You’ve got to give Brian Baumgartner credit— my guy really knows how to cash-in on an opportunity. I have no idea if the actor can make a decent chili, but because he played Kevin Malone in The Office, Baumgartner nabbed a book deal for chili recipes.
Great hustle if you can get it.
The book, titled Seriously Good Chili Cookbook, released this week. It features 177 recipes approved by Baumgartner, including the actor’s own recipe and the recipe from the hit sitcom.
In case you somehow forgot, the Season 5 episode of The Office titled “Casual Friday” cold-opened with Kevin lovingly, and carefully, cooking a massive batch of chili for his Dunder Mifflin compatriots. He then walks into the office and drops it all over the floor, rolling in the bean-drenched mess.
Baumgartner has said he’s not always been a chili guy, but leaned into it after it became such a huge part of his character on the show.
“I never thought 10 years ago or whatever, when we were filming this, that I would still be talking about chili or that I would even have ever made chili,” Baumgartner told USA Today.
And yet, here we are.
The book features recipes from professional chefs, influencers, celebrities, and chili cook-off winners. We’ve reached out to snag a copy of the book to give a recipe or two a test. But if you want to get your own, you can purchase it online.
And if you want to cook Kevin’s famous chili recipe from The Office, NBC’s Peacock already snuck it into the user agreement. You don’t have to purchase anything at all — we’ve got you covered.
