Fast casual: Adobo
Growing 40% year over year on fast-casual menus, according to Technomic’s MenuMonitor, adobo sauce is unsurprisingly most common in Mexican dishes. The piquant sauce—made from ground chilies, herbs and vinegar—adds spice to Latin-inspired salads, bowls, tacos and wraps. Pollo Campero’s Latin Shakers featured a cup of white-meat chicken pieces shaken with a choice of sauces, including a Sweet Adobo variety.
QSR: Honey butter
Honey butter mentions jumped 25% in the past year, with most mentions appearing in fried chicken offerings, where honey butter lends a sweetness to the comfort food classic that gravy and Buffalo sauces lack. For example, Church’s Chicken expanded the popularity of its Honey-Butter Biscuits to a chicken product: Honey-Butter Biscuit Tender Strips. An order of three chicken tenders, two small sides and a biscuit is $4.99