People.com (Nov. 24th 2021)

Blake Shelton Isn't a Chicken When It Comes to Cooking Thanksgiving Turkey

Blake Shelton isn't scared when it comes to Thanksgiving turkey — and neither are his stepsons Kingston, 15, Zuma, 13, and Apollo, 7. The foursome has a tradition. Every year they choose a zany turkey recipe and cook that up together while mom Gwen Stefani works on the rest of the meal.

"The first year, we made a hot Flamin' Hot Cheetos turkey," Shelton told PEOPLE. "We crusted it in the Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The next year Apollo, or maybe it was Zuma; I can't remember. We ended up doing a Funyuns turkey, which actually tasted a lot like a regular turkey. I guess whatever they put in Funyuns, it's the same stuff."

Weeks ahead of Thanksgiving, Shelton said the boys had already planned the 2021 bird — bacon.

"One of them saw a picture of the bacon-wrapped — like the whole thing, and we're doing it," Shelton said.

But the culinary exploration doesn't stop with the turkey at the Shelton house. The country singer and his new bride share a more sophisticated version of the kids' turkey tradition at Christmas. Shelton said he and Stefani choose a "really incredible" recipe that seems so complicated that "people can't really make it." While he wasn't sure what new recipe they were making this year, he was positive what was returning — pasta timpano. 

"Basically, there are all kinds of different pastas and sauces and layers in this like bread bubble," Shelton explained. "Then you bake it, and you cut these slices, and it's literally the most fattening worst thing you could probably ever eat. But it's also the best thing you ever ate, too."

Shelton, who married Stefani on his Oklahoma farm in July, said the couple does a test run of the new dish a few days before their big meal so they can ensure all the kinks are worked out before the main event.

"I married into an Italian family, and food is, they take that serious around here, and I do, too," he said. "So it's a bad, really bad combination."

Shelton is expanding his interests to commercial kitchens, too. He recently revealed plans for his fifth Ole Red location in Las Vegas. Ole Red is Shelton's chain of entertainment complexes that combine a restaurant, bar, and state-of-the-art entertainment venue to provide a unique dining experience for guests and singers. The stage set-up was designed with up-and-coming singers, like the ones Shelton coaches on The Voice, in mind.

"I just love having this safe place for new artists to come," Shelton said. "They're going to get the best production. They could never afford it. If you come into Ole Red, you're going to still be that same level of top artists. You're gonna get to do it in front of a huge screen with incredible lights and incredible sound and look like a star when you get up there. That's the difference. I love that about this brand and these bars, is it starts with music, and then we figure out what else to do around that."

Shelton's Ole Red locations include Nashville, Tennessee, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, Orlando, Florida, and the most recently announced Las Vegas, which is set to open in 2023.