The queen of easy dinners and air fryers has big plans for the future.

Steph de Sousa has loved every minute on MasterChef! (Image: Channel Ten)

Fans of MasterChef Australia: Back to Win were shocked when fan-favourite Steph de Sousa was eliminated in the ‘One Inch Cube Taste Test’.

While the judges didn’t approve of her pork belly dish with a green apple, celeriac and fennel coleslaw coated in caramel sauce, Steph was proud of her meal and was thrilled to be invited back onto the hit cooking show.

Speaking to Woman’s Day, the 52-year-old said she loved every second of her time on the show, while also sharing her plans for the future.

“It was so much fun! It’s so nice to be able to get in there and cook again, make some good food, meet some fun people and just enjoy the experience.”
Steph is the Air Fryer Queen and Easy Dinner Queen. (Image: Instagram)

STEPH’S NEXT STEPS

Steph de Sousa, who is also known as the Frugal Foodie, first competed on MasterChef in 2019 where she placed twelfth.

Since then she’s amassed over a million followers on Instagram and has quickly become the go-to for easy, budget-friendly and quick meals thanks to her two cookbooks Air Fryer Queen and Easy Dinner Queen.

For her second time in the MasterChef kitchen, Steph said the pressure of the competition comes from within.

“Unless you’ve gone through it, you never ever feel like you’re competing against the other contestants,” she shared.

“You just feel like you’re hanging out with a bunch of people who are all trying to cook the best food they can.”

As for her competition this season, which includes other fan favourites such as Sarah Todd, Laura Sharrad and Callum Hann among others, Steph said she’d welcome any of them to collaborate with her in the future.

“There was not one person on this season that I didn’t enjoy the company off,” Steph revealed.

“So there will be some fun collaborations in the future and I’d welcome any of them to do a little guest appearance recipe on my website. I’m sure my followers will love that!”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Steph has revealed she’s got some exciting projects in the pipeline to work on this year.

“I’m just starting to write my third book which is crazy… I’ve got lots of content to create and lot’s of recipes to write,” Steph said.

“But the biggest project I’m working on is a meal prep subscription for my followers and for my website. It’ll be a weekly subscription where I’ll send you five quick, easy and delicious weeknight meals and a little sweet treat.”

Steph’s weekly meal plans will be launching on her website in July, and will focus on Steph’s speciality of creating delicious meals that are quick, easy and won’t break the bank.

“The thing people tell me they hate doing the most is deciding what to cook for dinner on a weeknight, so I’m going to solve that problem for them!”
Back to Win marks Steph’s second time on MasterChef. (Image: Facebook/MasterChef Australia)

REAL ROYAL CONNECTION

While she and her husband Neville and their four kids now call Lake Macquarie in NSW home, the Air Fryer Queen has a real royal connection with none other than Queen Mary of Denmark as she and her sister Therese grew up in Tasmania.

“My sister Therese and her husband were friends with Queen Mary before she met the kind, which is pretty funny because we always called my sister the queen,” Steph shared.

“I lost her a few years ago to Motor Neuron Disease (MND), and it’s where my book’s name came from. It’s like a crown tip to her.”

Before Therese passed away, Steph helped take care of her, which she says was both the most challenging and rewarding time of her life.

“Therese was my best friend and my favourite person in the whole world… so to spend so much time with her was the best time of my life and we just had so much fun,” said Steph.

“I was so honoured to be her advocate through that journey, and I think you really need someone who can talk and stand up for you, so it was my pleasure to be able to do that for her.”

While caring for Therese, Steph said she would make her favourite meal, crumpets, every morning which she’d always love.

“She would have my crumpets every morning for breakfast, and I would be sneaky and add things into them for her wellbeing. When someone has a disease like MND, it’s actually really hard for them to keep up their nutrition, especially protein, so I would add in lots of milk powder, which is really high in protein,” Steph revealed.

“Two nights before she passed, we had our last meal and I made aloo gobi (Indian potato and cauliflower dish) and it was really lovely to be able to share that with her.”