13 Of Giada De Laurentiis' Favorite Foods

If you're a fan of watching Giada De Laurentiis' cooking shows, you probably have a good idea of the types of dishes she makes, but what are her favorite foods that she makes for herself? We wanted to find out because she makes all sorts of foods on her show. However, we were pretty certain that she's not constantly eating some of the heavier foods she makes on her cooking shows.

Her recipes hint at her love of fresh ingredients, which feature strongly in her favorite foods. Another bit of information that you'll discover if you delve very far into her eating habits is that she's a big snacker, but the snacks she chooses are largely healthy ones. Her cookbook, "Giada's Feel Good Food," is the biggest eye-opener on her favorite foods and personal eating habits. Once you get a glimpse at how De Laurentiis eats, it may inspire you to make some healthy changes to what you have around to eat and snack on. It certainly did for us. So, join us in learning all about De Laurentiis' favorite foods and how she enjoys them most.

One of Giada De Laurentiis' favorite breakfast foods is an unusual choice: brown rice. "I now really gravitate toward whole grains and keep an eye on how much wheat I consume," she says in her cookbook "Giada's Feel Good Food." The way she eats her morning brown rice also harkens back to her Italian heritage.

Since De Laurentiis' day starts early, she values carbs for their ability to be filling and fuel her long day. So, on a busy day, she often gravitates toward a bowl of brown rice since it's a quick option (especially if she already has some left over in the fridge). However, we're not talking about a heaping bowl here. De Laurentiis limits her serving to just a quarter cup. Then, she dresses it up with some warm olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.

If you're wondering which brand of olive oil De Laurentiis prefers, it's Lucini Italia Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, which comes from Italy. The flavor profile of this olive oil starts with almond and finishes with pepper. So, using it adds more to the brown rice than just a little fat.

While brown rice is one of Giada De Laurentiis' breakfast choices, the one she defaults to most often is oatmeal. Her favorite way to eat oatmeal is savory with olive oil and salt, like she eats her brown rice breakfast.

"The person who opened my eyes to eating oatmeal like this is my Aunt Raffy. ... After I got over my initial skepticism, I tried it and it was delicious. It has quickly become my go-to for a fast, savory breakfast, even on the road," she says in "Giada's Feel Good Food." Here are a few ways she jazzes it up. One is with some nice marcona almonds and the other is with a little extra flavor from lemon zest and fresh thyme. However, she still occasionally opts for a sweet version with a little cinnamon, sugar, almond milk, vanilla extract, and sea salt.

She also uses oatmeal to help her avoid unhealthy plane food. If she's in the airport and sees a Starbucks, she likes to drop in and order plain oatmeal with water, which she dresses with olive oil and salt. Ever true to her Italian heritage, she carries mini olive oil packets in her purse for such an emergency. Lucini, her favorite olive oil brand, doesn't seem to make olive oil packets, but Marconi Extra-Virgin Olive Oil packets are fairly popular. She always has almonds in her purse, too. So, her favorite oatmeal meal can easily be had even in an airport.

In "Giada's Feel Good Food," Giada De Laurentiis reveals, "Another key to my lifestyle is that I eat many times over the course of a day." She says that, "Instead of the highs and lows and feeling like you're starved or stuffed, you stay much more even-keeled throughout the day. Your body adapts to this routine and begins to work much more efficiently."

Thus, you won't find De Laurentiis without a stash of snacks around her or in her purse for when she's on the go (which is often). Even if she doesn't have time for an actual meal, she makes sure to have snacks around. Her favorite go-to snacks include nuts, trail mix, dried fruits, olives, and chocolate. Almonds are one of her favorite nuts, especially when roasted with smoked sea salt. She enjoys a goji berry snack mix that also contains nuts, seeds, and sometimes chocolate chips. Home-popped popcorn with citrus zest and herbs is another option. She also likes to have homemade granola with plenty of nuts for snacking.

Chocolate has always been one of Giada De Laurentiis' favorite foods. In "Giada's Feel Good Food," she says, "When I was younger, I was completely addicted to chocolate and sugar. I relied on them to give me an energy boost throughout the day. In fact, I would eat less 'regular' food in order to leave room for dessert! If it was coated in chocolate, it was for me." While she still considers herself a chocoholic, she balances it better with other snacks. The treat also plays a role in helping her unwind at the end of the day.

De Laurentiis could certainly weigh in on the subject of the best dark chocolate bars out there since she's always trying new ones. Besides eating it plain, she likes to add a square of dark chocolate to her espresso when making herself an iced latte. She also enjoys turning it into an Avocado Chocolate Mousse. Another favorite way to enjoy it when she's in Italy is as the country's notoriously thick hot chocolate. While there, she especially loves getting chocolate from Guido Gobino, who is a top favorite chocolatier.

