The 6 biggest chain-restaurant food trends of 2025 — and 3 that won't survive 2026

2025 was undoubtedly the year of the tender.

McDonald's launched its new McCrispy Strips in May, marking the first time chicken strips have been on its menu since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taco Bell also launched crispy chicken strips, an iteration on its fan-favorite chicken nuggets, as a limited-time offering this year. Plus, Wendy's introduced its own Wendy's Tendys and a lineup of six new sauces for dunking in the fall.

Beyond fast food, we also saw casual-dining chains like Chili's leaning into crispy chicken iterations.

"Fried chicken is one of the fastest-growing segments — especially with a younger consumer that prefers boneless fried chicken," Chili's chief marketing officer George Felix previously told Business Insider in January.

Chicken tenders, which the chain calls Chicken Crispers, are also a key player on the chain's famous Triple Dipper — but more on that later.

Hot honey was a major player across fast-food and casual-dining chains this year, building on a trend that's been growing for years.

QSR magazine reported that the number of menu items featuring hot honey grew by 187% from 2016 to 2020 — and the trend doesn't seem to be slowing down.

In March, Red Robin collaborated with Mike's Hot Honey on a series of menu items that incorporated the product, including a new hot-honey chicken sandwich, hot-honey pepperoni pizza, and wings tossed in Mike's Hot Honey.

Panda Express also introduced a new chili-crisp chicken entrée, drizzled with the sauce, and earlier this year, Chipotle launched an entire menu featuring hot honey as a flavor profile.

The list continues. Both KFC and Taco Bell partnered with Mike's Hot Honey this year, with the latter chain even describing its new Mike's Hot Honey Diablo sauce as "the ultimate way to build on our legacies of sauce innovation" in a press release.

Say the words "Chili's Triple Dipper," and any Gen Z's ears are bound to perk up.

The customizable appetizer platter, featuring everything from wings and chicken tenders to bite-sized sliders, has been the star of trending TikTok videos all year long, with many dubbing it the perfect entrée.

Last year, it became one of the chain's "Five to Drive" menu items — the core dishes Chili's is focusing on to drive growth — and it seems to be working.

The chain had a hugely successful year, marked by significant sales growth, increased restaurant traffic, and positive revenue reports. Executives say the viral popularity of its signature appetizer combo helped drive such growth, according to an earnings report this year.

Other chains are also trying to get in on the action.

Applebee's launched its Ultimate Trio in August, inviting customers to choose three appetizers and three accompanying dips — a concept strikingly similar to Chili's Triple Dipper.

From Burger King's "SpongeBob SquarePants" collab to McDonald's retro-inspired Happy Meal toys, chains across the board leaned into nostalgia this year.

A notable example of nostalgia-based marketing is Taco Bell. In September, the chain introduced its "Decades Y2K" menu, featuring five previously discontinued items from the early aughts.

The menu included the Chili Cheese and 7-Layer burritos, the Double Decker and Cool Ranch Doritos Locos tacos, and the beloved Caramel-Apple Empanada.

Fast-food chains spent 2025 in a full-on value war as inflation-fatigued customers demanded more for their money.

McDonald's expanded its limited-time $5 Meal Deal with a new set of Extra Value meal combos, as well as new, lower-priced items like its iconic snack wraps, which fans have been requesting for years.

Casual-dining chains also joined in: Applebee's introduced a new value-driven lunch special, Olive Garden brought back its beloved Endless Pasta deal, and Chili's promoted its "3 for Me" deal.

Chains doubled down on limited-time offerings in 2025, using buzzy, short-run menu items to spark urgency and keep customers coming back.

At Taco Bell's Live Más Live event in March, the chain announced it would launch twice as many new menu items this year as it did in 2024, many of which were limited-time offers, or LTOs.

Michael Della Penna, chief strategy officer at InMarket, told CNN in 2024 that this is a common "playbook" for many quick-service chains that want to update their menus without a major investment.

"Bringing back old favorites like the McRib is one of the tools that they use to drive interest and demand," Della Penna said. "It gets people excited about visiting. It gets people nostalgic when they remember the product and want to try it again."

Since the release of Popeyes' viral chicken sandwich in 2019, the so-called "chicken sandwich wars" prompted fast-food chains to scramble and launch their own versions.

However, after years of dominating drive-thru innovation, the chicken sandwich boom seems to be finally cooling off.

Chains are still rolling out new versions, albeit less frequently than in years past, but consumer interest may be shifting toward other crispy chicken formats — especially tenders and nuggets, which offer more versatility thanks to new lineups of craveable sauces.

The shift could also be tied to customers' money-saving mindsets, and how tenders and nuggets could be viewed as a better value.

After all, five tenders or 10 nuggets can feel more substantial than one piece of chicken on a bun — especially if you want more than just a basic sandwich.

For example, you can get 10 chicken nuggets (with a dipping sauce) at Wendy's for over $1 less than most chicken sandwiches on its menu. Or, at Chick-fil-A, you can snag eight nuggets for about a buck less than a spicy-deluxe chicken sandwich.

As 2026 approaches, the premium-flavor craze that once dominated menus is beginning to lose steam.

Shake Shack leaned into multiple high-end trends this year with the introduction of a new Dubai-chocolate-flavored shake and the return of its limited-time-only black-truffle burger and black-truffle Parmesan fries.

However, we predict such trendy upgrades could appear less frequently as chains pivot back to more familiar, broadly appealing flavors.

As mentioned earlier, this year's hottest menu items leaned into nostalgia and value rather than flashy or experimental flavors.

For example, McDonald's brought back its Snack Wraps in ranch and spicy varieties. A piece of chicken, lettuce, cheese, and sauce in a tortilla is far from a premium offering — yet, it was one of the chain's biggest debuts of 2025.

Multiple fast-food chains leaned into pickles this year, from Shake Shack's new fried pickles to Popeyes' entire menu of pickle-themed items, which included everything from pickle-brined wings to pickle-flavored lemonade.

McDonald's new Grinch meal also featured pickle-seasoned fries, and Sonic's Grillo collab included a lineup of pickle-themed items, from a dill-flavored smash burger to a Picklerita Slush made with pickle juice and pickle-flavored boba.

The pickle trend has been fun, but we anticipate the oversaturated trend may be on its way out. Once something is everywhere, it tends to lose its luster.