Michael Jackson's Favorite Mexican Meal Was An Upscale Twist On A Takeout Classic

If you had a personal chef, unlimited resources, and an entire culinary world at your fingertips, what do you think you would eat? Most of us will never be able to answer that question, but a few people in the world have the ability to do just that. Michael Jackson was one such person, and his personal chef has shared details of the King of Pop's diet over the years — including his love of spicy red chile enchiladas.

In a post on the California Eating blog, chef Mani Niall said Jackson's favorite Mexican dish was enchiladas covered in a smoky red chile sauce, which the chef also used to smother nachos and potato skins. Over a series of TikToks, he showed how to make the New Mexico chile sauce and the enchiladas Jackson liked. The enchiladas were very simple: two corn tortillas topped with sauce and cheese, served with avocado and sour cream. Even the sauce, made from scratch, was a straightforward recipe using New Mexico red chile powder, sea salt, and cumin. The sauce was brought to a boil, then thickened with a roux made by browning flour in oil. 

The chef, who cooked for Jackson in the early 1980s, told People that the singer was "a vegetarian who didn't like vegetables." As you can imagine, that made cooking difficult. Niall said Jackson was not a fan of pasta, and that he liked sweets but not sugar or chocolate. Imagine trying to come up with a menu with restrictions like that. Plus, this was back in the early to mid-1980s, when vegetarian options were not nearly as diverse as they are today.

Just how much did Michael Jackson like this enchilada sauce? According to Mani Niall, when he was getting ready to go on the Victory Tour with Jackson, he had to pack quickly because he got hired last minute. The chef packed some tools, a food processor, an ice cream machine, and seasonings. Among them was a bulk bag of New Mexico red chile powder, which he said he used every day during the tour's five and a half months. If Jackson was such a picky eater but was enjoying that sauce on enchiladas, nachos, and potato skins, it makes sense that the chef would have been making frequent use of it.

Enchiladas weren't all the chef made for Jackson, of course. Niall's dessert options to cool things down included ice cream and cookies. How does that work with Jackson's aversion to sugar? The cookies were sweetened with maple syrup, and the vanilla ice cream was sweetened with honey.

Jackson was also a fan of pizza, so the chef would make it topped with shiitake mushrooms and eggplants. Niall described this as "the perfect way to disguise vegetables." Other favorites included tofu kebabs and Moroccan couscous. Still, it seemed like nothing came close to those enchiladas. It just goes to show that, even with the world at your fingertips, nothing beats a classic comfort dish.