Holiday Cooking Tips...For Amateurs

'Tis the season - to eat! The Food Network star shares her culinary secrets just in time for your end-of-year festivities

As a longtime judge on Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America, celebrity chef Anne Burrell has seen it all. “Over the years, there have been so many bad dishes,” says the 55-year-old. The grossest? Okra with egg noodles, sardines and hot dogs! Her advice to newbies this holiday season is don’t try to do too much — and plan ahead. “Read recipes all the way through before you start,” she explains, “because people [will be] having a dinner party, making short ribs and then see, ‘Put it in the oven for three hours.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh no!’” Here, the Season 4 Chopped All-Stars winner — who wed marketing exec Stuart Claxton in October 2021 — talks to In Touch’s Fortune Benatar about her kitchen do’s and don’ts and her Taylor Swift-approved cookies.

What’s your top tip for amateurs?

AB: Start simple. People get overambitious and try to take on too much. Whatever you’re making, find a recipe. It cracks me up when I ask people, “What happens when you follow a recipe?” and they look at me like I’m crazy. If I don’t know how to get somewhere, I find a set of directions — that’s what a recipe is.

OK, after the recipe, what’s next?

AB: Get out all of your ingredients before you start cooking, because you think, “I’ve got breadcrumbs,” and then you open the canister and there’s a quarter of a cup and you need two cups. Give yourself enough time, and clean as you go so you don’t wind up with a mountain of dishes.

And for cooking like a real chef?