The bestcooking competition showsinclude memorable contestants, fun rules, creative challenges, and hosts and judges who know what they’re talking about and know how to talk about it. With recentcooking shows and movies likeThe Bear,Chef’s Table,The Great British Baking Show, and more being so prevalent in pop culture in recent years, it might feel like cooking-related shows are having a moment. In truth, there’s rarely been a time when cooking shows haven’t been popular, most often represented by the many popular cooking competition shows that have aired for decades.
Cooking shows have been popular since television has been popular, withCook’s Night Outairing in the UK in 1937, Julia Child hosting her series,The French Chefin the 1960s, and many more series following close behind all across the globe. However, it wasn’t until 1993 and the creation of the Food Network that cooking and reality TV combined for a perfectly blended genre of cooking competition shows. Now,there’s a new cooking competition show every year, but only a few pass the audience test and become a show worth savoring.
The American Barbecue Showdown
Cast
The American Barbecue Showdown is a culinary competition series released in 2020, where eight talented backyard smokers and pitmasters compete for the prestigious title of American Barbecue Champion through a series of grilling challenges.
Barbecue Showdown, formerlyThe American Barbecue Showdown, first premiered on Netflix in September 2020 with the first season taking place in Covington, Georgia and the third season moving to Gay, Georgia. The series brings in contestants from across America to face off and show off their best marinating, cooking, and BBQing skills for judges Kevin Bludso and Melissa Cookston. It’s as American as a cooking competition show gets and the type of people who make barbecuing an art are as lovely and fun as one would imagine.
Britain’s Best Home Cook
Britain’s Best Home Cook is a culinary competition series released in 2018. The show features Mary Berry, chef Dan Doherty, and produce expert Chris Bevin as they embark on an eight-week journey to discover Britain’s most talented home cook.
There was quite a stir in the competitive cooking show world whenMary Berry announced she was leavingThe Great British Baking Showafter season 7. Fortunately, her replacement, Prue Leith, was more than up to the task, and even better, it allowed Berry the opportunity to do another show,Best Home Cook, previously known as,Britain’s Best Home Cook. Something like a culinary version ofThe Apprenticewith kinder contestants,Best Home Cookstuffs everyone in a house while they compete. It’s a fairly standard series beyond that conceit, but Berry brings the energy and sweetness as always.
Beat Bobby Flay
Beat Bobby Flay is a competitive cooking show where two chefs compete for a chance to challenge celebrity chef Bobby Flay. In each episode, the chefs face off by creating a dish using a secret ingredient, with judges selecting a winner to compete against Flay using their own signature dish.
Taped in front of a live studio audience,Beat Bobby Flayis a 2013 Food Network cooking competition series that is still airing. As the title suggests,Beat Bobby Flayssees a group of 20 contestants competing in a first round of cooking to earn the right to face off against Flay in a 1 vs 1 competition. Flay is joined by two guests who help out the competitor and try to distract Flay.Framed like a boxing match with trash-talking and bell-ringing,Beat Bobby Flayis a quick-moving, light-hearted show where it feels like everyone is having a good time.
Holiday Baking Championship
Holiday Baking Championship is a competitive baking show that premiered in 2014. It features amateur bakers showcasing their family traditions and baking talents to meet weekly challenges. Contestants aim to impress the judges through various holiday-themed tasks, vying for the title of the best holiday baker.
The American cooking competition series,Holiday Baking Championshipairs from November through Decemberand has become a yearly tradition since 2014. Each episode is divided into two rounds with a preliminary heat followed by a main heat, where bakers are given more time for their impressive creations. Bobby Deen and Jesse Palmer have both hosted the series and Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Lorraine Pascale have all served as judges. The popularity of the competition has led to several spin-offs, including aHalloween Baking Championship.
Masterchef Goes Large
Masterchef Goes Large is a competitive cooking show featuring hosts John Torode and Gregg Wallace, which premiered in 2005. Contestants showcase their culinary skills and passion to advance through rigorous challenges, vying for the title of the country’s next star chef, culminating in the quarter-final and semi-final rounds.
