Remember the ‘you are what you eat’ saying? Well, as much as I’d love to imagine myself morphing into a happy little radish, that’s not what this phrase actually means. Instead, it means that food isn’t just a form of nourishment but rather the stuff that keeps you lively, enlightened, and healthy. Also, besides the aforementioned perks of this nourishing matter, food is also highly entertaining. And no, we’re not talking about sharing a joke with your salad bowl or baking a suspiciously shaped cake; we’re talking about cooking competition shows! Oh yes, these shows are the high of entertainment, combining the best qualities of reality television and the glorious, heartening substance that is food. And since we eat it every day, we think of it constantly, and even sometimes dream of it, why not spend some time also looking at it and drooling over someone else’s creations, even if you cannot smell them, let alone taste them? Sort of a high-caliber tease, I should say, these cooking series are. But that is precisely what we love about them!
So, without any further ado, we present you with our list of the best cooking competition shows ever! There are bound to be thrills and plenty of spills, lavish meals and le grande fails, also tears, laughter, and intrigue - basically, all the best that television entertainment could offer. Now, just a bit further below, you’ll find the cooking shows all neatly listed and with descriptions attached to make your choice easier. Vote for the cuisine reality shows you’ve enjoyed the most, and don’t forget to share this appetizing article with your sous-chefs.
#1 The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off is a, as the name states, British television baking competition that first aired in 2010 and has 12 seasons as of now. The main thing that makes this series stand out from the crowd is the fact that the competing chefs are all amateurs, and virtually anyone can give this show a try. This series is actually so good that it has even won a BAFTA award (British Academy Television Awards) and reinvigorated the audience’s interest in baking throughout the country.
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63points
#2 Chopped
Chopped is a reality-based culinary series that premiered in 2009 and has been running for 50 seasons (yes, 50 seasons in 13 years). And here’s the catch of this series - while the premise is the usual one with challenges and eliminations, each chef gets four mystery ingredients to be used in their dishes. Those ingredients could range anywhere from sardines to peaches and are traditionally almost never used together in one dish. Chopped quickly became wildly famous, gaining international adaptations, a spin-off show, and plenty of special episodes.
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60points
#3 Top Chef
The 2006 American reality show Top Chef features chefs competing against each other in various culinary challenges. These culinary masters are judged by a panel of professional chefs, wine, and food experts, with one or more contestants eliminated each episode. And although such a premise might seem like quite a simple one, simplicity is usually the key to making something eternally popular - Top Chef proves it with its eighteen seasons and multiple spin-offs dedicated to various topics, contestants’ professionalism, or age.
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53points
#4 Iron Chef
Iron Chef is a Japanese cooking series that ran from 1993 to 1999 with a couple of revivals in later years. And as with any Japanese shows at the time, Iron Chef was also incredibly flamboyant, stylized, and superbly entertaining with its kookiness. Of course, everything was about the show with Iron Chef, the challenges each had an off-kilter theme, and various plot twists (often hilarious) were to be expected. Besides all that, both the competing chefs and the judges were sometimes incredibly famous people who made the series all the more attractive to the audiences.
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53points
#5 Cutthroat Kitchen
Cutthroat Kitchen is an American cooking show hosted by Alton Brown that aired from 2013 to 2017. What sets this series apart from the others is that the contestants can sabotage one another during their cooking challenges. This sabotage can be restricting their movement, messing with their ingredients by adding something completely unrelated to their recipe, and shortening their cooking time. It’s fun to watch the good-humored malevolence hindering contestants’ chances of becoming the winner, and we just can’t get enough of this thoroughly entertaining show!
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49points
#6 Iron Chef America
Now, you’ve already met the original Japanese version of Iron Chef, and now it is time to meet its American cousin, Iron Chef America. Same as in the original, it is still a culinary game show where a new chef competes with one of the resident chefs in each episode. The challenges are based on some super-secret ingredients or, even more often, on themes. It’s just as highly competitive, as much fun, and as flamboyant as the Japanese version, so if you’ve already finished with that, check out the Iron Chef America series next.
