Corey B Puts The Comedy In Quick Snacks And Food Hacks - Exclusive Interview
We've seen it all when it comes to bizarre internet recipes — or so we thought. Content creator Corey B is known for his reactions to outlandish food tips and tricks that pop up on For You pages, such as cottage cheese ice cream and croissant cereal. With his quick wit and undeniable physical comedy, the comic started a career by testing out viral food tips online, as he explained during an exclusive interview with Mashed.
Along with his career in entertainment, Corey B has also pursued several projects granting him the title of entrepreneur. The social media influencer co-owns Bang Cookies (an organic cookie delivery brand) and Oh Baby Sauce (a barbecue sauce brand), and he has a cookbook coming to fans later this year. Corey told us that the book will feature recipes inspired by the quick snacks and culinary hacks that he has become well-known for — shoutout to the literal waffle fry burger recipe that most definitely earned a spot in next week's dinner lineup.
Not all ridiculous recipes taste bad
I want to begin by talking about your career as a comedian. How did your niche become testing viral food tips?
It's pretty funny. I used to do relatable relationship videos and skits and whatnot. It moved on to pranks and hacks, and then it moved on to food. Basically, I'm a pretty big food person. I've always liked food in and around my mouth, but it got to a point where I started seeing these five-minute crafts and all these episodes of these short-form videos showing you ridiculous ways to cook food and ridiculous meals. I was like, "There's no way that's good."
I started trying it and found out that a lot of times, it was good. It caught on, and it's been fun for me to work in a little bit of the wording that I use, the rhyming and punchlines. But it's an experience for me. It's an excuse for me to be able to make food all the time and try it out. It's like an adventure. It's a food adventure.
You mentioned some ridiculous recipes. Is there one particular recipe that you've seen online and immediately were like, "No way people eat that"?
There was one where I saw a video of them putting loaves of bread in a blender, and they made flan or bread pudding from it. Initially, my reaction was, "What the hell? That's disgusting." But then I made it, and it was so good. It was ridiculous. That video got a ton of views, but it was amazing. Not only that, but the one I made the other day, which was the cottage cheese ice cream — yeah, disgusting, gross. But when you blend it up, it doesn't have the curds in it. It's not bad. It tastes like froyo. I'm just not a huge fan of froyo.
That's fair. I'm a real ice cream lover always.
Topped with everything.
What is one recipe you've reacted to that you still make since viewing it?
There's this one where you could put Nutella on toast and make an Uncrustable out of it and throw it in a toaster. It's so easy. It's the easiest thing ever, and it's a nice snack. It's probably that I'm very simple when I don't make messes in the kitchen or whatnot — anything that's easy to make like that, for sure.
You can make ribs in under 30 minutes
I know you're zoning in on the food business side of things. You created a barbecue sauce line. What makes the sauce different from others that are already on shelves?
The sauce is ... I like it. Everyone out there that's had it thinks it's amazing. I'm not going to say it's this elite, spectacular sauce, but a lot of things that we do different ... It's not so much organic, but it all comes from the farm. There's no corn syrup. There's not a lot of sugar. It's just healthy sauce. It's not going to be like ... I don't want to name-drop it, but Sweet Baby Ray's is all corn syrup. It's all unhealthy. A lot of what we're doing is healthy, clean ingredients. Also, you're not taking away from the taste. It still tastes good, and it's a great honey barbecue sauce.
That's what a lot of people are focusing on now, too — how to make environmentally conscious food that's better for you.
Absolutely.
Do you have any go-to barbecue recipes that you're doing right now?
Oh, man — these air-fried ribs. Again, I like things to be quick and fast, and there's these ribs that you can make in the air fryer that are nuts. They're really good. They fall off the bone.
Could you walk me through how to make that?
Absolutely. You're going to air fry your ribs for five minutes at 375 [degrees Fahrenheit]. Then, you're going to take them out and season them, and then you're going to put a little bit of sauce on them and put them back in the air fryer, but you're going to put them in tin foil. You're going to cook them for a little bit longer like that — I think it's another seven minutes at 375. Take them out again and add more sauce onto them, and then you're going to put them in for another seven minutes at 375 and let them cook some more. Actually, this time you're going to unfold the foil so the ribs are exposed. When you take them out after that, it's done, and you've got ribs in under 30 minutes.
Wow, that's easy. One mistake I've seen a lot of people do is they don't put enough sauce on it, so then they're dry.
Why are they doing that? That's the thing — that's why we're making ... not healthy, but an alternative sauce that's not filled with all the sugar and corn syrup, so you can put a ton of sauce on it if you want to. You don't have to feel guilty.
Is your barbecue sauce just honey barbecue, the original flavor? Do you have other flavors coming out?
No, just the one flavor so far, the honey barbecue.
Don't underestimate dark chocolate in cookies
You also co-own Bang Cookies, which offers organic cookies. What's your top seller?
In my eyes, it's s'mores, but our top seller is our sea salt chocolate chip. It's good, but a lot of people like our Snickerchurro and the S'mores. S'mores is amazing.
I was looking at the Snickerchurro. I was wondering what it tasted like.
