Despite her signature affinity for that fiery red, Chef Claudia Sandoval simply does not stop. In fact, the woman just might be definitively unstoppable.
Chef Claudia won Season 6 of Gordon Ramsey’s MasterChef U.S., was a judge on the last three seasons of MasterChef Latino, host of Taste of the Border show on Discovery+, and has been featured on half a dozen FoodNetwork shows as judge or expert. She’s also a best-selling cookbook author and equal parts gifted pastry and executive chef.
A San Diego native and now Tijuana resident, Claudia lives, breathes, imbibes, and eats all that is her local Cali-Baja culinary scene. We sat down with Claudia for our Periodically Inspired Q&A series that takes a deep dive into a chef’s story and inspiration to talk tacos, work/life balance, chiles, and more. Check out the full interview below:
What’s one of your favorite memories from MasterChef?
“Dancing with Chef Graham Elliot on the stage after winning. I was the only woman to win a mystery box challenge, and I had dreamt of the dish the night before. To get a tomato in that box - it was meant to be. And obviously winning Season 6 - I still can’t watch the video without feeling every emotion - it was very surreal.”
What advice would you give a chef just starting out?
“Your biggest downfall will be your ego - keep it in check. I see a lot of egos going unchecked and younger chefs thinking they know everything. Keep yourself humble and always be a student - people will like you more. I have Mexican parents who check me all the time.”
What flavor or menu trends are you seeing recently?
“What I’m seeing in the pro world - not the social space - are people returning to authentic and nostalgic recipes. Updating old world recipes with modern ingredients and plating sexiness. I love this trend, it has been and will forever be my M.O. - I am not a (molecular) gastronomy chef.
Everyone has finally embraced farm to table, which is funny to me - we’re going back to the basics. I’m seeing more content like ‘let me teach you how to sear a steak’, but they’re using old world recipes. Everyone needs to start somewhere and we need reminders of the basics sometimes. We can get so stuck in our normal ways of doing things and cooking - you can and should always learn a new technique.”
People around you, music, books, travel, research - where do you find inspiration when developing dishes?
“One of the things I've been doing since being on Master Chef is revisiting recipes I know and love that were passed down to me by family and the important people in my life like fellow chefs, friends, nonas. I’m a big believer in a firm foundation, so I start with a great recipe and tweak it from there.
So often more rustic and traditional dishes are looked down on as somehow less worthy, but you can revisit and change a recipe based on your audience. That’s a key component: who is receiving this dish? Do they understand Mexican food? Are they open to and understand fusion or do they frown upon it? Are they going to cringe at grasshoppers as an ingredient? No matter how endemic an ingredient -take escamoles or ant eggs - someone will cringe at that. I’m constantly playing that balance game when dish ideating.
My dishes are rooted in nostalgia; I want to honor the nostalgia of hominess and low and slow recipes. That kind of cooking is evocative of emotion and you can share and touch that in a person’s life. It’s that culinary hug.
I’m also a cookbook collector - a homecook who has made a living being a chef, and I’m very lucky in that way. I’m a big believer that sometimes the student surpasses the teacher and someone always knows more. I literally have a degree in philosophy - I know I know nothing and that I’ll always be a student. I try to absorb every experience, and if you maintain that, you will be better.”
Talk to me about cooking and baking with your family.
“My Lita - my great aunt - she was someone who taught me a lot about food. My mom is first-generation American so she got to go to school there and is big on education. When I was a kid we had a puzzle map, and I knew the continents by shape by the time I was four or five years old. One of my first food memories is making tortillas and that mine looked like the continent of Africa.”
Talk to me about your upcoming cookbook, Taco Nation.
“I’m so excited about this one. I'm always traveling and - no one believes me - but I was really inspired by the Midwest. It was the first time I had a fried cheese curd taco in Wisconsin; it was the most non-Mexican-possible-thing turned into a taco.
