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Why Great British Bake Off's Prue Leith Keeps Her Holiday Meals Simple

Great British Bake Off's Prue Leith shared the best treat: She doesn't cook any grand dishes during the holidays and instead sticks to the basics.

By Alyssa Morin Nov 23, 2023 5:00 PMTags
Watch: Prue Leith Dishes on Meeting Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively

Prue Leith's favorite holiday meals will give you some food for thought.

While the Great British Bake Off judge is used to feasting on elaborate dishes on the competition series, she's all about keeping it simple around this time of year. 

"Between my husband and me," Prue, married to John Playfair, told E! News' Francesca Amiker, "we have 11 grandchildren and their parents, so there's a lot of family. If we all ever get into the same room, which is extremely rare, there's about 30 of us." She has two children, Danny Kruger and Li-Da Kruger, who she shared with late husband Rayne Kruger.

That's why Prue's hot take is to stick to the basics.

"We tend to have really simple food that we know everybody is going to like," she explained. "It doesn't necessarily have to be all that festive. We have mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, tomato sauce."

But remember, simple doesn't equal store-bought.

"It will be homemade," she noted. "I never buy ready-made meals."

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Of course, that wasn't the only (high) tea Prue served: She also dished on meeting Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on set.

"They're both very keen on Bake Off," Prue told E!. "They heard we were filming in the same studio lot as Ryan was, he was making Deadpool, and so they both just turned up."

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images

However, it's not exactly easy to break protocol on the show—unless you're Hollywood's favorite couple.

"Everybody keeps everybody out of the tent," the Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday judge noted. "No strangers are allowed in the tent, absolutely, rule number one. I mean, if my husband walked in without having cleared it all first he'd be just shown the door. But I'll tell you what, when those two walked in, every cameraman, everybody, just stood there."

Prue continued, "Of course, we were absolutely thrilled to see them."

Roku Channel

You can see all of your favorite stars sizzle on The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday on The Roku Channel.