Kristen Bell on Nutella, Spicy Pizza, and Perfect Chicken
Photo © Justin Campell
By M. Elizabeth Sheldon
House of Lies star Kristen Bell eats lots of salads at home, but on road trips, she loves a hillbilly cookout.
Aggressive Dinner Hosting
Cooking is my love language. Sometimes it’s forceful—like, “I am going to make a meal for you!”
Guessing Her Way to Perfect Chicken
I don’t get consistent rave reviews on anything I cook other than my chicken, and I don’t eat it, so it’s very ironic. But I buy chicken breasts for Dax [Shepard, her actor husband], and I do it ethically. Mary’s Free Range is pretty much a massage parlor for birds—they might actually get pedicures.
Nutella Cravings
I’ve given up sugar, but when I was pregnant I definitely cheated. Because I’m a scientist in my own mind, I decided that if I added Grape-Nuts to my Nutella, the fiber balanced out the sugar.
Incendiary Pizza
The place we like in L.A. is called Lucifers. You can order a pie that’s so spicy, you’ll feel it for 48 hours.
Giving Up Sugar
The way we consume sugar is obviously responsible for many of America’s health afflictions. Not everyone has the option to give it up. I’m from Detroit—they don’t have juice bars.
“Garbage Disposal” Salad
I’m a fan of mixing raw with cooked, crunchy with soft. I’m not into segregating ingredients. They’re all going to the same place!
Camper Cooking
We recently went to the Glamis Sand Dunes outside of San Diego because Dax does a lot of off-roading. We rented a motor home and cooked over a bonfire. It was a hillbilly extravaganza.
Collecting Hot Sauce
The hottest one I have is called Akabanga. It’s made with a yellow chile from Rwanda, and it comes with an eyedropper. I use gloves to handle it so I don’t end up in the hospital.
Related:
35 Great Chicken Breast Recipes
10 Recipes for Campfire Cooking
Best Pizza in the U.S.
Obsessed-Over Los Angeles Restaurants
Best Chicken Dishes in the U.S.
