The ever-popular combination of bacon, lettuce and tomato took on new forms in 2021, often with the inclusion of ranch dressing, with items like Boston Market’s Crispy Chicken BLT Sandwich (Breaded and fried chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing on a brioche bun, around $7.49) available in the first quarter; and Carl’s Jr.’s BLT Ranch Double Cheeseburger (two beef patties topped with melted American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and herb ranch sauce on a toasted bun, starting at $2.99), introduced in January. That one proved so successful that in June CKE, parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, introduced a premium BLT Ranch Angus Thickburger for $5.99 and a BLT Ranch Chicken Sandwich for $4.99 for the summer. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill’s offered an NY Strip & BLT Salad (grilled New York strip topped with BLT butter served with a salad of bacon, lettuce and tomatoes with garlic ranch dressing, $19.95) in March and April.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe had a BLT Quesadilla (Bacon, queso blanco, cheddar-smoked cheese blend, tomato and shredded lettuce in a flour tortilla with a side of salsa ranch sauce, starting at around $5.49) in July and August

Ranch dressing’s cousin, Green Goddess, was featured the first quarter in MOD Pizza’s Green Goddess BLT salad (Romaine lettuce and mixed greens, grilled chicken, bacon bits, diced cucumber and tomato, pickled red onion, croutons and Asiago cheese tossed in green goddess dressing, $8.27-$9.87).

Premium BLTs also were introduced at chains, including IHOP’s Steakhouse BLT (two slices of a  limited-time Steakhouse Premium Bacon over lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles and IHOP sauce with fries, onion rings or pancakes, around $10) and Smokey Bones’ One Pound BLT (a pound of bacon with tomatoes and leaf lettuce on thick cut bread with garlic parsley mayonnaise and one side, around $19.99), both introduced in the spring.

Velvet Taco offered a  Fried Green Tomato BLT Taco (Beer-battered fried green tomatoes, pepper bacon, lettuce, tomato, rémoulade, herb goat cheese — with parsley, oregano and rosemary — and micro greens in a flour tortilla, $4.50) as its Weekly Taco Feature for the first week of July.

Still available through this winter is Lemonade’s Roasted Turkey BLTA: Roasted turkey breast, bacon, avocado, arugula, beefsteak tomato and a new nut-free basil pesto aïoli on Rockenwagner ciabatta, $10.95

The blend of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried garlic, dried onion and salt that coats an “Everything” bagel is one of the hottest trends at the moment, rimming cocktail glasses at independent restaurants

For the spring, Modern Market offered a Keto Smoked Salmon Bowl (smoked salmon, avocado, hard-boiled egg, watermelon radish, red onion, arugula, sour cream, dill and Everything bagel spice served in a bowl, $11.95), Paris Baguette had an Everything Croissant (croissant stuffed with cream cheese and coated in Everything bagel seasoning, price varied by location), First Watch used an Everything Bagel for its Loaded Smoked Salmon Bagel (with scallion cream cheese, sliced cucumber, tomato, sockeye salmon, pickled red onions and lemon-dressed arugula, served with a side of fresh fruit, $13.99) and Dunkin’ introduced an Avocado Toast (avocado blended with salt, pepper and lemon juice on toasted sourdough topped with Everything bagel seasoning, around $2.99) 

In September Insomnia Cookies offered an Everything Bagel Cookie topped with poppyseeds and onion (starting at $1.75)

The year 2020 was undisputedly the year of the fried chicken sandwich, but in 2021 those sandwiches and other chicken items took a spicy turn. That included a Grilled Spicy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich (Grilled chicken breast marinated in spicy seasoning and served on a multigrain brioche bun with Colby Jack Cheese, lettuce and tomato and a side of new creamy cilantro lime sauce, $5.39) that Chick-fil-A offered at the beginning of the year, and the return of Panda Express’s Firecracker Chicken Breast (Chicken breast, bell peppers, onions, green beans and whole dried chiles stir-fried in black bean sauce, around $4.65)

for lunar new year.

