6. Pasta Salad

TheDailyMeal: America’s Most-Searched Recipes of 2012

We were optimistic when we saw salad show up in the top 10 food searches of 2012, but were disappointed to see that people weren’t looking for a healthy and green recipe, but instead something that is dominated by heavy ingredients like carbohydrates and mayonnaise. With a monthly search score of 4,197,795, pasta salad comes in at the number six most-searched recipe. This pasta salad recipe cuts back on some of the fattier ingredients, and is made with an iron-rich green, which gives us hope that pasta salad can not only be a popular recipe search but a healthy one as well.

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10. Beef Steak

During our research, we found that the term steak was a constant theme among 2012 searches. Interestingly enough, the most basic and simple form of steaks, a "beef steak," scored the highest in recipes, with a monthly search total of 2,214,708. The enthusiastic search for beef steak recipes does not really surprise us, as it is the most common cut of a steak used, confirming our conclusion that when people are craving steak, they’re craving it in the most simple of ways. This taco recipe uses top-round beef steak and stuffs it into corn tortillas with a spicy tomatillo and avocado salsa.

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9. Banana Bread

The food term banana was another popular one on the top searched food terms list, and banana bread recipes proved to be the most highly sought-after banana dish, earning the number nine spot with a monthly search score of 2,253,470, as well as being one of the top ten searches on Pinterest as well. Banana bread is one of the easiest baking recipes out there, and we believe it's a popular one because it’s resourceful: it’s a great way to use old bananas. This recipe is a basic and straightforward way for you to create a lovely baked dish.

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8. Pasta Sauce

As people constantly searched for pasta this past year, it's no surprise they were also looking for a sauce to go with it. Earning a score of 4,059,443 monthly searches, pasta sauce earned the number eight spot, outranking other sauce recipes such as "barbecue sauce," "hot sauce," and "apple sauce." While pasta sauce remains a mainstream recipe throughout the country, this tomato pasta sauce is a new rendition of the highly sought-after condiment.

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7. Spaghetti

Pasta was a very popular food search over the past year, and there was one common kind of pasta that people were looking for: spaghetti. As the most popular pasta used in cooking, spaghetti scored a total of 4,077,061 monthly searches to earn it the number seven spot. This spaghetti recipe is made with a savory tomato sauce to give a special flavor to the commonly used starch.

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6. Pasta Salad

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5. Bread

With a monthly search score of 4,760,753, bread fell into the top five searched recipes for 2012. Popular all over the country, bread was a consistently searched throughout the year, along with searches such as "loaf pan bread recipes" and "banana bread recipes." Its popularity is not lost on us, as it as staple in many household kitchens because it is versatile and inexpensive to make. This country oat bread recipe yields a chewy texture and will satiate anyone's craving for homemade bread.

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4. Chocolate Chi...

Cookies were a very popular term on the Web this year, and surprisingly the classic and basic chocolate chip cookie recipe stole the show with a monthly search score of 6,067,983. As the fourth most-searched recipe of 2012, these findings only add to our conclusion that we are simple creatures at heart, and it also continued the theme of chocolate that we see throughout recipe searches. This recipe is as basic as it gets, and the results are the cakey, small treats that we all yearn for.

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3. Chocolate Cak...

As we mentioned earlier, our country is constantly on the hunt for something decadent. During our research, we found that cake was a popular search throughout the year, and chocolate cake was the most- searched recipe in this category, with a score of 7,436,845 monthly searches. This chocolate cake recipe is the epitome of indulgence, made with Chambord liquor and heavy cream, and warmed in the microwave.

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2. Meatballs

Although beef was a common food searched by our country over the past year, people’s motives for searching for the ingredient became clear as we dove deeper into our research: they wanted it ground and they wanted it in the form of meatballs. Outranking another ground beef staple, hamburgers, the classic dish scored a total monthly search of 7,497,858, and received various search variations, including "Italian," "Swedish," and "turkey." This meatball recipe puts a Southwestern spin on the country favorite and uses cumin and chiles to result in a unique meatball.

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1. Pork Chops

With a top monthly search score of 9,239,208, pork chop recipes grabs the number one spot on our most-searched recipes list. While pork ranked slightly lower on the overall list of foods searched, pork chops climbed the highest, outranking other searches for pork such as tenderloin, roast pork, and pulled pork recipes. They were visually popular this year as well, as they fell under the top ten food searches on Pinterest for the past year as well. Chops are the most flavorful and tender part of a pig, which is why we’re not surprised that most people are choosing to work with that particular cut. With their light, white meat, pork chops are incredibly versatile, which is why we think such a basic search such as pork chops recipes came out as the most popular. This pork chop recipe proves that just a few key ingredients are needed to create a bold and flavorful result.

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