Cooking The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows  

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The best cooking competition shows, hosted by some of television's most entertaining celebrity chefs, have become one of the must-watch genres on television. Some of the best shows on television right now take place in a kitchen, and the best cooking shows on TV are the reason.

While the cooking show has been around almost since the advent of TV (Julia Child was a thing long before Meryl Streep played her), in recent years we have seen the rise of the cooking competition show. Whether you tune in to Top Chef on Bravo or Netflix to see elite chefs battle for the title of best chef, or Masterchef which features home cooks battling it out to see if they have the chops to compete with the pros, reality cooking competition shows have become must-watch entertainment for the culinarily curious. Adding to the mix are timed challenge cooking competition reality shows like Chopped and Cupcake Wars which put cooks in the kitchen but under extreme pressure to produce great food or go home. Shows like Worst Cooks In America aim to teach basic skills to hapless novices, only aiming to create the Best of the Worst.

Which reality cooking competitions are the best? What is the most entertaining cooking competition show? Who are the best hosts of reality cooking competition shows? Vote on your favorite reality TV cooking competition show here to find out. If you don't see your favorite reality cooking show listed, make sure to add it to the greatest cooking competition show list so other viewers can make it their top cooking competition show. No matter what type of cooking contest you like, there is definitely something out there for you.

list ordered by

1
1,116 426
Chopped is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Ted Allen, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy Chopped is an American reality based cooking television series created by Dave Noll and Michael Krupat, with executive producer Linda Lea, and hosted by Ted Allen that pits four chefs against ...more

2
737 271
Top Chef is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
woogyjones50 added Emeril Lagasse, Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi Top Chef is an American reality competition show on the cable television network Bravo, that first aired in 2006, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are ...more

3
1,269 528
MasterChef is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, Joe Bastianich MasterChef (Fox, 2010) is an American competitive cooking reality show based on the original British series. A nationwide search for the best home cooks in America where one of 50 hopefuls will ...more

4
1,170 583
Hell's Kitchen is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Gordon Ramsay, Jean Philippe Susilovic, Scott Leibfried Hell's Kitchen (Fox, 2005) is an American reality competition television series based on the British series. World renowned chef Gordon Ramsay puts aspiring young chefs through rigorous cooking ...more

5
457 127
The Great British Bake Off is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
qweruioqwyeruio added Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc The Great British Bake Off (also called Bake Off or GBBO) is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other ...more

6
572 160
Cutthroat Kitchen is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
ShónaMcCormick added Alton Brown Just how far is a chef willing to go to win a cooking competition? Cutthroat Kitchen hands four chefs each $25,000 and the opportunity to spend that money on helping themselves or sabotaging ...more

7
601 349
Top Chef Masters is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Gail Simmons, Ruth Reichl Top Chef Masters is an American reality competition series that airs on the cable television network Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show Top Chef. In the ...more

8
591 397
Iron Chef America is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Bill Murray, Anderson Cooper, Giada De Laurentiis Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show ...more

9
498 317
Chopped Champions is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows

10
460 175
MasterChef Australia is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
kfresan added Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, Matt Preston MasterChef Australia is a Logie Award-winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by Shine Australia and screens on Network Ten. ...more

11
310 113
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Mae-AmarUnda added Gordon Ramsay, Neil Farrell, Daniela Bayfield Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (Channel 4, 2004) is a reality television program. In each episode, chef Gordon Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve the ...more

12
545 436
Cupcake Wars is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Cupcake Wars is an American reality competition series which premiered on June 13, 2010 and aired on the cable television network Food Network. The cooking show is hosted by Justin Willman and ...more

13
430 351
Worst Cooks in America is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Anne Burrell, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence Worst Cooks in America is a reality competition show on the Food Network. The show takes 12 to 16 contestants with very poor cooking skills through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a ...more

14
267 144
Iron Chef is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
MikeTrujillo added Masaharu Morimoto, Hiroyuki Sakai Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the ...more

15
219 93
Kitchen Nightmares is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Mae-AmarUnda added Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares (Fox, 2007) is an American reality television series based on the British show. Chef Gordon Ramsay is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant in an ...more

16
333 246
The Next Iron Chef is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Alton Brown, Simon Majumdar, Donatella Arpaia The Next Iron Chef, is a limited-run series on the Food Network, airing its fifth season in 2012. Each season is a stand-alone competition to select a chef to be designated an Iron Chef, who ...more

17
338 288
Food Network Challenge is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Keegan Gerhard, Kerry Vincent, Claire Robinson Food Network Challenge is a competitive cooking television series that currently airs on the Food Network. Each episode, professional chefs compete in a timed competition in their professional ...more

18
223 115
Food Network Star is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis Food Network Star (Food Network, 2005) is a reality television series. A contest to find a well rounded great chef with a unique point of view and hosting type of personality to host their own

19
103 33
MasterChef Junior is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, Graham Elliot MasterChef Junior (Fox, 2013) is an American cooking competition. 24 of the best junior home cooks in the country between the ages of eight and 13 will compete in the first audition round and ...more

20
280 306
Top Chef: Just Desserts is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Gail Simmons, Johnny Iuzzini, Danielle Kyrillos Top Chef: Just Desserts is an American reality competition show, spun off from Top Chef. It premiered on the cable television network Bravo on September 15, 2010. Top Chef: Just Desserts ...more

21
173 65
The Great Food Truck Race is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
PattiSchadel added Tyler Florence, Chris Hodgson, Lance Kramer The Great Food Truck Race is a reality television series that originally aired on August 15, 2010, on Food Network, with Tyler Florence as the host. It features competing food trucks. The fourth ...more

22
268 272
Next Great Baker is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Buddy Valastro, Letty Alvarez, James Brown Next Great Baker is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, Cake Boss. The show features contestants participating in ...more

23
244 306
Throwdown! with Bobby Flay is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Bobby Flay, Stephanie Banyas, Miriam Garron Throwdown! with Bobby Flay is a Food Network television program in which celebrity chef Bobby Flay challenges cooks renowned for a specific dish or type of cooking to a cook-off of their ...more

24
260 267
The Taste is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
Anthony Bourdain Nigella Lawson Ludo Lefebvre Marcus Samuelsson The Taste (ABC, 2013) is an American cooking-themed reality competition series. 16 contestants are put in team and individual cooking challenges with the help of mentors Anthony Bourdain, ...more

25
152 118
Ramsay's Best Restaurant is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
DannyLatcovich added Ramsay's Best Restaurant Gordon Ramsay