I'm no stranger to a strange food combo, like dipping pizza in Coke or fries in mayonnaise. You'll probably roast me in the comments for that, but when someone with a much larger platform shares their, ahem, unusual recipe, it can set the whole internet ablaze.
In the words of TikToker Tanara Mallory, "Everybody's so creative!"
Here are 17 strange recipes and food combos that celebs shared:
1. In 2023, Bella Ramsey told the Hollywood Reporter about a breakfast meal they love — "cornflakes and bran with dried strawberries and with orange juice on top instead of milk."
They explained, "There once wasn't milk I could drink. There wasn't oat milk or almond milk, so I tried orange juice on it years ago."
Her The Last of Us costar, Pedro Pascal, was sweetly concerned.
Many fans were intrigued enough to try it for themselves — then regretted it.
still not over the fact that bella ramsey eats their cereal with ORANGE JUICE. (also don’t try it.)
2. In her YouTube series All Things Adrienne, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton shared her tuna salad recipe with a "sugary surprise" — a can of tuna, a scoop of mayonnaise, some salt and pepper, and a big glass of fruit punch. After making a tuna sandwich, she dipped it in more fruit punch.
As you might've guessed, her viewers were not impressed.
3. In his infamously chaotic GQ interview, Robert Pattinson shared his "business idea" for "a pasta which you can hold in your hand." To make the "Piccolini Cuscino," he microwaved penne for eight minutes, layered sugar and American cheese slices on aluminum foil, put crushed-up cornflakes under the cheese, covered it in red sauce, dumped on the pasta, added more sugar and half a hollowed-out bun, branded the initials "PC" onto the bun with a lighter, squished it all together with more aluminum foil, then cooked it in a microwave (Or possibly toaster oven) for 10 minutes. The foil caused the appliance to shoot bolts of electricity then die.
Fans found the viral interview equally horrifying and hysterical.
Robert Pattinson attempting to demonstrate his “fast food version” of pasta to a GQ reporter is peak comedy, I think.
In a later GQ interview, Pattinson admitted to lying to the press, but he also insisted the handheld pasta was completely serious business.
He said, "I was fully, actually trying to make that pasta. ... Like, I was literally in talks with frozen-food factories and hoped that that article would be the proof of concept. My manager was like, 'Is this really what you want to do? You want your face on handheld pasta? You know you’ve got to go to Walmart and really sell it, for potentially very little return.' And there was a part of me that was, like, 'Is there a world where this works?'"
4. In 2018, Dove Cameron told Delish that, as a kid, she'd "take brownies and make them into little balls and dip them in ranch." When she re-tried the snack as an adult for First We Feast, she said it was still "so fucking good."
The comments were quick to try to call her bluff.
5. Pickles and popcorn is a Texas thing, so it made sense when Selena Gomez, who was born in Grand Prairie, shared her own version of "Texas popcorn" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. To a paper bag filled with popcorn, she added a lot of Tabasco sauce and some salt then shook it up. Next, she poured it into a bowl, then she dipped each handful of spicy popcorn into pickle juice before eating.
Side note — I actually tried this recipe when she first shared it. While it wasn't for me, some of my friends really loved it and kept making it for years!
She shared the recipe again on a 2020 episode of Guilty Pleasures.
In the comments, fans defended her love of pickle juice popcorn.
But others still had their reservations.
6. In 2023, Brooklyn Peltz Beckham shared a cute Instagram picture of himself cooking spaghetti bolognese with his puppy, Peanut, at his side. However, his eagle-eyed followers noticed an interesting addition in the pot — a wine cork.
Commenters were quick to question it.
On his Instagram Story, Beckham clarified that he purposefully added the cork to his spag bol to help make it a "more tender dish." He said he got the tip from the Naples Daily News, but the original article was actually about adding a wine cork when you're cooking octopus.
Critiquing his cooking technique, Barbara Pollastrini, a professional Italian chef, told Insider that the wine cork wouldn't do anything for that dish.
She said, "The problem is that people trust this food influencer and are without any knowledge. The only way to have a fantastic ragù is to cook it for at least three hours. This is the only way to have soft meat."
7. On a 2021 episode of Today, Brooklyn Peltz Beckham shared his great grandmother's recipe for an English breakfast sandwich. In a cast iron skillet, he cooked bacon, sausage, and a fried egg. Then, he piled it all onto white bread and squirted on a lot of ketchup.
While the ingredients made sense, viewers weren't too impressed with his assembly (or his "chef" status).
@TODAYshow @brooklynbeckham So he made a sausage, english bacon, and non-runny egg on...untoasted white bread. With ketchup. Was this meant to be a joke?
Some compared it to his photography book, What I See.
Nobody is talking about nepo babies who are truly talented, like Brooklyn Beckham. He’s earned his place. His book deal with Penguin is the result of years honing his photography skills. And I for one loved his spot on The Today Show cooking a sausage, bacon and egg sandwich.
8. In 2022, Stephen King tweeted his creative dinner idea — microwaved salmon filet.
Dinner: Get a nice salmon filet at the supermarket, not too big. Put some olive oil and lemon juice on it. Wrap it in damp paper towels. Nuke it in the microwave for 3 minutes or so. Eat it. Maybe add a salad.
