9 Celebrities Who Think They Are Chefs (Slideshow)
Famous for her movie roles and the low-carb diet she feed her kids, Paltrow hosted PBS food and travel show Spain... on the Road Again with Mario Batali. She also has a thing for "delicious, easy recipes," as evidenced by the titles of her two cookbooks, It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great and My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness. They include specialty dishes like brown rice pasta, sweet potato and five-spice muffins, and her father's pancakes.
And if acting is imitating real life, Paltrow won't have any trouble with her upcoming movie role. She's in talks to star as chef/writer Gabrielle Hamilton in the upcoming film Blood, Bones & Butter based on Hamilton's memoir. Just don't make her eat any butter — or carbs — on set.
Christopher Walken
Call him the next Julia Child. Walken taught viewers how to roast a chicken on YouTube with just four ingredients: chicken, pears, salt, and pepper. His secret technique? Cut off the bottoms of the pears and use them to prevent the rest of the fruit from sticking to the pan.
Walken dished up seconds of the chicken in Cooking with Christopher Walken, another YouTube video in which he invited Law & Order star Richard Belzer over for lunch fit for an episode of Barefoot Contessa.
Lauren Conrad
She may not have had to lift a finger as a privileged teen on Laguna Beach, but the reality star-turned business mogul has developed some chops in the kitchen. Her website, LaurenConrad.com, offers readers recipes for spiked cider and mini chicken pot pies, as well as advice on whether to store certain food in the fridge or cupboard. Conrad told PopSugar in 2011 that when it comes to Thanksgiving, she's the main chef. Her motivation?
"I learned very quickly that you get to stay in the kitchen all day and you don't have to do any dishes at the end." Conrad took home cooking to another level with her latest purchase, a $3.7 million house in Brentwood, Calif., complete with a chef's kitchen.
Matthew McConaughey
While fans salivate over McConaughey, he's busy cooking his own meat. He's on the road to becoming a "master barbecue chef," and even mixes his own dry rubs. He and wife Camila Alves take turns playing chef in the kitchen, and Top Chef is a mainstay on his DVR.
McConaughey used his culinary skills for a good cause when he teamed up with Guy Fieri for a series of cooking lessons for J.K. Livin Foundation, which empowers high schoolers to lead active, healthy lives.
Eva Longoria
Her Desperate Housewives character Gabby may have avoided the kitchen at all costs, but Longoria has a warming oven, a deep-fryer, and a giant island to display her cookbook Eva's Kitchen in hers. She owns multiple restaurants, including Beso in Hollywood (with chef Todd English) and SHe in Las Vegas, and has been a guest judge on Food Network Star and MasterChef. And she's not just a restaurant owner in name. According to MasterChef judge and restaurateur Joe Bastianich, Longoria is a "serious restaurateur" who "knows food and the nuances that make this industry so trying."
Joey Fatone
The former boy band star is a regular on cooking shows. He competed on Chopped: All Stars and took third place on Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. Fatone was eliminated from the Celebrity Cook-Off for his linguine with clam sauce, mashed cauliflower, and roast chicken meal, but his fried rice won $5,000 in the show's "Blind Tasting Challenge" as a consolation. He now hosts his own show, My Family Recipe Rocks!, in which he spotlights home cooks and local recipes. Fun facts: His food nemesis is wasabi and his culinary icon is Guy Fieri.
Gloria Estefan
The Cuban singer is another celeb who has rolled out a cookbook. Estefan Kitchen, written with husband Emilio Estefan, contains authentic Cuban recipes like Cuban shrimp Creole and plantain chips. Estefan has a mini empire of Cuban restaurants, including Larios on the Beach in Miami, and four locations of Bongos Cuban Café in Florida and California. She's a frequent guest star on ABC's cooking show The Chew.
Bethenny Frankel
Here's a celebrity who actually has a cooking degree. Frankel graduated from the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York and has cooked for Alicia Silverstone, Michael J. Fox, and the Hiltons. Her company Bethenny Bakes sold low-fat/calorie, dairy/wheat/egg-free baked goods before she replaced it with her Skinnygirl cocktail line. The Real Housewives of New York star has been busy outside the kitchen as well, authoring a number of books on dieting, cooking, and healthy living.
Jessica Seinfeld
Can't tell a grater from a peeler? Seinfeld's Do It Delicious website breaks down recipes step by step and provides guides to kitchen tools and grocery shopping for beginner cooks. The wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld has authored three cookbooks. Deceptively Delicious teaches parents how to trick their kids into eating their vegetables (hint: purée them beyond recognition), and Double Delicious! and The Can't Cook Book target busy and hesitant cooks.