Aldo Zilli’s food to help your heart - without sacrificing taste

The Italian chef's tips on how to create healthy and delicious food - with two easy and delicious recipes to cook.

chef Aldo Zilli in his whites preparing food

Image credit: Simon John Owen For Benecol

Aldo Zilli is an award-winning celebrity chef specialising in Italian and fish and seafood cuisine. The 69-year-old was once known for his drinking and partying with celebrity friend DJ Chris Evans, but then he was diagnosed with high cholesterol. Aldo had already lost both his parents and siblings to heart-related deaths.

Now he’s embraced a healthier lifestyle, lost more than three stone in weight and cut his cholesterol.

He shared his tips with Saga Magazine on how to eat to help your heart without sacrificing taste or spending hours in the kitchen.

Aldo’s tips to make your food healthier and taste better

'The Mediterranean diet is the best in the world for our health," he says. "Always look at the provenance of food and how fresh it is, then you know it won't just be better for you but will taste great too."

1. Add taste with herbs and spices

If you are cooking with vegetables its harder to add extra taste than with a steak for instance, so I use fresh stocks and add herbs and spices, such as fennel seeds, basil and dill.

I also add anchovies to add flavour to a roast, such as lamb and if you do use salt or sugar use the best quality you can, don’t use refined sugar or salt.

To add extra flavour marinade food the night before you want to cook it, perhaps chicken, salmon, beef or lamb and then rest in the fridge overnight.

I like to blitz sundried tomatoes, add basil and garlic and then rub on chicken, meat or fish.

2. Cook in bulk

Home-made is so much better than a ready meal. But cooking can be time consuming, so batch cook and make the freezer your friend.

Many Italian dishes are ideal to freeze – lasagne, ragu, aubergine melanzana parmigiana, anything in a tray or else pies are good too.

If you have a roast always use up the leftovers, put them in the freezer for another day and you can also make a delicious stock from the vegetable peelings and chicken carcass.

3. Make easy swaps

Change your butter and oils for heart friendly spreads such as Benecol. My son is very healthy and plays football, he always eats butter, but I swapped it for Benecol spread and a week later he hasn’t noticed the difference.

The little shots to combat cholesterol are great too, you can just get up and have one straight from the fridge without having to worry about what to mix it in.

Don't forget to stay active

"For me, it’s all about stretching," says Aldo. "I spend at least 20 minutes every morning doing all my stretching, then I do my cardio, then a bit of weights and then a sauna and I am ready for the day.

"I want to live to walk my daughter down the aisle and she’s only 17 so I need to look after myself."

4. Limit your eating times

I don’t eat for 16 hours in each day, so my breakfast is at 3pm, and the first thing I eat is savoury otherwise I start craving sugar.

The best combination for me is eggs and avocado. Poached or boiled eggs are the healthiest and if you boil eggs you can do a few at a time and use them as snacks later.

You will notice the difference in a week.

5. Give up sugar

Getting sugar out of my life has been a big part of getting healthy and alcohol was a big part of that. I gave it up three years ago and as a chef it’s a big part of my life.

For the first three months I was a miserable you know what, my wife didn’t have a good time then the sun came out and I thought I am not going to drink again.

I have so much more time in my life to do things I actually enjoy. I speak to my chefs with kindness and find people easier to deal with. I still go to pubs, clubs and dinner parties and I am the driver.

Aldo doesn’t drink alcohol free wines or beers due to the amount of sugar they contain.

“They have more sugar in them than the drinks with alcohol and they almost cost as much. Instead I drink sparkling water or soda with lime.”

6. Fill up with vegetables and fish

I used to eat hardly any vegetables, I do them in so many different ways now. For instance yesterday I did beetroot carpaccio with feta cheese and made it with a minty salad with courgettes and aubergine.

I like plain fish such as sole or mackerel. Mackerel is easy to roast with fennel or fennel seeds. I think it’s the best fish to eat with its omega 3 oils, better for you than tuna and a lot cheaper.

My way of putting fish in the oven is to always cover it with foil and put all the flavours in and leave it to cook. A favourite of mine is to cook it in coconut milk with a little wasabi

How to beat the nibbles

I have a bit platter of crudités on the side in my kitchen during the day with lots of raw vegetables with a fresh dip. Everyone who passes by digs in, it’s a grazing thing and stops you picking at anything unhealthy.

I tend to make my own hummus, baba ghanoush, aioli and other garlic dips. Then I cut up carrots, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, asparagus - almost every vegetable can be eaten raw.

Aldo Zilli has joined forces with Benecol to raise awareness about the importance of testing for cholesterol and to offer support to families, partners and friends affected by this condition.

Try Aldo's 2 healthy and tasty recipes:

By Phillipa Cherryson | Published - 23 Apr 2025

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