His followers chalked it up to another piece of nightmare fuel from the iconic horror author.
@StephenKing The smell of microwaved fish is more horrifying than anything you have penned & I say this as an admirer who can barely watch a trailer or see a book jacket with your name on it without getting next level scared.
9. In a 2021 Instagram Live, Adele revealed that she likes to eat "Ready Salted Walkers [potato chips] with loads of Worcestershire sauce on it." In an interview with BBC Radio 1, she explained that she pours the sauce directly into the bag, then "you hold it tight, and you clip it, and you shake it, shake it, shake it." She also advised listeners to "drink the bag juice."
A listener who called in agreed with her, and she got a shoutout from the Walkers brand on Twitter.
nothing but respect for our queen
10. In a video Quavo shared on Instagram in 2019, Saweetie showed that she likes putting Hot Cheetos on pizza.
Quavo was a bit horrified.
After a similar clip went viral in 2021, many fans had a similar response to Quavo's.
Saweetie: “I put Top ramen seasoning on my oysters and hot Cheetos on my pizza” The world:
11. In a 2020 Instagram Live, Saweetie shared her "secret recipe" — putting barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and lemon juice on oysters. She said, "It gives a little twang to it."
After watching the clip, fans expressed concern for her stomach.
@babyhairswoops @Saweetie Her stomach:
12. In 2021, Saweetie's stylist shared a video of her putting ranch dressing on her spaghetti. The clip went viral.
Her fans had a lot of...thoughts.
Saweetie eats like she did a 40 year bid and all she knows is prison concoctions https://t.co/6Z9GTMhwRV
Later that year, Saweetie responded to criticism of her food concoctions, telling Entertainment Tonight, "I really don't think my concoctions are crazy until I post them and then the internet goes crazy. I'm just like, 'This is so regular to me.'"
13. In a 2020 tweet, Gene Simmons shared that he adds ice cubes to the milk in his cereal.
Anyone else put ice cubes in their cereal?
Commenters had a lot of thoughts, ranging from agreement to disgust. However, the best response came from his son, Nick, who replied, "30 years. 30 years watching him do this. This is my life."
14. In 2021, celeb chef Jamie Oliver shared his recipe for "speedy sausage pizza" — which included grapes as a topping.
You've got 1 HOUR until #KeepCookingFamilyFavourites is BACK on @Channel4 and Jamie shows you how to make a speedy sausage pizza with a flavour combo you NEED to try!! https://t.co/xMDUwrXmPD
He followed it up with a poll, which revealed his followers couldn't quite get behind the unique topping choice.
🍇 on a pizza? #KeepCookingFamilyFavourites
However, after he shared a picture of the pizza on Instagram, some fans shared that they tried it themselves — and loved it!
15. On The Jennifer Hudson Show, Zach Shallcross, who starred on Season 27 of The Bachelor, shared a "really weird food combo" he learned from his grandmother — pancakes with mustard and syrup.
He said, "It's like a weird thing where it's sweet and savory...on a pancake."
He again shared that fun fact while tasting maple syrup during a hometown date with contestant Gabi Elnicki, who reacted with justifiable disgust.
On Reddit, Bachelor Nation had a similar reaction.
On her website, she described the recipe as a good way to get your kids to eat vegetables, but in the comments, her readers were skeptical.
17. And finally, in 2014, Shailene Woodley told Into the Gloss about a health food that you probably shouldn't be eating — clay.
She said, "One of my friends was making a clay toothpaste that you swallow instead of spit out. But I first heard about the benefits of eating clay from a taxi driver. He was African and was saying that, where he's from, the women eat clay when they’re pregnant. Seriously — ask your taxi drivers where they are from and about their customs. You will learn a lot. So, I've discovered that clay is great for you because your body doesn't absorb it, and it apparently provides a negative charge, so it bonds to negative isotopes. And, this is crazy: It also helps clean heavy metals out of your body. My friend starting eating it, and the next day, she called me and said, 'Dude, my shit smells like metal.' She was really worried, but we did some research together, and everything said that when you first start eating clay, your bowel movements, pee, and even you, yourself, will smell like metal."
Explaining the cultural context, Dr. Roshini Raj, a gastroenterologist, told Today, "This is a practice in some indigenous cultures, and I think that probably came about because they did not have access to certain nutrients in their diet, like calcium from dairy, or iron, and there are some minerals in dirt or clay...[Outside of this cultural context, there are no scientifically proven benefits to eating clay.] Because I think, now, most people have access to more effective ways of getting those minerals through vitamins, or through foods."
Debunking the actor's claims that eating clay "detoxes" your body, Dr. Aaron Carroll, an Indiana University School of Medicine pediatrics professor, told Today, "You have multiple organs in your body that serve the purpose of getting rid of that bad stuff — your liver, your kidneys. Your body is built to get rid of the stuff that harms you and keep the stuff that you need."
Woodley is still roasted online for her clay-eating comments to this day.
i hope shailene woodley ate a little extra clay today as a treat