Meghan Markle sparks backlash after unveiling ‘favorite’ home breakfast for holiday hosting

Meghan Markle‘s latest attempt to spread some holiday cheer ended in yet another online controversy after she came under fire for encouraging novice hosts to rely on pre-made pancakes and quiche when whipping up a festive breakfast — despite selling her own pancake mix.

In a video posted on the Instagram Accounting for her lifestyle brand As Ever, Meghan, 44, explained that her favorite way to create a stress-free breakfast setup in her home is to create “stations” in the kitchen that guests can go to at their leisure.

The clip, captioned “Because you don’t have to stress to impress,” does not appear to have been filmed at the $14.65 million mansion Meghan shares in Montecito, CA. Prince Harry and their two children, Archie And Lilibet.

However, Meghan was seen making her way through a kitchen, which was littered with various dishes in various displays.

“What I like to do when I have guests for the holidays, especially when you have a lot of people and everyone has a different preference for breakfast, is you just create stations and they can help themselves,” she explained in the video.

At the first station, Meghan set out the ingredients for a “yogurt parfait,” which consisted of yogurt, berries, granola and various As Ever products, including honey and fruit spreads.

The mother of two was seen decanting the As Ever raspberry and strawberry spread into a vintage glass serving bowl, noting that this is “actually a really fun way to add to a yogurt parfait station.”

She is then seen spooning the various ingredients into long-stemmed coupe glasses, admitting that while a ‘normal bowl’ would suffice for serving, she prefers glassware as it helps her make the dish ‘a little more special’.

She moves on to the pancakes and waffles section, which she has set up like a traditional charcuterie board, with the various ingredients spread out on a wooden serving platter.

In an effort to make the setup seem a little lighter, Meghan emphasizes that this station can be made much more stress-free if you use store-bought pancakes.

‘All this is great for children [and] if you don’t want to make pancakes, don’t make pancakes,” she explains.

“You just take it out of the freezer section!” she adds in a hushed tone.

She makes a similar suggestion when it comes to the breakfast quiche that she then takes out of the oven. The dish is one of her “favorite” things to serve to a large group, she explains, before noting that hosts can once again rely on a ready-made version if they want to make their lives even easier.

However, her commercial for ready-made dishes angered critics, who called out the former “Suits” star for “crimes against breakfast.” Some expressed confusion about why she would suggest using store-bought versions of items that are “so easy” to make at home.

While comments were disabled on the As Ever account, several people took to a Reddit thread dedicated to observations about the video, where they voiced their grievances about Meghan’s hosting tips.

“I’m not a great cook but quiche and pancakes are so easy to make,” one person wrote. “Why is she talking about buying them ready-made? During a cooking show? I’d rather make breakfast than waste time putting jam in other containers.’

Another drew attention to the fact that As Ever actually had a pancake mix in its product range, noting: “This would have been the perfect opportunity for her to show her how to use her own pancake mix to make homemade, and show how quick and easy it is.”

“Can you imagine? Martha Stewart said, ‘You can just buy frozen food,’ while trying to build her lifestyle empire at the same time?” one person wondered.

Some expressed concern that many ready-made dishes are “filled with horrible preservatives and other junk,” and wondered why someone who seems “so health conscious” would promote these types of products.

Others, meanwhile, took issue with Meghan’s decision to serve her yogurt parfait in such delicate glassware, warning that these types of vessels not suitable for children.

“I can’t get over Meghan dumping yogurt and fruit into crystal dessert glasses before saying, ‘This is all great for kids,'” one person wrote.

Another added: ‘I’m sorry, did she say serving yoghurt parfaits in glass champagne coupes is PERFECT for children? That’s a recipe for a lot of broken glass.”

This isn’t the first time one of Meghan’s recipes has come under fire online. Following the premiere of her Netflix series ‘With Love, Meghan’, the Duchess of Sussex horrified viewers when they spotted the rather controversial way the mother-of-two keeps raw chicken in her fridge.

Eagle-eyed streaming fans spotted a moment in the third episode of the eight-part series, which premiered on March 4, in which the Duchess of Sussex opens the fridge to reveal what appears to be raw chicken pieces lying uncovered on a shelf.

Images and videos of the chicken legs were posted to social media, where they quickly went viral. Many accused Meghan of ‘unsanitary’ food storage practices, while others warned the exposed meat could give someone ‘salmonella’.

“No serious chef or person who knows anything about food would want raw chicken on an open grill over vegetables or fruit. Clearly she has no idea about food safety or cooking. Wow,” wrote an X user.

“Nothing says ‘With Love’ more than serving raw or half-cooked chicken to guests with campylobacter and salmonella dripped onto the items below because her kitchen hygiene is atrocious,” said another.

“Who is on her production team?” wrote one outraged viewer. “People are paid to pay attention to details like this. What a faux pas. I’ve been watching cooking shows for decades and the only time I see raw chicken in the fridge is still in its packaging, marinated, covered in a bowl [or] marinate in one [bag].”

One simply asked: “Why did #MeghanMarkle [put] raw chicken legs in the fridge next to the salad??”

Another added: “Why aren’t they covered? And why are they lying raw on the shelf with nothing underneath to protect them. This is so unhygienic.”

It was revealed later in the episode, which featured a celebrity chef Roy Choi when she joined Meghan in the kitchen of her $8 million rented movie house, she mentioned that the chicken had actually been pre-cooked in preparation for being fully cooked later in the episode — though that update didn’t bring much relief to many viewers.

Just because the chicken is partially cooked before it is placed in the refrigerator does not mean it is free of salmonella.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “undercooked” poultry can also carry the bacteria.

“Salmonella infection is most commonly caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, poultry and eggs or egg products or by drinking unpasteurized milk,” the organization states.

“You can prevent getting salmonella and spreading bacteria to others in several ways, including preparing food safely, washing hands, avoiding contamination and not eating raw meat, dairy or egg products.”

According to experts, raw chicken should always be stored in a refrigerator set at a temperature between 32 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit, ideally in the sealed container it was purchased in, or in a container with sides that prevent juices from dripping onto other food items.