Cracking the taste code: Overcoming innovation whitespaces, taste and texture challenges in plant-based meat

Plant-based meats currently face challenging market conditions. Consumer adoption is weakening, with 46% of US buyers not making repeat purchases claiming “taste dissatisfaction,” Caroline Cotto, director of sensory research initiative Nectar, tells Food Ingredients First.

This weakness isn’t uniform across categories — retail scanner data reveals “particularly poor” performance in plant-based beef products, while plant-based chicken alternatives have demonstrated greater resilience, she adds. 

The non-profit initiative conducted a blind sensory analysis of 122 plant-based meat products across 14 product categories plant-based meats, in San Francisco and New York City between November 2024-January 2025. The findings are highlighted in its Taste of the Industry 2025 report — the “largest publicly available dataset” on the taste of plant-based meats.

“The plant-based meat sector has experienced a 20% year-over-year volume decline (GFI, State of the Industry, 2023), with regular company failures highlighting systemic challenges. This downturn follows a period of explosive growth and significant investment, suggesting a market correction as consumers reassess these products,” says Cotto.

“The foodservice sector shows similarly inconsistent results, with quick-service restaurants reporting mixed outcomes from their plant-based meat trials. These weak market signals highlight the critical importance of addressing the taste gap to improve consumer acceptance and drive sustainable growth in the category.” 

The research aims to accelerate the transition to more sustainable food choices by focusing on the critical factor of taste — which remains the “primary purchase criterion” for food products in the US.

Plant-based winners

Nectar announced its Tasty Awards winners this week. The awards recognize alt-protein products for which at least 50% of tasters rated them “same or better” than the animal benchmark in overall liking, considering flavor, texture, and appearance.

“We were surprised by how well the unbreaded chicken fillets performed. Our previous research showed that breaded products tend to perform better with consumers, so we were surprised to see so many winning products in unbreaded chicken fillets, a category where it’s relatively hard to “hide” since there is no breading,” says Cotto.

Manufacturers need to ensure consumers have a great taste experience to drive repeat purchases, says Nectar’s director Caroline Cotto.European and American products performed “almost identically” with US consumers, indicating that IP is transferable from the EU to the US, she adds.

Impossible Foods won in multiple categories, including unbreaded chicken fillet, chicken nuggets, meatballs, hot dog, burger, and sausage patties.

Vivera, SWAP Food, Meati, and The Vegetarian Butcher also secured wins in the unbreaded chicken fillet category, with The Vegetarian Butcher winning in the breaded chicken fillet category.

MorningStar Farms won for chicken nuggets and burgers, while The Green Mountain topped the deli slices-ham category. Gardein claimed victory in breakfast sausage patties.

Tofurky and Prime Roots were declared the best in the Deli Slices-Turkey category.

Bridging the animal vs plant-based meat gap

According to the World Bank, the plant-based diet market is set to reach US$238.1 billion by 2034, with the “second-highest” greenhouse gas mitigation potential among 26 agri-food interventions. However, taste remains key to maximizing its impact, along with a focus on texture improvements.

“Our research shows that the biggest opportunity for plant-based products to catch up to their animal counterparts is in texture. For some categories, like nuggets, burgers, turkey, etc, mimicking texture is significantly easier than for other categories, like bacon, bratwurst, and whole cut steak,” explains Cotto. 

“The balance of fattiness and chewiness in bacon, the snap of a bratwurst casing, and the tender but firm chew of whole cut steak are all textural elements that require further R&D if plant-based products want to meet omnivore consumers’ expectations in these categories.”

The report found that plant-based products were 62% less likely to be described as “juicy” and 35% less likely to be called “savory” than animal-based products. They were also 5-6 times more likely to be described as having a “weird aftertaste” or “off-flavors.”

It also reveals “whitespaces” in category-level innovation in bacon, steak fillet, unbreaded chicken strips and chunks, and bratwurst that formulators should target.

The researchers surveyed 122 plant-based products including burgers, bacon, nuggets and meatballs.

R&D roadmap

Only 30% of the tasters rated the average plant-based meat product as ‘like very much’ or ‘like’ compared to 68% for the animal product. However, at least 50% of participants rated 20 plant-based products as “same or better” than animal products.

Cotto says that Nectar’s research can help manufacturers “pinpoint exactly” where to focus their R&D efforts. The data reveals whether a product’s flavor surpasses its animal counterpart while pinpointing texture improvements needed to match it.

“For companies launching new products, the Taste of the Industry data provides a crucial baseline for where to start product development, so that companies can start at ‘1’ instead of at ‘0.’”

Investing in R&D also boosts financial returns, with a US$1.5 million sales increase for every 5% rise in overall liking, states the report. Plant-based leaders captured 1.5 times more sales, with a 28% market share versus 18% for others.

Taste parity on the horizon

Nearly 40% of participants rated plant-based products as “same or better” than animal-based products, showing that taste parity is “achievable.” Beef, chicken, and pork alternatives averaged 40% in these ratings.

“Taste is the biggest barrier to repeat purchase,” Cotto tells us, adding that manufacturers must focus on it to drive repeat purchases. 

The report suggests manufacturers prioritize improving the aftertaste, increasing savoriness, and reducing off-flavors for better acceptance. Improving the product’s interior color, juiciness, and tenderness are also important.

“Taste outweighs price”

The report states that consumers are more willing to pay higher prices for better-tasting products. Taste outweighs price in the meatball category, with better-tasting meatballs outperforming lower-performing products despite being more expensive.

Consumers are willing to pay more for better-tasting plant-based products like meatballs.“Tasting is believing. Brands should focus on taste in their marketing efforts. Nectar is launching the Tasty Awards and the associated Tasty Award Winner marketing credential (similar to the Great Taste Awards badge) to help direct consumers and other industry stakeholders to products on-shelf that meet mainstream taste expectations.”

“Other opportunities to have consumers physically try the product should also be prioritized.”

A “blended” future?

Cotto says that Nectar believes “balanced proteins” could drive reduced meat consumption in the future.

“We know that reducing consumption of conventional animal meat, especially beef, is critical to decarbonizing our food system.”

“Products that blend conventional animal meat with significant amounts of plant-based ingredients are a great middle-ground solution that meets consumers’ taste expectations today while ushering in a new era of reduced meat consumption,” she concludes.