PDQ introduced a Spicy Chicken Sandwich (Fried chicken breast with spicy seasoning topped with lettuce, dill pickles and a new PDQ sauce made with smoked paprika, oregano, garlic and black pepper in a creamy horseradish base, all served on a buttered, toasted and steamed potato bun, $5.49-$5.99) in February, along with spicy nuggets, and Portillo’s followed suit in May. Its sandwich had a fried breast with lettuce, tomato and signature spicy giardiniera sauce for around $5.89.

Bellagreen introduced Mango Habanero Chicken Wings (Eight fried chicken wings in mango habanero sauce, garnished with green onions and served with mango ranch dressing, $10.99) as part of its springtime lineup,

In the fall, Whataburger used seasonal peppers for its Hatch Green Chile Bacon Whatachiick’n Sandwich (fried, spicy chicken breast topped with leaf lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, bacon, Hatch green chiles and mayonnaise on a toasted 4-inch bun, around $6)

In the late fall, Halal Guys also amped up the heat on their Signature Spicy Chicken, Jollibee introduced a spicy version of its signature fried chicken and Jack in the Box launched a new and improved Spicy Cluck Sandwich (a larger crispier battered and fried chicken breast with crinkle-cut pickles and spicy “Good Good” sauce on a bun, around $5.99)

The liquid that comes from soaking cut oats in water, often with added sweetener and other ingredients, has become a favorite milk substitute, especially in coffee, and numerous chains began offering it, or new drinks made with it, in 2021.

Dutch Bros Coffee, Peet’s Coffee and PJ’s Coffee all introduced new oat milk drinks in March, and Yogurtland introduced Its first item with the product, Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie Yogurt, which used oat milk instead of dairy.

The following month Baskin-Robbins introduced and oat-milk based dessert with strawberries, cinnamon granola and streusel. Jamba and 16 Handles followed suit in June and Smoothie King did so in August. Ziggi’s Coffee celebrated pumpkin spice season with, among other things, a Spicy Oat Milk Chai Latte.

Sweetened bacon has been around for years now, appearing in everything from sundaes to cocktails, on sandwiches and even at breakfast. Bacon jam, usually made by cooking bacon with sugar, vinegar and onions, and candied bacon, made by glazing it with maple, honey, brown sugar etc., flourished in 2021.

In January, Bellagreen introduced fried Brussels sprouts leaves tossed in bacon jam as a garnish to rib eye steak, and in April it put candied bacon on a burger.

In March, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill introduced the Ham-Jam Burger (Grilled beef patty topped with pepper Jack and sharp cheddar cheese, griddled ham, bacon jam and a fried egg on a toasted brioche bun, served with choice of side, $15.95) and Sonic Drive-In launched the Bacon Jam Cheeseburger (Quarter-pound beef patty, American cheese, bacon, sweet-and-savory bacon jam, mayonnaise and mustard on a toasted brioche bun, starting at $4.99). In April Red Robin Gourmet Burgers & Brews introduced the Bacon Jammin’ Burger (Burger topped with bacon jam, bacon strips, bacon aïoli, cheddar cheese, red onions, lettuce and tomatoes on a sesame-seed bun, around $12) and Bacon Jammin’ Wings (Bone-in or boneless chicken wings topped with bacon jam, bacon crumbles, cherry peppers and barbecue-brown sugar glaze served over kettle chips, around $9.50), and also offered candied bacon to dip in a milkshake. IHOP, meanwhile, celebrating bacon all month, started serving candied bacon on its pancakes, and in milkshakes and sundaes. Sister chains Checkers and Rally’s, meanwhile, launched the Candied Bacon Mother Cruncher (Breaded and fried chicken breast topped with brown-sugar-candied bacon, Swiss cheese, mayonnaise and fried onion tanglers on a toasted bun, around $4.99)

In October O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar offered bacon jam on steak, and also introduced the Jam’n Bacon Burger (a burger topped with bacon jam and garlic cream cheese on a toasted bun with a side of fries, $11.99), while Jolene’s mixed candied bacon into mac & cheese.

