We've tried everything from breakfasts and dinners to desserts and specialty bread.
Some winning recipes came from Guy Fieri, Ree Drummond, Carla Hall, Ina Garten, and more.
Business Insider put the best recipes from celebrity chefs head-to-head to find the most delicious salads, desserts, bread, beverages, and more.
Here are some of the winners, from hearty breakfasts to refreshing cocktails.
Editor's note: This story was originally published in September 2021 and most recently updated on December 26, 2024.
Breakfasts
The most important meal of the day deserves a great recipe. Food writers Paige Bennett and Tiffany Leigh tested scrambled eggs, omelets, blueberry pancakes, and breakfast burritos to see if they were worth the hype.
The winning chef's scrambled eggs had parsley as a secret ingredient
Emeril Lagasse's recipe for scrambled eggs was the best.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Emeril Lagasse's flavorful recipe for scrambled eggs was food writer Bennett's favorite.
Though the seasoning alone had 10 ingredients, the rest of the technique only required eggs, cheese, milk, butter, and salt. According to Bennett, the cooking process was easy and took only a couple of minutes.
The eggs were incredibly creamy, runny, and cheesy, paired well with fresh parsley.
Out of the many omelet recipes, the best one was microwaved
Carla Hall's microwaved omelet only takes a couple of minutes.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Bennett had a couple of favorite omelet recipes, but one of her favorites included Carla Hall's microwaved eggs.
Filled with mayonnaise, lemon juice, broccoli, and butter, the end result was fluffy and light. It had a nice balance of creamy cheese and crunchy vegetables.
The key to fluffy blueberry pancakes is whipped eggs
The finished pancake made with Bobby Deen's recipe was soft and golden.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Bobby Deen's winning recipe calls for whipped egg whites.
According to Bennett, the hardest part was whisking the eggs into stiff peaks, but the rest was simple and quick. The final stack was fluffy and delicious, especially with syrup.
Nancy Fuller's overnight oats were great.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Nancy Fuller serves up a hybrid of chia-seed pudding and overnight oats in half of a cantaloupe, then tops the concoction with blueberries and honey.
Bennett put all of the ingredients except the blueberries in a container and placed them in the fridge overnight. The flavor goes so well with the blueberries and honey.
Use simple and fresh ingredients to make delicious blueberry muffins
Trying Ina Garten's blueberry muffin was love at first bite.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Ina Garten's simple take on classic blueberry muffins proved to be the best of the bunch.
After using basic ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to make the dough, Bennett folded in buttermilk, butter, eggs, lemon zest, and blueberries to make golden and moist muffins.
Use toasted oats for a hearty loaf of banana bread
The oats gave Alton Brown's bread a nice nutty flavor.
Paige Bennett for Insider
To make Alton Brown's banana bread, swap regular flour for homemade toasted-oat flour.
Bennett found the hardest part was making the flour without a food processor. After toasting and pulverizing oats and mixing them in eggs, stick everything in the oven for 10 minutes.
The final product has a distinct nutty flavor without being overpowering.
Three different kinds of alcohol are used to make a sweet and crispy French toast
Guy Fieri's recipe was complicated, but the results were delicious.
Paige Bennett for Insider
To make Guy Fieri's French toast, you'll need orange-flavored and creme de banana liqueur, dark rum, milk, cinnamon, and brown sugar. This recipe turned out to be the most expensive of the bunch, thanks to the alcohol.
Bennett thickened caramel sauce, dipped and fried bread, and carefully sautéd sliced bananas.
The sweet toast was soft but slightly crispy. The bananas gave it a hint of freshness, and the caramel sauce was delicious. You won't even need maple syrup.
Out of all the breakfast burritos, the best one had steak
Guy Fieri's burrito required a lot out of the cook, but it was satisfying and filling.
Tiffany Leigh
Fieri's breakfast burrito recipe calls for ingredients like skirt steak, scrambled eggs, onions, and pico de gallo. This recipe made the best-looking burrito and had an umami flavor thanks to the juicy steak.
Leigh arranged the filling, made up of steak, eggs, diced potatoes and onions, cheese, salsa roja, and lettuce, on the tortilla and then griddled the burrito for a couple of minutes. This gave the burrito a nice golden-brown color and grill marks.
