Today I'm testing 10 of the most viewed TikTok recipes ever. We're even going to test one that got half a billion views. But coming in at 10th place with 12 million views, we have TikTok's golden girl Alex Earl making cotton candy ice cream. Apparently her family owns an ice cream shop in New Jersey and she starts off with an ice cream base, which I don't have. So we're gonna make it.
So in a saucepan, I'm gonna warm up heavy cream. and milk until tiny little bubbles form on the edge. And then in a separate bowl, I have some egg yolks here that I'm gonna just whisk it up with some sugar. And then I'll temper it with the warmed milk, whisk it up, and then pour it back in.
We're basically making a custard here. Apparently this ice cream shop is pretty popular, but nobody knew that her family owned it. And someone said, Alex Earl knowing custard specifics was not on my bingo card, but as a Wisconsin girl, I love it.
And I love it too. So it's thickened up slightly. You can't even tell. But I'm gonna add a pinch of salt and then some vanilla and then I even found cotton candy flavoring Nice and pink just like hers.
Oh, it is strong. I think we'll do a whole tablespoon Oh my gosh, it got it nice and pink so tempted to taste this right now Okay So i'm gonna transfer this into a bowl and we're gonna refrigerate it for two to three hours until it's nice and cold So while alex's ice cream base is chilling i'm gonna move on to number nine with 13.6 million views we have Avocado pickles? So she starts off the video by saying, you know your avocado is ripe when you can crack it like an egg.
Someone said, the way I blank stared and gasped when you said, crack it like an egg? Here goes. Ugh.
I can't crack wine like an egg. Oh. Oh!
And then she just squeezes it out. This feels so wrong, but also so satisfying. And just coyly takes the avocado pit out.
Then she chops up some cucumber, some red onion, some fresh and dried dill, minced garlic, two to three tablespoons of white. vinegar, some salt, pepper, and a little bit of ground mustard. Okay, let's give this a mix.
We'll just call this Mediterranean guacamole. We're not done yet. Now to a little bowl She's gonna add some maple syrup and sriracha and then she brushes it onto a tortilla This is turning out to be a kind of a weird combo.
It's gonna be so spicy Bake it off for two to four minutes and we'll go from there. Here's our crispy tortilla Looks pretty good actually and now she spreads her avocado pickle right on top. We'll just try this little corn right here. It's like a Mediterranean Asian tostada.
People were torn in the comments. One said, why is this so attractive? While the other one said, this is foul.
Wait, aside from the Sriracha being a little too spicy, this combo actually is really good. Something about it, like the sweet, the salty, the sour and a little bit spicy. My mouth can't even handle it, but I like it.
Nine out of 10. Back to Alex Earl's Cotton Candy Ice Cream. Our base is completely chilled. So now I'm gonna pour it into the ice cream maker and we're gonna let it churn. Okay, so I have to let this churn for 20, 25 minutes.
Why don't we move on to number eight? Coming in at number eight with 21 million views, this pesto launched the whole call me crazy stitches on TikTok where it... became known as trauma dumping.
I went down that rabbit hole and call me crazy, but I just want to try her pesto. She starts by adding two large cloves of garlic, Parmesan cheese, some pine nuts. She says that toasted pine nuts is better. Lemon juice, then a handful of basil.
Now it's time for olive oil. And I'd like to thank Raza for sponsoring this portion of the video. I'm using their drizzle olive oil that comes in this. beautiful light blocking squeeze bottle.
It's a high quality finishing oil made from early harvest single origin Piqual olives from Haines, Spain. It's incredibly fresh, full of antioxidants, and the opaque bottle locks in quality by keeping light out. Alright, let's blend our pesto.
I feel like we might need more basil. A handful could mean a lot or a little to some people. So while Drizzle is perfect for finishing, Graza's Sizzle Oil is made for cooking with a more mellow flavor and a high smoke point of 411 degrees for all your hot recipes.
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Okay, let's taste it. But just like her in the video, I forgot to add salt. Okay, now she heats up her pasta with the pesto, warms it up, adds a little bit of pasta water to get it going. This pesto already smells so good.