In November First Watch put its Million Dollar Bacon, its version of thick-cut candied bacon, on a breakfast sandwich, accompanied by Mike’s Hot Honey (more on that on the next slide), and sister chain’s Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s began testing candied bacon as a snack.

Spicey honey gained more traction in 2021. Apart from First Watch putting it on a breakfast sandwich, it was on Friendly’s Hot Honey SuperMelt (fried chicken tenders glazed in hot honey topped with cheddar cheese, pickle chips and coleslaw on sourdough toast, $9.99-$11.29) in the spring, when Modern Market put it on its Spicy Trio Pizza (Pizza topped with red sauce, mozzarella cheese, pulled pork, bacon bits, Creminelli pepperoni, jalapeño peppers and Mike's Hot Honey, $12.95). In June, Shake Shack put it on a chicken sandwich, nuggets and fries.

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s also served it with chicken items, starting in September. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill is currently serving it drizzled on burrata.

Watermelon was an important ingredient in beverages this summer. Examples include O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar’s Watermelon Cucumber Margarita (Sauza Gold tequila, triple sec, Monin cucumber syrup and watermelon syrup, $5.99), Watermelon Tea at Cowboy Chicken, which also served watermelon slices all summer long, Main Squeeze Juice Co.’s Hydrate Watermelon Juice (blend of coconut water, watermelon, a little pineapple juice and lemon, $8.95) and Heat Watermelon Juice: (blend of watermelon, lime, serrano pepper and Himalayan salt, $8.95) First Watch’s Watermelon Wake-Up juice (watermelon, pineapple and lime juice with mint, starting at $4.49) and Shake Shack’s Watermelon Mint Mojito Summerade (a non-alcoholic beverage of watermelon and lime juice with mint, orange, white tea and cane sugar, starting at $3.29)

Corn, often inspired by the spiced grilled Mexican corn on the cobb called elote, was on many menus this summer, including Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, which offered creamed corn kernels with a dash of red pepper for around $3, First Watch, which had Elote Mexican Street Corn Hash (two eggs over seasoned potatoes, roasted corn and chorizo, topped with sliced avocado, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, chipotle crema and scallions, served with a lime wedge and warm wheat-corn tortillas, starting at $11.79), Gott’s Roadside which served spiced roasted corn on the cob with mayonnaise and lime for $4.99 and Smokey Bones, whose Chargrilled Street Corn was tossed with peppers, onions, cilantro, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, ground chipotle pepper, cumin and lime for around $3.89 as a premium side.

Tijuana Flats had a whole line of street corn-themed items, including cobs drizzled with garlic lime sauce and topped with queso fresco, chile dust and cilantro for $1.79 apiece and a Street Corn Bowl (grilled marinated chicken or steak, cilantro lime rice, black beans and corn in a bowl topped with lettuce, pico de gallo, tortilla strips, garlic lime sauce, guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro and chile dust, served with chips and salsa, $7.99 for chicken and $8.99 for steak)

The richer, juicer meat of chicken thighs has long been served at Chipotle Mexican Grill, and it has long been an option at fried-chicken chains, but spiking wing prices and other supply chain issues, and possibly also an increasingly cosmopolitan American palate, resulted in thighs being offered instead of wings at chains such as Wing it On! and Wingstop, on a sandwich at Nathan’s Famous.

Modern Market used it in its Blackened Chicken Bánh Mì (Blackened chicken thigh, pickled carrot, cilantro, basil, jalapeño peppers and, lemon grass aïoli on ciabatta, $9.95) this summer

Velvet Taco also used thigh meat in one of its Weekly Taco Features, the Karaage Chicken taco (Marinated and fried chicken thigh, red chile aïoli, carrots, chile oil, green onion and lemon zest in a corn tortilla, $4.95)