The result was an incredibly satisfying breakfast dish loaded with flavors and textures.
Jeff Mauro's recipe for homemade hash browns came together quite easily
Jeff Mauro's hash browns got perfectly crispy and were well-seasoned.
Andy Lynes
Writer Andy Lynes thought Mauro's recipe for hash browns was easy to follow and produced a recognizable version of the breakfast classic.
Notably, this recipe didn't call for eggs or onions. Mauro's recipe required a short list of potatoes, butter, olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne powder.
The final hash browns had a great color from the spices, and they crisped up nicely in the pan.
A meal isn't complete without a generous side. We tested everything from different kinds of bread to salads and spreads to find which ones should be staples at your dinner table.
For flavorful corn on the cob, try a spicy chile-lime recipe topped with cheese
Aarón Sánchez's corn looked and tasted delicious.
Paige Bennett
Bennett followed corn recipes from Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis, Trisha Yearwood, and Aarón Sánchez.
After grilling the corn for 20 minutes, Sánchez seasons it with rocoto-chile paste, fresh cilantro, lime juice, butter, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Bennett topped it with cotija cheese, cilantro, and butter for a spicy and cheesy main dish.
Ina Garten's stuffing came out nicely crisp.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Garten's stuffing was Bennett's favorite because of its complex flavor and easy preparation.
It required only one type of bread, baguettes, which made it easier to prepare. It also had fresh herbs, apples, and almonds combined with savory onions and celery.
To make the best guacamole, you'll need fresh ingredients
Aarón Sánchez's recipe had the best presentation.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Sánchez's guacamole is stuffed with a ton of ingredients, which made it the most time-consuming recipe of them all.
After using a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients, Bennett noted that the chile, cilantro, sliced radish, and queso fresco added a nice kick to the avocado.
Easy and affordable ingredients can make the tastiest deviled eggs
Alex Guarnaschelli's simple deviled eggs were delicious.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Bennett tried deviled-egg recipes from Alex Guarnaschelli, Rachel Ray, and Paula Deen. Guarnaschelli's eggs were not only a breeze to make, but they were also creamy.
Simply toss egg yolks in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients until they become soft. They have a nice kick thanks to the hot sauce, scallions, and paprika.
This celebrity chef's garlic bread was buttery, spicy, and not at all soggy
The texture of Guy Fieri's garlic bread was spot-on.
Paige Bennett for Insider
The ingredients for Fieri's recipe are a little more complex than others, but the process is quite simple.
Bennett added all the ingredients to a bowl and slathered them on a French baguette. The parmesan, hot sauce, scallions, and parsley balanced each other out.
The best cornbread didn't have any butter but turned out soft and fluffy
Carla Hall's cornbread came out golden and cracked.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Hall follows her grandmother's recipe for golden cornbread. Bennett tested it out and found her technique to be simple and straightforward.
After making a thick batter, heat a cast-iron skillet and pour the mixture in. The creamed corn and canola oil made for a slice of soft and savory bread.
Guy Fieri's biscuits had a slightly lighter color than the others.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Fieri's buttermilk biscuits had similar ingredients to other recipes. Bennett mixed the ingredients in a food processor, cut the dough into rectangles, and brushed them with butter and salt.
She was initially skeptical of the scone-like appearance but found the cake flour made for a soft and delicious biscuit.
Alton Brown's rolls had an incredible texture.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Brown's recipe seems complex at first but turned out to be quite simple. Bennett tossed the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and warmed milk in a stand mixer and let the dough rest.
After letting it rest for an hour, slicing it into strips, and baking them, she found the rolls to be savory and crispy.
Ina Garten's mashed potatoes used sour cream for tanginess.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Garten's recipe was a traditional take on mashed potatoes. Bennett put it to the test and used a ricer to break up red potatoes, which was the most time-consuming part.
After mixing it with warm milk, sour cream, and butter, the final result was tangy and savory.
The best recipe for egg salad was simple and had a dash of fresh herbs
Ina Garten's egg salad was near perfect.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Garten's egg salad featured dill and mustard, with a stronger egg flavor. Bennett found the process of boiling eggs to be easy and quick.
All she had to do was add eggs to a pot, boil them, drain them, and cover the batch in cold water. Finally, she added some mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and dill.
