Best Hot Honey Item of 2025: Our Favorite Take on the Popular Flavor

A lot of not-great things happened in 2025. Among them (but on the less-horrible end of the spectrum, obviously): the word “swicy” becoming part of the culinary lexicon. It’s a portmanteau of sweet and spicy and it got a lot of play, in part, because hot honey has become one of the unofficial flavors of the 2020s. So, so many brands have wedged hot honey into their existing products. We’ve had hot honey potato chips, hot honey drinks, and even a hot honey Taco Bell dipping sauce. But a couple of hot honey products actually ruled. Here are our favorites of 2025.

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Runner-Up

Hot Honey Kraft Mac & Cheese

Instacart

On paper, this is a really gruesome idea. Like, why would anyone want instant mac and cheese that’s a little sweet for some reason? But we’re inclined to give credit where it’s due and, yeah, this Kraft Hot Honey Mac & Cheese actually works. It’s just mildly sweet and doesn’t have the cloying, phony hot honey flavor so many other products have. The heat is just right, too—it’s a warm cayenne sort of burn that builds as you eat but never scorches. There are better boxed mac and cheeses out there (plenty of them), but this is a rare hot honey product we actually liked.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Winner

Trader Joe’s Hot Honey Fudge

Trader Joe’s

A very valid complaint about fudge: It’s always pretty one-note. And that one note is “sweet as hell.” Well, Trader Joe’s flipped the script with the swicy (sorry) fudge and it really panned out. The slightly-bigger-than-bite-size squares of fudge have just enough chili pepper to keep you eating as you seek out that simmering heat. We’re talking about Trader Joe’s here, so of course this sporadically vanishes from their shelves, but rumor has it you can find this NOW (and you obviously should).

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

About the Author

Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks. Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction. Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home. Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.