We spoke to the star about her favorite pizza recipe, running an organic farm, and the clothing item she’s owned the longest.
Jennifer Garner really is that nice. While Katie’s known this for years, we were reminded of it recently when we sat down with the actress to discuss all things cooking. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the smiley star had us laughing within five minutes of chatting with her. While you know her from your favorite movies and shows, like 13 Going on 30 and The Last Thing He Told Me, and the sweet family she works hard to keep out of the tabloids, she also runs an organic food company called Once Upon a Farm and is the main chef on her unofficial TikTok cooking show (not unlike someone else we know).
“When I was first starting to cook, I had just graduated from college,” she tells us. “I was doing a show in Florida in a strip mall in Fort Lauderdale, and I was living with a roommate who was the star, and I was an intern who had gotten promoted to the second female lead. I was finally in my own apartment for the first time, and I cooked for us.”
Now, long removed from her days on a strip mall stage, she still cooks all the time, using the same tools her friends and family gifted her all those years ago. “It was around that same time I got a stand mixer, at maybe 23 or 24. I wanted one my entire childhood.”
Food is kind of her thing, so it only makes sense that she partnered with KitchenAid to wax poetic about the kitchen tools and gadgets she uses daily. We spoke to Garner about not only her cooking essentials, but her most recent clothing purchase, and the skincare she’d take with her on a desert island.
Katie Couric Media: What’s a kitchen tool you couldn’t live without?
Jennifer Garner: 100 percent it’s a stand mixer. I use it many, many days a week. It is constantly in use at my house. My kids bake with it, I use it if I’m going to make chicken taquitos because it makes shredding chicken so easy. I put the cooked chicken breasts in the mixer with the paddle and go zhuzh, zhuzh, zhuzh, and then it’s perfectly pulled apart and ready to go.
I make homemade pasta with my mixer regularly, and I also use it to make bread, cookies, birthday cakes for literally anyone you’ve ever met, mashed potatoes…Everything.
Growing up, we only had a hand mixer, and we made everything with it because we baked everything from scratch. When I was in my 20s, I got a stand mixer. It’s so worth the investment — not just the financial investment, but the counter space investment.
What’s your favorite kitchen gadget to use right now?
This little KitchenAid Go vacuum for the kitchen. You need that in your drawer to be able to pull it out and clean up your flour, rice, or whatever it is you’ve just spilled right on the counter while you’re cooking. You won’t believe how useful, easy, and effective this thing is. It’s such a no-brainer gift, too. It changes your whole kitchen game!
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Pizza for sure. I love it, and I can’t resist it. I don’t care where it’s from, if there’s pizza out, I’m going to have a slice! I do love homemade pizza, though. When I make it, I keep it simple, and I make a super, super thin crust. Right now I use Bon Appétit’s dough, but I replace a quarter cup of water with beer because it adds a nice flavor. And then you have an open beer, so that’s a plus!
I use that one, or I use Cook’s Illustrated Master Pizza Dough recipe. Or if I’m in a hurry, I’ll use Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I’m often doubling or tripling the recipes because I’m making them for whoever shows up at my house. I make pizza a lot on Sundays.
What kitchen essential has been with you the longest?
When I was still living in Florida after college, my roommate and the other people in the show all pulled together and got me a set of nesting bowls and dish towels and some really basic things. That set of nesting bowls is still the one I use every single day.
With Once Upon a Farm, you’re often out planting or harvesting fruits and veggies. What’s your most-used gardening tool?
I always carry my work gloves with me on the farm, because I never know what I’m going to come across. Back at home I also have a big kitchen garden, so I always have kitchen shears in my back pocket to cut whatever is coming my way. And I almost always have a hat that I can flip over to collect whatever is growing well.
If you were stuck on a deserted island, what would be the three skincare essentials you couldn’t live without?
Well, if you’re on a deserted island, you better hope you have sunscreen. I use Neutrogena Daily Defense every day, no matter what, rain or shine — and it’s been very rainy where I am. I have it on right now, and it’s been on since I got to work at 4 a.m. Hyaluronic acid and retinol are important once you’re my age because they encourage your skin to grow more new cells. I use hyaluronic acid and retinol daily, and both of the ones I use are Neutrogena. Makeup is kind of an afterthought if your skin is in good shape.
What’s your most recent fashion purchase?
One thing that is such a curse is that while you’re looking for things for other people, you find things for yourself. It’s just awful. I’ll be out with the full intention of buying for someone else, and then I see something that gets me thinking, Well, I mean, I have to have this. I’ve been caught in that trap a few times so far this year. The last thing I bought was a long pair of Celine pants that I need to get hemmed, and then I’ll have them on my body forever and ever!
What piece has been in your closet the longest that you still wear today?
I have this flannel shirt that’s my favorite. I’ve worn it to work the last three days in a row. It’s Jenni Kayne, and I’ve had it since before Jenni Kayne had an actual store. And I know Katie and I share a love for the brand.
