The One Recipe You Should Buy Chrissy Teigen’s Book For

It is after 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and I’m quietly munching on a salty, crispy rice and hazelnut crackle and mumbling “damn, Chrissy!” to myself as I pack up what will be the topping for tomorrow’s dinner party dessert. The Chrissy I’m referring to, of course, is none other than former model, now TV host, cookbook author, and mom, Chrissy Teigen.

Teigen’s second book, Cravings: Hungry for More, came out last week, but I’ve spent the last few weeks cooking through a preview copy, cursing Chrissy for being both unabashed and completely ballsy in her recipes. We’re sharing three of my favorite recipes from the book on Kitchn this week, but my absolute favorite recipe isn’t included. In order to get that recipe, you’ll have to buy Chrissy’s new book — and I promise you it’s worth the $18 price tag.

I’d be terribly surprised if anyone doesn’t know who Chrissy Teigen is at this point. Outside of being incredibly active (and funny and proactive) on social media, she’s also been a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, the face of Pampers campaigns, and has a new kitchenware line at Target. Oh and yes, she already has one beloved, New York Times best-selling cookbook under her belt.

But to be quite honest until this assignment I didn’t follow her. I didn’t not like Chrissy — I was just protecting myself. Because sometimes following someone so beautiful, successful, and fun who is also a mom of two can make you feel bad about yourself.

Reading through Cravings: Hungry for More softened me a bit, though — Teigen is really funny and self-aware without taking herself (or food) too seriously. The photos are gorgeous and the recipes are as solid as you’d guess, but what really stood out to me is how funny she is! You guys, I can’t name another cookbook that made me laugh out loud.

Possibly more important — I expected a book with recipes that I’d never bother to cook on a busy Tuesday night with two hungry kids running around, but Teigen surprised me most with easy weeknight dinners too. Yes, I did start with some dinner party fare, but I also added a few weeknight dinner recipes to my own repertoire after this experiment. And one in particular is worth buying this book for.

Flipping through Cravings Hungry for More, I dog-eared about a dozen recipes to try over the course of a month. A few would be cooked for a big family Sunday dinner; others would be peppered throughout weeknights (because that’s the true test of a recipe — being able to cook it while you spell first-grade spelling words out loud) and a few weekends too, giving equal attention to breakfast and dinner recipes. There aren’t very many recipes that I would dub “easy weekday lunch,” even as someone who works from home.

I started cooking through Cravings 2 with the Chicken Milanese and 3-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse for a dinner party. Admittedly the Milanese was a bit ambitious for tripling and cooking with my two kids running around, but the mousse — with its crispy rice cereal meets hazelnut crackle absolutely stole the show.

We cooked the Parmesan Waffles as breakfast for dinner on a weeknight and my husband asked for us to have it again the following week. I took the Everything Bagel Bake (it’s so smart and easy, you guys!) to a ladies’ brunch and came home with an empty casserole dish.

• Chrissy Teigen’s Three-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
• Chrissy Teigen’s Crispy Parmesan Waffle Breakfast
• Chrissy Teigen’s Everything Bagel Cream Cheese Breakfast Bake

But the one recipe that absolutely blew my mind, culinarily speaking, and that has now become a weekly staple in my house is Chrissy Teigen’s Pad Thai Carbonara. Before I even tell you how easy, delicious, and totally family-friendly this recipe is, can we address that Chrissy Teigen is the only cookbook author with the guts to take two iconic cultural dishes — Pad Thai and carbonara — and smash them together in the most ridiculously crave-worthy way?

Here’s what I love about this recipe. It takes a handful of ingredients — pasta, broccoli, bacon, eggs — that are always in my kitchen and produces a quick dinner dish that is unlike anything I’ve had at home in a great long while. Yes, you have to procure a few new niche ingredients (sweet soy sauce, Thai chile powder) but once you do you can — and trust me, you’ll want to — make this recipe over and over again.

The pasta has the silky sauce you expect from carbonara with a whole hit of nuanced flavor — a little smoky, some heat, and sweetness. And my two kids devoured it and asked for seconds, which in my opinion is worth every cent of the $18 Cravings 2 costs. It helps me love it more that Chrissy’s own mom was the inspiration behind the recipe.

While I’m betting on Chrissy Teigen’s Everything Bagel Breakfast Bake as being the recipe from Cravings 2 that takes over the internet, this Pad Thai Carbonara should be the recipe that makes you actually buy this book. Like Chrissy it’s the culinary boundary-breaker we didn’t know we needed in our kitchen on a Tuesday night.

Do you have Chrissy’s new cookbook? What’s your favorite recipe from it?