What Matty Matheson Really Eats When He's Trying To Stay Healthy

If you've been a fan of food channels on YouTube, chances are you know Matty Matheson, the loud, boisterous chef from Canada whose wit and infectious energy have attracted 1.55 million subscribers. If you're a fan of the TV show "The Bear", you will most definitely know Matheson as Neil Fak, the endearing mechanic who helps around in the restaurant as a handyman and occasional server.

But even before acting in and producing "The Bear," Matheson was already quite well known as a chef and Vice show host. His life is an open book, and he's been very open about the challenges he faced with his career and health, particularly his heart attack at only 29 years old. He had since been living a much happier and healthier lifestyle, but at the end of 2023, he decided he could do even better. He spent the next 12 months working out more and eating better, losing 60 pounds in the process. 

Matheson spoke with Men's Health about how that year went for him and talked about his improved eating habits. He revealed that he had an epiphany after the holidays, realizing he couldn't run and play with his children as much as he liked. He wanted to get healthier and be fit, and so he immediately started to exercise regularly and cut his meals to less than 2,000 calories a day.

Let's take a closer look at what Matty Matheson has been eating now that he's committed to staying healthy.

Since announcing his fitness journey on Instagram in July 2024, Matty Matheson has talked a lot about one of his favorite meals since: his dog bowl. "I'm not a doctor, but this will for sure keep you healthy and wise. Dog bowls for all my dogggggies," he wrote in a post.

Matheson says this bowl, which consists of rice, ground beef, and eggs, is perfect for bulking up. It is also filling, easy to cook, and provides the protein and carbs he needs as he goes about his jam-packed schedule. He's been eating this hearty bowl for breakfast, lunch, or dinner for about a year now.

The recipe for the dog bowl starts with cooking the rice, which should be easy with a rice cooker (if you don't have a rice cooker, here's a simple guide on how to cook rice on the stove). Next, Matheson seasons the ground beef with some salt and cooks it in a skillet. He cooks scrambled eggs in butter last. When the rice, ground beef, and eggs are ready, Matheson scoops 1 cup of each into a bowl and mixes everything together. It's like a Korean bibimbap, except the latter has fewer eggs and lots of chopped vegetables.

Another healthy meal that Matty Matheson has loved eating in the past year is his salmon power bowl. He loves it so much that he eats it three times a week. It is very similar to the dog bowl, only he uses fresh salmon instead of ground beef. He also adds his favorite ginger-and-garlic sauce, which Matheson says he makes once a week and adds to nearly everything else he cooks.

To make the salmon bowl, Matheson starts by dribbling the aforementioned sauce into single-serving cuts of salmon and letting them marinate before baking them in the oven for about 10 minutes. Next, he sautés onions, ginger, and garlic in olive oil and adds some day-old rice. He then prepares a simple cucumber salad with watermelon radishes and some kimchi.

To assemble the bowl, Matheson scoops in 2 heaping tablespoons of the rice, cucumber salad, and kimchi, before adding a slice of the baked salmon. He then tops everything off with some toasted sesame seeds.

This salmon bowl is as nutritious as it is delicious. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B6, selenium, and niacin. A 100-gram serving of salmon also provides over 100% of the daily value of vitamin B12 (aka cobalamin), a vital nutrient for red blood cell production that the body cannot produce on its own.

For a chef whose YouTube channel is filled with thumbnails of decadent, indulgent dishes, it's funny that one of the things Matty Matheson is most famous for is his fondness for hard-boiled eggs. Hard-boiled eggs may be a simple go-to food that most people make instinctively and don't even follow a specific recipe for, but "boilers" are serious business for Matheson. He even filmed an entire episode about cooking hard-boiled eggs for his "Cookin' Somethin'" series on YouTube.

Matheson doesn't like his boilers too runny, but he appreciates them a little soft. "Six-minute eggs is the perfect amount of jammy, goey, ooey, beautiful eggs," Matheson says while cooking Sichuan-style cucumber salad, to which he also added hard-boiled eggs. He keeps things simple, too, usually adding only some salt and freshly ground pepper to his eggs.

Hard-boiled eggs are rich in protein and have fewer calories than red meat, making them excellent for people who want to lose weight. They're great as a snack and for some people, good enough for breakfast on their own. Eggs also go well with different flavor profiles and textures, hence you can often find them in club sandwiches, salads, rice bowls, stir-fry veggies, noodles, savory soups, and more.

