The new Lionsgate biopic, Michael, has Michael Jackson fans craving nuanced information about the King of Pop’s life. Two of the superstar’s private chefs—Akasha Richmond and Mani Niall—have been feeding that hunger by sharing stories about the foodie scene that surrounded the star, and the recipes he loved.

Michael Jackson’s Favorite Vegetarian Dish

In the early 1980s, Jackson discovered the chefs at the Golden Temple restaurant in Los Angeles, one of about a dozen such eateries run by the 3HO organization. Founded by Yogi Bhajan in 1969, the group practiced meditation, chanting and kundalini yoga.

On breaks from recording his breakout album, Thriller, Jackson would seek out his favorite dish at the Golden Temple: a smoke-infused, saucy, red chile enchilada—a then famous 1980s vegetarian dish (among Jackson’s entourage) that today, almost nobody has ever heard of.

“We stopped serving lunch at 2 p.m., and Michael would come in around 3:30 or 4 p.m.,” said Niall, who advises small food businesses via Mani’s Test Kitchen. “But we’d make him an enchilada even though the kitchen was technically closed, because he loved that enchilada.” Niall became Jackson’s first private chef during the star’s Victory Tour, and for a year following.

Jackson would request that Niall deliver enchiladas to studios where he worked, or to his home. The dish’s fame spread to other celebrities’ palates. That included Paul and Linda McCartney, who Niall served on a break while McCartney and Jackson were working on their song, The Girl Is Mine, at Westlake Studios. The Beatles star and his wife were also vegetarians.

“I brought them the same thing I always brought Michael,” said Niall in an interview. “The smoky enchilada with a very spicy, wonderful New Mexican red chile sauce, refried beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream and a lot of chips. Linda McCartney turned to me and said, ‘Oh my God, this is so good. We love it. We can't get good Mexican food in England where we live.’”

Michael Jackson Liked Spicy, Flavor-Rich Foods

Chef Richmond said that Jackson enjoyed a varied diet. “He liked food with a lot of flavors,” she said in an interview. “Food with a lot of spice. Sometimes I would make him Indian food, but the enchiladas—he always loved those, we were famous for those enchiladas.” Richmond was Jackson’s chef during the Bad and HIStory Tours, and all told, cooked for him on and off for 14 years, ending in 1996.

“If we were in Thailand, I would make him Thai curry, and if we were in North Africa, I would make him Moroccan food,” said Richmond, who runs Travel by Akasha, which offers cultural and culinary tours. “I would go to the farmers’ markets and buy whatever was local. Sometimes I’d find great restaurants and bring food back for everybody to try.”

The Origins Of The Enchilada Recipe Michael Jackson Loved

At the Golden Temple, Niall and Richmond would experiment with healthy recipes—what Richmond called “clean vegetarian food.”

“At the time, Akasha was overhauling our menu that was still from the 1970s,” Niall explained. “She was bringing it into the ‘80s, introducing great new produce—Japanese eggplant and shiitake mushrooms. Food that wasn’t just five pounds of cheese on a grilled eggplant.”

The standard Golden Temple enchilada recipe was “horrible,” according to Niall, so a makeover of the dish topped their to-do list. “We tracked down the original recipe from the Golden Temple restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico,” he said. “It involves making a roux, and browning it until it’s really smoky, then adding chile powder and cumin.”

Niall named the dish, Enchiladas with New Mexican Red Chile Sauce.

The New Mexican chile powder used in the recipe, which Niall shares on his Substack, has a slow-building heat, “rounded out by a sweetness and a smokiness,” he said. Rather than a rolled tortilla, the dish is layered with two stacked tortillas spread with chile sauce and cheese, which are broiled fresh to order.

In 2010, the chefs featured the dish at a “MJ’s Greatest Bites” dinner that commemorated the first anniversary of Jackson’s death. The night was staged at Richmond’s Culver City-based Akasha Restaurant that ran from 2008 to 2025.

Besides the enchilada dish, the feast included other Jackson favorites, among them: Spicy Cajun Shrimp served with Skillet Cornbread Toast; and Golden Temple Wild Mushroom and Tofu Salad, a mix of Napa cabbage, carrots, snow peas, toasted cashews, dressed with ginger-miso.