Some celebrities are… chef’s kiss - and these are certainly a few of them. They may be actors, singers, producers or all around media moguls, but they all have one thing in common: they’re really good cooks (or at the very least, they care enough to document their culinary journeys on their social media account). So when stranded in L. A. looking for something to eat - may we suggest hopping over to Reese Witherspoon’s house?
1. Chrissy Teigen
The model and TV personality has publicly revealed her love for cooking several years ago by posting recipes she loved to cook or created herself on her blog and other social platforms. She released her first cookbook, titled Cravings, in 2015, which made it to the New York Times bestseller list. Teigen went on to publish a second book in 2018, while simultaneously releasing a line of cookware through Target.
A year later she went full on Paltrow and launched her own cooking website, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, which features recipes, cookware recommendations, as well as restaurant reviews and entertaining tips. It is full of little anecdotes and reveals aspects of Teigan’s personal and professional life.
2. Kris Jenner
Despite her busy schedule as “momeger” of the Kardashian clan, with its business ventures and drama, Kris Jenner enjoys taking time for one of her biggest pleasures – cooking comfort food for her family. Jenner got married and had her oldest daughter, kourtney, at a young age, so she taught herself to prepare different dishes and even went to culinary school later on.
Jenner said that spending time in the kitchen helps relieve the stress that comes with leading such a high profile life, and even released a cookbook, 'In The Kitchen With Kris: A Kollection of Kardashian-Jenner Family Favorites'. While promoting it she jokingly said she was tired of everyone always asking her for recipes, so she just decided to put them all in a book.
3. Blake Lively
Lively describes herself as a "foodie and cook". She says Martha Stewart is her "idol" and the two even baked together during an episode of Stewart’s show. In 2010, she attended a tailor-made workshop at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and has expressed her desire to return to the culinary institute for further instruction. Lively has remarked that she always takes cookery classes when travelling to immerse herself in the local culture.
Her baking skills have gotten special attention - she filmed a baking segment for Vogue's website, created a s'mores cupcake to be sold at Sprinkles bakeries and baked a show stopping beehive shaped cake for her friend’s birthday. Oh, yeah, you may know that friend as Queen Bey.
4. Snoop Dogg
The rap artist, who started out as a tough gangsta, has been paving his way to the hearts of mainstream audiences in the last years. In 2016 eyebrows were raised when he teamed up with kitchen guru Martha Stewart to host Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, featuring games, recipes, and musical guests.
Snoop's love for the kitchen stems from his (self-proclaimed) "unadventurous" palate. Cooking for himself allows him to always have his favorite dishes. Following the success of the show He decided to share his recipes with fans in a cookbook, From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen, which includes a range going from fine-dining choices to earthier fare, and the results are promised “to satisfy those munchies”.
5. David Beckham
The retired soccer player’s IG account is full of pics showing off his cooking skills. Beckham is considered as a foodie and likes to experiment with different cuisines from around the world. He admitted receiving some guidance from his friend, Chef Gordon Ramsay, and continued practicing on his own. Lately he his wife, Victoria, revealed to their followers that they are eating meat-free, in an effort to help our planet, and "enjoying it”.
Last June it was published he has held discussions with BBC and Netflix about the prospect of creating a cooking show. He told reporters that during the Coronavirus outbreak he had a chance to perfect his cooking skills, and spent a lot of his free time in the kitchen with his daughter, Harper.
6. Taylor Swift
Taylor’s cooking has received the stamp of approval from many of her friends. She attests her cooking inspiration to chef Ina Garten, whom she has been a fan of since she was a teenager. In a special interview for the celebrations of her 30th birthday the superstar told Elle she's always loved to cook but now that she's in full adult mode, she's perfected a few foolproof dinner party recipes.
Last August Swift appeared via facetime on her good friend’s, Selena Gomez, Cooking Show and marvels at the delicious looking Korean Barbecue Texas Breakfast Tacos prepared by Chef Roy Choi. Selena told her viewers that she is her "big cooking person," and also shared that Taylor's love language is cooking.
7. Lea Michele
The actress-singer loves to stay in and whip up a quick meal. In her book, Brunette Ambition, Michele says she enjoys making simple meals instead of something complicated, and that when stress levels are high she likes to hit the kitchen and make a meal. Cooking is how she unwinds.
Michele says her mom taught her to respect her body by eating well and now she puts her health first and makes it a priority to eat fresh, nourishing meals. She often shares how she maintains a healthy lifestyle with her #WellnessWednesday IG story segments. Not to mention, the singer has an entire Instagram highlights section dedicated to her love of making soup from scratch.
8. Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga was raised in a family of good cooks, and her father owns a successful Italian restaurant in NYC. She enjoys cooking pasta dishes, like making fresh ravioli with fillings from her own garden.
In 2017 the singer lost her assistant turned BFF, Sonja Durham, to cancer, and shared on her IG that cooking helped her deal with the heartbreak. She told her 45 million followers how she cooked for Sonja’s family: “I made them some food yesterday. I will keep cooking. Cooking my soul until it understands this.” Gaga showered them with food, topping it with notes of love and encouragement. It’s her way of showing other people she cares in a tangible, heartfelt way.
9. Eva Longoria
If Eva Longoria likes you, she will cook for you. The actress has been whipping up dishes in the kitchen since she was little, cooking mouth-watering meals for her nearest and dearest, and it remains her favorite way to show appreciation to those close to her.
Having grown up on a ranch with every meal based on what was in the family fields, she believes that good cooking relies on local, fresh, easy-to-find ingredients, and it reflects in the recipes and personal stories she collected in her cookbook titled Eva’s Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family & Friends. While promoting the book she said: “Cooking is such a personal thing to share with somebody, and that’s why I love to do it.”
10. Kelis
Singer-songwriter, Kelis Rogers, made her transition from music to food in the middle of her music career when she enrolled and eventually graduated from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. The truth is, the marriage of food and music was always present in her artistry.
In the past few years, she’s taken bold steps in her blossoming career, first with her show Saucy and Sweet on the Cooking Channel , then with her cookbook My Life on a Plate, and now has her own line of sauces, called Bounty & Full. Kelis’s cooking approach is loud and vibrant, just like her music. A maximalist in both food and personal style, she loves seeing colors and textures balanced out on a plate.
11. Justin Timberlake
He sings, he dances, he acts. But that's not all. The man cooks! Well, bakes. Timberlake recently shared that he and wife Jessica Biel like spending time in the kitchen together, and they have a really symbiotic culinary relationship: "It works out," he said. "She likes to cook. I like to bake . . . so dinner and dessert."
The star’s grandmother taught him her cooking secrets. The two have a close relationship, and she told the press: "Justin comes in the kitchen with me because he wants to know how it's done. He puts an apron on and wants to learn. Jessica is a lucky girl because he makes her good, home cooked pies. I've taught him well."
12. Julia Roberts
She is one of Hollywood's most A-list beauties. But off screen Roberts is as down-to-earth and family-oriented as they come, she cooks three meals daily, sews for her three kids and even spends a lot of time in kitchen cooking meals during family vacations. She said she loves to make people eat, "To feed people is one of the joys of my life”.
Roberts is not shy about in her cooking skills, either. "I’m like a closet home-ec teacher…I can really cook anything,” she told E!. She takes cooking so seriously she became a global ambassador for the Clean Cooking Alliance, and works to bring attention to urgent health problems facing women and families around the world.
13. Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper may have been playing a chef in the movie, “Burnt”, but the cooking techniques he displays there are all him. Now that the actor has some free time following his back-to-back schedule, Cooper is getting to cook off screen, as well. “I cook every day,” he said, and added that he uses whatever’s in the fridge and just started a little garden.
The actor comes from a large Italian family who shared a deep love of cooking, and says that as a kid he would screw up cooking with his grandmother. He even went on to work as a prep cook at an Italian restaurant.
14. Anna Kendrick
The multi-talented actress is also an avid baker. “I’ve always loved baking,” she told Food & Wine, "it feels like the stakes are high. Cooking isn’t precise enough for me; I’m a little OCD, and I like the way baking makes my brain feel.”
As for cooking, Kendrick claims she’s been basically trying to crack really, really easy entertaining stuff. She just uses good ingredients like balsamic vinegar and high quality olive oil to make her guests happy. “I try to make it look all sexy. I’m into anything that’s no work but looks impressive,” she says.
15. Drew Barrymore
The Iconic actress says she was pretty late to the cooking game since she didn't grow up in a traditional household with family dinners around the table, and got swept up in the sexy romance of the food movement only in the last decade.
Barrymore has since become known for her love of the kitchen and her enormous collection of cookbooks (she has a whole closet just for them!), and last august launched her first IG live cookbook club #drewscookbookclub. Followers who tuned in were impressed by her warm and welcoming kitchen and large array of cookware.
16. Selena Gomez
Although the singer often speaks of her love for Asian food and southern dishes, she is not a good cook. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic Gomez has been cooking up a storm, and last August was ready to share her funny and sometimes humiliating efforts with the rest of the world.
In each episode of her HBO MAX show, Selena + Chef, she met a different chef that guided her through the process of making meals (as well as supervising to make sure she didn’t burn her kitchen down). Gomez admitted she was feeling down during the pandemic so she wanted to create something lighthearted that would “make people smile.”
