The Serious Eats Team’s Favorite Photos of 2024—We Snapped Some Good Ones!

Every year I sit down to write this list and I’m reminded of how much talent and hard work goes into making Serious Eats look as good as it does. This, I swear, mostly has nothing to do with the fact that I am in charge of visuals for this website. Really! Photographers and illustrators from all over the word tackle both our (1) most complicated, meaningful, nostalgic, and/or bonkers recipes and (2) our over-the-top, delightfully unhinged deep-dive articles and do so with artistic visions I am immensely proud of.

Since January 1, Serious Eats has published over 400 recipes and another 400-ish articles and galleries, which means, if you’ll allow me—the person keeps track of these things—to take an educated guess, we published over 3,000 images to the site in 2024. Believe me when I say I love pretty much every single one of them, but our editors also had some really stand-out favorites. Below, find the SE team’s absolute favorite visual moments of the past year.

How to Make Tamales (A Comprehensive Guide), Photo by Lorena Masso

“There is a very fine art to constructing the perfect tablescape shot and Lorena Masso is one of the very best to do it. This main image for our How To Make Tamales guide is just one of the many gorgeous images Lorena shot for the site this year.”
—Amanda Suarez, associate director, visuals

Chilean “Completos” Hot Dogs, Photo by Estudio Como

“There is such a pleasant and appealing homeyness to Isidora Diaz and Estudio Como’s collaborations. The colors, the intentionality, the attention to detail—it all hits right every single time. I thought this completos recipe was especially emblematic of the awesome work they do.” —Tess Koman, executive editorial director

“I would argue that this is one of the most glamorous displays of hot dogs on the internet. Look at all those colors! Look at all the lace! Look! at all! The mayo!! Yes, I put another tablescape shot in my top images, but I had to call out this stunner by Estudio Como.” —Amanda Suarez

Grab a Bite for Game Day, Illustration by Inma Hortas

“If you’ve committed to reading this list to this point and have thought to yourself, “Wow, Amanda’s already picked two tablescapes as her top images of the year. There is no way there are more tablescapes on this list,” I’m here to remind you that 1) I love a bit and 2) I could not not include Inma Hortas scroll-stopping Game Day masterpiece at the top of this list. It is so fun and so emotional! I love everything about it and am in awe of how delicious her illustrated food looks.”- Amanda Suarez

Bún Chả Hanoi, Photo by Vy Tran

“I once had a photography teacher who said that in order to take really good food photos, you have to care about the food. I think that’s part of what makes Vy Tran’s photo for her own bún chả Hanoi recipe so good. That, and it just looks incredibly delicious.”—Megan O. Steintrager, associate editorial director

I Tested Fondue Pots by Melting 10 Pounds of Cheese and Eight Pounds of Chocolate, Photo by Afton Cyrus

“Fondue is already an occasion, and the photos in our review of fondue pots made it a whole event. There are ooey gooey cheese pulls and a particularly suave looking strawberry being dragged through a chocolate bath. The images alone convinced me to buy our winner.”—Grace Kelly, editor

I Toasted Bread, Bagels, and Waffles to Find the 4 Best Toasters, Photo by Irvin Lin

“Never have I ever seen a toaster look so… cool. This seafoam number with a side window broke my brain a little, and made me seriously side-eye the toaster on my countertop.”—Rochelle Bilow, editor

Global Eats

“Our recent Global Eats package was unlike anything we’ve done before. It was an absolute joy editing each city guide, but what made it all worth it was seeing the final product come together with all the beautiful imagery. It was so cool to see the vision each these photographers had, and our visuals team did a great job of putting it all together. Who wouldn’t want to pack their bags immediately after seeing this?”—Yasmine Maggio, associate editor

“Seven brilliant photographers (Graeme Kennedy,  Kevin Vaughn, Hana Gamal, Callum Heinrich, Adriana Parrilla, Jatin Sharma, and An Rong Xu) showed us seven cities around the world for Global Eats and this website has never looked more dazzling.” — Amanda Suarez

Bananas for Bananas, Photo by Amanda Suarez

“All the art for the bananas spotlight was so fun, and the image of Kelli and I holding up the banana like the god it is…well, it is my favorite photo of the year.” —Genevieve Yam, culinary editor

Mille-Feuille, Photo by Amanda Suarez

“Can’t you just hear the layers of pastry shattering under a knife? I’m obsessed with every flaky shard.”—Rochelle Bilow, editor

To Find the Best Flat-Top Grills, We Made Dozens of Smashed Burgers and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Photo by Russell Kilgore

“I helped test flat-top grills in the middle of summer, and it was hot as all hell out. I remember sweating profusely while pausing over a grill to get a perfect shot of smashing burgers. The photos made it all worth it, though! And, trust me, it’s not easy to get gorgeous shots of a big, greasy grill.” —Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm, associate editorial director

5-Ingredient Pork Roll (AKA Taylor Ham), Photo by Amanda Suarez

“I love the unity in this image—layers of bread, pork roll, cheese, and egg, all compressed with a gentle curve, fused, and glistening.”—Daniel Gritzer, editorial director

“My first recipe X an opportunity to troll Amanda (who’s from—wait for it—Philly) = work I’m really proud of. And tell me you don’t want a pile of ketchup with a ham butter-slicked sandwich now. You can’t!” — Tess Koman

100 Years of Caesar Salad, Video by Amanda Suarez

“I’ve worked on some weird/interesting/crazy productions in my day, but this shoot for 100 years of Caesar salad takes the cake (see what I did there?). We got a bunch of lime green party stuff from the dollar store, Megan painted my nails brat green, and we made the kind of savory birthday cake that only a cat would like. I had no idea how this would turn out, but Amanda did a stellar job producing and filming this wildly green celebration.”—Kelli Solomon, senior social media editor

Pillowy Soft Challah, Photo by Debbie Wee

“Debbie Wee is my star baker photographer. I have never had the patience for baking but her gorgeous photos make me want to try!!” —Amanda Suarez

The Thanksgiving Dishes Our Editors Can’t Wait to Cook This Year, Photo by Morgan Hunt Glaze

“I love Thanksgiving food, and this gorgeous photo spread had my stomach grumbling for days.” —Grace Kelly

“Here is yet another glorious tablescape.” —Amanda Suarez

Banana Split, Photo by Amanda Suarez

“As she always does, Amanda managed to art direct and help style this photo while shooting it, all before the ice cream melted. And the photo just makes you want to eat it, doesn’t it? That was my intention, but before I could dig in, I (or a kitchen ghost) somehow knocked the entire thing off the table, spreading ice cream, syrup, and whipped cream from one end of the kitchen studio to the next and all over myself, too. Fortunately, I have great coworkers like Amanda, Genevieve, and Kelli, who helped clean it all up—and we had plenty of ice cream and toppings left for a new split for me.” —Megan O. Steintrager

You Can and Should Eat Cicadas—Here’s How, Photo Illustration by Amanda Suarez

“Listen. I know it’s not your favorite image of the year, but dammit if we didn’t have fun commissioning this absurd, true-to-form Serious Eats-y piece. Plus, how else were we supposed to illustrate a cicada-eating tip post??” —Tess Koman