The chef came out and talked me through their process of making the beer-battered and fried cheese curds and then serving them like a fish taco. The idea was genius - the taco was like a quesadilla but fried. We were immediately “friends in food” and just started riffing off what you could do with this taco.
A big transition for me is understanding a lot of food isn't necessarily inauthentic - it’s just… changed. I evolved my thinking around this after filming Taste of the Border, which talked about how migration moves food.
There are new dishes and recipes that aren't fusion - they are a completely new kind of food. So why not highlight how America has metamorphosed the taco? Practically every culture has adopted the taco and it’s now an all-American food. We have become a taco nation.”
*Note: we’ll have to wait just a bit to enter this taco-verse - this new cookbook by Chef Claudia Sandoval is due out in 2025.
Do you feel competitive with other chefs?
“Yes and no. There has to be a certain sense of competition, but I stand in my own power - there is no other Claudia Sandoval. There might be other women doing what I’m doing, but there’s only one me.
Now being an empty nester, I have so much time to think, ‘Who am I?’ With my daughter in college, I’m now “Mom” less of the time, so I’m thinking more about purpose and identity. I love the way I’ve conducted myself; I’m not recreating what others are doing, I’m finding spaces I can break and burn down. Standing in that power has been my super power - at this point in my life I am certain of who I am and what I provide.”
What’s a spice you consider to be under-valued?
“Oooh. That’s a good one. One that never gets a lot of hype is Achiote - it has an earthiness and dankness that provides a kind of magical flavor profile. I feel like a lot of people don’t know how to play with achiote in new ways - try it with pork or chicken. Plus, it’s red.”
How do you balance work and family?
“Saying no. I really stand by my no's and if it’s f*cking no - it’s f*cking no. I also schedule time off and respect it. I’m really big about scheduling time to sleep in one or two times a week. I go back to bed and do mindless things like meditation or just lay in bed. That scheduling of breaks - that means I’m off and not available. Those times of silence, quiet and rest - they truly make me feel rested.”
What’s one of your favorite ingredients to cook with and why?
“Right now it’s morita chiles - the smokiness, you can take so many flavors from it like sweet and umami. I’ve been on this journey of how many ways can I use this. I’ve infused it in cocktails, made a jam - there are so many places you can use it.”
What’s a technique or trick you learned along the way that even homecooks could use?
“Parboiling. It allows you to prep your food in advance, which is a great time saver for holidays or dinner parties. Plus, if you prep your food, you’ll cook faster throughout the week. Take par-boiled potatoes - there are so many ways to use: pot roast, patatas and eggs, gnocchi.”
What do you consider a chef’s role to be within the community?
“If you’re an up-and-coming chef try to support local nonprofits or collaborate with schools. I was highly impacted by guests who talked to us at school - a lot of these kids have line cook parents, and they need those professional examples.
If you’re a more recognized or ‘celebrity’ chef - your responsibility is compounded even more. When you have that visibility you have a bigger responsibility. If there’s a little Latin boy or girl watching me on social media, I have an opportunity to inspire.
Give your time to nonprofits in your community for fundraising. One dinner can create thousands of dollars of change and more chefs should do that. Karma in, karma out. Invest in your community because that community will rally around you. We saw that in spades during the pandemic.”
Favorite dish to cook for yourself?
“Scrambled Eggs on toast or tortillas known as migas.”
Favorite dish to cook for friends and family?
“Chiles Rellenos. It’s almost therapeutic - roasting the chiles and that smell of the chiles burning on an open fire is super nostalgic for me. I love the roasting and stuffing - it brings back amazing memories.”
Tijuana and San Diego restaurant recs?
“ Oryx Restaurant in Tijuana does a Black Taco with battered fried cod, cream, purple coleslaw salad, beet aioli, creamy avocado on a blue corn tortilla. In San Diego, the Parkhouse Eatery does the best Churro Pancakes in the world and amazing Chilaquiles.”