Joel McHale’s Breakfast Pick and Favorite Desserts

Joel McHale has worn many hats during his time as an actor, comedian and host. Arguably most well-known for his tenure as Jeff Winger in Community, you might also remember McHale as the host of Crime Scene Kitchen, or as an aggressive Michelin-star chef in The Bear. Aside from his on-screen appearances, McHale is a home cook and a lover of all things coffee. 

We got to sit down with McHale and talk about his collaboration with Seattle’s Best Coffee and the launch of the exclusive XO Marshmallows Coffee Roast Mallows. He also shared his favorite breakfast picks, dessert preferences and his s’mores hot take. 

How do you take your coffee? 

Every morning, about eight times. I pull out Seattle’s Best light roast, or the dark roast, and I will make a whole pot of coffee and drink that entire pot easily. I just have it with a little bit of half and half, and then I’ll have to sometimes reheat it in the microwave. Now with these limited-edition mallows, it’s really changed everything. Now it’s like a party in my mug. 

Is there a go-to breakfast that you have in the morning?

If I can have a croissant or a piece of toast with jelly on it, then I’ve never been happier. My friends brought over a galette for Fourth of July which is basically just pie crust with the fruit on top. That has been in our fridge, cut up, and I’ve been eating that every day until [the Coffee Roast Mallows] showed up. And so now I’ve just been eating these marshmallows. I think the flavor combination of coffee and sweet is one of the best flavor profiles ever put on this planet, like Port and cheese. It’s just perfect. 

Do you like coffee ice cream? 

I do. The quality has to be high, so that’s where my snobbery comes in big time, because I can’t just have some run-of-the-mill coffee ice cream. It’s really got to taste like coffee. 

In a s’more, can the marshmallow be too burnt? 

It cannot. Well, OK, if the stick gets left in the fire, and the stick catches fire, then it is just, you know, carbon at that point, then probably not, but I go pretty far. I love that crunch.

Speaking of desserts, you have hosted Crime Scene Kitchen for three seasons. Is there a dessert that you got to try that was so good it sticks in your brain?

On that show, there’s these elaborate desserts that come up, and they are desserts that I have seen all my life and went, “Well, it looks pretty and it seems fine.” Then, when I had these things made fresh and made well, like an opera cake, it doesn’t seem like something that you’d be like, oh, I’m always gonna reach for that opera cake. But when I had it, I went, “Oh my lord, this is so good.” Or a princess cake, which has this dome of green fondant on it, which again I thought looked pretty, but it seemed too elaborate. It was not for show. I was blown away and I ate every single piece of it. 

What does “eating well” mean to you? 

So people always go, “Well, I don’t like fancy food,” and I think fancy food can not be great and can be super boring, or it could be the greatest thing on the planet. There’s a taco shop here that has a James Beard award, and going there is just as exclusive and different and cool as when you’re given a test tube with a light underneath it, with whatever concoction the chef has put in there. So, I like it all. 

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.