17. Jesse Tyler Ferguson
The Modern Family star is such a foodie that acting is practically his side hustle. He co-runs a food blog, he hosted this year’s James Beard Awards (basically the chef Oscars), and regularly shows off his culinary handiwork on Instagram.
While the star enjoys cooking out of cookbooks, he also loves hitting up local joints to gather inspiration for his own food blog, and used his time during the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and practice recipes for his upcoming, debut cookbook, Food Between Friends
18. Zac Posen
It’s tough to imagine how the fashion designer and Project Runway judge finds time to cook, but he’s just as comfortable around the stove as he is with fabric. Posen has been cultivating his passion for cooking since he was a child. He’s totally self-taught, but the process of food exploration and cooking was very important in his household growing up.
Baked goods, pots on the stove and freshly-harvested produce feature just as heavily on his IG feed as draped dress models and high-fashion photo shoots. So after showcasing his edible creations for his followers, he’s going old-school and publishing his own cookbook Cooking with Zac.
19. Harry Styles
Turns out, before he made it big, Styles worked in a bakery. But his cooking skills were publically revealed only when he started dating a chef in 2017. Headlines told his fans that the singer not only gives her privet concerts, but he woes her by preparing romantic dinners.
Once he stopped by Cindy Crawford home, helped her kids make homemade pizzas and gave her some cooking tips! He lately told The Mirror that he was feeling a bit homesick since he got stuck in quarantine in California, so cooking has become one of his comforts.
20. Tori Spelling
The Beverly Hills 90210 icon and her husband have hosted three specials on the Cooking Channel, dedicated to recipes and party planning for a backyard dinner party, Thanksgiving and a spring picnic.
Her 4 kids are a big motivation for her to sharpen her cooking and hosting skills – she tries to introduce her kids to new ingredients, so her family hosts a weekly "Around the World" cooking night, where they try dishes from different countries, Spelling is also legendary for her kids’ birthday party-planning skills.
21. Amy Schumer
Filmed while quarantining during the global coronavirus pandemic, the iconic comedian and her Award-winning chef husband, Chris Fischer, gave fans a look into their lives as they kept busy in the kitchen in Amy Schumer Learns to Cook. The show was quickly renewed for a second season.
Well, actually… The comedian admitted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that even after almost two seasons of the show, and although her husband tried his best, she just doesn't seem to retain any of his lessons once filming is through.
22. Emma Stone
For Emma Stone, cooking is both therapy and passion. She confessed recently that baking was one way she could manage her anxiety growing up. Stone's ex-boyfriend, actor Andrew Garfield, once told Vanity Fair that she is also serious about opening a bakery of her own someday.
The actress confessed she's obsessed with food bloggers, enjoys lurking on their blogs and "sometimes, if they seem really cool I'll follow them in secret for like a year, and then email them."
23. Matthew McConaughey
The Texas-born actor has long professed his love for Texas-style barbecue, stopping by Guy Fieri's food show as well as sharing recipes with Rachael Ray.
When McConaughey was on a strict diet to lose weight for his role in The Dallas Buyer's Club, media was buzzing around the fact he made sure to cook for his (then pregnant) wife every chance he got. The couple lives in Austin with their children, and not only does their home include a large kitchen, but it also has a back patio with great barbecuing space.
24. Kate Middleton
Do royals cook for themselves? Well, The Duchess of Cambridge has spoken of her love of cooking several times, it's quite a hobby for her. She started taking cooking classes in 2013 to prep some new meals for hubby Prince William. Though Will did a little cooking at the beginning of their relationship to impress Kate, she’s been the primary cook for years, whipping up his favorite roast chicken at home and cooking her favorite, curry.
She appeared on a Christmas special with baking guru, Mary Berry, and revealed her passion for baking birthday cakes for her children, but also said they themselves love cooking – they each have their own prep job when cooking together, and sometimes they cook for her.
25. Meghan Markle
Actress turned royal wife is a self-confessed foodie. Prince Harry proposed while they were making a roast chicken, and one of Meghan's first solo projects, when she was still a senior working member of the royal family, was to help create a cookbook.
Markle used to run her own blog called The Tig, where she featured her own recipes for a variety of different dishes, and her friends say that although these days it may seem she has a staff executing her every wish, she still cooks for herself and Harry every single day.
26. Oprah Winfrey
The iconic media mogul often posts shots of herself whipping up fresh, healthy meals from the veggies and fruits she's picked from her garden. Her love of the kitchen is no secret and she said that even though she had chefs working for her over the years, she learned is it's much easier to just do it herself on the weekends.