Bennett's favorite pasta salad featured Miracle Whip for a salty and sweet flavor
The cheese in Sunny Anderson's dish was a welcome addition.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Sunny Anderson's recipe for pasta salad calls for peas, cheddar, bacon, and Miracle Whip.
Bennett found it to be easy to make. She simply mixed anchovy-free Worcestershire sauce, red onion, apple-cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper with cooked noodles. The sweet replacement for mayonnaise added a tangy kick.
There was more than one winner for the best potato salad
It was a tie between Guy Fieri's and Ina Garten's recipe.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Fieri and Garten were tied for the best potato salad. Fieri's recipe called for red potatoes, vinegar, mayonnaise, sour cream, green onions, bacon, and chopped green onions.
Garten, on the other hand, used whole-grain mustard, buttermilk, salt, pepper, celery, red onion, and white potatoes. Both were crunchy and tangy thanks to the vegetables and condiments.
The best marinara sauce used red wine to create a sweet yet rich flavor profile
Several aspects about Ina Garten's sauce set it apart from the rest.
Paige Bennett
Garten came out on top with the best marinara-sauce recipe perfect for any pasta. Garten's marinara recipe required a 1/2-cup of wine, crushed tomatoes, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and olive oil.
Bennett sautéd the onions and garlic and then deglazed the pan with red wine, which boiled down pretty quickly. Once she added the other ingredients to the pot and let them simmer, she topped the sauce with some fresh parsley.
Raisins added a chewy texture to Sunny Anderson's coleslaw.
Paige Bennett
Bennett was a fan of Anderson's flavorful coleslaw. The apple-raisin slaw called for mayo, sour cream, golden raisins, celery seeds, apple-cider vinegar, cabbage, shredded carrots, and shredded apples.
The finished dish had a balance of sweetness, savoriness, acidity, and tanginess from the sour cream, apples, and raisins. The flavors worked together to make a light yet refreshing take on the cookout classic.
If you find yourself scratching your head for a meal plan or main course, look no further. We've tested baked potatoes, hamburgers, corn on the cob, roast chicken, and pasta to find the best options for your next dinner.
The juiciest hamburgers are filled with steak sauce and butter
Ina Garten's burger was the tastiest.
Lucien Formichella for Insider
Food writer Lucien Formichella made different hamburger recipes from Brown, Fieri, and Garten.
His favorite was by the "Barefoot Contessa," which used the most ingredients — an egg yolk, steak sauce, two kinds of meat, and seasoning.
After hand-mixing everything, Formichella added butter to the meat and cooked it in a pan to make a robust and flavorful patty.
Delectable roast chicken doesn't need extra seasoning or toppings
Thomas Keller's chicken took minimal effort.
Tiffany Leigh for Insider
Leigh made roast chicken using recipes from Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Garten. Leigh found Keller's technique to be a breeze — and it only uses a handful of ingredients.
After defrosting the chicken, patting off the moisture, and sprinkling pepper and salt on the skin, she cooked it in a cast-iron skillet for 50 minutes. The result was crispy, golden brown, and juicy.
For tasty fettuccine Alfredo, incorporate cauliflower and no cream
Katie Lee Biegel's fettuccine will become a go-to meal.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Katie Lee Biegel's fettuccine uses less cheese and more vegetables than other recipes. Though Bennett felt this recipe was more complex than the rest, she found it made the perfect sauce.
To make it, boil cauliflower florets, blend them with milk, and add fettuccine to the boiling vegetable mix. After adding Parmesan cheese, she loved the creamy texture and hardly tasted the cauliflower.
For crispy chicken wings, try a flavorful breading and deep-frying
Sunny Anderson's wings have a great crunch.
Chelsea Davis
Anderson's recipe calls for deep-frying and covering the chicken wings with a Buffalo sauce. Food writer Chelsea Davis didn't think that the breading and sauce were anything unique, but she loved that these wings had a nice crunch and tasty deep-fried flavor.
After tossing the wings with a spice blend of flour, cayenne, salt, and pepper, Davis heated oil in a pan and deep-fried the wings for about 25 minutes to create a great taste and texture.
There wasn't just one winner in the battle for the best chili
There was a tie for Ree Drummond's and Giada de Laurentiis' chili recipes.
