Gwyneth Paltrow’s The Clean Plate: 7 things we learned about the star from her new recipe book

Beyond her Hollywood accolades, Gwyneth Paltrow has made a name for herself as one of the biggest names in health and wellness with her empire Goop. Now the former actress has added another title to her list. Her latest cookbook The Clean Plate is packed with healthy, wholesome recipes.

The former actress and mom of two celebrated her latest cookbook with an Instagram post and adorable boomerang, which she captioned, "We worked hard on creating incredibly delicious, super clean recipes that are pretty simple to make and will leave you feeling vibrant."

Here are some things The Clean Plate teaches readers about its famous author.

Gwyneth only does a cleanse once a year

Although Paltrow’s lifestyle site Goop includes plenty of cleansing guides, the actress revealed she mostly does just one cleanse a year. In the book, she mentioned that she occasionally does a “January kickoff cleanse."

She revealed, “I also typically do a cleanses only once a year, which is not about punishing my body for eating things like burgers and whiskey the rest of the year. Eating clean as a baseline, or full-on, for a set period of time isn’t a moral choice, and it shouldn’t have to feel like an act of deprivation.”

That said, in The Clean Plate Gwyneth worked with six different doctors to develop “six different week-long healing cleanses”. Covering everything from “Heavy Metal Detox” through to “Candida Reset”, each cleanse comes with a cheat sheet which includes a suggested menu, snacking guide and a yes/no ingredients list.

The recipes do not contain any of these ingredients

Gwyneth says her recipes in the book “had to comply with the fundamentals of clean eating”, which include cutting out foods “more likely to be associated with sensitivities, inflammatory reactions, and digestive issues”. To that point, there’s a few usual suspects you won’t find amongst The Clean Plate’s recipes: alcohol, caffeine, dairy, gluten, peanuts, processed foods or sugars, red meat and soy.

Gwyneth also chose to cut out “nightshades” - or “vegetables in the solanaceae family, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant [that’s aubergine for us Brits] which can trigger inflammation in some people”.

Instead, she suggested several ingredient swaps. Rather than reaching for the soy, she suggests swapping to coconut aminos instead of “tamari in marinades and dipping sauces” as well as chickpea miso for “soy-free miso soups, marinades and dressing”. For those keen on starchy foods, she recommended chickpea, lentil or brown rice pasta for a “gluten-free noodle fix” as well as waxing lyrical about something called a “zoodle” - a zucchini noodle. And if you just can’t do without a spagbol, she also provided a recipe to a “nomato sauce” which substitutes tomatoes for butternut squashes and beets.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, she also said to swap out vanilla extract for vanilla powder: an “alcohol-free” alternative which works marvellously in “vanilla-flavoured chia puddings and smoothies”. And if there’s a bibimbap in your future, she also said to trade regular kimchi for “sugar-free kimchi” which has “all the flavour of regular kimchi and none of the typical added sugar”.

She eats whatever she wants at dinner - with a few big exceptions

Paltrow reveals dinner is when she lets her hair down. She explained, “If I’m not doing a January kickoff cleanse or testing detox recipes, I typically eat whatever I want at dinner.”

However, there are some caveats. Gwyneth said she chose to scratch “nightshades (bye, potatoes), gluten (adios, burger bun), or dairy (sayonara, Parmesan)” which she admitted meant that “many of these classic comfort food can seem totally off-limits”.

With limitations comes innovation, as Gwyneth presents her own comfort staples in The Clean Plate: for example instead of a burger she developed a “turkey burger wrapped in lettuce and piled high with avocado, pickle and creamy aquafaba”. She also admitted that she had previously snuck off to the Goop test kitchen to put “[her] own spin on John Legend’s fried chicken wings."

She has this instead of a cappuccino in the morning

If you're cutting back on caffeine this year Paltrow advised opting for “instant dandelion coffee” which is actually a tea made of “roasted dandelion root” but tastes a lot like coffee.

Gwyneth explained, “When I eliminate coffee from my diet - which is very rare, because I live for it - the hardest part (aside from caffeine withdrawal) is losing the ritual of my morning cuppa joe.”

Sometimes all you want is a hazelnut or chocolate frothy coffee and Gwyneth advised, “While instant dandelion coffee comes close [to regular coffee] - and there’s no arguing with the ease of it - adding coconut milk and some raw cacao makes a really delicious mock-mocha.”

She’s dedicated the book to her new husband

Paltrow has dedicated the book to her “favourite dinner companion."

The book’s dedication reads, “For Brad, my favourite dinner companion, who taught me that it is never too late to make a clean start. And for Apple, Moses, Isabella and Brody.”

Gwyneth shared pictures from her wedding day on Goop last year, held in an outdoor location in Amagansett - the bride walked down the aisle in Valentino. Food-wise, she hired the talents of Argentine chef Francis Mallman who specialises in “live-fire cooking” for her rehearsal dinner and Mario Carbone of swanky dining establishment Carbone for the actual night - the same restaurant she and Brad had their first date in.

She doesn’t think she’ll go back to being a vegetarian

Although it’s previously been reported that Gwyneth follows “a strict vegan diet”, she’s actually still a meat-eater. She explained in The Clean Plate, “While I’ve dabbled in vegetarianism before, I don’t see myself ever really going back.”

This shows in her recipe book, which includes dishes like a chicken teriyaki bowl, Mediterranean salmon and turkey burgers. She did say however that she tries to keep her meat consumption low.

“I know that in essentially every hotbed of longevity in the world, people have followed a diet really limited in meat - so I try to take some cues from centenarians and keep meat from being too much a focus in my kitchen,” she said.

She has black rice pudding for breakfast

If Gwyneth’s short on time she generally chooses “an easy smoothie that’s light on the sugar”. However, when she has time she revealed she generally tries to cook “dishes that can keep you full until lunchtime”.

One of these recipes is black rice pudding, topped off with coconut milk and mango for a sweet treat.

Here's the recipe in full (in case you want to try it at home):

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk & Mango

VEGAN

Serves 2

Full of iron, vitamin E, and antioxidants, black rice is a nutritional powerhouse. It also happens to be delicious. Here I simmer it slowly in water and coconut milk, and top it with ripe mango. It plays to both sides—a little sweet, a little salty. In the right crowd, I’d even get away with serving it for dessert.

Ingredients

½ cup black rice

2 cups water

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons full-fat coconut milk

1 date, pitted and diced

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ mango, peeled and sliced

Method

In a small saucepan, combine the rice, water, ½ cup of the coconut milk, the date, and the salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through to make sure the rice is not sticking.

Divide the rice pudding between two bowls and pour 1 tablespoon of the coconut milk over each. Top with the mango and serve.

THE CLEAN PLATE: Delicious, Healthy Recipes for Everyday Glow by Gwyneth Paltrow is published in the UK by Sphere, Hardback, £25

£17.50 | Amazon | Buy it now