She then tops it off with a little more Parmesan and red pepper flakes. And this is her 10 minute girl dinner. Let's see if it's better than store-bought pesto. Mmm. That's 100% better than store-bought pesto, and I think Graza has something to do with it.
Graza olive oils are the highest quality olive oil at an affordable everyday price, and you can get 10% off using my code HONEYSUCKLE10 at Graza.co. Click on the link in the description box below. 9 out of 10. Okay, 20. Two minutes is up and let's see if it's ready.
Whoa, it looks pretty good! So she mentions that there should be a specific texture for the ice cream and you want it to be nice and like goopy. Let's add some sprinkles. Okay, I think we've reached the point where we're like, I reached the end here, so I'm just gonna scoop everything out. Probably gonna have to chill this a little longer.
Does this look nice and goopy? I'm so tempted to try this right now, but I gotta wait until it's the right consistency. One last shot of sprinkles. Let me smooth it out. She's soft.
I'm gonna chill this for a little bit more and we're gonna move on to number seven coming in seventh place with 26.5 million views we have the crookie It's basically a croissant stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough inside and on top some people wondered who invented this Well, it was actually a French bakery in Paris So we're gonna start with some melted butter then she adds her sugars brown and white some vanilla extract an egg, and then her dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. My chocolate chip cookie only uses baking soda, if you know, you know. And salt. She mixes it again, and then adds in chocolate chips. I feel like the dough is looking a little dry, but we're gonna go with it.
And here's my cookie dough. Hers looks a little more wet, but it could just be maybe her butter was a little warmer than mine. But we're gonna stuff The croissant with some cookie dough inside and on top. So apparently this recipe, when it went viral, everybody tried copying it.
A lot of people in the comments said, this looks appetizing, but it doesn't at the same time. I mean, I love some chocolate croissant, but is this overkill? Oh, these look...
Incredible! They look so good! Okay, I get the hype. I'm gonna let it cool for about five minutes, and then we're gonna break it open. Okay, let's see how chocolatey this is inside.
And then it looks like she cut hers in half before she opened it. You have to squeeze it. Oh! Hers still looks better. This is decadent.
Imagine the richest chocolate croissant mixed with maybe a little bit of almond croissant on top because of the crispiness of the chocolate chip cookies. It's like a chocolate croissant on steroids. Messy but delicious. Probably can't have too many but I'm gonna give this 9 out of 10. Next up, we have number six with 30.2 million views. A salmon bake by Emily Mariko.
We've all seen her use her leftover salmon. This is where she shows us how to make it. It looks pretty freaking good. She starts off by crushing her garlic into a bowl. Out of all the gadgets I've tried, I don't love a garlic crusher.
And then she adds a load of butter. I feel like we're gonna use half a stick here. There's a lot of butter. Microwaves it.
Okay, now she adds juice from half a lemon and some salt. This is very Emily Mariko of me. I'm taking out all the seeds. Okay, we're not done yet.
We're gonna cut lemon slices. She's always hunched over like this too. Someone even said they feel sorry for her back.
I can't do this. And now we pick off some dill. You know she already washed, prepped, and dried all hers.
Me, not so much. Okay, now let's prep our salmon. Pat it dry first. Looks like I can only do two for mine.
Lay it on some parchment paper. Then she brushes on her lemon dill garlic butter sauce right on top. I'm just gonna spoon mine on. Oh my gosh, this looks so good. Top it with our lemon slices.
And then, of course, she whips out her already prepped broccoli, but I need a ketchup. Then she dumps the broccoli onto a plate, covers it with the rest of the lemon butter sauce, and then adds it to the baking sheet. This sauce already smells so good, I can taste it in my mouth.
I love a one-pan dinner situation. I'm gonna bake it off. I'm speechless.
Salmon, rice, and broccoli are three of my favorite things. Last step, some garnish for the rice. We all know what's happening tomorrow for Emily, and me actually. But in case you didn't know, this is what someone said.
She's gonna use the rest of the salmon, microwave it with some rice, with an ice cube on top, mix the salmon and the rice, and eat it with avocado and seaweed. Just like we did in the Tradwife video. Might be my favorite so far.
