The 17 Food Photos From 2025 That Made Our Editors Instantly Hungry

Dripping sauces, flaky pastry, wisps of smoke—these are the shots that made us want to take a bite this year.

By Amanda Suarez
Published December 30, 2025
A collage of diverse dishes including seafood meat caviar and dessert

Serious Eats

The beauty is in the details. A clichéd phrase we all love, no? Now you may be asking, why on earth are we talking about a platitude in the intro to a year-end round-up of our staff's favorite images? Because, dear reader, as I've been thinking about how to encapsulate all the beautiful work Serious Eats photographers have made this year, I got stuck in the details—the detail of a perfectly pink, grilled prawn, the detail of a wisp of smoke coming off a charcoal grill in the woods, the detail of the 37th interior layer of a golden croissant.

With generative AI drawing into question what's real and what's not, this year, I asked our photographers to get closer: to capture more texture, more drips, more fleeting moments. All to remind you—visually, viscerally—how much rigor and care go into every Serious Eats recipe, and why you can trust that what you see is what you'll taste. Below are some of our favorite frames from 2025. Bask in every crumb, every pixel-perfect bite. Because after all, AI never gets the details quite right.

  • Pani Puri, Photographed by Kanika and Jatin Sharma

    Overhead view of Pani Puri

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "I love a full, detailed frame and Jatin created magic with this one. Almost every element of pani puri is included in the background of this image, but Jatin's expert focal length choice here allows my eyes to never waver from that one perfect bite in the center." -Amanda Suarez, associate director, visuals

  • Char Kway Teow, Photographed by Melati Citrawireja

    Plate of char kway teow noodles with chopsticks picking some up

    Serious Eats / Melati Citrawireja

    "I can see the heat of the wok on these noodles and Melati's excellent composition leads the eye expertly to the perfect bite of Char Kway Teow. Not an easy feat!"-Amanda

  • Banana Bread Trifle, Photographed by Robby Lozano

    Banana bread trifle with whipped cream and pecans in a glass bowl spoon scooping a portion

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    "The magic of this photo is how it showcases the remnants of movement. Robby's capture of the streaks of pudding on the trifle bowl is masterful decision-making."- Amanda

  • Grilled Tamarind-Marinated Prawns, Photographed by Vy Tran

    Grilled prawns with herbs and a side of sauce

    Serious Eats / Vy Tran

    "I’m an always-and-forever fan of Vy’s photography—and I’ve had the privilege of seeing her elevate several of my recipes this year—but this image stopped me in my tracks. Her photo of her grilled tamarind-marinated prawns is moody and lush, capturing reflective light, subtle motion, and vivid pops of color all at once. The prawns feel alive on the plate, glossy and just-charred." - Leah Colins, senior culinary editor

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  • Pearls of caviar, Photographed by Grace Kelly

    A tin of caviar on ice with a spoon lifting some out

    Serious Eats / Grace Kelly

    "It's not every day you get to taste handfuls of tins of caviar and call it work, but senior editor Grace Kelly and I had that luxury earlier this year while working on our caviar buying guide. Grace's photos of the roe blew me away, especially this one. The eggs' olive green color handsomely illustrates that caviar comes in a range of hues—not just black—and the glistening, plump pearls look so fresh, it feels like you can just reach out and grab the mother-of-pearl spoon."- Ashlee Redger, writer

  • Camarones a la Diabla, Photographed by Lorena Masso

    A hand squeezing lime onto a shrimp dish with sauce on a plate beer bottles in the background

    Serious Eats / Lorena Masso

    "I want that shrimp, and I want it bad. 'Nuf said." -Daniel Gritzer, editorial director

  • Global Eats: Part Two

    "For the second year, I had the privilege of working with photographers around the world to shoot our second edition of Global Eats. I'm begging you to indulge in your wanderlust and click through all the amazing photos by Michelle Yip, Hamilton Media, Philippine Antoine, Saghar Setareh, Adriana Parrilla, and Estudio Como."-Amanda

