Tiffani Thiessen Shares Her Top Holiday Cooking Tip to Avoid ‘Heartbreaking’ and ‘Stressful’ Situations (Exclusive)

As a busy actress, cookbook author and mom of two, Tiffani Thiessen has handled enough holiday hosting and cooking duties to know which strategies do and don’t work.

The Saved by the Bell star shared some of her insight during an exclusive interview with Parade about her new partnership with protein powder brand Isopure. Thiessen, 50, recently hosted a family Thanksgiving celebration and a special Friendsgiving for her daughter. She will next host family members again for Christmas before she, her husband, Brady Smith, and their kids, Harper, 14, and Holt, 9, travel to visit her in-laws.

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While many enjoy relaxing with family and friends as the year winds down, social gatherings are a commonality for this time of year—and the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum had plenty of advice to share based on her own party hosting experiences.

“The biggest one I'll say is, don't do everything,” Thiessen said when asked for her top recommendation. “That is something I've learned in the last, probably 10 years. I was that woman who always felt like I could do it all. And it's not that I feel like I can't—you don't enjoy it as much, right? So I really am all about delegating when it comes to parties or dinner parties, or having people over, or even going somewhere else.”

Thiessen said this strategy has brought more enjoyment to holiday celebrations. “We've been doing that with my family for, I want to say, 10 years now, where my mom pitches in and does a couple recipes, my aunt does a couple recipes, I do a lot of the recipes,” she said. “I just don't feel like it's all on my shoulders, and I can actually enjoy my holiday with my family a lot more. So that's my No. 1 tip.”

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Delegation for Thiessen includes preparing food ahead, asking others to bring dishes for big meals, and including her kids in the process. “My daughter always loves to make the rolls every year. She also loves to help my mom make the famous Cream Cheese Pie that we make every year—that's kind of a tradition for us,” Thiessen said, referencing a beloved family recipe that was included in her first cookbook, Pull Up a Chair.

While Harper “loves” to focus on helping with the “baking aspects” for a social gathering, Holt helps with whatever else is needed. “He's like, ‘Whatever you need, Mom. You want me to set the table?’” Thiessen said as one example. “He's totally up for it. They're good like that.”

Thiessen’s kids and her husband occasionally appear in the cooking videos that she creates for social media. The fan-loved videos, which show Thiessen executing recipes like her Fig Toaster Tarts or Candied Ginger Apple Pie from start to finish, are all recorded in her own kitchen—and she puts careful thought into each one. “I always try to think about the season, as well as what people are responding to,” she explained. “I go back and look at some of the things that they respond to the most, and really think about stuff like that when I'm creating recipes or the actual content itself.”

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One of her recent videos featured a Savory Holiday Tarts recipe she created as part of her new partnership. The pomegranate appetizer recipe, which she said “was really fun to create” for the holidays, incorporates 25 grams of protein using Isopure’s Zero Carb Unflavored Protein Powder at a time of year when, as Thiessen noted, it can be “really hard to add that protein to your diet, when you constantly feel like you're eating sweets all the time.”

“It’s great to bring to a holiday party, or have for your own holiday,” Thiessen, who described herself as “such a foodie,” said of her new recipe. “It's really festive, and it tastes amazing.”

Though new recipes can be fun to roll out at social gatherings, Thiessen warned against one major mistake that can be easy to make. “Don't ever try a new recipe the day of,” she said. “Do it ahead of time and test it out—like a couple weeks before.” The White Collar actress reiterated her recommendation, urging, “If there's anybody out there that's listening to this now and wants to test a couple recipes, do it now. Because doing it on the day, if it doesn't work out—one, it's heartbreaking, and two, it's stressful.”

Looking ahead to the new year, Thiessen said she doesn’t typically make “huge resolutions,” though she does plan to continue making her health “a priority.” Instead of establishing big goals, she plans to focus on ending 2024 and starting 2025 “in a really good manner, because I feel like putting that energy kind of continues throughout the year.” But 2024 isn’t over yet—and for the next couple of weeks, she’s looking forward to enjoying holiday traditions and relaxation time with her family.

“It's a time to really reflect, lay low, spend quality time,” Thiessen said. “For us, it's really a good time to just kind of connect as a family. I think everybody can agree that the day-to-day gets kind of crazy, with kids in school and homework and sports and all that kind of stuff. We sometimes forget the really simple things that we enjoy, whether it's playing games or riding bikes outside or going hiking—just the things that sometimes aren't a huge priority when it's very hectic. And I think we try to put those back into priority, especially at our downtime. And that, a lot of times, is the holidays.”

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