10 Things You Didn't Know About Katie Lee

Todd Plitt, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved.
You've met her too-cute-for-words pup Fionula, and you know that she's a self-confessed "major workoutaholic." But did you know that Katie Lee happens to carry hot sauce around in her purse? Yep, that's true. FN Dish caught up with Katie at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, where she showcased the brand-new recipes she created with Nutchello, a craveable drink made with plant-based milk. Read on below to hear more about those hot-sauce packets, and find out more little-known facts about this co-host of The Kitchen.
Is there one dish or ingredient that you just stay away from completely? Something you really hate?
Katie Lee: I hate wasabi. And I love spicy food, so I’m not sure why I have this aversion to wasabi, but I really detest it. Like, wasabi mashed potatoes are, like, blah. No way.
KL: French fries. I think that the french fries are, basically, they’re just to harbor ketchup. So, french fries with a lot of ketchup and really salty.
KL: I’m asleep at midnight. I go to bed really early, so I don’t have a midnight snack.
KL: Bobby Flay has become a great mentor to me. He’s one of my very best friends, and kind of like a big brother, and I always feel like I can go to him for any kind of advice. And whether it’s personal or professional, you know, I can ask him what he thinks of something that’s a bigger deal, or I can send him a text message and say, “Do you think adding some toasted almonds to this salad would make it better?” So he’s always there, and I’m very lucky to have him as a friend and a mentor.
What was the first dish you felt that you truly perfected and made your own?
KL: I mean, it would have to be biscuits. Yeah. I grew up cooking with my grandma, and that was the first thing I ever learned how to make, and that’s just, like, now part of my DNA.
Is there something you always order out and stay away from making at home?
KL: I don’t usually make Thai food at home. That would be something I like to order out.
If you weren’t in food, what career would you have pursued?
KL: I would have been a facialist. I would have loved to have been an aesthetician. I love, like, anything to do with — I know this sounds kind of gross —but any kind of zit popping is so fascinating to me. Like, I follow on Instagram Dr. Pimple Popper, and it is oddly satisfying. I very often say I should have been a facialist.
KL: There are a lot. … There would be so much food, so that it would take a really long time to eat, and I wouldn’t have to be thinking about fat or calories or about my workout the next day. So, I would have Thanksgiving dinner, fried chicken, pizza and … oh, what else would I put in there? There would be a soft-serve machine with every kind of topping you could think of, and tons of hot fudge and brownies.
What’s the strangest thing we’d find in your refrigerator at home right now?
KL: I don’t really have anything strange. I always have a lot of condiments. I’m a big ketchup, mustard, hot sauce [fan]. … Probably if you asked me the weirdest thing you’d find in my purse, [it] would be hot sauce. I carry around packets of hot sauce. When that Beyoncé song [“Formation”] came out and she said, "Hot sauce in [my] bag swag," I was like, “Yup!” I got mine.
Let’s say it’s a regular Tuesday night and you’re at home. What are you making for dinner?
KL: If it’s just me, like I’m by myself cooking, I like to make salmon a lot. So, I would probably be making myself a piece of salmon, an arugula salad and some baked sweet potato wedges, and that would probably be it.