Think about what you're thinking — it's not that. I can't even describe to you how it's different. The first time they were showing me the store, they were giving it to me and I was like, "I don't really care for snickerdoodles." They're like, "No, you haven't had this yet." I ate it and was like, "Oh, this ain't a snickerdoodle. This is something beyond that." It was good.
I'm imagining how a churro would be incorporated into a snickerdoodle favor, because they're already a cinnamon sugar-type dessert.
Exactly. But there's a filling in the Snickerchurro. It's like ... I don't know, man. I can't even describe it to you. It's good.
With us talking about organic foods, do you think there's a gap in the market for organic sweets specifically?
I've been more health conscious lately since I make all this food and I'm worried about my cholesterol and whatnot. I still do Uber Eats at night, and I'll look at healthy snacks — there's not a lot at all. I've got a kid that likes candy, and I'm trying not to give him all the dyes and all the sugars and corn syrups that come in the candy.
I found there's a couple alternatives called Smart Sweets. They're candy that doesn't have any sugar. There are some options, but not a lot. I wish there were more — that way, when I am hungry at night, I can dig into something that's not going to make me feel bad.
For a while, I was switching to fruit as a dessert, but people were like, "There's so much sugar in fruit." I'm like, what else am I supposed to do?
That's the thing — like, okay, show me one unhealthy person that's eating a lot of fruit. Get out of here.
What kind of ingredients can people use at home to upgrade their cookie game?
You can never have enough chocolate.
What kind of chocolate do you normally opt for?
I'm a dark chocolate kind of guy. I always see the Godiva or the Ghirardellis — anything I used to think was for rich people when I was a kid, because I was a poor kid. It's anything you would see in the mall and you'd be like, "Ooh," and your parents were like, "No, that's too expensive." Now, I'm like, "Yeah, that's got to be good."
Corey B has a cookbook on the way
Do you have any new flavors on the way? Maybe anything that's going to be added to your cookie business?
Every Friday we come out with new flavors and revolving flavors. There's always new flavors every Friday.
So it's the regular cookies that you have, and then it rotates?
Exactly. We have three that revolve and also brownies. There's three cookies and a brownie that rotate every Friday. There's always two new ones and an old recurring one and a new brownie.
I want to talk about your first cookbook coming out too. I don't know how much you're able to share about that yet, but can you give any hints as to what recipes or foods you're focusing on that your followers would be able to expect?
Part of the tagline of the recipe is "quick snacks and food hacks." A lot of the things are going to be things you didn't think about, and there's going to be food hacks. The one thing that I can describe it as is the food adventure. You're going to go on a journey. You're going to make things that you would've never thought of making, and you're going to want to do it either by yourself or with people. It's going to be a very interactive book that you could do with friends or show up to a party. It's going to be fun. It's going to be something that you would've never thought of making in a cookbook.
Would you say this is inspired by videos you've seen online or your videos online?
This is 100% inspired by things that I've seen and things that I've done, yes. There's going to be a lot of the recipes I've already made that people are so ... They don't like it when they have to watch a video to make the recipe. They want to see it on paper. A lot of this [book] is that as well.
Is there one recipe that you are most excited to share that people have been asking for?
A lot of people didn't believe that the waffle fry ... I don't know if you've seen it. I made a burger bun out of french fries in a waffle maker. A lot of people didn't believe that was a thing, and it's actually a thing. It actually worked.
It's gluten-free. Is it healthy? Nah, but it's gluten-free. That's all that matters these days. But it actually works. I'm excited for people to see that's an actual thing. That video got — on Instagram — over 40 million views, and no one could believe it. They're like, "That's fake. That's not real." I was like, "No, you can get frozen french fries, put it in a [waffle maker], and use it as a bun for your hamburger."
We need a Corey B and Theo Von collab
When do you think your cookbook's going to come out? Do you have a date yet?
Not till next year. It's going to be probably around fall next year.
Do you have any other collaborations with other food content creators in the works?
All the time. Christian Petroni — he's on the Food Network — I've been trying to meet up with him. My buddy, Kush — we're getting ready to do another video here soon. Albert from LA ... At some point soon, we're going to be doing something else. We did a video not too long ago. But anyone and everyone, man, I'm trying to spread the love and also have fun working with someone.
Do you know what you're going to be posting with Christian yet?
No, not yet. It's just me getting there. I have to get out to Westchester where he is and film something. Usually, that's how it is; there's never really a plan. It's always like, "Let's meet up."
If there is one comedian that you would like to cook with, who would it be and why?
Ooh, that's great — Theo Von. I would love to do something with him, because he's hilarious and I don't think he tries to be; he just is. In his head, his brain's got to be like a Mario Kart Rainbow Road — just everywhere.
What would you want to cook with him? Would you have any ideas for him specifically?
We definitely got to make something Louisiana-based, because that's what he's all about. I don't know, something crazy ... some fish. I hate fish, but he probably likes fish.
You can keep up with Corey B's latest recipe reactions on his TikTok or Instagram page. Find more information about his Oh Baby Sauce and Bang Cookies on their websites.
This interview has been edited for clarity.