Chelsea Davis
Davis made different types of chili from celebrity chefs from Garten, Drummond, and De Laurentiis. She loved Drummond's take on a traditional dish as well as De Laurentiis' recipe for a comforting, vegetable-filled chili.
Davis browned ground meat with onions and added a spice blend — chili powder, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper — tomato sauce, beans, and corn grits to make Drummond's chili.
For De Laurentiis' dish, Davis cooked ground chicken with a blend of salt, cumin, fennel, oregano, and chili powder and added corn, white beans, and Swiss chard to the mix.
Davis loved both Drummond's and De Larentiis' chili recipes for their hearty, savory, and complex flavors.
Ray's ribs packed flavor and called for a boozy ingredient
Ray's rack of ribs were slightly spicy and fruity.
Pascale Mondesir
Writer Pascale Mondesir thought Ray's dry rub helped make flavorful, delicious ribs.
The recipe called for a dry rub made with brown sugar, espresso powder, mustard powder, paprika, and cayenne. For the sauce, Ray specifically recommended Southern Comfort whiskey, as well as standard ingredients like chicken stock, tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic, onion, oil, and ground pepper.
Though she wasn't sure if she'd like the mixture of hot sauce and whiskey in the sauce, the finished dish had a good spice level and enjoyable fruity flavor notes from the alcohol.
Celebrity chef Roy Choi's recipe for grilled cheese kept things simple yet tasty
Roy Choi's grilled-cheese sandwich called for only a few ingredients.
Meredith Schneider
Writer Meredith Schneider thought Choi's recipe for a grilled-cheese sandwich had an impressive, delicious blend of cheesy flavors.
The sandwich had the shortest ingredient list out of the recipes she tried, calling for sourdough bread, unsalted butter, yellow cheddar, white cheddar, Gruyère, and Parmesan.
Schneider even plans to make Choi's sandwich recipe her new go-to grilled cheese.
The perfect pumpkin pie had a bourbon-maple whipped cream
Bobby Flay's pie looked perfect once it cooled.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Though Flay's recipe had a laundry list of steps, Bennett found that making the filling was simple.
After hand-mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and baking a graham-cracker crust, all she had to do was pour the filling in and bake the pie for 90 minutes.
With the whipped cream, the dessert had the perfect balance of vanilla, maple syrup, warm pumpkin, and spices.
Dark chocolate-loaded brownies pair well with berries
Gordon Ramsay's brownies smelled so good.
Paige Bennett for Insider
To make Gordon Ramsay's indulgent brownies, melt dark chocolate and butter in a broiler and add in the rest of the batter ingredients.
After only 20 minutes, toss more chocolate bits into the crust to break it up. Bennett noted they became bubbly and added to the rich flavor and texture of the pastry.
You can make quick and easy chocolate lava cake using kitchen staples
The inside of Ree Drummond's lava cake was like a gooey brownie batter.
Paige Bennett for Insider
For an easy-to-make lava cake, try Drummond's recipe. Bennett simply melted butter and chocolate, then mixed it with powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour.
She cooked them for 13 minutes to make a delicious hybrid of brownies and batter. She recommended serving it with ice cream.
Caramel-filled apple pie is perfect for Thanksgiving
Ree Drummond's apple pie was tasty and flaky.
Paige Bennett
Drummond's recipe for this pie has a long list of ingredients for each component: the crust, the filling, and the topping.
The crust was incredibly buttery and flaky, and the added spices in the crust kept it flavorful. Bennett found the softened apples contrasted perfectly with the crunchy topping.
The top fruit salads used surprising but refreshing ingredients
Both Guy Fieri's and Bobby Flay's fruit salads used mint.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Bennett tried several recipes for the summery salad and found she'd make Fieri's and Flay's recipes again.
The "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" host grills his fruit and adds in pound cake, toasted almonds, mint, and lemony whipped cream for a sweet and caramelized dessert.
Flay uses papayas, kiwis, mangos, pineapples, mint, and a ginger-lime simple syrup for a tropical take.
Ree Drummond's pecan pie was super crispy and caramelized on top.
Paige Bennett
Out of all the pecan pies, Bennett found Drummond's recipe to be the tastiest.
Drummond used pantry staples like brown sugar, salted butter, eggs, and pecans to whip up this deliciously warm pie. Although the dough was pebbly at first, the crust held up well after it baked.
