What Chef Jamie Oliver Really Eats

Chef Jamie Oliver is known for his straightforward approach to home cooking and a commitment to healthier food, with his work with kids' school dinners and his recent cookbook "Eat Yourself Healthy." But, what does Oliver really eat and does it live up to his own standards? You often hear about professional chefs coming home from work to eat toast, ramen, or cereal; anything quick and easy after a long day of cooking. But, Oliver has children to feed and seems to manage more balanced family meals.

Of course, there's some more indulgent food that he likes, but he does seem to eat according to his exacting standards most of the time. Oliver is no stranger to making people angry, but you can imagine the fuss if he went into schools telling people to feed their kids more healthy food, only to chow down on chicken nuggets and fries every night.

We've trawled the chef's social media and read through dozens of interviews to find out what Oliver's diet looks like. We've discovered the kinds of dishes he eats at home with his family, snacks he eats, and what he digs into after a night out.

"Minestrone is always a favourite in my house," wrote Jamie Oliver on Instagram, leading us to believe that this soup is on regular rotation for him and his family. Oliver has a background in Italian cooking, has released Italian-inspired cookbooks, and traveled in Italy for a cooking show, so it's no surprise that minestrone is something he likes to cook at home.

Throughout his cookbooks and on his website, Oliver has multiple minestrone recipes, so we're not sure of the exact recipe he uses in his kitchen. However, his Instagram suggests this might change according to the season and what's available. "Such a great way of using up all your odds and ends, and also a great way to embrace whatever veg is in season," he said.

But Oliver's minestrone hasn't always been free from controversy. He angered viewers cooking minestrone on the BBC because he claimed it cost just £1.45 ($1.97) per portion, but people would actually have to pay significantly more to buy all the ingredients. Of course, there's often a more expensive initial outlay with any recipe, but the issue is more about how Oliver frames it. He often talks about how people should feed their families better and cooking from scratch doesn't have to be expensive, while overlooking the fact that anyone struggling for money is unlikely to have a well-stocked pantry full of herbs and spices.

What does a chef whip up when they're at home, have the time, and want to spontaneously make something good for family or friends. For Jamie Oliver, the go-to is pasta made from scratch with whatever produce he has on hand.

In an interview with Falstaff, he said that he enjoys making pasta at home, finding it therapeutic. "You only need two ingredients, flour and water, then I'll fill it with whatever I can find — seasonal veg from the garden and whatever odds and ends I have in the fridge," he told the publication. If you've ever seen Oliver's garden in one of his cooking shows filmed from home, you won't be surprised that he turns to homegrown veggies for dinner. He has a massive vegetable garden that we're sure would have plenty of tasty ingredients to add to a pasta dish.

He quickly cooks the pasta and produce, stirs in some sauce, and you have a quick and easy dinner, made totally from scratch that tastes amazing. "Jools and I did this only the other day," he told Falstaff. "So good." Oliver's two-ingredient fresh pasta was a hit on TikTok, and we can understand why. If you want to eat more like him, making this pasta is an easy first step.

What would you assume is the favorite food of a famous TV chef? Maybe something rich and elaborate. Well, Jamie Oliver told My Last Supper that if he had to choose a last meal, he "would have a big pot of spaghetti all'arrabbiata made with three types of chilis." Why? "It is soft, sweet, and silky — my perfect comfort food."

For those not in the know, arrabbiata sauce is a classic Italian tomato-based sauce. The difference between marinara sauce and arrabbiata sauce is the inclusion of chilis. Arrabbiata means "angry" in Italian because the dish is so spicy that it's said to be mad. Oliver calls it his desert island meal, meaning the food item he would take with him to a desert island if he could only bring one dish, so it's obviously a firm fave of his.

It also seems that he likes it particularly spicy, since he said his last meal version would include three types of chilis. Sometimes it's only made with chili flakes, but you can imagine that using fresh chilis of varying types would bump up the heat. It's one of several pasta dishes on this list, so it seems that Oliver is almost as obsessed with pasta as I am.

In 2025, we learned that frozen grapes are one of Jamie Oliver's preferred snacks in the hotter months. Given his enthusiasm for healthy food, it's no surprise that it's something Oliver might suggest. It's the kind of snack that tastes way less healthy than it really is, like a little fruit slushy rather than actual fruit.

"Little top tip from me during this warmer weather ... pop your grapes in the freezer," Oliver wrote on Instagram, calling it a game changer. "So simple yet so refreshing," he added. It does seem like Oliver thinks he invented frozen grapes, but all the same, we agree they're a great summer snack.

If you want to take it further, TikTok's hack for making frozen grapes is genius. Users suggest washing grapes and then sprinkling over Jell-O mix or Kool-Aid before freezing them. The powdered mix sticks to the still-wet grapes, giving them a kind of candy coating when you freeze them. It might not fit in with Oliver's healthy eating ethos, but we won't tell him.

Roasted potatoes are a British obsession, so naturally, these are something that Jamie Oliver really eats at home. In an interview with Bath Time magazine, when asked what his family's favorite Christmas dish was, he said that potatoes are up there. "The perfect roast potato is a luxurious thing in itself," he remarked.

