Savannah Guthrie Wants You to Embrace the Snack Dinner

For well over a decade, Savannah Guthrie, 53, has lent her charm and curiosity to the Today show’s beloved cooking segments — and introduced viewers to countless chefs, cooking techniques and approachable recipes in the process. But she makes one thing extremely clear: “I really cannot cook,” Guthrie tells AARP over video from her dressing room at 30 Rock in New York City. Seriously: “Every Saturday before Easter, I Google how to hard-boil an egg.”

But that’s the beauty of Today’s approach to food: There’s a little something for every taste and skill level. It’s a theme that continues in the recently released Today Loves Food, a cookbook that brings some of that magic to the page. 

In it, Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Hoda Kotb, 60, Al Roker, 70, Jenna Bush Hager, and many more Today show friends share the recipes that they love and make for their own families. Ina Garten, 77, who wrote the foreword, shares a “perfect” Gruyère and herb omelet. Bobby Flay, 60, offers a mustardy take on chicken thighs. And Martha Stewart, 83, even joins in with a strawberry chiffon cake. Plenty of stories, hacks and tips fill the spaces in between.

“I think almost everything that I do cook, I learned on the show,” Guthrie says. And it hasn’t all come from celebrity chefs. “Craig Melvin’s mother’s mac and cheese? It’s easy as can be, and I’ve made it a hundred times.”

'Today Loves Food' features recipes from eight 'Today' show hosts and contributors, plus 50 celebrity chefs.

Courtesy Abrams

Cook With ‘Today’

Today Loves Food: Recipes From America’s Favorite Kitchen shared three recipes for AARP members to try:

Savannah’s Garlic Bread Pigs in a Blanket

The plain ol’ version is already perfect, but here she combines it with garlic bread.

Hoda Kotb’s Upside-Down Salad

It’s built in a bowl, turned upside down, and includes avocado, mango, cucumber and tomatoes.

Craig Melvin’s Mom’s Over-the-Top Mac & Cheese

It uses two forms of milk, three different types of cheese and a whole lotta butter.

Guthrie recently caught up with AARP about breakfast sandwiches, recipe prep and the virtues of a no-cook dinner.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You admit you’re no chef. Plenty of viewers aren’t pros, either. What’s something you learned during a cooking segment that’s been especially valuable in the kitchen?

I’ve learned little things that people probably take for granted. Really salting your water before you put the pasta in it: “Salt it like the ocean,” one of our chefs told me. Or knowing that meat has to rest — you have to take it out a little early, and it continues to cook when it’s sitting there beside the plate. One of my favorite things that I’ve learned on the show is how to cut food better: how to cut an onion, how to cut a tomato. There’s a technique.

So many people start their mornings with you and 'Today' every day. What’s your favorite part of your morning routine?

I love that first sip of coffee. I am a morning person, but when you wake up at 3:30 or 4 o’clock in the morning? That’s really stretching it. When I’m having a hard time waking up, I just start thinking about that cup of coffee. I’ve leaned heavily into half-and-half. There was a time in my life when I was trying to drink black coffee, or maybe skim milk, or something like that. No! My cup of coffee is my favorite part of the morning. It makes me too happy. That is not the place to cut corners.