The Most Watchable Cooking Competition Shows
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. These shows all focus more on cooking than baking - but you can check out the best bake-heavy shows like GBBO and Nailed it! on The Most Watchable Baking Competitions or stick with sweets at Delicious Dessert Competitions.
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 that 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. There are even cooking shows that focus on specific types of preparing food, like barbecue competitions.Â
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 up the cooking competition shows you think are the best and see where your favorite competitive cooking shows rank. No matter what type of cooking contest you like, from barbeque to haute cuisine, there is definitely something out there for you.
- Ted Allen, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy
- Premiered: January 13, 2009
- Genres: Reality
Chefs use their culinary skills to impress a panel of experts. - Emeril Lagasse, Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi
- Premiered: March 8, 2006
- Genres: Reality
Aspiring chefs compete for their shot at culinary stardom. - Premiered: June 15, 2022
- Genres: Reality
Chefs go head to head against culinary icons in a battle for the chance to become the Iron Legend.- Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, Joe Bastianich
- Premiered: July 27, 2010
- Genres: Reality
Amateur chefs compete to become a culinary master and earn the title MasterChef. - Marino Monferrato, Andi Van Willigan, James Avery
- Premiered: May 30, 2005
- Genres: Reality
Gordon Ramsay hosts a fiery cooking competition in which the winner receives a head chef position. - Alton Brown
- Premiered: 2013
- Genres: Reality
Chefs get $25,000 and chances to spend that money on helping themselves or sabotaging competitors. - Masaharu Morimoto, Hiroyuki Sakai
- Premiered: September 30, 1993
- Genres: Reality
Cooking competition between the Iron Chef and a challenger. - Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, Matt Preston
- Premiered: 2009
- Genres: Game show, Cooking show, Reality television
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 - Tyler Florence
- Premiered: August 15, 2010
- Genres: Reality
Seven of the country's best food trucks compete for customers as they cross the country. - Gail Simmons, Ruth Reichl
- Premiered: June 10, 2009
- Genres: Reality
World-renowned chefs compete in a series of culinary challenges. - Ted Allen
- Premiered: September 8, 2009
- Genres: Cooking, Game show
Starting March 6, 2011, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired the "Chopped All-Stars" Tournament. Sixteen chefs competed. - Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, Graham Elliot
- Premiered: September 27, 2013
- Genres: Game show, Cooking show, Reality television
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 present ...more - Guy Fieri
- Premiered: October 20, 2013
- Genres: Reality
Guy Fieri pits four talented chefs against one another in a grocery store cooking competition. - Bill Murray, Anderson Cooper, Giada De Laurentiis
- Premiered: April 23, 2004
- Genres: Cooking
Chefs compete in Kitchen Stadium. - Chefs face unique cooking challenges in a culinary gauntlet to be the food world's newest superstar.
- Anne Burrell, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence
- Premiered: January 3, 2010
- Genres: Reality
Chefs mentor amateur cooks in an attempt to transform them from kitchen zeros to kitchen heroes. - Alton Brown, Simon Majumdar, Donatella Arpaia
- Premiered: October 7, 2007
- Genres: Cooking
Contestants compete for the title of Iron Chef. - Keegan Gerhard, Kerry Vincent, Claire Robinson
- Premiered: January 9, 2005
- Genres: Reality television, Home improvement
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 - Mark Dacascos, Alton Brown, Kristen Kish
- Premiered: June 15, 2022
- Genres: Reality
Chefs go head to head against culinary icons in a battle for the chance to become the Iron Legend. - Gordon Ramsay
- Premiered: September 14, 2010
- Genres: Cooking show
Gordon Ramsay seeks out Britain's best restaurant from diner-nominated eateries. - Bobby Flay and Michael Symon coach eight of the country's most-respected BBQ challengers.
- Eric Adjepong
- Premiered: January 2, 2022
- Genres: Reality
Three culinary superstars compete over two rounds against one another as well as against Alex. - Loyd Grossman, John Torode, Donal Skehan
- Premiered: August 14, 1994
- Genres: Game show, Reality television
Junior MasterChef is a British TV cookery competition, broadcast by the BBC, in which nine- to twelve-year-olds compete to be crowned "Junior MasterChef". It is a spin-off from the main UK series of ...more - Shinmin Li, Jonathan Bennett, Justin Willman
- Premiered: October 2, 2011
- Genres: Reality
Five teams of cake decorators, candy makers and pumpkin carvers compete. - Brooke Williamson, Michael Voltaggio, Stephanie Boswell
- Premiered: March 14, 2022
- Genres: Reality
Eight home cooks cook their way through some of Julia Child's most iconic recipes. - Anthony Bourdain Nigella Lawson Ludo Lefebvre Marcus Samuelsson
- Premiered: January 22, 2013
- Genres: Reality competition
Teams of professional and amateur cooks try to create the best dish.