Rachel Allen was brought up in Dublin and her early cooking experiences were with her sister, both pretending to be Delia Smith and talking to the wall as they made biscuits. Encouraged by her family, Rachel went to the Ballymaloe Cookery School at the age of 18 and realized she wanted to make food her career.

After graduating from the school she cooked at the Ballymaloe House Hotel, eventually returning first to test recipes and then to teach at the school. She also spent some time working as a caterer in Vancouver.

Rachel has had five BBC TV series: Rachel’s Favourite Food, Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends, Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home, Rachel's Food for Living and Rachel Allen: Home Cooking, all accompanied by books. She also appears regularly on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen.

Rachel has written for many Irish publications, including the lifestyle magazine Image and the Sunday Tribune magazine. She has also contributed to BBC Good Food magazine.

Rachel lives near the cookery school with her two young sons and her husband, another cook, who runs three restaurants in Cork.