Everything Chrissy Teigen Cooks in a Day [Exclusive]

Chrissy Teigen and cooking just go together. With three cookbooks, a cookware line, and her own boxed mixes, Teigen is a permanent fixture in the cooking world. Despite her roots as a model (turned television personality), the mom of four seems most comfortable in the kitchen cooking a meal for friends and family alike.

So it’s no surprise that she takes Thanksgiving very seriously, constantly developing new recipes while maintaining what’s important: flavor. Recently she partnered with Boursin cheese as their 2024 Maison Boursin Host in Residence, creating “easy and delicious” recipes. “This collaboration is all about appreciating those little moments,” Teigen tells The Kitchn, “those special moments in between all the chaos where you’re able to take a breath and take some time to really look around and be like, ‘Oh my God. My life is pretty incredible.’”

Crafting recipes with the cheese is nostalgic for Teigen. “One of the first recipes I ever made John [Legend] was my stuffed chicken breast with Boursin cheese,” she explained. “It was the garlic and fine herbs [cheese], and then I would roll it up and wrap it in prosciutto, throw cherry tomatoes in it, and put it in the oven. It just became so juicy and aromatic.”

For this edition of Cooking Diary, Teigen walks us through her best Thanksgiving tips, the breakfast she can’t stop making, and what seasoning she believes is deeply “misunderstood.”

Do you take the lead on Thanksgiving in your family, or do you let other people do the cooking?

Thanksgiving is my Super Bowl. It’s my most favorite day of the year. We have been known to have three or four Thanksgivings a year because I love the flavors. I definitely take charge of it. I cook for about three days. I rent an extra fridge and I make sure that I’m set up to win when it comes to that actual day so that I can still enjoy myself and my family and not just be running around like a chicken with its head cut off. But John helps so much. He is an incredible sous chef and he’s pretty much the only one I’ll allow to help in the kitchen.

That’s very impressive. So how many people are you usually cooking for on Thanksgiving?

It’s been as many as 25 people. I do everything family-style, and I love sides. Sides are my thing. I’ve never been a huge fan of turkey. I find chicken to be so much better. So sometimes I roast three chickens snug together in a roasting pan. Or this year I’m actually getting turkey legs from Disneyland. Those are, to me, the best way that turkey has ever been made in life. It’s so delicious that it tastes like smoked ham or something, but I plan on getting 20 of those and I’m not sure if I’m going to break it up in a pan yet or just serve them like that. I can’t decide yet. It’s my first time doing it, but I want to concentrate on making beautiful, wonderful sides. That’s always so much more fun for me.

So what side do you absolutely have to make every year?

I love green bean casserole so much with the iconic condensed cream of mushroom soup, the crispy onions, the Lawry’s. I like to put everything on my fork at the same time. Gravy goes all over everything, and I tend to have my best Thanksgiving meal the next day for breakfast. I just throw a fried egg on it or something. When it comes to sides, my mom’s scalloped potatoes are always on my mind, and those green beans for sure.

Do you have a Thanksgiving hot take or something you make on Thanksgiving that’s out of the ordinary?

I guess the chicken, right? Not loving turkey is definitely a weird thing. I love doing a sundae bar: Just get every type of ice cream, your chocolate shell and magic shell, sprinkles, and put out a bar. People are never more happy than when they see a sundae bar.

Is there any kind of dinner shortcut you rely on?

Absolutely. I’ve been known to Postmates my favorite gravy from different shops that are around. Gravy can be really difficult because a lot of times, I’ve deep fried a turkey or something, and obviously you’re not getting those drippings from it to create a great gravy. So I’ve been known to just Postmates mashed potatoes and gravy from my favorite fast-food place and turn it into some kind of mashed potato casserole layered with the gravy that they send over. I’m telling you — it is so much better than so many different versions that I’ve made myself.

I also love stuffing. I love boxed stuffing because I grew up on that. And you just want nostalgia when it comes to the holidays. You want to be reminded of childhood and family. And I used to be really hard on myself about it. I’d be like, no, this is cheating. I don’t think that way anymore. It is fine.

What about when it comes to just your day-to-day life? What’s your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

I’m so into breakfast, and I didn’t used to be either. I love a good crispy fried egg. Putting a ton of olive oil in the pan, cracking an egg into a little dish, that sizzle that you hear when you pour it out slowly and those edges get nice and crispy, but your yolk is still yolky. To me, there’s nothing like a fried egg on a piece of avocado toast or something. I make my avocado toast super garlicky. I don’t add a lot of acid to my avocado. That’s a pet peeve of mine when it has too much lime or something in it. I make it with just salt, pepper, avocado, and tons of minced garlic. And then with a thinly sliced heirloom tomato and the fried egg on top of it. It makes me feel happy. It’s so good.

On a day when you’re working, what are you going to snack on?

I love noodles. I love ramen. I tend to just eat whatever the kids just ate. I think most moms pick at the things that their kids left behind. I eat a lot of chicken nuggets. I just had a fruit roll-up because it’s around — it’s around all the time. I kind of just wait to see what they’re eating and then I eat that with them. I end up having a lot of sweet potato with butter because the babies are home during the day. And then I think of dinner as always my meal that I have for myself. But during the day, it’s just whatever I can steal from them.

What dish do you think you’re most famous for with your friends and family?

I’m probably most famous for the banana bread just because of the story that went with it. Trying to find brown bananas anywhere in California was extremely difficult. So I ended up having to send my mom and meet somebody on the street. They had brown bananas and we exchanged gifts for bananas, and then this beautiful, wonderful recipe came out of it.

Do you have a secret ingredient when it comes to cooking?

MSG is so misunderstood. It’s the most misunderstood ingredient in the world. Hating MSG actually comes from a big xenophobic myth. There’s so much that goes into why MSG is so thought about as a bad thing when it’s actually a natural flavor enhancer. Well, I could talk about it forever, but I don’t use it because it’s just my mom took it to Thailand or else I would. Gosh, I love it. Also, fish sauce is such a great thing to add to certain recipes. It’s basically the Asian Worcestershire sauce, and it enhances a lot of recipes in a way that’s not fishy. It binds it together and brings all the flavors together in a really nice way.

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