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48points
#7 Chopped Champions
Chopped is a reality-based cooking television game show series that first graced our screens in 2009 and continues to do so even with 50 seasons under its belt. With such a massive success, Chopped spawned quite a few spin-offs, and the one that made it straight onto our list is Chopped Champions. Here, thirteen previous winners were invited to compete once more against each other, and there was a prize at the end of each episode. That, of course, raised the stakes and the competitiveness of the chefs, making it into one helluva entertaining show.
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47points
#8 Masterchef
Though there are two MasterChef series - the original British series made by BBC and the 2010 American spin-off, it’s the latter that made it into our top 10. If you’re wondering why, it is purely because of Gordon Ramsay, the legendary hell-raiser chef that we just can’t get enough of. Besides different presenters, MasterChef U.S. follows almost the same premise as its British predecessor - in each episode, a group of amateur or home chefs compete against each other in a series of baking challenges to decide who will become the titular Master Chef. And while some critics shook their fingers at over-dramatizing contestants’ stories, they have also praised the series for its high entertainment value.
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46points
#9 Hell's Kitchen
Hell’s Kitchen is an American reality series that premiered in 2005 and is created and hosted by none other than celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Now, this series is for professional chefs, and in each season, two teams of kitchen magicians compete to win the position of head chef. Also, this time, the contests live in dormitories up until their elimination, making it into a real reality drama. Of course, there are challenges, brutal eliminations, and cook-offs, all for our entertainment!
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46points
#10 Top Chef Masters
Top Chef Masters is an American cooking reality series that first aired in 2009, spanning five seasons. It is a spin-off of the Top Chef series, but here it is not the up-and-coming youngsters that compete to secure a place in this industry; it’s the Masters that are proving their worth through a variety of cooking challenges. With that, of course, the recipes and the dishes are even more complex and lavishing - all the more fun for us! The judges in Top Chef Masters were also beyond famous - take, for instance, Gael Greene, who’s been a food critic working at the New York magazine since 1968 at a time when such a thing as food critic was quite unheard of.
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45points
#11 The Great Food Truck Race
The Great Food Truck Race is a reality television and cooking series that definitely stands out from the crowd. Here, contestants are given a food truck to operate and are sent on an adventure spanning different states where they have to prepare food for the local crowds. The team that earns the least is eliminated at the end of each episode. And though at its inception, The Great Food Truck Race’s contestants were seasoned food truck operators, in the later season, the chance to win was given to teams of amateurs and wannabes. And who doesn’t love a road trip and adventure and a cooking show combined into one smashing series?
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41points
#12 Masterchef Australia
MasterChef Australia is, you guessed it, an Australian adaptation of the original British cooking competition show MasterChef. And while it is basically the same show as the original - with challenges, eliminations, and chefs competing against each other - it still has that Aussie flair that sets it apart from other cooking shows. It too had several spin-offs, and they’ve included such topics as celebrities taking the chef’s role, a spin-off for junior bakers, and an all-star competition.
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41points
#13 Worst Cooks In America
Worst Cooks In America takes its contestants, who can gladly boast about their terrible cooking skills, through a cooking boot camp where they learn the ins and outs of fine cuisine. After their training is finished, the competition's winner is discerned by the final challenge where they have to make a restaurant-quality three-course meal for the critics and the judges. Worst Cooks In America is a highly entertaining show with 22 seasons under its belt, so you’d better start watching now if you wish to catch up!
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40points
#15 Masterchef Junior
MasterChef Junior is a cooking competition show involving kids from ages eight to thirteen. And together with a constant cuteness overload of kids cooking their hearts out, you also get to see a whole other side of the temperamental Gordon Ramsay. Here he is one of the judges, but instead of making ‘idiot sandwiches,’ he gladly helps the tiny chefs out. The format, though, is basically the same as in MasterChef - there are challenges and eliminations, just the chefs are way more adorable.
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39points
#16 Cupcake Wars
Cupcake Wars is an American reality competition series that ran from 2009 to 2018. Unlike other cooking competitions, this one was solely based on cooking cupcakes - cupcakes with odd ingredients (like oysters and basil), cupcakes looking like anything but cupcakes, and tiny little adorable cupcakes to melt your heart. Although inherently cute, the competition in Cupcake Wars was quite fierce, with tough challenges, early eliminations, and prize money to drool over.
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37points
