Fried Cheese Is Having a Moment

Fried cheese has gone from bar menu staple to mainstream draw, and the numbers are backing it up. Nearly half of consumers (48%) said they ate fried cheese at least once a month in 2025, up from 33% in 2021, Datassential’s new 25 Trends & Ideas report noted. 

Fried cheese is already broadly present, appearing on more than 20% of restaurant menus, according to Datassential One, and the firm’s Appetizers report notes that operators that don’t yet offer fried cheese are expressing strong interest in adding it. 

Fast casual restaurants have shown the fastest growth of late. While menu penetration of fried cheese in that segment still lags most others (8.2%, versus +20% at quick-service, casual dining, and midscale), it has grown nearly 70% over the past four years and is projected to rise by another 32% over the next four. Menu incidence in the segment also is up 19% over the past 12 months. 

Across the fried cheese category, growth rates vary widely. Cheese curds posted four-year menu growth of 45%, far outpacing mozzarella sticks, which grew just 6% over the same period. 

Cheese curds are also showing up alongside other trending flavors, too. Mapo sauce, a Sichuan cuisine staple that Datassential recently highlighted in its Trend Watch: Flavor Issue, is leveraged as a topping for Fried Clock Shadow Creamery Cheese Curds at Milwaukee’s Odd Duck. And fried cheese previously has been paired with sriracha and hot honey in offerings from chains like A&W Restaurants and Culver’s. Overall, fried cheese is projected to grow on menus by about 28% over the next four years. 

Datassential One shows 53% of consumers have tried fried cheese, 45% love it, and 76% are aware of it. But appeal skews decisively younger. Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z and 61% of Millennials say they’re likely to try fried cheese monthly, compared to just 19% of Boomers, according to the Appetizers report. 

Social Media also is playing a role in the trend. Chili’s earned its highest-ever TikTok engagement with a cheese pull post tied to the TV show “Heated Rivalry,” as noted in Datassential’s Social Listening Quarterly: Q4 2025.