You know you need a niche - a focus - to get traffic and attract readers in the food blogging world. Are you struggling with ideas for a niche? Here's a list of food blog ideas, some with a broad niche as well as some micro niche blog topics to consider.
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Food blogging is a competitive space on the internet, especially for a new website. One way to break through is to focus on a niche, or specific set of topics, on your website. This makes it really clear and simple to Google and your readers what your site is all about.
As a food blogger for over 10 years, I encourage you to give these food blog ideas thought before diving into building your own niche website! This is important groundwork, especially if you're not interested in a hobby blog, but are building it with the intent of making money.
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Example of a food blog niche
For example, my food blog, Very Veganish, is all about plant-based, vegan comfort food recipes. And, most of my recipes are oil-free, which appeals to the whole food plant based community.
I could have stopped at 1) vegan or 2) plant-based, but I choose to focus on 3) oil-free and 4) comfort food recipes.
What does this look like? I focus on comfort food recipes your mom would make that are starch-based, like rice and beans, pasta, potatoes, but that are also 1) vegan, 2) plant-based and 3) oil-free.
You won't see a lot of green salad recipes on my site (although there are a few) since even though these are 1) vegan and 2) plant-based and 3) oil-free they are not 4) comfort food.
Like I mentioned, there are a few exceptions to this rule on my site, like these vegan chorizo potato tacos (they are not oil-free, but follow the other rules). But, 95% of my posts are all four: 1) vegan, 2) plant-based, 3) oil-free and 4) comfort food.
Broad or micro niche?
That's just one example. And, after reading about my site, you might think that's a pretty micro niche, but it's really not. I have tons of recipes in my AirTable just waiting to be posted.
So, should you choose a broad niche or a micro niche for your food blog business?
It depends.
You want to pick a niche that is broad enough that you can continue to write about it for a long time. Also, your niche needs to have enough interest on social media and search engine traffic to make your work worthwhile.
Let's compare 2 examples
Niche Example #1: alcoholic jalapeño drink recipes
You could probably write 10, 20, maybe 50 articles about this topic. I would consider this a micro niche. Eventually, you might run out of spicy drink combinations. But, is anyone searching for it online? Will it get much traffic? Maybe, maybe not.
A quick look on Keysearch shows there are a measly 40 searches a month for "jalapeno drink recipes" and just 880 searches a month for "jalapeno cocktail".
A way to broaden this niche would be to allow for all drink recipes (not just alchoholic) and/or make it about spicy drinks (not just those including jalapeños). This could open it up to micheladas, spicy agua frescas, spicy lemonade, you get the point.
Niche Example #2: jalapeño-focused food blog
On the other hand, what if your niche site is all about jalapeños? Jalapeños are a type of pepper grown in many areas. There are countless recipes (drink and food) and articles you could write about.
Depending on if you added any other criteria (i.e. gluten-free Mexican jalapeño recipes, for example), this could be considered a broad niche. A specific topic, but lots of areas for growth. An even broader niche would be a blog about spicy peppers (not just jalapeños).
You could include jalapeño food recipes, jalapeño drink recipes, how to pickle jalapeños, salsa recipes, jalapeño varieties to grow at home, etc.
And, there are 550,000 Google searches a month for the word "jalapeño". There are 14,800 searches monthly for "jalapeno recipes" and 201,000 searches monthly alone for "jalapeno poppers".
Pro Tip: Use a keyword research tool like Keysearch to research potential blog topics before selecting a new blog niche and buying your domain name. See if you can find enough low competition keywords to write at least 50 articles to get started.
List of food blog niche ideas
Here are loads of ideas to get you going! Feel free to combine 2, 3 or even 4 of these ideas for a unique niche. For example, a blog that focuses on 1) air fryer 2) meals for one person.
Specific diet or way of eating
Often one of the first ways of narrowing down food niches, think of a specific diet or way of eating you want to write about. Keep in mind your expertise, so you can write with authority.
Also, will your view of this diet change over time? Have you been vegetarian for years? Or, is this a new thing for you that may shift? Try to pick something you're comfortable you'll be able to write about for years to come.
- Vegan
- Plant-based
- Whole foods plant based no oil
- Starch Solution
- Nutritarian
- SOS-free (salt, oil, sugar-free)
- Keto
- Vegan keto
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free
- Low-FODMAP
- Vegetarian
- Flexitarian
- Pescatarian
- Mediterranean diet
- Low calorie density foods
- 50/50 plates
- Raw food
- Low fat
- Low salt
Specific age or family groups
Niches can take shape based on the preferred audience, such as parents, young people, mothers, empty-nesters, men vs. women, etc. Having your readers clearly in mind makes it super easy to come up with post ideas, too.
