Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

TikToker's 'Aggressive' Tutorial Video For Making A Casserole Hilariously Divides Viewers

Screenshots of @applesauceanddadhd's TikTok video
@applesauceanddadhd/TikTok

30-year-old mom Jessica Secrest has made a name for herself with her 'aggressive cooking tutorials' on TikTok—but viewers aren't quite sure what to think.

A TikToker known for her "aggressive cooking tutorials" has gone viral for her latest "Taco Tater Tot Casserole" video.

While many amateur cooking enthusiasts share recipes and tips on TikTok with calm instructional deliveries and pleasing aesthetics, Jessica Secrest–a.k.a. TikToker @applesaucedadhd–has a completely different approach to sharing her culinary methods.


Secrest is a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom from the Midwest whose in-your-face persona in her videos is leaving viewers either completely amused by her no-nonsense tactics or left quivering in their cooking aprons.

Her latest TikTok video making a twist on "tachos"–loaded tater tot using nacho toppings–racked up nearly 13 million views.

It even made its way over to X (formerly Twitter), where some users like @Bornakang felt like they were being reprimanded after watching her clip.

They wrote:

"Damn why she mad at me for watching lol."

You might feel the same after seeing the clip below.

The video started with Secrest informing viewers, "Tonight we are having taco tater tot casserole," before slamming a big skillet filled with the savory dish on the kitchen counter.

"This is it," she said.

To start, she slapped a pound of ground beef into an empty skillet and told viewers to grind it up aggressively after stabbing the raw mound with a utensil.

Secrest said she prefers eyeballing her ingredients, rather than measuring them like most people, and she demonstrated this by bombing the casserole with a guesstimated "metric ton" of garlic powder.

"To those of you who look at this and say, 'That's SO much garlic,' yes and no," she says, adding:

"Garlic in the jar is much, much milder."

Next, she added some onion powder and informed viewers not to season over a hot dish to prevent the condensation from the moisture from causing a "clumping effect" in the spice jar.

"Be better than me," she told viewers.

Other ingredients included taco seasoning, half a jar of salsa, some water for the taco seasoning—all of which she eyeballed—and a can of black beans.

She later added the rest of the jar of salsa after she decided the dish needed more of it.

"I'm gonna add in a bag of corn," she said, while ripping apart the package with her teeth. "It's frozen. It's fine," she assured viewers.

Finally, when adding the tater tots, she advised viewers to arrange them neatly in a design instead of dumping them, which is just "chaotic and crazy."

For her final touch after the dish had been in the oven, she said:

“It’s been about 20 minutes. I top my casserole with some cheese. Why? Because I live in the Midwest.”

People shared their thoughts after watching the video.

Some were left nervously biting their nails from Secrest's assertive instructional.

Others got a kick out of her ragey recipe video.





Secrest told Buzzfeed of her personality gimmick:

"My aggressive tutorial lady character is kind of a character, but it's kind of like my internal monologue coming out through my mouth."

Secrest started her TikTok series in August after watching a TikToker selling an Uncrustable maker and using it incorrectly.

"I jumped up off my couch and I said, 'Oh, hell no. You're selling this product, you need to do it the right way.'"

She filmed her own aggressive Uncrustable video, in which she commented:

“If I have to watch one more video of one of you making an Uncrustable the wrong way I’m going to revolt."

It quickly gained viral fame with 1.5 million views.

You can watch the video here.

@applesauceandadhd

THIS is a tutorial #uncrustable #uncrustablemaker #howtomakeanuncrustable #agressivetutorial #agressive #latenightwithjess #latenighttutorial #diymickeymousesandwich

Followers began requesting she make tutorial videos involving other household tasks like folding a fitted bedsheet and baking banana bread.

She continued:

"After [the banana bread] video, everyone was like, 'That's it. We need every cooking video to be aggressive.'"
"Now every night when I make dinner for my family, I film it, and I film it aggressively."

Secrest, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband and their two kids, Arthur and Alice, found her viral fame a surreal experience.

She told TODAY:

“It’s really strange. A lot of the time people come for the aggressive tutorials and they don’t realize that they like it."
"A lot of people feel like they’re in the kitchen with their mom and she’s told them 800 times how to make this dish and you just didn’t listen."
"A lot of people who have lost their parents feel at home with my videos.”

Now with over 1.2 million followers, Secrest added:

“I think a lot of what resonates with people in my videos is that I’m a real person, in a real house, making real food for a real family — and it’s not super stylized or aesthetic anything. It’s just real life in the Midwest.”
“You’re just transported into my home with a really annoyed mom who’s had a day.”

More from Trending

G-Dragon
Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images

K-Pop Star Sparks Controversy After Wearing Shirt With Dutch Racial Slur On It During Show

On May 2, K-Pop group BigBang member G-Dragon, also known professionally as Kwon Ji-yong, performed at K-SPARK in Macau wearing a shirt with an anti-Black racial slur, written in Dutch, on the back.

The shirt also featured an offensive caricature of a Black person on the front.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Todd Blanche
Meet the Press

Acting Attorney General Gets Blunt Reality Check After Making Bizarre 'Restaurant' Analogy In Defense Of Voter ID

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had people raising their eyebrows after he defended voter ID restrictions by attempting to bring up a real-world scenario in which people have to show their IDs... going inside restaurants.

Blanche was speaking to Kristen Welker on Meet the Press when he argued that attention should shift away from criticism of Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices for weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and toward what he framed as the more pressing issue of voter ID requirements.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Trump Dragged For Not Understanding How The Game Uno Works In Cringey Meme About Iran War Negotiations

President Donald Trump was dragged online after he shared an image of himself holding a bunch of Uno cards to brag about holding "all the cards" in Iran war negotiations, only to be called out for not understanding how playing the game actually works.

Trump’s post came as Iran put forward a new proposal to end the war, reportedly demanding that the U.S. lift sanctions, end its blockade, withdraw military forces from the region, and halt hostilities—including Israel’s operations in Lebanon—according to Iranian outlets with close ties to the country’s security establishment.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; The Mandalorian
Alex Brandon/Pool/Getty Images; Disney+

White House Celebrates May The 4th With AI Image Of Trump As The Mandalorian—And 'Star Wars' Fans Are Livid

The White House was called out after it commemorated Star Wars Day by sharing an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump as the Mandalorian, sparking backlash from Star Wars fans.

The image depicts Trump as the armored protagonist of The Mandalorian, accompanied by the alien child and Jedi apprentice Grogu—better known to many fans as “Baby Yoda”—while carrying an American flag.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tucker Carlson; Lulu Garcia-Navarro
The Interview/New York Times

'New York Times' Hits Tucker Carlson With The Awkward Receipts After He Denies Calling Trump 'The Antichrist'

Former Fox News talking head Tucker Carlson sat down with journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro for a deep dive for The New York Times podcast The Interview. Garcia-Navarro used the opportunity to ask Carlson about his split with MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

Carlson had been critical of Trump over his Iran war, Trump's increasingly unhinged rhetoric, and the infamous meme Trump posted, then deleted, depicting himself as Jesus Christ.

Keep ReadingShow less