Celebrities Share Their Healthy Food Hacks And We’re Taking Notes
Celebrities pretty much have free reign when it comes to food. They have the ability (and cash flow) to dine at the best restaurants and hire incredible private chefs. They can even pay for a personal assistant to fetch them food at any time. But not all celebrities like to live a glam life when it comes to food. In fact, many celebs turn into expert home cooks.
Of course, celebrities still need to tend to their image. That means they can't just cook up frozen meals and call it a day. These celebrities have mastered being healthy home cooks and luckily, they've shared their secrets with us. Check out the best healthy food hacks from your favorite A-listers.
Jennifer Garner Swaps Regular Chips For Kale Chips
Everyone has their snacking vices and celebrities are no different. For Jennifer Garner, blue corn chips are her "nemesis." So to avoid her evil enemy, she turns to kale chips. Now we know what you're thinking, kale chips suck. It's hard to find a good kale chip but Jennifer has figured out the trick.
On her "Pretend Cooking Show" that she hosts on Facebook, the actress says the trick is to use dinosaur kale. The different kale strain is sturdier than traditional curly kale which stops it from getting soggy and wilted in the oven.
Lauren Conrad Makes A Light Chicken Pot Pie
On Instagram, Lauren Conrad documents her love of cooking. She has also shared how her recipes changed after starting a family. Lauren and her husband both love chicken pot pie, but now they double the veggies and swap out the heavy cream for almond milk. Don't worry, the crust is still filled with buttery goodness because life is about balance, right?
She may have got her start on Laguna Beach and The Hills but Lauren Conrad has turned into quite the lifestyle guru since she left reality television. One of those ventures has even included partnering with the food subscription service Hello Fresh.
Kristen Bell Has Figured Out How To Get Her Kids To Eat Broccoli
Attention all parents: Kristen Bell has finally figured out how to get children to eat broccoli without having a major meltdown! The Good Place actress says that after steaming the broccoli, sauté it then sprinkle with crushed pretzels and parmesan cheese. Okay, it may not be the healthiest solution but it's better than nothing.
Bell shared the "major secret" on Instagram after admitting she partially came up with the recipe so that she would eat the broccoli too. Now figure out a way to make us like brussels sprouts.
Chelsea Clinton Puts Spinach In WHAT?
We're all for sneaking in some healthy greens whenever we can. Spinach and kale are a common "secret" ingredient to smoothies and pasta but Chelsea Clinton took it a step too far. On National Pancake Day, she shared on Twitter that she steams and blends spinach then adds it to pancakes. Yes, pancakes.
The internet couldn't believe the former first daughter would do something so blasphemous to such a delicious, fluffy pancake but Clinton clapped back. She let everyone know her three-year-old daughter Charlotte "would eat them all if we let her!"
Kourtney Kardashian Makes Apple Chips Weekly
The oldest Kardashian sister and mom of three is down to earth when it comes to food. While her sisters might prefer snacks made by their personal chef, Kourtney likes to make things from scratch at home "whenever possible." Her go-to snack that's a favorite with her kids is apple chips.
Kourtney takes thinly slices apples, sprinkle on cinnamon, and bake them until their crispy. She says the apple chips are such a hot commodity in her household that she has to make them in a weekly batch.
Meghan Markle Has A Pasta Sauce Hack
Long before she married into British royalty, Meghan Markle was just an actress who ran a lifestyle blog on the side. The lifestyle blog included a recipe for a zucchini pasta sauce that serves as a healthy alternative. The technique involves sauteeing some onions, adding bouillon, and then letting zucchini simmer for FOUR hours.
According to the Duchess, the zucchini breaks down into a rich, creamy, and deceptively healthy sauce that tastes like a "vegetarian spin on a meat sauce."
Olivia Culpo Makes Guilt-Free Fudgsicles
A lot of people love to end a dinner with something sweet, but usually, that sweet treat isn't the healthiest. Olivia Culpo knows she's got serious cravings so she thought up an at-home recipe for fudgsicles with half the calories and fat.
Using Greek yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese as the base, Culpo then adds peanut butter, cocoa powers, and Stevia to the pops to sweeten them. After a few hours in the freezer, they're ready to devour guilt-free.
Jennifer Aniston Also Has A Secret Pasta Hack
Just like fellow actress Meghan Markle, Jennifer Aniston has figured out a way to enjoy her carbs without packing on the pounds. To get a creamy sauce without using any cream, Aniston saves the water that she cooked the pasta in. The starch from the water mixes perfectly with an egg and some parmesan to create a luscious sauce.
When she wants to make an even healthier carbonara, she subs in turkey bacon for the standard pancetta. If following this recipe means we'll look like Jennifer Aniston when we're 50, then we're in.
Taylor Swift Can't Live Without A Garlic Press
In an interview with Elle, Taylor Swift revealed that she has three go-to recipes in her back pocket for any dinner party. Her favorite recipe is Ina Garten's (yes, THE Ina Garten of Food Network fame) spaghetti and meatballs. Ina's "Real Spaghetti and Meatballs" recipe is pretty straight-forward but she adds nutmeg to the ground meat and red wine to the sauce.
T Swift adds her own flair to the recipe by including a TON of garlic. That's because she says her go-to kitchen utensil is a garlic press.
