairing its iconic French honey Dijon mustard sweet and spicy Mike’s Hot chili infused honey. 

Craving a double dose of sweet heat, with some crunch, dunk Popcorners Sweet Chili Popcorn Chips in your hot honey dip. Feeling a little more exotic, then Prime Planet Tostones Sweet Chili Plantain chips are a great alternative to traditional potato or tortilla chips.

If the mangonada trend has taught us anything it’s that sweet and spicy isn’t just for savory snacks. Chili Chews brings sweet heat to candy classic — gummies! They have all our favorites like Sour Worms and Peach Bites  each made with cayenne and Chili peppers for an extra kick.

Even chocolate lovers can get in on the sweet heat fun with Tabasco Spicy Dark Chocolate Wedges. Rich dark chocolate with the kick of real Tabasco sauce heats things up. And the tin the chocolate comes in featuring iconic Tabasco branding will be quite a conversation piece when snacking on the go.

Breakfast

Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but a prime flavor profile for 2023.

Here think all things breakfast — like pancake, French toast — even coffee flavors.

Don’t think the trending flavors are reserved only for breakfast or brunch gatherings — they’re welcome any time of day.

Since a lot of breakfast items lean towards the sweeter side, you’re going to see a lot of breakfast inspired snacks made for your dessert table. One of our favorites at the moment — Milk Bar Pancake Cookies. 

Inspired by the renowned bakery chain, NYC’s Milk Bar, Milk Bar Pancake Cookies are delicate sugar cookies infused with maple syrup and butter to taste just like the breakfast favorite,

Another welcome face at the dessert table is Jelly Belly. We don’t know how they did it, but the flavor genius at Jelly Belly were able to pack all the flavors of a stack of pancakes and maple syrup into every single bean of their Pancakes and Maple Syrup Jelly Beans. 

Even snacking classic, protein bars are getting packed with breakfast flavor.

For protein with flavor and crunch, there’s One Crunch Bar Cinnamon French Toast. Each bar is full of sweet and spicy cinnamon French toast flavor and a delightful crunch while serving up 12g protein and 1g sugar per bar. If it’s more classic protein bar texture you’re craving then get your breakfast and protein fill with One Cinnamon Roll Protein Bar. 

Even when it comes to fun flavors, some of us are still looking for functional ingredients too. That’s when Lenny & Larry’s Maple French Toast The Boss! Immunity Bar will hit the spot. The bar serves up 17g of dairy and plant-based protein and BC30 Probiotics in a crisp wafer bar with French Toast cream and white chocolate flavored coating, that will have you saying “Oh la la.”

After a long winter we can all use a little refresh. Time to have fun with flavor! Snacks featuring this year’s flavor trends are a great way to get a taste of what’s new without major investment.

Shop the Latest Popular Flavors