The gooey center and caramelized pecans made this dessert stand out.
Whether you're looking for a refreshing cocktail or a warm mug of hot chocolate to end your day, we've tested iconic beverage recipes from multiple celebrity chefs.
To make boozy hot chocolate, you'll need vodka or liqueur
Sandra Lee's hot chocolate had the perfect blend of flavors.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Sandra Lee's boozy and hot chocolate uses simple ingredients like milk chocolate, half-and-half, cinnamon, and either vanilla vodka or hazelnut liqueur.
Bennett found this was the fastest recipe to make. She enjoyed the sweet and nutty flavor, which is perfect for winter.
Steep milk with spices to make a chai-filled milkshake
This milkshake was the perfect blend of spices and chocolate.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Anderson's chocolate-chai milkshake was Bennett's favorite of the bunch. She started by steeping milk with cinnamon, pumpkin-pie spice blend, nutmeg, cardamom, fennel seeds, and black peppercorns on the stove for 20 minutes.
The mixture was then strained into a cup and cooled in the fridge. Bennett loved the cinnamon flavor and thick texture of the beverage.
Geoffrey Zakarian's margarita recipe was a classic.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Geoffrey Zakarian uses lime juice, tequila, orange liqueur, and agave syrup to make a refreshing cocktail.
Bennett found the tartness from the lime juice, the sweetness from the agave, and the saltiness of the rim came together well without any single ingredient overwhelming the drink.
Ina Garten's mulled-wine recipe was the simplest.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Garten's classic recipe had a short ingredient list that included Cabernet Sauvignon and a lot of apple cider.
It also called for honey, cinnamon sticks, orange zest and juice, and a bit of clove and star anise. Bennett had the wine ready in 10 minutes after it simmered in a pot.
It wasn't spicy and had a good balance of sweet honey and cider.
Add a spicy kick to your Bloody Mary with a jalapeño
Bobby Flay's Bloody Mary had a slight kick.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Flay's recipe for a spicy citrus beverage calls for plenty of lemon and lime. There's also a jalapeño involved, which Bennett worried would make the drink too spicy.
It took no time at all to muddle most of the ingredients then add in vodka, tomato juice, and Worcestershire sauce. The flavors worked well and balanced one another, and the cocktail had a nice twist from the pepper.
The ginger beer had a distinct enough taste for this drink to resemble a cocktail in Geoffrey Zakarian's recipe.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Although it took a little bit longer to come together than the rest, Zakarian's sparkling mocktail was still easy to make.
Bennett filled a cocktail shaker with ice, then added the fruit juices. She strained the mix into an ice-filled glass, leaving a bit of room at the top to pour in the ginger beer.
The pineapple and mango juices gave it a tropical flavor and sweetness that perfectly paired with the spicy ginger beer, which gave the mix a kick that resembled a real cocktail.
Ina Garten's recipe didn't have a garnish and Alton Brown's drink was tart and sweet.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Garten's cosmopolitan recipe makes a massive single serving. Bennett mixed vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry-juice cocktail, and some fresh lime juice together.
There was a nice balance of lime and cranberry to take some of the edge off the liquor. Brown's process was simple, aside from finding fresh cranberries. Bennett boiled sugar, cranberries, and water together until most of the cranberries burst open.
After blending everything in a food processor, she added it to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, vodka, and lime juice for a refreshing beverage.
Every single mimosa recipe was good enough to make again
The mimosa recipes from Bobby Flay, Pat and Gina Neely, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Rachael Ray were all great.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Bennett made mimosa recipes from Flay, Pat and Gina Neely, Guarnaschelli, and Ray.
Each recipe highlighted different flavors and garnishes in the simple cocktail. She had no complaints about any of these mimosas because all of them were fruity, sweet, bubbly, and refreshing.
The fruitiest white sangria only takes 15 minutes to make
Racheal Ray's drink is topped with club soda.
Paige Bennett for Insider
Ray's recipe calls for apple liquor and sparkling water, which Bennett respectively swapped for apple brandy and club soda, as well as dry white wine, sugar, and a variety of colorful fruits.
The recipe also calls for fresh, ripe peaches. This cocktail was light, and the varying colors of the fruit this option stand out.
