The mother of music royalty's "most wanted" main for special occasions is a Louisiana crowd-pleaser.
This Is What Beyoncé’s Mom Makes for Mother’s Day
Published on May 02, 2025
If you want to know what will be on the menu at Beyoncé’s house this Mother’s Day, look no further than Tina Knowles’s signature dish.
The mother of Beyoncé and grandmother of Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir revealed in a recent interview that the gift she wants most for Mother’s Day is for Bey and her sister Solange to come and learn how to make gumbo. It’s significant for Tina because she first learned to make this labor-intensive dish from her mother, Agnes.
But with Beyoncé having just kicked off her cross-country Cowboy Carter tour, it’s not looking like that will happen soon. I suspect Tina will do the cooking this Mother’s Day.
What does Tina Knowles cook for Beyoncé?
The dish that Tina loves to cook is Louisiana Creole gumbo. It was the first dish she learned how to make and remains her favorite thing to prepare for family gatherings.
A recipe for the dish was featured in Tina’s 2002 book Destiny’s Style: Bootylicious Fashion, Beauty, and Lifestyle Secrets from Destiny’s Child and recently resurfaced on TikTok.
The dish starts with a roux, 6 pounds of frozen okra, celery, bell pepper, onions and seasonings. Then she adds chicken, crabs, sausage and tomatoes. The gumbo simmers for three to four hours before the shrimp is added, and the end result is served over rice.
“There are no shortcuts, so you are going to have to baby-sit that pot until it’s ready,” Tina’s recipe reads.
It seems Beyoncé just doesn’t have the patience—or the cooking skills. Tina admitted in a 2019 interview that the superstar “can’t cook,” but Bey is no diva. She’s crazy in love with Tina’s cooking, once calling her mother “the best cook in the world.”
“She makes the best Creole food, all the gumbo and jambalaya and soul food,” Beyoncé said. “When I go home, I want to be babied. I want my mom to cook me food, I want to wear my socks and crawl up into bed, and I don’t want to cook!”
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