Antoni Porowski Just Shared the Comforting Polish Dish His Mom Used to Make

• In this exclusive interview, Antoni Porowski shares his tips for easy holiday recipe upgrades.
• How to win in the kitchen? He recommends simple ingredient swaps, flexibility and preparation.
• Plus, his favorite Polish dish and how his time on Queer Eye has changed his perception on food.

Between starring in the hit show Queer Eye for ten seasons, hosting his own travel show and, you know, winning an Emmy, culinary expert Antoni Porowski has proven himself as a standout chef and personality on our screens.

We got to sit down with Porowski in this exclusive interview to learn more about his journey as the food and wine expert on Queer Eye, his travel rituals and his favorite ways to level-up holiday recipe classics. Plus, we chatted about the launch of the limited-edition Red Carpet Recipe Collection, his collaboration with Carnation that’s all about making a meal the star of the show. 

Do you have any tips for making classic, go-to recipes a little more exciting and fancy for the holidays? 

For me, it’s about setting myself up for success. I have less time in the kitchen now because I travel so much, so when I’m home, I keep an arsenal in my pantry, freezer and fridge of shelf-stable things. Evaporated milk is great because it’s shelf stable and adds a nice thick creaminess to sauces, sweet or savory, with light caramel notes. Playing with an herb can be a game changer and take you in a different direction. For potlucks, I’ve started being more mindful by sharing the dish I’m making and having friends bring something that complements it. When I tested my Golden Root Vegetable Chicken Pot Pie for the Carnation Red Carpet Recipe Collection, my friends brought incredible chocolate chip cookies, and we leaned into that nostalgic comfort foodie vibe. Things are always tweakable. It’s good to approach cooking thinking, “How can I swap something out to make it more convenient?” Or, you got to the grocery store and you realize there’s no tarragon today. How am I gonna pivot? Maybe I can do a cilantro-y mint situation that takes me to another culture. 

When you’re traveling, what are some things that help you stay healthy, energized and ready to go as soon as the plane lands? 

I do everything I possibly can to sleep on the plane, which is easier said than done when you’re someone like me who suffers from anxiety and doesn’t really understand how planes work. If I do get sleep, coffee is mandatory. I have to unpack everything in my bag, even if I’m rushing somewhere, even if I’m somewhere for two days. Every drawer gets taken up in the hotel room or rental because I have to feel like I’ve landed. I have things that make me feel settled, like specific candles that I travel with. The most important thing is either a walk, or if I’m energized enough, a run so I can understand the environment, even if it’s a city I’ve been to many times. It’s always good to familiarize, like, here’s the coffee shop, here’s the market if I want fresh fruit, here’s the park if I’m traveling with my dog. Understanding the environment and making me feel like a citizen of that area, even if it’s for a short time, is very important to me.

On your show No Taste Like Home, you take celebrities to places that are connected to their heritage and their past. If you were to take yourself as a guest, what would you be eating? 

I think it would be a croquette. It makes me think of No Taste Like Home because Polish people love dairy, meat and potatoes. It’s like a super thin crepe stuffed with a mixture of wild mushrooms or meat that’s sort of like a pâté consistency. Some restaurants deep fry it, but I like to pan-sear it for those crispy edges. Then you can put a beautiful mushroom sauce—that’s what my mother used to make with Carnation [evaporated milk], because it’s beautifully thick and has really light caramel notes. It’s smothered in that sauce, with herbs like tarragon, parsley and dill. I’m pretty confident crepes were not invented in Poland—probably more French—but that’s what’s interesting. You take a dish, break it down, explore the components, figure out where they’re from, why they’re important and how they made their way into a culture. It teaches you so much about the people, their history and your own family.

After 10 seasons of Queer Eye, you’ve done a lot to impact people’s lives through food and through cooking. How has working with the people you have met on the show strengthened your connection and relationship with cooking and food? Has your outlook changed throughout the years? 

Yes, it’s definitely changed. I’ve always been obsessed with food, where it comes from, how it makes me feel and how connective it is. Food is connectivity. If you look at this holiday campaign, the Carnation Red Carpet Recipe Collection, they literally wanted to have a red carpet vibe to show that food truly is the star of the show. If I look back at any family occasion—birthdays, dinners after swim practice, holidays—that’s what brought us together. That upbringing dictated how I connect with people and what I value. On Queer Eye, I meet people who say, “I could just eat a protein bar and I’m fine.” Those people interest me most, because if you ask open-ended questions, you uncover beautiful stories. One hero’s favorite childhood recipe was peanut butter on a paper plate with honey, eaten with a spoon. He teared up talking about it. I don’t care how complex or simple a recipe is; we all have those shared stories. Even if they’re different, fancy or not, we all have those memories. That’s a universal truth. I’m always looking for ways to connect with people because that fills my cup, and Queer Eye taught me how important that is.