10 out of 10. Coming in at number five with 42.8 million views is a cucumber salad that apparently tastes just like a California roll. This guy blew up over the summer and he does everything cucumber, but he starts off by slicing a whole cucumber into this deli container. Let's see if mine will fit. This already is not looking good.
One of the comments said, I had to spend $600 at the ER today stitching what's left of my pinky from trying this recipe, but see how he's very mindful. Very demure. I feel like this is an accident waiting to happen. He makes it look so easy.
He's had a lot of practice. And someone else said, I swear your container is a pocket dimension because how do you fill it so much and still have the ability to shake it into being mixed? This is where we need to be really careful.
Ta-da. Fingers are still intact, but now he adds like the imitation crab, but these happen to not be crab. They are... Like fish flakes, half an avocado, some Kewpie mayo, whipped cream cheese, a little bit of soy sauce, sesame seeds. He uses MSG, but I'm gonna- I'm gonna use my umami powder.
I am running out of room. I'm wondering how this is gonna shake up. Kind of. It's still all at the top for me. Like you still see it all stuck up here.
It's the magic of editing. Okay, let's try this. Let's try it with the seaweed.
Better with the seaweed. I feel like it needs a little bit of acid to balance. Not.
100% sure what the hype was about? 7 out of 10. At number 4 with 50 million views, we have... Nara Smith making Capri Sun. She starts by unloading all of her fruits. We have a pineapple, some pears, and since oranges are in season, we have some of the...
those, green apple, and some grapes. Capri Suns are one of the more affordable juices. I remember packing for lunch, but all these fruits cost me 20 bucks.
So I hope it tastes better than a Capri Sun at least. Okay, but she starts off by chopping up all of her fruits. Someone in the comments said, I wear that same dress to make rice and peas. I tried to find the closest thing I had. She goes on to say that her favorite Capri Sun is the one with multivitamins, which is why she's using all of these different fruits.
And then she picks off a bunch of grapes. Now I wasn't really sure where she was going with all the cut fruit, but turns out she's just gonna juice it. I thought she was gonna cook it down or something like that.
Let me get some grapes in there. I have never juiced grapes before. And since this doesn't exactly look like a Capri Sun yet, we need a little tint of pink. She adds in some frozen cherries. Ooh!
Okay, let's stir it up real quick. Oh yeah, that looks good! A little thick, which is why she strains it and then pours it into these drinkable pouches.
This looks awfully medical, like I should have an IV drip into me. But even Caprice Sun, the brand, commented, this tickled my brain in all the right ways. Thank you, Nara.
That actually really tastes like a Capri Sun! It's so good! Whoa! I was not expecting that!
10 out of 10! We made it to the top three and with 62 million views, we have that viral breakfast sandwich. Who remembers this trick from from pandemic times.
So she starts off with her eggs that she just pours in. I need to prep mine first, so I'm gonna use three eggs. Add some salt and pepper. All right, it looks like she buttered her pan. And then she adds in the eggs.
Then she places two bread slices. Oh shoot, it's like super big. Oh no! Okay, and then we have to flip it over. A little bit of maneuvering here.
Whoa! Hey, hey! I'm using milk bread, so hopefully this will be really good. Layer on some cheese, tomatoes. avocado and this one's different for me.
I can't say that I've ever had lettuce with eggs in a breakfast sandwich before. I probably sub it for spinach. So here a lot of people got really mad that she cut the eggs off instead of folded it, so I don't want you guys to get mad at me. I'm gonna fold it. Our breakfast sandwich is Done!
I need to cut this in half and see what it looks like inside. But I do have to say, if I'm gonna have an egg breakfast sandwich, I'm gonna need ketchup. Someone made this and they said actually really fire. I had it this morning, really easy to make, tastes amazing.
It's pretty good. But it's still weird to me to have lettuce in the morning. 8 out of 10. Coming in at number 2 with 110 million views, this is the mac and cheese that nearly broke the internet.
And when she means cheese, she means cheese. She starts off by telling you to boil your pasta and only use these cavatoppies, which are elbows on steroids. They're more like corkscrew with these ridges that really...
cling into the sauce. And now she shreds her cheese. You have a pound of mozzarella, a pound of Colby Jack, and only half a pound of sharp cheddar.
