- I'm a food reporter for Insider who's made four British royal recipes.
- One recipe I loved was a bread and butter pudding Princess Diana adored.
- My least favorite was the chicken recipe Queen Elizabeth ate at her coronation luncheon.
From Martha Stewart's mashed potato-filled cinnamon rolls to Rihanna's macaroni and cheese, I've tried more than my fair share of recipes while working at Insider. Among the bunch are a handful of royal recipes that offered a glimpse into foods members of the British monarchy loved.
With King Charles' and Queen Camilla's coronation festivities finished, here's a roundup of royal recipes, from best to worst.
My favorite meal dish is a stuffed bell pepper recipe Princess Diana ate while living at Kensington Palace
Ranking first on the list is royal chef Darren McGrady's stuffed bell pepper recipe he included in his cookbook, "Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from the Palace Kitchen." McGrady told HuffPost in 2014 he often cooked the dish for Princess Diana as she focused on a healthy lifestyle and fat-free diet.
Although prep-heavy – with 15 ingredients – it is a truly delicious dish that doesn't sacrifice health for flavor. The recipe calls for four red bell peppers stuffed with an amalgamation of ingredients like smoked bacon, mozzarella cheese, and rice, making each spoonful better than the last. This dish took about 45 minutes to bake, including oven time for the bell peppers.
Another smash hit is Princess Diana's favorite dessert, a bread and butter pudding topped with toasted almonds and powdered sugar
Chef McGrady also made Princess Diana's favorite dish – bread and butter pudding – while working for her at Kensington Palace. In his cookbook, McGrady said she liked the dish so much that she bragged about him to a reporter.
"This pudding was Princess Diana's all-time favorite, so much so that she once had a royal reporter write that 'Darren makes the best bread and butter pudding in the world,'" McGrady wrote. "Well, I am not sure it is the best in the world — but it's up there! The final texture is a cross between a bread pudding and a crème brûlée."
I wholeheartedly agree with Princess Diana; this dessert is an absolute winner. The decadent dish has 12 ingredients – including Amaretto and 12 slices of white bread – that melt in your mouth after taking it out of the oven. It's a dessert made of layered white bread coated in butter and eggs topped with sweet flavors.
My only gripe with the recipe is the cooking time, specifically the Amaretto-soaked raisins. While tasty, the recipe can take six to eight hours if you decide to soak raisins in Amaretto overnight, as suggested. If not, the dish takes just under two hours.
Prince William and Prince Harry used to help make Princess Diana her favorite stuffed eggplant, but it ranks 3rd place in my opinion
According to McGrady, Princess Diana's two sons often asked to help make stuffed eggplant for their mother.
"William and Harry came by the kitchen fairly often looking for a treat or to find out what was for dinner or even just to grab a piece of fruit. But every once in a while, they would try their hand at cooking," he wrote in his cookbook. "'Can we make Mummy dinner, please?' they'd ask."
He added that the "boys would get very excited about putting that together" and "no matter that it looked like smashed eggplant when it was done, they served it proudly and the princess was thrilled."
The stuffed eggplant is very similar to the stuffed bell pepper, but I ranked it third because I'm not a huge fan of eggplant. Still, stuffed eggplants are a flavorful, healthy dinner option that people can easily make at home. The 45-minute recipe includes 12 ingredients, like fresh basil, button mushrooms, and Parmesan cheese. I especially enjoyed the bell peppers, bacon, and tomatoes.
The coronation chicken the late Queen Elizabeth II ate at her coronation luncheon in June 1953 is okay, but it could be better
The coronation chicken recipe, also known as Poulet Reine Elizabeth, was the most hands-on recipe because it involved preparing chicken with mirepoix, a 14-ingredient sauce, and an optional 6-ingredient mayonnaise.
The recipe, shared by English Heritage, calls for boiling chicken in a mirepoix and a bouquet garni before shredding them. Then, the sauce is made with several ingredients like red wine, minced onion, tomato pureé, and curry paste. You can also add your homemade mayonnaise. The dish takes around an hour to complete.
The dish is versatile, acting as both a main or side dish, and it resembles a nice chicken salad with hints of sweetness among more savory flavors.
While I'd eat the dish again if served, the preparation and cooking time could have been better. It's also not my go-to sandwich filling since there are other, cheaper options I can find in my neighborhood.