  • Newfoundland Dressing, Photographed by Vanessa Chiasson

    A plate of fries topped with minced meat and a sauce on a background resembling a blue grid and newspaper

    Serious Eats / Vanessa Chiasson

    "This is a bit of a troll, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of this image of Canada's Newfoundland dressing on chips. When we shared the story on social media, commenters were both horrified and ready to jump in head first. 'I have seen more attractive piles come out the front of a dog,' wrote one. 'Would I try it? Absolutely.' That's the spirit!" - Daniel

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  • Buttery, Flaky Croissants, Photographed by Debbie Wee

    A plate of croissants with a hand holding a halved croissant showing its layers

    Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

    "Every year in this list I call Debbie my star baker. Last year, it was for a stunning challah recipe. This year she took on the massive undertaking of making and photographing croissants at home (a 30-step, 3-day endeavor) and captured the many layers of my dreams." - Amanda

  • Hong Kong Milk Tea

    Cup of milk tea in a logoed mug on a plate with baked goods in the background

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "The cup in this photo is a special one that's used to serve milk tea all across Hong Kong. I lugged it all the way back just so we could do the drink justice in our photo. Amanda did a beautiful job capturing the beverage, and even paired it with pineapple buns—a classic Hong Kong combination." - Genevieve Yam, senior editor

  • Strawberry Pork Chop With Spinach Salad, Photographed by Maureen Celestine

    A plate with sliced pork chop and a spinach salad, a hand holding a spoon with sauce

    Serious Eats/ Maureen Celestine

    "No one creates a table scene quite like Maureen. I'm in awe of her color picks when selecting props and how she organizes them around the frame. Purple, yellow, red, and green should not work together as seamlessly as she has captured them here! "- Amanda

  • Steak Diane

    Side view of Steak Diane

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "I could sing the praises of my fellow Philly native Amanda Suarez all day (Go Birds!), but this Steak Diane photo speaks loudly for itself. Somehow she makes a brown, gloppy pan sauce look impossibly sexy—glossy, dramatic, and caught perfectly mid-pour. The image is pure motion and indulgence, with that sheen you can practically taste." - Leah

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  • Chinese Lettuce With Oyster Sauce, Photographed by Qi Ai

    A bowl of lettuce with oyster sauce next to a glass and rice

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    "Few things make me as proud as when a photographer successfully pitches their own recipe for the site. This silky, saturated shot of Chinese lettuce with oyster sauce is not only extremely lux but is also from Qi's first recipe byline on Serious Eats! "- Amanda

  • Canned Sardine Taste Test

    An assortment of opened canned sardines displayed on a tray

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "It's hard to pick a single favorite image from this year, but given my undying love and long-term commitment to canned sardines, this photo by the talented Amanda Suarez feels like the obvious choice. Shot during one of our sardine taste tests, the opened, half-eaten, seemingly endless tins capture both the chaos and pleasure of the process."- Laila Ibrahim, associate culinary editor

  • Grilling Summer School

    Serious Eats

    "It takes a village—or in this case, our colleagues in the Food Studios in Birmingham, Alabama—to make school look this fun! Greg DuPree, Jennifer Wendorf, Vivien Tran, Christina Daley, and Abby Armstrong really made magic happen this year when I asked them to set up class outside and fight against the dying daylight to make Leah's Grilling Summer School come to life! Extra credit goes to Sabrina Tan and Sarah Maiden for the perfect logo as well."- Amanda

  • Matcha Powders, Photographed by Ashlee Redger

    Four tins of matcha with powder beside them.

    Serious Eats / Ashlee Redger

    "I learn a ton from every review Ashlee writes, but this one was particularly instructive for me. (I knew next to nothing about matcha.) I loved how she set up this photo; it showed me how subtle differences in matcha varieties could be."- Rochelle Bilow, editor

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  • Aquacotta Maremmana

    Overhead view of Aquacotta Maremmana

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    "Amanda's photos have a way of making you feel like you really are about to dig into the food on the plate or in the bowl. And this photo perfectly captures the simple deliciousness of Daniel's aquacotta maremmana recipe."- Megan O. Steintrager, associate editorial director

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