Giada De Laurentiis is a fan of eating healthy snacks throughout the day, and one of her favorites is roasted vegetables. By keeping roasted or grilled veggies in the fridge, she can grab a few to nibble on whenever the mood hits.

De Laurentiis' likes to roast a nice mix of veggies that range between green, flavorful, and carby options. Some of the veggies you might see in her veggie roasts include carrots, Brussels sprouts, red potatoes, and parsnips. Two particular favorites to roast are sweet potatoes and beets, both of which provide sweetness. She cuts everything into large chunks, tosses all of them with olive oil, and then adds some dried Italian herbs like oregano, rosemary, thyme, and basil. With a sprinkling of sea salt, they're ready to bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Her grilled veggie options often depend on what she finds that look nice at the store. For example, in the summer, she might grill a mixture of beautiful red peppers, eggplant, asparagus, cremini mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, and scallions. She cuts them into fairly large slices, covers them with olive oil, adds sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and grills them on the stovetop until they're done to her liking. Then, she makes a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh herbs to pour over the top.

Salads are among the food that Giada De Laurentiis enjoys, which isn't surprising with her love of fresh ingredients. Most of the salads that De Laurentiis favors are fairly simple, and she also loves chopped salads because of the way the flavors combine.

She considers a simple arugula and Parmesan salad to be the perfect complement to a perfect meal. However, she's not opposed to eating a slightly fancier version. Among the arugula and Parmesan salads she's shared with her fans is a candied lemon and arugula salad. Not only does it contain baby arugula and Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings, but it also includes chopped pancetta and homemade candy lemons. The dressing for it combines extra-virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard. As for chopped salads, she enjoys ones like her Chopped Italian Kale Salad that combines chopped ingredients like kale, radicchio, fennel, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, and almonds with olive oil, lemon juice, Calabrian chili paste, honey, and salt.

De Laurentiis is also particular when it comes to her salad dressing. In her blog Giadzy, De Laurentiis says, "I find salads are sometimes overdressed in restaurants, so I always ask for dressing on the side. In fact, I often ask to have olive oil and lemon wedges instead of dressing so I can dress the salad to my liking — and eliminate any extraneous ingredients."

While we've mentioned that she tries to limit her wheat intake, Giada De Laurentiis does have a weakness for pasta. However, being Italian and a great cook, her favorite pasta dishes and pastas are far from the spaghetti and meatballs that most of us think of when we think of pasta.

Her favorite pasta is a simple one: lemon spaghetti. It gets its flavor from olive oil (or even lemon oil), Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh basil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Another favorite is Pasta la Puttanesca, which features a sauce made from olive oil, garlic, anchovy paste, cherry tomatoes, Calabrian chili paste, capers (and caper leaves if you can find them), and olives.

She always keeps all sorts of artisanal Italian pasta in her pantry. You can buy De Laurentiis' personal brand of Giadzy Pasta online in lots of fun shapes like stelline, orecchiette, caserecce, paccheri, and nodi marini. However, her favorite brand (besides her own, of course) is Setaro. Some of her favorite pasta shapes include pappardelle, orzo, and nodi marini. Not only is nodi marini a fun shape, it shows up in several of her recipes like Pasta Alla Zozzona, where it holds onto sauce well.

Another whole grain that Giada De Laurentiis loves and has incorporated into her diet is quinoa. She enjoys it because it's filling. Plus, it adds interest and texture to any dish you add it to.

De Laurentiis especially likes to add quinoa to salads. The quinoa salads she makes are bursting with fruits, fresh or roasted veggies, and nuts. One that she particularly loves to get from the trendy Erewhon grocery store chain is a simple Dandelion Quinoa Garbanzo Bean Salad which is dressed simply with lemon juice, olive oil, and seasoning salt. Another simple quinoa recipe she enjoys is Herbed Quinoa. She cooks the quinoa with chicken broth and lemon juice and then dresses the quinoa with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, fresh thyme, fresh basil, fresh Italian parsley, and olive oil.

While she's fine with eating quinoa that's fairly simplistic, she also makes some that are a little more involved. One is her Quinoa, Roasted Eggplant, and Apple Salad. In addition to quinoa, roasted eggplant, and apple, it also contains walnuts, dried cranberries, and watercress. She serves it with a vinaigrette made with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, and chopped shallots.

With all the fresh foods that Giada De Laurentiis enjoys, it's not surprising that she likes hummus. However, her favorite version is avocado hummus. In "Giada's Feel Good Food," she says, "This is one of our favorite afternoon/after-school snacks at home. ... I often put this out as an appetizer with drinks when friends are coming over for dinner. In fact, this bright green dip is so versatile that I'll also serve it as a side to a simple piece of grilled fish."

