Genome-wide association studies of food intake have identified hundreds of loci, with most of which being previously linked to health conditions. This suggests these loci may reflect participants’ health status and leaves their direct influences on eating behaviour unclear. Given that taste and olfactory perception plays a key role in food preferences and choices, here we investigate the influence of genetic variants within taste and olfactory receptor genes on food preferences. We assess the associations across 5,338 common missense variants (minor allele frequency >= 0.05) within 425 non-pseudo taste and olfactory receptor genes and 140 food liking traits in the UK Biobank (N = 162,006 unrelated individuals of European ancestry; mean age = 57) and identify 830 associations (FDR-corrected p-value < 0.05), of which 88 are also associated with their corresponding food intake traits in the UK Biobank. These variants account for more than 0.1% of the variance in 99 individual food liking traits, with the highest being 0.22% for grapefruit liking. One single variant can affect up to 22 food liking traits and 99 variants affect only one specific trait. We replicate 62 associations in the younger Avalon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; N = 2,802 unrelated individuals of European ancestry; mean age = 25), including the OR2T6 rs6587467 for onion liking (p-value = 5.4 x 10-41 in the UK Biobank and 2.9 x 10-4 in the ALSPAC), whereas others cannot be replicated, including the OR4K17 rs8005245 for garlic liking (p-value = 1.9 x 10-69 in the UK Biobank and 0.66 in the ALSPAC). Lastly, we explore the effects of these variants on health outcomes. In conclusion, this study furthers current knowledge of direct genetic influences on food preferences, which helps understand individual differences in eating behaviour and has implications for improving dietary intake through personalized strategies.