Leafy greens are a must for good nutrition, and Matty Matheson has this requirement well in hand. Four years ago, he shared his "Favorite Salad of ALL TIME" on his YouTube channel, and it was a green leaf lettuce salad with tuna. The recipe is also included in Matheson's second cookbook, "Home Style Cookery," in which he wrote, "It is not just a side, it can be the main attraction."

His recipe is essentially a green salad with equal parts of lettuce, celery, blanched green beans, shallots, radishes, and cucumbers — all chopped into bite-size pieces, including the crunchy parts. He then adds squashed and lightly chopped olives and garlic, some lemon zest, lemon juice, and the main event: a can of tuna. When everything's in the bowl, Matheson finishes it off with a few tablespoons of white vinegar, olive oil, and some salt and pepper.

Green salads are great sources of essential macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fiber) and micronutrients (vitamins A, C, K, B vitamins, potassium, calcium, and magnesium). Even better, green salads use fresh ingredients, and there's usually no cooking involved unless you add ingredients like chicken or pork.

Anybody who's pumping iron and committed to having a healthier, fitter body is going to need lots of protein. Steak is a great protein source because it is also delicious and filling. Of course, there are vegetables that are also rich in protein, like spinach, Brussels sprouts, edamame, and artichokes, but for people who are used to eating large meals, steaks can be more satisfying.

Unsurprisingly, Matty Matheson told Men's Health that his diet in the past year includes steak. As a busy actor-chef-entrepreneur who probably has many jam-packed days, he's probably making good use of his minute steak recipe, which is also included in "Home Style Cookery."

As the name suggests, Matheson cooks salt-seasoned sirloin steak for about a minute on each side on a heated pan with the bottom covered in vegetable oil. He likes to let a hard crust form (the meat's natural caramelization) on the first side before flipping the steak. As the second side is just about done, he adds 2 tablespoons of butter and bastes the entire steak. When it's done, he takes the steak off the pan and lets it rest for 20 minutes, during which he sautés freshly cut onions in the butter-filled pan. 

Pro tip from Matheson: When the onions are almost done cooking, pour the juices that dripped off the steak while it's resting into the pan. The onions will absorb all that flavor, making them the perfect steak topping. 

Besides steak, Matty Matheson has also been a fan of chicken. Chicken is a great protein source alternative. Many may consider steak to be delicious, but it has more saturated fat than chicken does. Considering Matheson had a heart attack when he was 29 years old, it makes sense that he would keep a close watch on his saturated fat intake and frequently swap the steak with lean, white meat.

Last August, Matheson uploaded a cooking video of a chicken Caesar salad power lunch wrap. It's a great example of how chicken can be incorporated into a fitness diet. The recipe combines two main components: chopped Caesar salad and crispy chicken fingers, all tucked into warmed, soft tortillas and topped with Caesar salad dressing. It's easy to prepare, it's delicious, and it offers fiber, calcium, iron, and other vitamins and minerals in lettuce, tomatoes, garlic, onions, cheese, and citrus. 

What's great about a chicken and salad wrap is it's very versatile. As Matheson demonstrated in the video, for example, you can switch up the dressing and dunk the chicken fingers in hot sauce. You can also tweak the salad component according to your taste and add carrots or nuts for an extra crunch.

Matty Matheson said something noteworthy in his Men's Health interview: He's eating just the right amount of carbohydrates now that he's aiming for fitness. He's not removing carbs completely from his diet, but he's eating enough to sustain his body's caloric needs. 

Carbohydrates often get a bad rap when it comes to weight loss, but they're not bad — nor should they be absent from your diet when eating to stay fit. Where the carbs come from is the bigger issue. 

Carbohydrates from processed foods and simple sugars are the ones to avoid, while complex carbohydrates from starchy vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are the best to consume. Complex carbs are healthier because the body digests them slowly. You don't get a sugar rush right after eating them, which also makes them ideal for people with type 2 Diabetes. 

Matheson is likely eating mostly complex carbs now. When he talked about his new eating habits, he told Men's Health he's given up unhealthy food. "No fast food, no sugar, no bulls***, no processed foods," he said in the interview. He also gave up soda in September 2023.  

