The best cooking competition shows

The OG in the cooking competition game, this Japanese show debuted in 1993 and aired almost 300 episodes. Chefs would show up to challenge one of the show’s Iron Chefs, with all the dishes centered on a secret ingredients. Judges would decide the winner. It became a cult hit in the United States in spite of the language barrier presented to many.

Yes, this is just the American version of Iron Chef, but we still had to include it. For those who didn’t watch the Japanese version, this was the show that introduced cooking competitions to the mix. Some notable celebrity chefs were part of the show, such as Bobby Flay. As was host Alton Brown, one of the faces of the Food Network.

After it debuted in 2009, Chopped became an unexpected phenomenon. The premise was sharp. They begin with four chefs. In each round, they are given four mystery ingredients they have to incorporate. After each round a chef is “chopped,” until only the winner remains. Remarkably, Chopped is still in production, having produced well over 600 episodes.

Outside of Food Network, Top Chef is the most popular of the cooking competitions. Unlike the single-episode competitions, Top Chef would keep its competitors around for a full season, eliminating people as they went along. It was more in the vein of a Survivor in that sense, giving you a chance to get to know the personalities better and develop stronger rooting interests.

What if a cooking competition was melded with American Gladiators? Cutthroat Kitchen is kind of like that. In each round, chefs bid on sabotages they can use on their opponents. Maybe it’s losing an ingredient. Or maybe it’s cooking in a tiny little house, or with a frying pan with a giant hole in it. The sabotages could get really inventive, wild, and fun. Cutthroat Kitchen was about style over substance, but we mean that in the best way possible.

Here is a reality show built around the personality of the host, in this case Gordon Ramsay. Hell’s Kitchen tries to turn the intensity up to 11, making the kitchen feel cramped and frantic, and then there was Ramsay, yelling and swearing and ratcheting up the heat even further. Hell’s Kitchen definitely puts the emphasis on the “competition” part of this genre.

MasterChef is also a Gordon Ramsay show, but it’s an adaptation of a British show and is a bit mellowed out. However, it’s still proven quite popular, with over 200 episodes produced at this point. There is also a spinoff with kid chefs, which features a strange sight: Ramsay actually being nice.

Let’s go into the world of pastry. Sweet Genius is kind of like Chopped, but with sweet treats. That is to say, there are mandatory ingredients in each round, and bakers get eliminated. If you like the world of confectionaries better than traditional cooking, Sweet Genius may be for you.

After a while, Food Network’s cooking competitions got more high concept. They don’t all work, but Supermarket Stakeout is pretty fun. The hook here is that chefs get $500 budgets and have to buy ingredients off of customers leaving the supermarket. Then, they also cook their dishes in that same parking lot. It’s just interesting enough to be a worthwhile premise.

The Great British Bake Off took the world by storm, which is surprising given that it’s just a bunch of amateur bakers duking it out. The show is known for its gentle nature and for contestants largely being nice and friendly. If you want a calming, relaxing show in this realm, Great British Bake Off is right up your alley.

Yeah, this show is all about cupcakes. If you like that, great. However, even if cupcakes aren’t your thing, there’s the competition aspect. Justin Willman is also quite a good host.

Another Ramsay show, but this time it’s really much more about the premise. Also, Ramsay is joined by a couple other chefs, including Top Chef alum Richard Blais. This season-long competition sees three chefs mentoring their teams, but also, there are three different “levels” to the competition’s studio — each one having different levels of equipment quality. Yeah, it’s a lot, but it’s fun.

This is one of those shows where it’s at its best in the beginning and then right at the end. The premise is right in the title. Some of the worst cooks in the country compete in a cooking competition, with mentors helping them improve. It’s amusing at the beginning when the contestants are truly terrible, and then it’s nice at the end when one of them emerges as the winner.

This relatively new TBS show is as much about the mystery as the cooking, but it’s a fruitful premise. Six contestants are competing, but one of them is the “rat,” who has to try and secretly sabotage all the dishes. When a dish passes the test, the team gets money in their bank, but if the dish fails, the money goes into the rat’s bank. Then, at the end, everybody votes who they think the rat is. If they are right, the team gets their money, but if they are wrong, the rat gets all the money. It helps that they don’t tell the viewer who the rat is.

Few shows of any kind are as delightful as Nailed It! Amateur bakers of limited skills compete to replicate elaborate cakes. However, part of what makes it fun is that the bakers aren’t delusional. They know their skill level, and they are usually enjoying themselves, and the overall vibe is supportive. Plus, Nicole Byer is a great host.