When KFC UK & Ireland experienced its highest ever week of sales this spring, it had one particularly trendy ingredient to thank: the pickle.
The fried chicken chain’s Pickle Mania menu, available from 23 March to 19 April, included an Original Recipe fillet with pickle seasoning, sliced gherkins, pickle ranch sauce and crispy pickle chips in a sesame bun. It also featured Pickle Loaded Fries, Frickles (fried pickles) and Pepsi Max with a side of pickle juice.
According to KFC, shoppers went mad for the menu, helping it shift 4.2 million gherkin slices in the second quarter of 2026.
So, why can’t Brits get enough of pickles? Like many food trends of recent years, the pickle craze has social media to thank. In 2023, shoppers went on TikTok in their droves to take on the challenge of eating a Van Holten’s Pickle-in-a-Pouch with a variety of unlikely accompaniments. The trend encouraged many UK Convenience stores to stock US brand Van Holten’s alongside other imports, such as Takis and Tajin, which shoppers used to flavour their pickles.
It wasn’t long before ‘pickle mania’ began to influence big fmcg brands’ innovation efforts. Take Heinz, which unveiled pickle-flavoured ketchup in late 2023 to meet “booming” demand for the flavour among younger shoppers. Gherkin brand Mrs Elswood subsequently unveiled a range of cornichons in 2024 and Pickle Bites for on-the-go snacking in 2025, noting that shoppers’ changing appetites suggested the gherkin was “poised for growth”.
Mrs Elswood had a point. Year-on-year value sales of gherkins are up 6.9% to £39m on unit sales up 7.3, according to exclusive NIQ data [52 w/e 30 July 2026]. Their upward trajectory feeds into the broader growth of pickles and pickled veg, up 3.4% to £302m on volumes up 2.2%.
The raft of celebrities snapped eating pickles over recent years certainly can’t have hurt sales. Actors Lily James and Florence Pugh, along with TV personality Amanda Holden, took on the infamous Van Houlten’s “#picklechallenge” in its early days. Then, just as interest in gherkins appeared to be waning, Dua Lipa posted a clip of herself mixing pickle juice and jalapeños into Diet Coke to TikTok in late 2024, creating another viral moment.
Sports stars including Kieran Trippier and Carlos Alcaraz have also been spotted sipping pickle juice recently – the theory is that doing so helps prevent muscle cramps. This could explain how The Pickle House snagged a Waitrose listing for its £8.50 pickle juice last month, claiming a UK supermarket “first”.
Whether it’s relieving muscle cramps or aiding digestion, Nick Vadasz, founder of pickles and kimchi brand Vadasz, believes health claims are helping prolong the lifespan of the pickle boom. Speaking to the BBC last April, he pointed to the “huge amount of media coverage” of late linking fermented pickles to gut health. This could go some way to explaining why Vadasz’s value sales rocketed 13.5% in the 12 weeks to 21 February 2026 [NIQ].
Of course, it’s unlikely that punters will have picked up one of KFC’s pickle burgers for its perceived health benefits. More likely, sales of the salty and sour fillet sandwiches were buoyed by hangover cravings.
But as the success of KFC’s Pickle Mania menu goes to show, gherkin fever is far from over in the UK.
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