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Justine Doiron / Allrecipes
Long before launching her TikTok and Instagram accounts in 2020, Justine Doiron considered food her favorite hobby. “This all started as a very fun pandemic project, and when my audience started to grow, I started to treat it a lot more seriously, and it became my job,” she says.
In just four years, the former publicist has grown her empire to include more than 1 million followers on Instagram and 2.3 million on TikTok, as well as a thriving website and Substack. Doiron’s fans flock to her to follow along with her videos’ honest voice-overs—which cover themes ranging from body image to family dynamics to her relationship with alcohol—and for the trendsetting yet approachable plant-forward pescatarian recipes she shares.
“I didn’t grow up with food or in a family that valued cooking, but I used my love of food and cooking to create a sense of belonging and home,” she says.
We sat down with the author and recipe developer of “Justine Cooks: A Cookbook: Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen” to learn more about her new book, the top two recipes she wants you to try from it, the one pantry staple she thinks should be in every home, and more.
Justine Doiron / Allrecipes
There are a lot of cookbooks on the market—and now yours is among them as a New York Times bestseller! Who would you say "Justine Cooks" is for?
This is for food lovers—for people who can’t stop thinking about food, who want to try new flavors, but also have a realistic perspective and don’t want to be spending hours and hours in the kitchen. All of these recipes are simple and doable. If you like “Ruffage” by Abra Barens, which is all about vegetables and cooking seasonally, you’ll love this. It’s no secret that “Six Seasons” by Joshua McFadden has been a huge inspiration to me. And if you’re into seasonally focused books, like “Big Heart Little Stove” by Erin French, we speak the same language.
While flipping through "Justine Cooks," it was so sweet to read the words on your kitchen fridge, which you explain as the philosophy by which you cook. (Fail big, get personal, cook for one…or millions are among them.) What mindset do you hope to instill in your followers through your cookbook, videos, and recipes?
These recipes truly are simple and are easy, because I don’t have the skills you think I do. I’m a home cook! They might stretch your kitchen muscles with a different ingredient, method, or style of cuisine that you may not be totally used to. But the book is much more approachable than you think, there’s just a lot of influence from the globe that I’m really proud of. I hope my recipes and videos bring more ideas—but not more work—into your kitchen. I never want people to feel like I’m talking down to them because we are all the same.
You’re well known for launching several major food trends, from crispy quinoa to baked salads to the bluest blueberry cookies. If you could peek into your crystal ball, what are one or two things you think will be big in 2025?
This is tough! The pendulum is always swinging back and forth. I think we’ll see a resurgence of health food, but from a different perspective. Right now, whole milk and butter is huge, and I think we’ll see a resurgence of plant-based alternatives swooping in. We can’t ignore the lactose-intolerant girls forever! (Doiron stocks both Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter and Miyoko’s Oat Milk Butter in her fridge.) Dinner parties are definitely en vogue. We’ll see a resurgence of the micro-dinner party. This year, we won’t be cooking for eight friends, but will be cooking for four.
You’re such a vault of recipe inspiration, through your social platforms and now in your cookbook. Who or what inspires you to keep innovating?
I’m inspired by the people on "Chef’s Table" and the chefs cooking ribeye at my local restaurant. They show me that food is such a skill, and it might not be a skill that I have in my own home cooking capacity, but they push me to keep working on discovering more about the way I like to cook. When I try something new at a restaurant, I often think, “How can I make this fulfilling, comforting, and easy for someone at home to make?”
What is one ingredient that you think should be in every home kitchen?
Tomato paste should be in every kitchen! It’s a little umami-salty-sweet bomb, and if I don’t know what to cook for dinner, I know I can caramelize tomato paste in a little bit of olive oil and a few red pepper flakes and throw whatever veggies I’m sautéing in, and it’s going to be delicious. You can add it to the base of a soup, or if you have coconut milk, you can make a curry with it. For a pantry pasta, it will add a punch of concentrated flavor. If you get the screw-top kind, you can just toss it in your fridge and it keeps great. As far as the brand, I like Cento Organic. They sell it at my Trader Joe’s. It’s so good.
I know it’s impossible to choose just one favorite recipe from "Justine Cooks," but could you fill us in about one or two that might be sleeper hits?
If I had to choose just one, the Lentils with Sticky Shallots and Dukkah is my current hyperfixation meal. The vegetable chapter also includes a recipe for Cauliflower with Coconut Dressing and Fresno Almonds that’s incredible. It’s good for late summer when you have access to fresh cherries, but this works with frozen cherries, too. I might make that now because I have a head of cauliflower I’m just looking at with nothing to do. That’s a real sleeper hit.
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