Matheson's garden bed pasta recipe is a nice example of how to incorporate complex carbs into your diet. In place of meat, Matheson used eggplant to soak up the flavors of the anchovies, tomato pulp, kale, spices, and olive oil in the recipe. He used bucatini pasta, but it can easily be swapped for whole wheat pasta.

Matty Matheson loves his soups. Soups are the first offering in the title of his cookbook "Soups, Salads, Sandwiches." They are hearty, warm, filling, and many people's favorite comfort food. Of course, soups can have nearly anything that suits a person's taste buds. They can have veggies, meats, seafood, beans, root crops — anything that you have in your kitchen.

Soups typically have a broth base made with meats (chicken, pork, beef), bone (marrow, oxtail, neck bones), vegetables (carrots, onions, a mix of greens and aromatics), and fruit (tomato). All of these are packed with vitamins and minerals, including collagen from bone broth and antioxidants from tomato-based soups.

Matheson is on a healthy path now; however, it bears mentioning that the two soup recipes from his cookbook that Matheson featured in his YouTube channel are heartier than they are healthy. His beer cheese soup, for example, is basically made with beer, bacon, and croutons. His giant meatball minestrone soup, on the other hand, is healthier because it is tomato-based with beef stock and lots of peppers.

Matheson's family recipe chicken soup, which he shared with Canadian House & Home, is likely the soup he eats most at home. "Chicken soup is something everyone should know how to make," he said. "It's one of my favorite foods." The recipe he shared was from his grandmother, so this is a dish he truly loves.

Sandwiches are the third offering in the title of Matheson's aforementioned cookbook, and they're just as versatile and filling as soups. They can be full meals, depending on the ingredients you add. Steaks make for a savory and filling sandwich; chicken meat is leaner and can be just as tasty with the right condiments. Both are made better with leafy greens, tomatoes, and avocados with their vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and unsaturated (good) fat.

If you've somehow watched all the sandwich recipes on Matheson's YouTube channel, you'll notice that he loves a good steak sandwich. He has cooking videos for Philly cheesesteak buns, Salt Hank's loaded steak sandwich, a steak sandwich with kale chimichurri, and the famous "The Beef" sandwich that was featured in "The Bear."

These are all protein-heavy sandwiches that can be made healthier by adding fresh veggies, taking out processed cheese, switching the white bread buns with whole wheat buns — and in the case of "The Beef" sandwich, resisting the urge to dip the buns in the beef stock.

When you're trying to get fit and eat healthy all the time, it's easier to stay on track when the people in your life are also eating the same food. Fortunately for Matty Matheson, his wife, Trish, is also an excellent cook, and they both like to cook healthy meals their kids love.

One dish that Matheson likes to cook is beef tourtière, a classic French-Canadian meat pie often served with a side of blanched veggies, greens, peas, or mashed potatoes. "It gives me the most nostalgic feeling when I eat it," Matheson told Canadian House & Home. "Meat pie with ketchup!"

Another beloved dish in the Matheson household is pot roast. Like the chicken soup mentioned above, Matheson also inherited his pot roast recipe from his grandmother. It's easy yet also difficult to cook: on one hand, all the ingredients are cooked in a large pot, but on the other, you first have to roast the beef, take it out of the pot, sauté the vegetables, and put the beef back in the pot along with beef stock and bring everything to a boil. Pot roast is immensely satisfying and wholesome, so it's easy to see why it's one of Matheson's prized family recipes.

Matty Matheson is a true foodie who likes to taste other chefs' food. In an interview with Esquire, he revealed some of his favorite restaurants in Chicago, where he spends months filming "The Bear."

His favorite at Lucia's, an Italian restaurant on North Avenue, is a sausage bun with cheese and peppers. Over at the bar and restaurant Bavettes, Matheson recommends their roast chicken and mash. He also likes getting hot dogs at Gene and Jude's. Finally, the grilled calamari and sausage and peppers at Tufano's are "to die for," according to Matheson.

Matheson loves food, and even his fitness journey hasn't stopped him from filming and cooking dishes that most people wouldn't consider healthy. But with the exception of filming days, Matheson appears committed to living a healthy life as best he can. He's already found success as a chef and is now an actor and producer. He has business ventures and a farm where he grows his own food. He has it all.

"I'm 41, I got three kids and a beautiful wife. I have a great career, highly successful," Matheson says. "The last piece of the puzzle I feel is getting in shape and, like, living good."