Guy Fieri Hated Veggies, Now He Can’t Stop Eating Them—Here Are His 5 Favorites

Plus, he shared some best cooking tips ahead of spring grilling season.

Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD

Iconic Food Network show host and food critic Guy Fieri is known best for hitting the hottest diners, drive-ins and dives around the U.S.. Whether he’s showing us the next ‘bomb-dot-com’ burger or a ‘funkalicious’ mom-and-pop breakfast, you can always be sure the mayor of Flavortown is recommending something worth the trip. But now, just ahead of grilling season, Chef Fieri is pushing a drool-worthy product of his own.

Releasing throughout the month of March, nine new Flavortown sauces will be available at retailers nationwide. The collection features four barbecue flavors, as well as five creamy dipping sauces. In our interview, Fieri said, “This endeavor with Litehouse has been probably one of the coolest things I've done in my culinary career.” And it may be one of the tastiest, too. From Donkey Sauce to Hickory Barbecue, I got the chance to try the sauces and can confirm: None of them miss.

When he sat down to talk with EatingWell, Fieri shared some tidbits about his favorite foods to roast and sautée with the new sauces, plus the vegetable he can’t wait to grill up this spring. Keep reading, though, because he also shares an easy hack for enjoying more of your favorite condiment (without overdoing it) and what eating well means to him.

Related: How Guy Fieri Went From Flavortown to Feeding Frontline Workers

EatingWell: What veggies are you always sure to grab on a grocery trip?

Fieri: I'm a huge green bean fan. Green beans are one of my all-time go-to’s, and they're usually readily available. I love Brussels sprouts, and I’m a big cauliflower fan. I just made a big roasted cauliflower the other day with a bunch of dijon mustard and honey on it. Then, I topped it with feta and balsamic vinegar. But broccoli or cauliflower, I’m a big fan of. I love cabbage. I don't think it gets enough play. Cabbage can be roasted, sautéed—it goes everywhere. So yeah, I love veggies. And a funny thing is I did not like veggies when I was a kid.

EatingWell: Which of your new sauces is going to be your pick going into the barbecue season?

Fieri: I think the mop sauce is a really good beginning sauce, because we're not quite into the big barbecue season, yet. It really goes with everything. It's gonna add some flavor, some spice, a little tanginess…It's just balanced enough so it's not screaming, ‘Hey, I'm a huge weekend barbecue!’ So I think the kickoff to the grilling season in the spring would be the mop.

EatingWell: What’s going to be your go-to barbecue dish this spring?

Fieri: I'm a big veggie fan. Give the mop sauce a little toss with Brussels sprouts and either throw them on your grill or in the oven. I think it's great on shrimp. We just did pork chops with it the other night. One of the things about a sauce is I don't want to lose the flavor of what I'm cooking. I want to make sure that it gets to shine through—not to cover up.

Recipe to try: Grilled Brussels Sprouts

EatingWell: What advice would you give to people wanting to cook with more sauce?

Fieri: Let your imagination go where you want to go. That doesn't mean you have to flood something in a sauce. Sometimes, you can just accentuate. I think tossing into the sauce is one of the things that gets missed all the time. People put sauce on top, and they get this big amount of it. Sometimes, I take my vegetables before I put them on a salad, toss them in the sauce, let them get evenly, lightly coated and then put them on the salad.

So, take your salad. Hit it with a dressing that you like. Then, take the Poppin’ Jalapeño sauce, put all your veggies in that and give those a nice little toss. You get these two contrasting flavors: an oil-vinegar-based sauce and a creamy-based sauce all together. Little things like that can really open up the spectrum.

EatingWell: What does eating well mean to you?

Fieri: I think eating well really gets into, ‘What does good for you? What makes you feel good?’ Yes, I would love to eat a gigantic bowl of pasta carbonara, but I need to fortify my palate. I want to have a nice variety between something cool, crisp and crunchy, something hot and spicy, something creamy, and something dippable. I think eating well is eating in balance and eating with adventure. I remember a great buddy of mine, one of my mentors, was talking about building recipes and said, ‘When you go to a restaurant, what do you order?’ We were talking about Italian restaurants; I said I order carbonara or chicken marsala. “Great, stop that,” he said. ‘Order something different each time. You don't just read the same book every time, do you? You don't watch the same movie every time, do you? Then, why do you go to the restaurant and order the same dish every time?’ To open up the pallet, you’ve got to open up your mind.

Keep reading: This Dietitian-Favorite Sauce Has Just 4 Ingredients & I Put It on Basically Everything

Read the original article on Eating Well.