Plant-based sales have cooled as consumer preferences have shifted back to animal-based products in recent years.
Once perceived as healthier, more sustainable and animal-friendly alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products, plant-based alternatives have been impacted by pricing inflation, ultra-processing concerns and taste and functionality gaps compared to their conventional counterparts.
Following the sector’s rapid expansion in the early 2020s, the category matured during 2024 and 2025 – and in 2026, a new era for innovation is emerging.
A new wave of growth
According to Angela Flatland, senior director, plant-based at market research firm SPINS, the sector is now in its reset and rebalancing phase.
“This is a really normal part of a new category finding its footing,” she explained during a recent SPINS webinar. “And that’s really where we’ve been between last year and this year. But next year, it’s a new wave of growth.”
Despite losing ground to animal products – in the US, about two thirds of plant-based meat consumers have gone back to conventional meat, and 83% of plant-based milk consumers have switched back to dairy – there are promising signs that sales remain healthy.
Innovation hotspots
SPINS predicts that innovation in plant-based will be in snacking items, RTD beverages, and protein supplements rather than center-plate meals. This is because consumers opt for low-stakes trial through snacks and drinks instead of full meals.
- Plant-based yogurt, wellness snack bars, refrigerated shakes/smoothies are leading in new SKU introductions.
- Expect continued growth in protein-rich, low-sugar, functional beverages and snacks.
Karla Baptiste, manager, client insights, explained that the natural channel – where new trends and formats typically emerge before going mainstream – is pushing plant-based sales into positive territory.
“The natural channel is a destination for people who are seeking plant-based foods and who are very health conscious and looking for natural and organic items,” Baptiste explained. “[It] has the assortment that they’re looking for and dedicated space for innovation, along with the fact that those shoppers are more loyal and less price sensitive than the conventional shoppers.”
From kombucha to yogurt: The top growth categories
In the natural channel, kombucha and functional beverage is the highest-growth plant-based category, up by more than a quarter (+29%) versus a year ago.
This is followed by refrigerated juices and juice drinks (+18%); yogurt (+18%); snack bars (+17%), pastry dough (9%), and coffee creamers (+7%).
According to SPINS’ Jennifer Dackor, senior client insights manager, yogurt has had a ‘really phenomenal performance’ in the last two years and will likely continue to win over consumers in 2026 – including in the plant-based segment.
“It is an item that most consumers view as inherently nutrient dense, convenient, and kind of an every point of the day meal or snack that they can enjoy,” she explained. “So very convenient nutrition to grab.
“There’s a lot of reasons somebody might choose that plant-based yogurt instead of dairy yogurt – and one of them of course would be lactose sensitivity. There’s also different types of fat in the plant-based yogurt.”
The secret behind these categories’ success? Their simplicity.
Meanwhile, the biggest declines in plant-based have been in heavily-processed products such as refrigerated cheeses, meat alternatives, and frozen entree snacks and pizza.
So what will sell in 2026?
“We’re seeing wellness snack bars and plant-based yogurt continuing to grow in innovation, meaning new SKUs are entering the market,” Dackor said. “We are going to naturally see this continued growth into 2026, as well as in the refrigerated juice shakes and smoothies category. There’s a lot of growth in that area as consumers are looking for low-sugar, high-protein, quick, ready-to-consume items.
“These categories have been around for a while and doing well, but they are evolving from an attribute standpoint. They are continuing to clean up, but also follow these macro trends of probiotics, protein, high fiber, that consumers are looking for.
Label claims to watch
Label claims can be a powerful differentiator for brands - here are those that have been winning over consumers.
Animal-based products labeled organic and grass-fed among other welfare claims have seen success on the market.
In plant-based, fair trade (+40%), organic (+29%) and low sodium (+3%) are the three top ones versus a year ago.
“Consumers that shop plant-based, the values that resonate with them are sustainability claims that are better for planet, better for people. So it’s not surprising that labeled fair trade is also growing,” SPINS' Jenn Dackor said.
Regenerative organic is also in growth, she added. “This is kind of an up and coming certification that has taken a while to penetrate CPG, just because of the amount of time it takes to have land certified for regenerative organic. But the products that are being rolled out are doing very well.
“We’re also seeing increased interest in the glyphosate residue free certified claim. This one’s really relevant for plant-based because glyphosate is used to harvest grains and seeds. Consumers are looking for this claim because then they know that that the product is not going to be contaminated with glyphosate. Even certified-organic products have been found to have some contamination. So it’s important across all of the different products, whether they’re organic or not.”
The way forward: Nutritional value and functionality
For plant-based formats to grow in 2026, brands need to deliver on key consumer objectives such as gut health, satiety and mood and cognitive support.
Ingredients like green tea, matcha, functional mushrooms, and maca root are all in demand in the past year, according to SPINS data. Probiotics and high fiber are also strong growth drivers, especially for gut health; and plant-based protein sources such as pumpkin seed, hemp, chickpea, and bean protein are also performing well and likely to continue to do so in 2026.
“Both animal-based products and plant-based products continue to raise the bar in the competition that they play against each other to bring out and innovate better products that are meeting the consumers where they are and what they’re looking for,” Angela Flatland concluded.
“We’re going to continue to see this pendulum shift of the consumers [switching over, or in some cases, back over to animal based products] as the bar of better and cleaned-up products happens across the store.”