Let's start shredding. I'm using my handy dandy cheese grater from the gadget video. Go watch that video after I show you number one.
One down. Is anything even coming out? This is so much cheese.
I can't say that I've ever grated this much cheese or cooked with this much cheese before in my life. It's raining cheese. Okay, but now she says to mix it in a big bowl.
Is this gonna fit? And then divide it in half. Now it looks like she moves on to her spices. She mixes some salt and pepper, eyeballs, paprika, garlic powder, and that's it.
Now we're ready to cook. She starts by melting three tablespoons of butter and then she adds... half of the spices that we just mixed and cooks it up for more flavor. I've never used smoked paprika before, so I'm interested to see how this works out. And then she adds in some flour to make a roux, cooks it off, and then she adds evaporated milk.
Interesting. Keep whisking until it thickens up, and then she adds more cream. Oh man. The smoked paprika in here definitely gets all up in your nose.
Woo! And then the rest of our mix. Now we're supposed to let it thicken up, but she says her secret weapon is Dijon mustard.
It's supposed to bring out the tanginess of the mac and cheese, the cheese flavor. Okay, it looks like I'm supposed to let it thicken up a little bit and then melt a little bit of cheese first. I guess this is supposed to thicken up the sauce and not make it all grainy.
Okay, let's dump in the rest of the cheese. Let's do a little cheesy ASMR. Stretchy and cheesy. Holy cow. Now we add in our noodles, stir it up.
It reminds me of Rice Krispie Treats. Like the stretchiness of it. Okay, now we're gonna transfer half into this baking pan.
I feel like I can use a whole nother pound of noodles and still have enough cheese. Once we have half of our layer in, we're gonna use the rest of this cheese. I'm gonna make a call and I'm not gonna add all the cheese because this is so much.
Okay and then we're gonna pour the rest of the mac and cheese on top and then top it with another layer of cheese. I know this isn't a rage bait account because she makes some pretty good food, but this feels very rage bait. People in the comments have made it and said my family tried it and loved it.
10 out of 10. She actually says no breadcrumbs because she does not like it. Let's bake it off. Here is the mac and cheese complete with a nice layer of grease on top. Gotta do a crunchy cheese ASMR real quick. So she says she makes people mad when she goes straight for the middle part.
Does this make you mad too? Does that look good? There is such thing as way too much cheese and I'm gonna have to say this is kind of over the top. Almost Rage Bay.
Five out of 10. Alex Earle's ice cream is finally ready. I've been waiting to try this. Oh yeah, that's a satisfying scoop.
Two, make it three. I'm not driving. Mine doesn't look quite as aesthetic as hers, but I also didn't grow up having an ice cream shop.
But she calls this Candyland ice cream. and it definitely looks like that. Mmm! Wait, this is really good.
Whoa! The cotton candy flavor is so subtle, like sweet vanilla-y with the sprinkles. This is so fun! Okay, this is a 10 out of 10 too.
But let's see what the most viewed recipe is. Finally at number one, the ASMR king still reigns supreme. At 56.9 million views, we have Zach Choi making this barbecue crispy chicken. He starts off with his signature move by stabbing the chicken a hundred times. satisfying.
Then he adds in a bunch of spices. I'm not really sure what they are, but I'm just gonna guess that it's garlic powder, smoked paprika, and cumin. Maybe a little salt too.
Then he did something some people thought was sacrilegious. The chicken was cooked in its own egg. This doesn't really mix that well. Okay, now he dumps barbecue chips. These are my favorite.
Slices it open in the middle, dumps it onto the baking sheet, covers it with plastic wrap, and pounds away. People were so mad. Bruh!
Break up the chips in the bag? You wouldn't get as good ASMR. Since this is Zach Choi though, listen to this.
So now he takes the chicken, dips it into the crushed potato chips, and dunks it into hot oil to deep fry. In case you're wondering, the egg in the chicken helps to beat the chips. So many flavors all at once.
Nine out of 10. So if you guys liked this video, go watch me test rage bait TikTok recipes.