A successful hunter, scavenger, and forager, honey badgers eat a variety of foods, including the young of large mammals, rodents of all sizes, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, fruit, and carrion.

They also have a fondness for honey that accounts for their second name —“honey badger.” They have developed an interesting relationship with a small bird called a honeyguide. This bird alerts the ratel by repeatedly calling as the ratel follows, answering its calls with guttural growls until a hive is reached. They then emit smelly, suffocating secretions from their anal glands to fumigate the hive, causing most of the bees to flee and stunning or killing those that remain inside. They bite or claw into the nest and scoops out the honeycomb. When they leave, the bird eats the remaining dead bees, grubs, and pieces of honeycomb.