Padma Lakshmi Created Her Own Detox Drink
If you've recently gone on a bit of an indulgent spree, then you might want to try Padma Lakshmi's detox drink "Cranberry Drano". She created the drink to cleanse her body when she's done filming each season of Top Chef. It consists of cranberry juice (unsweetened), green tea, fiber power, a vitamin C packet, and water.
Lakshmi says she gets handed a glass of the Cranberry Drano two or three times a day. Considering she hosts Top Chef, we'll take her word for it.
Kylie Jenner's Ramen Broke The Internet
Ramen isn't exactly the healthiest meal but that hasn't stopped it from being a contentious topic on the internet. The youngest member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan took to Snapchat to say she makes her ramen with butter, garlic powder, and egg. Of course, the internet immediately had to argue it while simultaneously trying it.
The verdict? It's actually pretty darn good. If you sub the butter for margarine it's not too bad health-wise either.
Chrissy Teigen Has Healthy Recipes Sometimes
Besides being a supermodel and Twitter clapback queen, Chrissy Teigen is also an amateur cook. One of her healthy and super-simple recipes is a veggie "pasta." She uses vegetable peelers to create thin strips of carrots, zucchini, and asparagus then sautés them with parmesan, chili flakes, and basil.
Her cookbook Cravings was a bestseller and featured some incredibly delicious meals. In Teigen's second cookbook, Cravings: Hungry For More, she admitted that now that she's a mom she makes much more healthy meals.
Jessica Alba Sneaks Veggies Into Her Turkey Meatballs
The latest craze is switching out any type of red meat with a leaner alternative like chicken or turkey. For celebrities like Jessica Alba, that means finding a way to make turkey meatballs moist and delicious. When making her turkey meatballs, Alba sneaks onion, carrots, and zucchini in by chopping them as fine as humanly possible.
The actress also makes sure to use only organic ingredients and cage-free eggs so that she feels good morally when she makes these meatballs.
Even Gwyneth Paltrow Can't Survive On Just Kale
The Goop founder has given us a lot of questionable recipes over the year. While we don't deny that her recommendations are healthy, we just can't get behind only ordering creamed spinach at a steakhouse. That being said, Gwyneth Paltrow's cauliflower and kimchi fried rice is downright delicious AND healthy.
The recipe calls for cauliflower rice, kimchi, dinosaur kale, and healthy oils. If you want to add more protein, Gwyneth's friend Cameron Diaz suggests putting an egg on it.
Tamera Mowry Has Invented A Healthy Burger That ALSO Tastes Good
Americans love a good, juicy burger but they're rarely healthy. Tamera Mowry shared her salmon burger recipe that is easy to make and tastes way better than it sounds. Canned salmon, broccoli florets, and kale all get mixed by hand into burger patties. Then you just mold them into their shape and cook them right on the stove.
You might think that canned salmon and veggies don't sound good in a burger but topped with a juicy tomato and a dab of mayo, and it's almost restaurant quality.
Matcha Pudding Is Cameron Diaz's Go-To Breakfast
Cameron Diaz is another celebrity who has started a lifestyle website as a passion project. Her website, Our Body Book, is all about feeling good and looking good. Diaz admits that she's "matcha obsessed" and her matcha chia pudding could make even the most stubborn matcha-haters fall in love with the green stuff.
Just mix the matcha, chia seeds, shaved coconut, cashew milk, and maple syrup then let it sit in the fridge overnight. By the time you pull it out in the morning to eat, it will have formed into the perfect consistency that is yummy and full of antioxidants.
Miranda Kerr Made A Classic Family Recipe Healthy
If you want to keep a supermodel super body like Miranda Kerr, you might have to cut out some of your grandmother's best recipes. Miranda just couldn't pass up on her Nan's apple-banana muffins so they worked together to make the recipe healthier.
By using ingredients like goat's milk yogurt, apples, bananas, and coconut oil, Miranda's modified muffins clock in at only 140 calories each. If it's good enough for Miranda and her Nan, it's good enough for us.
Blake Lively Combined Cauliflower And Pomegranate
Cauliflower has had a recent upswing in popularity. There are a million recipes out there for different ways to use cauliflower but we're interested in Blake Lively's. On her lifestyle website Preserve, the mother of two shares a recipe for roasted cauliflower topped with pomegranate. Yes, pomegranate.
The combination seems strange but she partnered with Hung Huynh, the season 3 winner of Top Chef, so we'll believe her. If anyone is going to make us want to eat our veggies, it's Blake Lively.
Karlie Kloss Bakes Perfectly Healthy Kookies
You might think the word "cookie" isn't even in the vocabulary of a Victoria's Secret model but not Karlie Kloss. She admittedly loves sweets and has figured out a way to enjoy cookies without any guilt. Her "Kookies" have 10 clean ingredients that are dairy-free, egg-free, and free of refined sugar.
These Kookies might sound like a sham but they're not. By using almond flour, agave, gluten-free oats, cinnamon, and vegan dark chocolate chips, they taste good and are gooooood for you.
Haylie Duff's Chinese Long Beans Don't Disappoint
We love a good restaurant-inspired recipe but often times, they require a ton of oils and fats to get the same delicious taste. Haylie Duff's Chinese long beans and eggplant feel like you're eating at an authentic restaurant but it's healthy!
She blanches long green beans and Japanese eggplant, then tosses them in a sauce made of soy sauce, min, ginger, and garlic. There's nothing bad about the recipe and it might even make you like vegetables again.