When talking about British roast potatoes, we don't mean just any spud that's been chucked in the oven with some oil. Rather, these are fairly large chunks of potato with a perfectly crispy exterior and a fluffy interior. There's nothing like them with a roast dinner — or any time, for that matter.

If you want to know how Oliver gets roast potatoes crispy and delicious every time, you're in luck. He is a recipe developer and cookbook author, and the secrets to his perfect roasties aren't so secret. Oliver's method involves starting with floury spuds like Maris Pipers and parboiling them in salted water until they're almost falling apart. This fluffy exterior to the potatoes gives them more surface area and helps them crisp up in the oven. He also likes adding a dash of red wine vinegar to make them subtly tangy.

Peas, prawns, and pasta might not seem like the perfect bedfellows, but this is something that Jamie Oliver eats at home. It's the recipe of his wife, Jools Oliver, rather than the famous chef himself. "This is a family favourite in our house," he said on Instagram, saying that it's a quick recipe perfect for a last-minute meal.

One of the great things about the recipe is that it's relatively pantry and freezer friendly. The main components are frozen peas, frozen prawns, and dried pasta. Alongside that, there's some fresh garlic and chili, a squeeze of tomato paste, and some fresh Parmesan. It's the kind of recipe you could easily adapt depending on what you have in the house. You could leave out the prawns and sub in more peas if you're vegetarian or don't like seafood. Broad beans or edamame beans would also work in place of the peas. And, although the recipe calls for pasta shells, anything goes.

It seems as though pasta dishes are a go-to in the Oliver family household. It's something quick and tasty to throw together and it's no doubt well-liked by his children.

When Jamie Oliver was talking about his last meal, it wasn't just spaghetti arrabbiata on the menu. He said that if he was having dessert, it would be rice pudding. It's not fancy, but it fits in with the kind of simple home cooking Oliver seems to enjoy.

"If I were going to have dessert, it would be homemade rice pudding with roasted peaches," he said. "The rice pudding would be served very cold and topped with the hot caramelized peaches." You can see the chef's touch coming through with the caramelized peaches, which can level up an otherwise plain meal.

The reason why rice pudding is a favorite may be due to good childhood memories. In one of his recipes for rice pudding, he describes how his mum would regularly make rice pudding spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla when he was growing up. Whether hot or cold, spiced or plain, it's an ultimate comfort food. We can imagine Oliver making it for his kids, probably with his own twist on the recipe.

Any parents among you will know the potential struggle involved in getting kids to eat more vegetables. Even people like Jamie Oliver who have spent time encouraging schools and parents to get kids to eat more vegetables aren't exempt from the struggle. A sauce that disguises a number of vegetables is something he regularly eats at home.

"I always keep a batch of my secret veg sauce in the freezer, ready to turn into a quick pasta dish," he told Falstaff. He's a proponent of having meals or sauces cooked or prepped, ready to heat up when needed. And, with a big family and a busy schedule, that makes so much sense.

If you're wondering about this secret veg sauce, it's one of Oliver's own recipes, found in his book "Simply Jamie." It consists of onions, carrots, fennel, celery, butternut squash, and red peppers, all roasted until sweet and caramelized. They're then blended with regular canned tomatoes to create a smooth sauce that you might be able to convince kids is a standard marinara.

Just when you thought you'd got your head around what British people mean by pudding, enter the Yorkshire pudding. Neither a custard-like pudding, a steamed pudding, nor a dessert, it defies the normal naming traditions. But, what we do know is that Jamie Oliver is a big fan.

"Yorkshire puddings: light, crispy, fluffy, pillows of joy, fantastic with any roast dinner," he said on Instagram. He also revealed that, less conventionally, he enjoys eating them with smoked salmon and horseradish sauce. We think he'll have to run that past the people of Yorkshire before we can fully endorse it, but each to their own.

Still wondering what, exactly, a Yorkshire pudding is? It's hard to describe, but it's something between a cake and a pancake, in the rough shape of a muffin, made from a thin batter of egg, milk, and flour. If you've ever had a popover, it's a similar basic concept. Ultimately, you have to try it for yourself. We have a traditional Yorkshire pudding recipe that's easy to follow.

Jamie Oliver might push healthy food, but what does he eat when he's indulging? When asked by the University of Bath's Bath Time magazine what his go-to drunk food is, he said it's a burger. So, regardless of those healthy eating aspirations, you could still find him rocking up to a late night kebab joint ordering a burger when he's had one too many beers.

That said, if Oliver is making a burger himself at home or for one of his restaurants, it's probably going to be a bit fancier. "A perfect burger is a science: getting the bun warm enough, spongy and soft; getting the meat just right with the cheese melted on top," he said. He also tops his pork burger with fresh pear, adding some sweetness and crunch as a contrast.

Back to a healthier vibe, Oliver does have a number of veggie burger recipes made from vegetables that he might chow down on in a more sober moment or on those days he's aiming to eat less meat. We wouldn't be surprised if he hit up that vegetable garden of his to gather some of the ingredients.