The avocado hummus that De Laurentiis makes is different than just adding avocado to hummus. Her avocado hummus features cannellini beans instead of chickpeas, and it has no tahini. Like an ordinary hummus, it includes fresh lemon juice, smashed garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. It's also extremely green because she adds two other green ingredients in addition to the avocado: baby arugula and fresh Italian parsley. The arugula gives it an extra spicy kick. Once she combines everything in a food processor, she serves it with oven-toasted whole-grain pita bread chips that have been sprinkled with chili powder, lime zest, salt, and pepper.

While many of the foods you'll see Giada De Laurentiis make have an Italian bent, she's also a huge fan of Japanese food. Japanese cuisine fits well into her tendency toward eating light and fresh foods.

The first time De Laurentiis encountered and began to appreciate the flavors of Japanese food was when she was studying to be a chef in Paris, France. With Le Cordon Bleu being a world-renowned cooking school, she met plenty of classmates who introduced her to their cooking styles, including classmates from Japan. She admired how fresh, vibrant, delicate, and flavorful it is, as well as the care and artistry behind how her Japanese classmates presented their food. In 2021, she attended some virtual Master Classes with chef Shinji Ishida to learn how to make Japanese-style fermented dishes.

De Laurentiis likes to put her own spin on Japanese dishes and ingredients. For example, she enjoys the fresh flavors of sushi. However, when she makes her own at home, she uses brown sushi rice instead of white and gives it more of a California twist with fresh ingredients like avocado, mango, red bell pepper, and shrimp. She's also found that white miso (like Marufuku White Miso) can provide the umami kick that Parmigiano-Reggiano usually adds to Italian food. So, she has married Japanese and Italian flavors by using it in dishes like Miso and Pancetta Pasta, which uses the rendered fat from pancetta, butter, white miso, and spinach for the sauce.

While Giada De Laurentiis eats plenty of savory foods, she's also got a sweet tooth, as evidenced by her love for chocolate. In "Giada's Feel Good Food," she says, "I've found that the best way to deal with a sugar craving is with something frozen that takes a while to melt in your mouth. That way, you can savor the sweetness longer." She has quite a number of sweet favorites that she likes to stash in her freezer to satisfy her cravings.

Some of the items she likes to eat frozen are fresh fruits. Her three favorite fruits to keep at the ready are frozen grapes, sliced bananas, and berries. The main appeal of frozen berries is that they change to such a great texture. When she eats her favorite berries like strawberries and blueberries frozen, they're like eating little mini sorbets.

She also enjoys a few non-fruit treats from the freezer, and they're all chocolate. One of her favorite frozen chocolate treats is mini peppermint patties. The breathy coolness of mini peppermint patties intensifies when frozen, which turns eating one into an experience. She also likes keeping a bag of dark chocolate chips in the freezer. They last longer frozen, which makes them more satisfying than eating them unfrozen and having them gone in a few bites.

Another frozen treat Giada De Laurentiis enjoys is frozen smoothies. This favorite food does double duty because it works just as well for breakfast as it does for a later-in-the-day cure for a sweet craving.

One of her favorite morning smoothies is a Coffee and Chocolate Smoothie, which she uses as a healthy replacement for her morning coffee. To make it, she combines a banana with 2 cups of ice, 2 cups of spinach, half an avocado, a cup of almond milk, salt, coffee grounds, and dark chocolate chips. As you can imagine, it's vividly green when blended.

She has some other favorites, too, like her Spinach, Ginger, and Apple Smoothie, which she enjoys as an energy boost some afternoons. In addition to spinach, ginger, and apples, it contains ice, water, celery, and parsley.

With all the other healthy foods that Giada De Laurentiis enjoys as well as her sweet tooth, it shouldn't be surprising that she enjoys fruit. Not only does she like her fruit plain, but she also likes to dress it up to make into a fruit salad.

De Laurentiis explains on Food Network (via YouTube), that "Italians love to have fruit at the end of their meals, unless, of course, dessert is being served." De Laurentiis not only likes fruit after meals but as a snack. To make it more convenient to have for snacks or after meal treats, she always keeps some cut and mixed together in the fridge.

There's a fruit salad she likes to make sometimes, too. Some of the fruits she's mentioned adding to it include cantaloupe, strawberries, and green grapes. However, the specific fruits she puts in it vary based on what's in season. She's not beyond adding slightly unripe fruits to her salads either, which is fine because she covers her fruit salad in a liquid topping made by melting sugar in dry white wine. She also flavors it with fresh mint.