- Recipes for toddlers
- Recipes for kids
- Picky kids
- School lunches
- Recipes your teenager can make by themselves
- Recipes that serve one person
- Large families
- Recipes that serve only two people geared to empty nesters
- Soft foods for elderly
Specific ingredients
You can choose to focus your content ideas on one ingredient, too! Maybe start with your favorite food and then test the waters. Have you heard of The Pasta Project?
- Jalapeños (a la my earlier example)
- Spicy peppers
- Avocados
- Cashews
- Tomatoes
- Rice
- Bananas
- Apples
- Couscous
- Cooking with tea
- Cooking with coffee
Food of a specific geographic country or region within a country
Bloggers often incorporate regional or national dishes on their cooking blog. This is a great way to niche down, too.
If you have moved to a foreign country, but speak a different language, there is often interest in writing recipes in your tongue for an international audience. For example, an American who moved to Spain writes traditional Spanish recipes in English, for English-speakers to make.
- Malaysian
- Southern US
- Canadian
- High altitude cooking
- Peruvian
- Argentinian
- South African
- Irish
- Moroccan
- Sri Lankan
- Romanian
- Texan
- New Mexican
- Spanish
- Midwest US
- California
- Venezuelan
Specific appliance, tool or method
Blogs that focus on recipes using a specific tool, appliance or method are very effective, especially if that appliance is very popular. (I'm looking at you, Instant Pot.) When someone buys a new kitchen appliance, it comes with a learning curve and they are eager to learn from someone (YOU) who is experienced with it!
- Sous vide
- Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Ninja Foodi
- Vitamix
- Blendtec
- Ice cream maker
- Ninja creami
- Air fryer
- Baking
- Convection baking
- Immersion blender
- Induction stove
- Cast iron
- Camping recipes over open fire
- Food you can make in a microwave
- Slow cooker or Crockpot
- Weber grill
- Smoker
- Canning / preserving
- Food processor
Specific type of recipes
Pick a subset of recipe types to be the focus of your food blog topics. Here are just some ideas!
- Sauces and condiments
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Tapas
- Dinner
- Brunch
- Arepas
- Drinks
- Coffee
- Tea
- Lemonade
- Agua frescas
- Desserts
- Enchiladas
- Tacos
- Sandwiches
- Soup
- Stews
- Chowders
- Braised meat
- Party food
- Comfort food
- Snacks
- Food that fits in your purse
- Starters / appetizers
- Mead
- Meal planning
- Batch cooking
- Catering
- Seasonal recipes
- Food from books
- Food from movies
Non-recipe based food blog ideas
Food blogs don't have to be just about recipes. You can write about other topics - with a food focus. Here are some food bloggings ideas that don't require recipe development.
- Cookbook reviews
- Restaurant reviews
- Food truck reviews
- Ingredient conversions
- Product reviews
- Tutorials on using kitchen tools, appliances, knives
- Compare and rate recipes from different sources for one dish
- Cooking from meal delivery kits, like Green Chef or Purple Carrot
- Pairing food and wine
- Pairing food and beer
I hope these ideas got you brainstorming about a niche for your food blog!
Resources
Don't forget to do keyword research before deciding on your niche. You don't want to waste time building a site that will never get traffic.
Here are some recommended resources that have helped me:
Cooking with Keywords Course
You may immediately think of social media and food photography when you think of blogging, but how well you handle the technical stuff often dictates whether you sink or swim. If you're unfamiliar with SEO and keyword research, I highly recommend taking the course Cooking with Keywords. This is a keyword research course specifically for food bloggers.
It has helped me to rank for new recipes much faster and to boost traffic to older posts, too. Aleka Shunk, the instructor, walks you through how to use Keysearch and other tools to find keywords you can actually rank for, how to update your blog posts.
Keysearch
Keysearch is a deceptively in-depth and comprehensive keyword research tool! Before I create a new blog post in WordPress, I go here first and analyze my options. And, you'll save money since it is much cheaper than the alternatives. I pay $13 a month. Use discount code KSDISC for 20% off!
Income School YouTube
The videos by Income School on YouTube are really helpful and they focus mainly on niche sites. So, if you're looking for more info about how to build niche websites that earn money, check out their videos.
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