
Ever looked at characters eating in a movie and thought to yourself, “Wow. I bet that would taste amazing in real life.”? Binging with Babish is a YouTube-based cooking show that brings your favorite fictional dishes out of the big screen and right onto your dining table with its easy-to-understand recipes that come out looking like they could be in an episode of Master Chef.
The channel was created by Andrew Rea, a Brooklyn-based content creator and self-taught filmmaker. His polished videos, which he began uploading in February 2016, all have a uniform editing style that would make you think he was always a trained professional. Add to that his self-taught cooking skills and Andrew Rea is the talented person we all wanted to come out of COVID lockdown as.
Andrew’s inspiration for the name Binging with Babish comes from The West Wing, a political drama initially aired in 1999. Andrew picked out his stage name from the show’s cast, settling on Oliver Babish, one of the White House Counsels on the show. Word on his subreddit goes that he uses the name because it was his Reddit handle even before Binging with Babish.
Since its creation, Binging with Babish has regaled the internet with its imaginative recreations of fictional recipes and practical guides on cooking basics. So, grab your notepads and let’s start gathering recipes for your personal Binging with Babish cookbook.
Kronk’s Spinach Puffs

Kicking off our list of recipes to add to your Binging with Babish cookbook is this sumptuous appetizer from The Emperor’s New Groove, an animated movie released in 2000. The movie is all about the character development of the titular emperor, Kuzco, from arrogant ruler to pretentious llama to benevolent dictator. Though we spend most of our time with Kuzco and Pacha, a commoner who gets him used to life as a peasant, the real showstopper of the movie is Kronk, the himbo assistant to antagonist Yzma.
Rather than effectively help Yzma advance her evil schemes, Kronk serves up a tray of spinach puffs, a mouth-watering dish that combines spinach, feta cheese, and a generous amount of sautéed garlic. Its flavor-packed filling is then stuffed into an envelope of puff pastry, creating a perfectly flaky dish that is just bursting with flavor.
Like Kronk says, he’ll give you the recipe which you can check out here.
Chocolate Cake

Remember that horrifying scene from Matilda where Mrs. Trunchbull forces Bruce to eat a chocolate cake? I do and it still surprises me how they managed to make eating cake look like a form of torture sanctioned under the Geneva Convention. But hey, this cake recipe would make a fine addition to your personally listed Binging with Babish cookbook.
The cake is surprisingly easy to make and has all the makings of an extra moist chocolate cake. If you bake, you can probably picture how good the batter is by knowing it uses a half cup of vegetable oil, four large eggs, and a cup and half of buttermilk. Really, the amount of oil is the dead giveaway that it will be one of the best chocolate cake recipes you’ll ever try. You can take notes from this video where Andrew Rea makes the cake.
Meat Tornado

Did we have you at meat tornado? This next recipe comes from Parks and Recreation. Season 3 Episode 2 of the show introduced had Andy introduce Ron Swanson and fans of the show to the concept of the meat tornado, a gargantuan burrito that has enough meaty goodness in it to send you to carnivore heaven.

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Literally.
The meat tornado in Parks and Rec was known for having killed someone. So, this Binging with Babish cookbook-worthy recipe had Andrew himself wondering if a meat burrito could actually kill a man and it turns out that it can. Dr. Michael Rothkopf, a nutrition specialist, confirmed that you can die from eating copious amounts of meat. Of course, this didn’t stop our Youtube cook from following through with his recipe which you can try for yourself here.
Courtesan Au Chocolait

Let’s move away from the savory dishes and add a dessert to your Binging with Babish cookbook. Be warned, though, this recipe calls for passable French pronunciation and the patience of a saint.
The extra fancy courtesan au chocolait comes from the Wes Anderson movie Grand Budapest Hotel. This fussy dessert calls for a choux pastry batter that is piped into dollop-sized servings. The pastry puffs are then decked in pastel-colored chocolate layers and stacked into a dainty, if a bit precarious looking, tower of sweetness.
It’s a very complex recipe so be sure to follow Andrew’s instructions in this video.
Croque Monsieur

Maybe that was a bit too complicated so, let’s go for another fancy-sounding Binging with Babish cookbook recipe that doesn’t have a detail-heavy process.
The croque monsieur was first featured in Brooklyn Nine-Nine in Season 2, Episode 9. Captain Holt surprised viewers with his hidden cooking talent when he managed to recreate Boyle’s croque monsieur recipe just by reading his blog. The sandwich uses two slices of a pan de mie loaf that are then toasted and topped with a mountain of cheese, ham, and bechamel. This luxuriously cheesy dish is popped into an oven until it’s perfectly melty and crisp. Take a look at the recipe here.
Krabby Patty Supreme

What could be better than a krabby patty other than a krabby patty supreme? When it comes to iconic fictional dishes, few shows can claim the fame that Spongebob‘s burgers have.
Our next candidate for your personal Binging with Babish cookbook may just be the unhealthiest one yet. The krabby patty supreme is a high-calorie content burger that consists of a quad burger covered in alcoholic batter and deep-fried in peanut oil. If you have arteries to clog, the recipe is shown here by Andrew Rea.
Cookie Cat

Back to the desserts. Steven Universe doesn’t waste time in introducing us to cookie cat, protagonist Steven’s favorite snack. This space-themed comfort food first makes a debut in Season 1, Episode 1, and is so good that Steven makes a rap about it.
Cookie cat is an ice cream sandwich that uses a chocolate cake base for its sandwich. Adam then cuts out cat-shaped slices on both his sheet cake and block of vanilla ice cream, slapping the two together for a dessert that’s out of this world. You can pop over to this video and take notes for your own Binging with Babish cookbook.
Direwolf Bread

Our last recipe recommendation for your Binging with Babish cookbook is a rustic bread from the world of Westeros.
Aside from noble families fighting over a pointy chair, copious amounts of incest, and a lot of backstabbing, Game of Thrones brought us our new favorite fantasy pet, the direwolf. Each of the Stark siblings receive a direwolf companion early in the show but later lose them in events that foreshadow terrible outcomes for each of the siblings. Seasons after losing her own direwolf, Nymeria, Arya returns to Westeros with a vendetta. On her way back to her homeland, she visits old enemies and meets new friends.
One of these friends, Hot Pie, gifts her a fresh loaf of bread and wishes her well on her journey. The meeting is bittersweet as the bread looks just like a direwolf…well, as close as Hot Pie could get it.
You can watch Andrew make it here together with Arya Stark herself, actress Maisie Williams.
Or Just Get the Binging with Babish Cookbook

If you’re not in the mood to be taking notes and would like to support Andrew, you might be interested in buying his actual Binging with Babish cookbook.
Andrew Rea announced the release of his first cookbook, Eat What You Watch: a Cookbook for Movie Lovers, in this video uploaded back in October 2017. The book features full-color whole page images of the recipes he makes on the Binging with Babish alongside a minimalist, easy to read and follow set of instructions.
Take your taste buds on a tour through film history by getting the cookbook here.
Andrew Rea also released an updated version that includes recipes from TV shows. You can order Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows through Andrew’s official site.
If you’re a fan of Binging with Babish or just love to cook, Eat What You Watch is a must-have cookbook. It’s a great way to recreate your favorite food scenes from movies and TV shows, and it’s also a great source of inspiration for new recipes.