My Life in Food: Joel McHale Shares Surprising Snack Obsession

Joel McHale might have a slight coffee addiction.

“Boy, I drink a lot of coffee,” McHale, 53, revealed exclusively in his My Life in Food feature in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “That is all day long, no joke. I think I’ve had about 12 shots [of espresso] by now.”

The only thing the Community alum might like more than coffee is pasta, which he tells Us has been a favorite since childhood.

“There’s a reason why pasta has become one of the most popular dishes on the planet, because you can do so much with it,” he told Us while discussing his partnership with Mac-A-Roni, the latest innovation from the makers of Rice-A-Roni. “When they came to me, I was like, ‘Oh, you guys have no idea.’ I grew up eating Rice-A-Roni, and I love pasta. When I eat it, I go for it. And I have two teenage sons, and they can’t get enough of it. So this was as if they had made the product for me and my family.”

Available in Creamy Cheddar and Creamy White Cheddar flavors, Mac-A-Roni launched this fall with a pop-up event headlined by McHale.

“Cheese and pasta, it really enhances the flavors of your main dish,” McHale tells Us of the versatility of the dish, especially during the holiday season. “That’s, like, scientifically proven, and so I think it’s really true. So when you have turkey Thanksgiving, having a side dish of pasta, you can have your potatoes, and that’s fine. But I’m a pasta man, and I was born in Italy, you know, where macaroni came from.”

Keep scrolling for more of McHale’s fun food-based anecdotes:

What special dinner would your mom or your wife make on your birthday?

Oh, my wife would not be cooking. I would be cooking. If I’m home, I do all the cooking.

When I was growing up, rice and flank steak was one of my favorite meals. And my mom would marinate it in honey, soy sauce, green onions, salt and pepper and ginger, and let that marinate overnight. Then, we’d serve it with Rice-A-Roni. So now, it would be Mac-A-Roni.

My mom used to make — and still does — spaghetti carbonara with bacon and eggs. Those would be my perfect meals.

What did you order on your first date with your wife, Sarah Williams?

We went to a restaurant called the Swingside Cafe, which was a pasta-only restaurant. I think she had a puttanesca, and I think I had bolognese.

What is the snack you are obsessed with?

Boy, I drink a lot of coffee. That is all day long, no joke. I think I’ve had about 12 shots [of espresso] by now.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Probably a bone in ribeye. Look, everyone orders it medium rare, and it’s pretty easy to do, but I would say medium or medium rare.

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What’s the comfort food you eat when no one is watching?

Peanut Brittle. A lot of candy.

What is a recipe you made up?

I like to take a jalapeño pepper and take all the seeds out, put that in a Cuisinart and have nothing else, just insanely fine diced peppers, and use that as a garnish. I put it on top of meat or pasta, and I remove a lot of the heat from the seeds, and it’s just peppers. I know that’s not something that’s innovative, but people are like, “Oh, what did you add?” and I’m like, “Nothing.” It doesn’t have a lot of salt to it. It’s not as much flavor, but, yeah, just peppers.

What food didn’t you like as a kid?

Well, I still can’t really just eat a raw tomato. I have friends that eat them like apples. I love them on anything else, like, burgers with oil and vinegar and all that. I will eat them all day long, but I can’t just have them raw.

With reporting by Sarah Jones