Chef Andrew Zimmern is known for his willingness to eat just about anything. The acclaimed chef and Bizarre Foods star has tossed back fried grasshoppers and llama jerky—just to name a couple of radical foods he's tried. With that info for context, you might be surprised by the fan-favorite food he refuses to eat: raw cookie dough.
We found this out when we recently stumbled across a 2022 TikTok post where Zimmern made his feelings about raw cookie dough very clear—and he didn’t hold back. “Why do people eat raw cookie dough? It sucks,” he said. “Raw cookie dough tastes like raw flour with sugar and other s— in it. It’s terrible.”
People pushed back in the comments, and honestly, can you blame them? To many, cookie dough is sweet and nostalgic and just risky enough to make you sneak another bite. “After this, I cannot trust your judgment,” one person wrote in the comments of Zimmern's TikTok. “Blasphemy! The dough tastes better than the actual cookie!” added another. But some people agreed with Zimmern. “Thank god someone said it,” someone chimed in.
That post left us so curious, we had to find out if he’s had a change of heart. It’s been a few years since then, so Parade checked back in with Zimmern to see: Does he still hate raw cookie dough that much? Here's what he had to say.
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@andrew.zimmernWhy do people like raw cookie dough? It sucks. #hottake #cookiedough #andrewzimmern #askmeanything
♬ original sound - Andrew ZimmernWhy Does Andrew Zimmern Hate Raw Cookie Dough?
It all comes down to taste for Zimmern. “Raw flour tastes awful,” he tells Parade. “And because of that, raw cookie dough tastes awful, especially when compared to a baked cookie!” Zimmern then doubled down on his stance. “Cook the damn stuff. It tastes sooooo much better,” he added.
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Is it Safe to Eat Raw Cookie Dough?
While Zimmern didn’t mention it, it’s actually generally recognized as NOT safe to eat raw cookie dough. “The main reason that I advise against eating raw cookie dough is that it contains ingredients that can carry dangerous pathogens before they're cooked,” says Darin Detwiler, food safety expert, author of the book Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions, and a professor at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies.
You know that eating raw eggs carries risk, but there's another ingredient that's also of concern: flour. “Flour is a raw agricultural product and is not treated to kill bacteria,” Detwiler says. “Outbreaks have been linked to flour contaminated with E. coli. Because flour can come into contact with animal waste or contaminated water in the field, it can harbor harmful bacteria until it is baked to a safe temperature.”
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On the egg front, the big concern is Salmonella, Detwiler explains. “This pathogen is responsible for numerous foodborne illness outbreaks. Eating them uncooked leaves consumers vulnerable to infection.”
Detwiler says these risks are “significant” because bacteria, like E. coli and Salmonella, don’t change the taste, smell or appearance of the dough. “As a result, people may not realize they’re eating something unsafe,” he says. “Illnesses from these pathogens can be particularly severe and even deadly for children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.”
Baking the cookie dough in the oven eliminates these risks because the high heat kills the bacteria, Detwiler points out.
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One of the easiest ways to enjoy safe cookie dough is to buy edible cookie dough. But if you want to make safe, ready-to-eat cookie dough on your own, Detwiler recommends using heat-treated flour and pasteurized eggs. “These are two ‘kill steps’ that protect you and your family,” he says.
To heat-treat your flour, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread flour over it. Then, bake it at 350° for about seven minutes. (You can also heat it in the microwave for about 1 minute and 30 seconds, stirring it every 20 seconds or so.) Check the flour's temperature with an instant-read thermometer to make sure it reaches 165°.
From there, you can follow your favorite recipe. If you prefer to use a cookie dough recipe that's specifically made for eating raw, Sugar Spun Run has a great one that heat-treats the flour and skips the eggs.
Of course, if cookie dough isn’t your thing, that’s okay, too. At least you know that you and Andrew Zimmern have at least one thing in common.
Sources
Andrew Zimmern, American chef and restaurateurDarin Detwiler, Food safety expert and author of the book Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions and a professor at Northeastern University’s College of Professional StudiesRelated: The Genius Trick for Making Sky-High Muffins That Look Like They Came From a Bakery
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