10 Classic Ina Garten Recipes to Make All the Time (2024)

FAQs

What dish is Ina Garten most famous for? ›

The Barefoot Contessa's simple, meticulously tested recipes have helped drag me out of every cooking rut I've ever found myself in. Happily for all of us, Garten has shared a number of her recipes (and cooking tips) with Food & Wine.

Go-To Dinners

Cooking night after night during the pandemic inspired her to re-think the way she approached dinner, and the result is this collection of comforting and delicious recipes that you'll love preparing and serving.

In a new interview for Julia Louis-Dreyfus' podcast, Wiser Than Me, Garten admitted that it "wasn't a struggle at all" to decide against having children. "I had no interest in having children," she told Louis-Dreyfus. "I had a terrible childhood, and it was nothing I wanted to recreate.

I made Beatty's Chocolate Cake, which Ina Garten said is the "most fabulous cake" she's ever made. The chocolate cake and buttercream frosting both feature coffee — the special secret ingredient.

Ina and Jeffrey Garten have been married for over 50 years, having tied the knot in 1968. Throughout their marriage, the couple have lived in many places together including Paris, Washington, D.C., Manhattan and East Hampton, New York.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (1999)

Ina's first cookbook came out in 1999, and it was a breakout hit, introducing her signature style of off-the-cuff entertaining. I often suspect an author's first book is her best, especially with restaurant titles, when she's showcasing a career's worth of carefully tested recipes.

Several years ago, Garten built a second kitchen in a barn on her property so she could have somewhere to film episodes of Barefoot Contessa (she told Oprah Daily all about it in 2021). But Garten's home kitchen, where she still cooks meals for friends and family, has remained untouched for 25 years—at least until now.

One of those places was Washington, D.C., where Garten worked as a budget analyst for presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

Garten is Jewish by birth and heritage, as is her husband, but rarely refers to her religion and ethnicity, though they are showcased through the inclusion of classic Jewish cooking in her television show and cookbooks, when she makes such dishes as rugelach, challah, and brisket.

Who taught Ina Garten to cook? ›

Without a formal culinary education, she says, "Julia Child was my cooking school."

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ina Garten's net worth in 2024 is estimated at $60 million. When combined with that of her husband Jeffrey, that amount is estimated at a whopping $120 million.

For over 20 years, Ina Garten has shared her comforting and foolproof recipes with the world through her beloved cookbooks and "Barefoot Contessa" show. But before becoming a Food Network star, Garten wrote budgets at the White House and ran a Hamptons grocery store. Here's her incredible life story.

Her fame may be relatively quiet — she doesn't have a line of cookware, there isn't a namesake restaurant — but make no mistake: Ina Garten is a powerhouse celeb chef. Fans know her story well: From a White House budget analyst to specialty food-store owner, her path to stardom has been slow and steady.

Flay and Garten have been friends and colleagues for decades, so it's no surprise that Flay has such respect for her person and her cooking. And Garten has returned that love in kind. In an interview with the Food Network, Garten waxed impressed about the staggering achievements and stamina of Flay.