Tini Younger Shares the High-Protein Dinner She Loves Making

Whether you know her from Next Level Chef, her viral baked mac and cheese, or from making her fiancé meals from scratch in front of her millions of TikTok, Facebook and Instagram followers, Tineke Younger is nothing short of impressive. At 22, Younger (known as “Tini” to those that know her) is a successful chef, internet sensation, host of her own YouTube series From Scratch with Tini, and is now partnering with Ferry-Morse, a seed company, to share her craft through fresh ingredients.

In this exclusive interview, we chatted with Younger about Ferry-Morse and the launch of the brand’s colossal seed collection—including the vegetables and herbs she specifically loves using. Plus, find out her favorite easy dinner for weeknights, the juice she loves making at home, her food hot takes and more below.

EatingWell: Could you talk more about your partnership with Ferry-Morse?

Younger: I love working with fresh ingredients. I just feel like it makes the dish more elevated and you really do taste the difference when you use fresh produce. So that’s why I’m very glad that I can partner with Ferry-Morse and help launch their new colossal collection because the vegetables grow two times bigger than their regular size, so you get more out of the vegetable. I can have more of the ingredients to use with other dishes.

EatingWell: What’s your favorite vegetable and go-to way to prepare it?

Younger: I might have a different favorite vegetable during each season, but since we’re in spring, I’m going to go with cucumber because you can do a bunch of stuff with it. You can add it to dips, or you can pickle it and then put it on top of sandwiches and it’s just nice and fresh.

EatingWell: Is there an easy dinner that you love making because you always have all of the ingredients on hand?

Younger: I call it my “lazy dinner.” It’s basically stuffed chicken with whatever I have on hand. I like to stuff it with fresh produce:  spinach, broccoli, garlic. I love broccoli, and you can add whatever cheese you like and whatever fresh herbs you like as well. Just cut open a chicken, stuff it, put it in the oven and call it a day. 

EatingWell: Favorite herb?

Younger: The herb that I find myself using the most would be basil. I feel like basil goes really well with anything, and I love pasta and I love Italian food.

EatingWell: Any food you always make from scratch instead of buying?

Younger: I love making ricotta cheese from scratch and bread from scratch. I make a bunch of stuff from scratch, but those are the main things that I like making because you can really taste the difference between store-bought and when you make it at home.

EatingWell: What does your usual breakfast look like?

Younger: I love making fresh juice. My go-to juice lately has been pineapple, carrot and apple with a little bit of mint and lemon. I like to make some juice, and then I either make French toast, pancakes or waffles to start the day with some more fresh fruits on the side.

EatingWell: Any food hot takes?

Younger: I really hate olives. If olives are in any dish that I eat, I can taste it right away and it just ruins the dish for me. And I hate white pepper. I don’t like using white pepper in anything.

EatingWell: What’s an underrated ingredient you love using?

Younger: Using sesame oil in baking adds a nice nutty flavor and enhances the vanilla flavor, so that comes to mind. I want more people to know about that. I love putting a little bit of sesame oil, maybe 1/8 of a teaspoon, in my chocolate chip cookies and sometimes banana bread.

EatingWell: What does “eating well” mean to you?

Younger: When I think of eating well, I think of eating fresh produce, fresh meat, getting food at a local farmers’ market or growing it from the garden. That’s what eating well is to me, and at the end of the day, it’s eating whatever makes you happy too.

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