Baking trends: Savoury baking and scratch cooking boost dairy consumption

Home baking trends showed a decline in baking overall in 2025, by 7% year-on-year. ¹ This is a continuation of the long-term trend of fewer people baking and doing so less often.

Total weekly baking occasions declined from 1.7 to 1.6 per household from the previous year although savoury baking occasions experienced an increase from 1.4 to 1.5. This is also reflected in the renewed interest in scratch cooking, up 1% year on year.¹

Despite this decline, baking still matters to dairy. More than 60% of baking occasions include at least one dairy product.

Figure 1. Total baking occasions

Source: Worldpanel by Numerator usage 52 w/e 07 September 2025

Figure 1 shows total baking occasions. The vertical axis shows million occasions, ranging from 0 to 1200 million.
Total baking (yellow, top line) which decreased by -7% year-on-year
Savoury baking (blue, middle line) which increased by 1% year-on-year
Sweet baking (green, bottom line) which decreased by 25% year-on-year

Why people are baking less

The decline in home baking is driven by the greater need for convenience, rising costs and lack of time, skill and confidence. With energy and food costs being front-of-mind for consumers, these factors are likely to be influencing decision making.

Reasons for not baking in the last six months:

• Easier to buy ready-made baked goods – 36%
• Quicker to buy ready-made baked goods – 29%
• Do not enjoy baking – 29%
• Do not have the time to bake – 28%
• Not confident enough to bake – 24%
• Cheaper to buy ready-made baked goods – 19%
• Do not have the facilities/equipment to bake – 13%

Source: AHDB/YouGov Pulse, February 2026, Base: All UK adults that have not baked in last 6 months (n=887)

Sweet baking down, savoury baking up

The total decline was led by sweet baking, which fell by 71.5m occasions. In contrast, savoury baking occasions grew 5.1m occasions from the previous year, supported by bread and pizza growth. ¹

While bread and pizza base recipes do not typically list dairy products, the growing trend in using yogurt for high protein dough, used for bread, pizza, flatbreads is increasing, as well as the dairy products which typically accompany these dishes, such as mozzarella.

Why people continue to bake at home

Encouragingly, results from the AHDB/YouGov Pulse survey highlighted there are many social and positive health benefits from home baking, such as better taste, healthier/less processed and relaxing.

Reasons for baking at home:

• I enjoy making homemade food – 56%
• It tastes better – 47%
• I think it’s healthier/less processed ingredients – 44%
• I find it relaxing – 37%
• I bake for special occasions – 35%
• It’s cheaper to bake than buying premade bakes – 23%
• I enjoy baking with my children/grandchildren, etc. – 20%
• I enjoy baking with friends or a partner – 16%

Source: AHDB/YouGov Pulse, February 2026, Base: All UK adults that have baked in last six months (n=1,207)

Opportunities and recommendations

Baking continues to play a key role in dairy consumption. As people are baking less often, the industry should find ways to encourage consumers of all ages to give baking a try.

Messages about taste, quality and naturalness can help, especially when highlighting the role of dairy products such as milk and butter.

There’s strong demand for recipes and social media tutorial videos that are quick, simple, affordable, use only a few ingredients and offer health benefits. Convenience and health are more important than ever, so brands need to show how they fit into everyday routines.

The recent growth in scratch cooking and savoury baking shows that baking can support a wider range of dairy products.

There are opportunities to encourage new approaches, such as using yogurt, cheese and butter in savoury bakes.

Within sweet baking, cakes and puddings also offer room to increase the use of dairy.

With growing interest in whole foods, manufacturers of pre-packaged baked goods could highlight their use of dairy to signal quality, for example by using and labelling items as all-butter.

1. Worldpanel by Numerator usage 52 w/e 7 September 2025
2. NIQ panel, 52 w/e 27 December 2025

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