We tried a lot of new products in 2023. Skittles that taste like mustard. Ketchup that tastes like pickles. Coke that tastes like…something we could never quite figure out. We didn’t review every single new food we tasted, but we still managed to review upward of 115 new products this year. When we decided to pick the best new product of them all, we didn’t scour our reviews. Instead, we thought about which new products stood out the most—the new products that were so delicious they remained top of mind months after we tasted them. Here are the best new products of 2023.
Spindrift frequently releases new flavors, which is awesome because Spindrift is, in my opinion, the best sparkling water brand of them all. Its bevs are made with actual fruit juice and purees rather than weird artificial flavors. Released earlier this year, Spindrift Nojito tastes like a virgin Mojito because it basically is (minus the sugar). You get the tartness of real lime juice and the fresh herbaceousness of real mint. It’s an amazing sparkling water, canned mocktail, and cocktail mixer (I like it mixed with bourbon for Mint Julep vibes) all rolled into one.
I have to be honest: A lot of canned chili is pretty mid. The meat can be weird and low quality. The beans can be grainy and odd. I generally emerge from canned chili taste tests reminded why I make my own. Wendy’s Chili is a different story. It’s super savory and loaded with veggies and tender beans. Wendy’s has always claimed that the chili in their restaurants is made with leftover hamburgers, so I love that the canned version includes a dash of liquid smoke to give it a little bit of burger flavor. This chili is quite salty, but serve it with some good sour cream and you’ll be just fine (unless you’re on a low-sodium diet, in which case you probably shouldn’t be eating canned chili at all).
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.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Luke Field
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!