TV Cook Ina Garten’s Ingenious Formula Helps Plan the Quantity of Food to Be Served for Each Guest

Popular cook Ina Garten (@inagarten) spilled the beans on her secret method for cooking accurate amounts when hosting a large group of dinner guests. The cookbook author, who hosts the Food Network program, Barefoot Contessa, hosted an "Ask Me Anything" session where she promised to answer all the questions from her fans in December 2024. The foremost question asked Garten, “How do you know how much food to make for a crowd?”  

Responding to that, the 76-year-old TV cook credited her catering experience to having an idea of how much food to make for a set number of people. “As a caterer, I always had to figure out how much food to make for 20 people or 100 people or 200 people,” she said. Garten's secret to making enough food for everyone involved using “a rule of thumb” of estimating the amount of food an individual can eat. She explained that half a pound of food per person for the main course turned out to be enough while a quarter of a pound per person for the side dishes would do the trick. 

“And then personally, I would double it just to make sure we had enough food,” she jokingly added, before she quickly corrected that she did not recommend this part of the step. In addition to making a whole estimate of the crowd she was going to feed, Garten also liked to keep it simple and delicious. “You know I have one menu that I always make. I call it the 'Getting to Know You' menu,” she disclosed. A rack of lamb and orzo with roasted vegetables, a recipe from the cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, Garten shared, was her go-to meal for catering to a crowd. She added, “I can make it in my sleep, it’s absolutely delicious and it’s really easy to prepare.”

Garten runs a popular food store in the Hamptons, the Barefoot Contessa, that caters to vacationing New York and Hollywood elites, per The New Yorker. She followed up her success with a series of best-selling cookbooks in 1999, in addition to starring on Food Network which propelled her fame. However, it was not always her dream to become a popular TV cook with a bunch of cookbooks under her byline. Before becoming a caterer and author, Garten worked as a budget analyst at the White House, per a Forbes report. Thus, her supreme estimating skills.

According to Business Insider, Garten had taught herself to cook with the help of Julia Child’s recipes. “Honestly, the first month I was there I thought, 'This is the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life.' I'd never been in the food business, I didn't know how to do anything,” the cook told the New York Times's Sam Sifton on the occasion of her cookbook release of Modern Comfort Food. She revealed it was actually her husband, Jeffrey Garten, who had helped inspire her to take on the new career choice. "Jeffrey said, 'If you love it, you'll be really good at it," she recalled her husband telling her, the best advice she ever received. Safe to say, Garten’s risk was worth taking as she flourished in the food industry despite starting in her 30s and leaving a prestigious job at the White House. 

You can follow @inagarten on Instagram for more cooking tips and hacks.