Celebrities who cook: stars you wouldn't expect to be experts in the kitchen

As Paris Hilton lands a cooking show, we round-up more Hollywood names with culinary flair

Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have all cooked on camera. HBO Max, YouTube, Instagram

She popularised the catchphrase "that's hot" more than two decades ago, and now Paris Hilton could soon revive it while in the kitchen for her new cooking TV series.

Following on from the viral sensation of her YouTube video, Cooking with Paris, in which she cooked a lasagne without the flair of a celebrity chef, Hilton has been tapped by Netflix to create a series documenting her off-beat kitchen antics.

"She's turning the traditional cooking show upside down," says Netflix . "She's not a trained chef and she's not trying to be. With the help of her celebrity friends, she navigates new ingredients, new recipes and exotic kitchen appliances. Inspired by her viral YouTube video, Paris will take us from the grocery store to the finished table spread – and she might actually learn her way around the kitchen."

The show is set to start streaming globally on the platform on August 4.

Paris Hilton's new series, 'Cooking With Paris' will air on August 4. Courtesy Netflix

However, the Hilton heiress is far from the only star in the public eye with a passion for cooking and cuisine. Here we round up other celebrities with unexpected culinary flair.

Snoop Dogg

An unlikely pairing, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart presented a cooking show together. AP

He may be better known for rapping, but Snoop Dogg is also a good friend of celebrity homemaker, Martha Stewart. In 2016, the pair capitalised on their friendship with a VH1 cooking show called Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party.

Speaking of their TV collaboration, Snoop Dogg said: “This show shows you that people can get along, people can work together, people can love each other, no matter where they come from, or how they were brought up.”

Of her rapper friend, Stewart told NBC's Today show: “I like his laid-back energy, I like his outspokenness, I like his sense of timing, and I really enjoy to watch him cook. He's so particular, his little tiny bits of this and that, and it all finally comes together.”

Snoop added: “I love Martha-like, I love her for real. She's the big sister I never had. Being able to correct me, to teach me, to show me how to be better, to give me something to aspire to be.”

The teaser trailer for a recent series of the show is well worth a watch:

Selena Gomez

In 2020, Selena Gomez launched Selena + Chef, a HBO Max unscripted cooking show which was filmed at her home during Covid-19 quarantine. In April, it was renewed for a third season.

In each episode, the star tackles a new cuisine along with a different guest chef instructing her via zoom. Her grandparents also make an appearance. The guest chefs offer culinary tips and each episode explores a food-related charity. So far, guests such as Roy Choi, Marcus Samuelsson and Nancy Silverton have all featured.

During the episode with taco chef Choi, Gomez FaceTimed famous friend Taylor Swift to show her the Korean barbecue tacos. Of Gomez’s culinary creation, Swift joked: “If you don’t send me the recipe, we’re going to have words … I want to have words.”

Speaking of the Emmy-eligible show, Gomez said: “I thought it could be an interesting idea to do a cooking show and people could learn and improve their skills along with me.

“Cooking [shows seem] to cross [demographics], and people find them very calming. That’s been really interesting to hear, I have to say.”

Eva Longoria

'Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends' by Eva Longoria. Courtesy Amazon

Clearly a foodie, Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria opened Hollywood restaurant Beso in 2008. Although the restaurant has now closed, Longoria’s passion for food has not dwindled. In 2011, she released a cookbook, Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends and during the height of the pandemic, offered cooking classes via Zoom.

Speaking of her cookbook, she told singer Jessie Ware on the Table Manners podcast: “I have a cookbook. It was like a memoir of my life told through food and my travels around the world. I love cooking. It's so therapeutic for me.”

"Every time I land from a flight, whether it's from Texas to California, which is only three hours, or if I'm landing from Dubai which is a 17-hour flight, the first thing I do is get in the kitchen and cook. It's the one thing that makes me feel at home,” Longoria said. "I cook everything from Shepherd's pie to tacos. My go to, because of my husband, is chicken tacos. I make them in four minutes."

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson has a food blog and cookbook with property developer friend, Julie Tanous, called Food Between Friends.

“If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I have a passion for cooking and entertaining. In fact, if I wasn’t an actor I think I would have found my way into culinary school,” writes Ferguson. “[Tanous] shares my passion for food and actually is a professional chef. We have such a ball cooking together and I am learning so much from her years of experience.”

The pair also share recipes on their website julieandjessecook.com, with highlights including a Thai-style power bowl, winter Greek salad and rosemary & feta lamb burgers with paleo tabbouleh.

Bradley Cooper

As well as starring in a movie and TV show about restaurant kitchens, Bradley Cooper worked as a busboy at a Greek restaurant before he was famous. AP

Actor Bradley Cooper has starred in two kitchen-based projects, 2005's TV show Kitchen Confidential, based on Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and the 2015 film Burnt.

However, his passion for cooking dates back more than 16 years.

“When I was a kid, I would screw up cooking with my grandmother. It was an Italian family, so cooking was a huge part of it,” he told Yahoo! Movies. “I was a busboy at a Greek restaurant and a prep cook at an [Italian] restaurant called Mirabella’s in Somers Point, New Jersey. I’d be there from 6.30am to 5.30pm, just cooking.”

Since finishing Burnt, which he had one month to prepare for, he says he has cooked every day, “I’m one of those guys that [uses] whatever’s in the refrigerator. I just started a little garden, which is like heaven. I’m just picking vegetables, you know – real old man stuff.”