Originally titledMasterChef UKbefore the 2005 revival,MasterChef Goes Largeis the first incarnation of theMasterChefseries that has since been spun off into international versions and specific niches likeJunior MasterChefandMasterChef: The Professionals.This first series premiered in 1990 and follows a similar format to the better-known US version, but removes some of the drama for a better look at the actual cooking going on. Gregg Wallace and John Torode have judged the series since the start, providing sharp and witty observations every year.
Iron Chef
Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show that debuted on June 15, 2025. Produced by Fuji Television, the series features guest chefs competing against resident “Iron Chefs” in themed cooking battles centered around a specific ingredient. The show concluded in 1999 but continued to air specials until 2002.
TheIron Chefseries that inspired it all, the Japanese version ofIron Chef, premiered in 1993 and featured guest chefs coming on to the show to challenge one of the resident “Iron Chefs” in a timed cook-off with themed ingredients. The overly dramatic Takeshi Kaga hosts the series as “Chairman Kaga”, who leads a battalion of Iron Chefs; competitors cook against one another for the chance to cook against an Iron Chef. With its wacky kayfabe style storytelling and the unique and unusual Japanese dishes, the originalIron Chefstands out as a singular cooking show.
Guy’s Grocery Games
Guy’s Grocery Games is a competitive cooking show hosted by Guy Fieri, where chefs race against the clock to shop for ingredients and create dishes while facing various culinary challenges and obstacles within a grocery store setting.
Guy’s Grocery Games, sometimes just calledTriple G, puts a spin on the classic cooking show format by setting itself in a grocery store. Chef contestants are given access to ten aisles of normal supermarket food and are required to do tasks set out by host Guy Fieri, who issues basic challenges like “fried feast” or “upscale dinner”, sometimes limiting which aisles and shelves can be accessed. It’s fast-paced, and Fieri is an incredibly energetic host. It feels likeSupermarket SweepmeetsMasterChefand the dishes always feel like something that could be made at home.
MasterChef USA
MasterChef USA, released in 2010, is a cooking competition series featuring Gordon Ramsay and other celebrity chefs. Contestants face various challenges and elimination rounds with the aim of transforming one talented home cook into a culinary master.
Not to be confused with the three-season competition cooking show on PBS also calledMasterChef USA, thebetter-knownMasterChef USATV seriesfirst premiered on Fox in 2010 and stars a current judge lineup of Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Aarón Sánchez. Like the original British series, contestants first try out in front of the judges,X Factor-style, before being selected to continue in the challenge. Very dramatized and emotionally charged, it’s hard not to get invested thanks to the judges and talented chefs who create some incredible dishes.
The Final Table
The Final Table is a competitive cooking series where teams of chefs from around the world compete to create iconic national dishes. Released in 2018, this show challenges the participants to impress renowned culinary experts and celebrity judges with their culinary prowess.
InThe Final Table, a Netflix cooking competition series that premiered in 2018 and only lasted for one season, twelve international teams of two professional chefs compete to create restaurant-quality dishes in each episode. Hosted by food writer and critic Andrew Knowlton,each episode ofThe Final Tableis centered on the cuisine of one country. The competition segments are interrupted by the biographies of the contestants, which goes along the way to helping the audience figure out who is best suited to each challenge, making for a more participatory viewing experience.
Tournament of Champions
Tournament of Champions is a cooking competition hosted by Guy Fieri, where elite chefs face off in an intense single-elimination tournament. As emotions escalate, unexpected twists challenge the participants, all striving for the prestigious championship title in a high-stakes culinary showdown.
Guy Fieri’sTournament of Championsis an ongoing cooking competition series hosted by none other than Guy Fieri himself. Each season, 16 or more chefs who have won on other Food Network shows go head-to-head,March Madnessbracket-style for a first-round cook-off, followed by quarterfinals, semifinals, and then the championships. The dishes are blind-judged andthe challenges usually require specific, unusual ingredients and rare equipment. The talent level in each bracket means every head-to-head is close, and no matter when a viewer tunes in, they’re bound to see some impressive cooking.