Oprah calls herself an improvisational cook - a makeshift cook. Shel doesn’t like to look at recipes, and even if she does use one, she’ll adjust it to whatever feels right.
27. Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner has many accomplishments under her belt for someone so young, but like her mother Kris, she still makes time for cooking. Apparently, she’s a good cook, and over the years has shared her favorite recipes with her fans on social media, including on her own show, Cooking with Kylie, which aired in 2016.
When you’re that famous it’s hard to go out casually, so the reality star tends to entertain a lot at home, and has designed her dining room and well-equipped kitchen accordingly. In light of the coronavirus pandemic Jenner has been spending a lot of time at home and made good use of that kitchen, whipping up delicious dishes for her friends and family.
28. Michael Bublé
Prior to his musical debut, Bublé worked as a fisherman with his dad and later became the boat cook, making meals on the stove in a little galley.
He fondly remembers watching his great grandmother cook intuitively and creating effortlessly delicious meals as a child. I'm now that he’s married to the beautiful Italian-Argentinian model Luisana Lopilato he started cooking South American barbecue and making gnocchi with his mother-in-law.
29. Tia Mowry
She’s teamed up with her twin sister for comedy shows we all remember, but Tia Mowry went at it alone when she pitched the Food Network the idea of giving her a cooking show of her own.
Her love for cooking began when she was young, having to cook for the family because both her parents were in the army and had a really busy schedule. “It started out as a chore,” she said, “but as I got older, my mom started to see that I was really good at it.”
30. Reese Witherspoon
The very busy actress also manages to bake and cook up a storm on social media. And unlike some other celebs' fare, her favorite southern cooking self-admittedly includes butter. It's no secret Witherspoon is partial to Southern cuisine, and if she's having people over she'll serve classics like fried chicken, biscuits, and corn salad.
In 2018 she published the book Whiskey in a Teacup, which is filled with recipes passed down from her grandmother Dorothea. But even the best cooks have kitchen fails, and Reese good-naturally shared on her IG the photographic evidence of her spectacular failure trying to cook an easy 4 step recipe from her own book.
31. Jessica Alba
Here’s one skill we didn't know the mogul-actress had until today – she’s a whiz in the kitchen. People sometimes think celebs stay fit and fabulous because they have chefs making their healthy meals for them, but as Jessica gets her hands dirty in the kitchen, she proves she's the one making nutritious eats for her family.
Alba says she’s not much of a desserts person, but confesses that the most unexpected thing we could find in her fridge is the variety of hot sauce. “I have five or six different types in my fridge," she says. “You can almost always find spicy buffalo wing sauce, Tabasco, sriracha, Cholula, and at least one habanero sauce.”
32. Scarlett Johansson
The star actress finds cooking relaxing. When she was married to Ryan Reynolds, she told Instyle, "I like cooking alone – I find it very therapeutic. I put on some music, maybe have a glass of wine, and make something." But she’s also a big fan of men that can cook.
Last year, though, Johansson bit off a bit more then she could chow, and had a difficult time pulling together a holiday feast for 13 guests all on her own. She had to facetime her friend, Chef Bobby Flay, to help her save the Thanksgiving meal, and in a later interview she said she was struggling hardcore, and needs a full vacation after all that cooking.
33. Jimmy Kimmel
Just call him Chef Jimmy. The late-night host made Oprah Winfrey swoon when he whipped up a delicious homemade pizza dinner for her. "Honestly one of the top 3 pizzas I've ever tasted," she wrote on IG.
His wife confessed in the Washington Post how annoying it can be to have a husband who takes what should be a fairly easy task, turns it into something creative and complicated, then have to live up to those standards when it’s her turn to cook.
34. Amy Adams
Life at home for Amy Adams was completely “transformed” after she discovered the joy of cooking while filming 2009 movie Julie & Julia. The actress took cooking lessons in preparation for her role and the crash course helped her discover a real appreciation for the culinary arts.
Since then she got married and has a family so she really developed a love of cooking. “Before, I just saw it as sort of a task and then I saw it as a way to nurture your family and there was a real art to it."
35. Dolly Parton
The country legend says that even though she’s a busy performer and recording artist, she still makes time for good old home cooking. Parton enjoys sharing some of her recipes with fans and has even written a cookbook titled Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food.
Growing up in the East Tennessee Dolly Parton sure knows her way around a traditional Southern meal. "You better believe it! I’m a really, really good cook," she says. "I’m not a gourmet cook. My food is not pretty, but it’s good. I cook like my mom, my grandmas and my aunts. I’m still one of those people that really can cook, like the old days. That soul food cooking."