Taco Bell & Seafood: Dolly Parton's Diet Was More Normal Than We Expected

The world lost an icon when it lost Dolly Parton in 2026. The country superstar's representatives confirmed to People that the singer passed away at the age of 80 following a "brief battle with cancer," leaving the whole world mourning her absence. But despite building a larger-than-life image over the course of her career, her tastes in food were remarkably down-to-earth.

In a world of stars peddling keto diets and intermittent fasting, Parton took a much more relatable approach. The Tennessee-born star was open about her very normal likes and dislikes when it came to food and diet — from a good date night at Taco Bell to the Southern dishes she liked to whip up for guests that were anything but low-calorie. We're revisiting some of the most surprising diet-related anecdotes that Parton shared with the world, from her surprising favorite vegetable to how long it took for her to try seafood for the first time.

Dolly Parton gave the world another reason to fall in love with her when she revealed an ideal date night with her husband Carl Dean back in 2016. That year, the country legend sat down with talk show host Andy Cohen for a SiriusXM Town Hall interview and shared that the couple's idea of romance was actually the Taco Bell drive-thru. "Carl and I have a little camper, a little RV, and we're always driving through fast food restaurants," the singer told Cohen (via Country Living). She fessed up to a particular love of the Mexican fast food staple and even filled fans in on her favorite item to order, sharing, "I love their tacos. They also have little pizzas that I love." 

Despite being an A-lister in Hollywood, Parton insisted that this type of date night was more her husband's speed. "It's hard for me to get him to dress up to go to a nice dinner because he's just a country boy and hates that stuff. We do whatever's good. We have a good time," the icon explained during the interview.

When you imagine stopping by an A-lister's home for dinner, you'd probably guess a personal chef would be prepping the meal. That's yet another way Dolly Parton was an American treasure — if you had the honor of dining at Parton's, it would be the superstar herself cooking dinner. Back in 2011, Parade asked the country crooner about her specialty dish and Parton had a classically Southern answer for the outlet. "Chicken and dumplings. It's all country cooking," the Tennessee-born beauty revealed. She also surprised fans when she revealed that she occasionally cooks on the road, too, adding, "I'll bring my grits when I travel because I get so hungry on the road." 

Fans who never had the chance to try Parton's cooking can at least recreate some of her favorite dishes themselves. She released a cookbook, "Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food," filled with recipes, including ones from her mother, Avie Lee Parton, in 2006. In 2024, Parton also released another cookbook with her sister, Rachel Parton George, titled "Good Lookin' Cookin'" filled with 80 recipes. 

It took moving to a big city to widen Dolly Parton's culinary horizons. The singer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, the day after graduating from high school, which was a major transition after growing up in rural Appalachia. For example, back in 1992, Parton told The New York Times that she didn't encounter much seafood until she became an adult, sharing, "It took me years to eat a lot of shellfish ... I was probably 20 years old before I had even seen a shrimp cocktail." 

After discovering an affinity for seafood, Parton developed a taste for quite a few items, but only made in a very particular way. "I like clams but I don't like them when they're all big and chewy, so they chop them up for me. This way you get the flavor of the clams and bread crumbs all mixed up," she told the outlet of her favorite dish, clams casino. The star also developed a love for oysters — but only if they were fried. She explained that was likely due to her love of some pretty unique fried foods as a child, adding, "The only things we had at home were frog legs, river fish, and catfish. And it was almost always fried."

Unlike many stars of her caliber, Dolly Parton didn't start her day with a protein shake or green juice. Instead, she preferred to get in the kitchen and cook up a traditional American breakfast. While speaking to Marie Claire in 2020, Parton was asked what she'd had that morning and the answer was surprising for someone who, according to Entertainment Weekly, had an estimated net worth of $450 million. "This morning I made breakfast for my husband and me. I made some sausage patties, and I baked some biscuits, and I made some milk gravy. He likes that once in a while," Parton explained. 

Despite her Southern culinary prowess, Parton did confess to the outlet that she couldn't "eat like that all the time," but she did "enjoy" that type of breakfast. This type of cooking was the norm when the star was home, which she explained in her cookbook, "Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food," writing, "When it comes to cooking for myself and my husband Carl and my great big extended family ... what we really want to eat is what comforts us most: good, hearty food rooted in Mama's cooking and those country gatherings of my childhood" (via The Irish Times). 

If you ask a celebrity to name their favorite vegetable, most people would assume it would be a trendy one like kale or cauliflower. But when Dolly Parton was asked by The New York Times to share hers in 1992, her answer was refreshingly simple: the potato. "Just give me my potato, any kind of potato, and I'm happy," Parton replied. She even credits the veggie with derailing her on diets, explaining, "Every single diet I ever fell off of was because of potatoes and gravy of some sort."

In 2025, Parton doubled down on her love of the starchy vegetable, telling Today that she made sure to eat one every single day. "I have to have something with potatoes ... I'm just one of those people that I have to either have a baked potato, some mashed potatoes, or some French fries, or something to do with potatoes."

Although she adored comfort food, Dolly Parton still tried to stay in shape and strike a good balance. She explained her very relatable strategy to The Wall Street Journal (via The Healthy), sharing, "I just watch moderation for the most part. If I'm working I'll stay on a low-carb diet during the week and then eat anything I want on the weekends." 

Staying slim wasn't easy for the petite star, as she added, "I have a tendency to gain weight because I'm so short and because I have a farmer's daughter's appetite." She was no stranger to restricting her eating, as one of her most famous quotes ever remains, "I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets!" (via Vanity Fair). 

In 2020, she shared with Wired that she has to apply her diet moderation to her own cooking. "I'm still one of those people that really can cook, like the old days. That soul food cooking ... I can't eat it all the time anymore, because it does have a lot of calories in it," Parton explained in the interview.

Imagine being so famous that the world attributes a diet to you that you've never even been on! That's exactly what happened to Dolly Parton, when somehow a very strange seven-day cabbage soup diet got associated with her and was often also referred to as the Dolly Parton Diet. Despite the name, she told People (via Vanity Fair), "It had nothing to do with me. But I thought I might as well see if I can lose weight on my own diet."

Though she never gave an update, it's probably not a great idea to run out and try it yourself. The Washington Post claimed the regimen could help you shed "10 to 17 pounds in a week" back in 1996, but nutritionist Katherine Tallmadge told the outlet, "There's no magic to it. People on the diet are basically starving themselves and filling themselves with watery vegetables. They can't help but lose a lot of water weight. They're doing a modified fast." 

Most people attribute their favorite recipe to one they learned from a loved one, and Dolly Parton was no different. The country crooner loved to recreate a recipe she got from her late mother, Avie Lee Parton. She explained the dessert dish to People in 2018, sharing, "Mama used to make, it's like chocolate pudding, really, but you put it in the skillet with flour and sugar and milk and you just make a pudding. Mama used to put it with biscuits."

In 2024, Parton gave the dish a more descriptive name while talking to Southern Living, calling it "chocolate gravy." "I make it all the time. My momma used to make that. That was our weekend treat at home. I know exactly how to make it with the sugar and cocoa, and put it in the skillet with the milk, and you stir it so it doesn't get lumpy."