The Best Food Competition Shows to Stream Right Now

Remember when food contest shows were a rare commodity? Even after cooking shows started to take off, it was a while before television was able to tap into the potential for great showdowns in the kitchen. It took. iron chef Changing the game, streaming has opened the floodgates. Very bingeable reality TV formats are everywhere now. If you know where to look, you can find cooking contest shows based on just about any cuisine or style you can think of.

In such a crowded area, TV Guide can help keep everything organized. These are the best food contest shows you can stream right now. And if you’re looking for the best food documentaries to stream, you can find that list here.

Other recommendations:

This is OG. This cooking show can be said to have sparked a boom in the United States. The show eventually inspired a number of American spin-offs (available to stream on Discovery+), but the original Japanese version was a runaway hit in its own right. The show, which aired on the Food Network from iron chef introduced a cook-off format that would become the standard for cooking contest shows for years to come. Influential, funny, iron chef Virtually single-handedly created the entire American television ecosystem.

in the meantime iron chef It brought the food competition show to America. No one is more important in the rise of the genre here than Gordon Ramsay.The foul-mouthed British chef is synonymous with the rise of food contest shows and his wildly popular Fox series hell’s kitchen His most successful work.When hell’s kitchen, Ramsay played a caricature of a chef who constantly yells, curses, and rages at his kitchen minions, who struggled in hopes of making it through and securing a job as head chef. For better or worse hell’s kitchen Popularized the face-to-face style of real-life food contests.

At the exact opposite end of the spectrum is Great British Baking Showtakes a gentler, warmer approach to the food contest genre. Amateur bakers compete in a series of rounds, trying to impress the judges with sweet treats. Along the way, the hosts are humorous and discuss culinary history and baking styles, creating a show that is the perfect escapist entertainment.

Cakes and sweets are delicious, but who doesn’t like smoky barbecue? Netflix has its fair share of barbecue-themed shows, but nothing quite like this reality series, where his eight contestants with varying levels of experience compete in a number of barbecue-specific competitions. Showdown. What makes the show unique is its focus on cooking methods. Cooking barbecue requires the use of smoke to balance temperatures and develop flavor. American BBQ Showdown One of the most interesting services on Netflix.

Some competition shows highlight the chef’s strengths with specific techniques, chopped Instead, I prefer a little chaos. Sure, this is a Food Network reality contest in which her four chefs compete in three rounds of contests to win $10,000, but the twist here is that the chefs are all round of bizarre ingredients. It means that you have to work in combination. The chef is given a basket with her four mystery ingredients and uses them in unique ways to create appetizers, entrées, and desserts. The show’s charm lies in the outrageous combinations that chefs must figure out. Where else can you see people using alpaca hot dogs, sauerkraut, carrot ketchup and patties to create appetizing dishes?

When rigorous culinary scrutiny is called for, chef is what you want. The long-running American version, which airs on Fox, is a grueling competition that spans weeks, and the show isn’t exactly subtle in its over-the-top nature, always trying to exaggerate emotional backstories and conflicts. is exactly what makes the show interesting, and the judges (Gordon Ramsay is the only stalwart who has judged each season) clash with the contestants, never stifling both their praise and criticism of the cuisine.

Not all cooking contests have to be fierce. master chef junior. As mentioned earlier, the original is chef Leaning into the performance side of reality TV, it thrives because of how outrageous it is.the opposite is true master chef juniorThe show succeeds because it embraces the charm and kindness of its young contestants. It’s comfort TV at its best, and as an added bonus, you’ll be very ashamed of how your cooking skills stack up next to these kids.

Guy’s grocery game I have a little bit of everythingIt’s a cooking contest, but it’s also an homage to old school game shows supermarket sweepThe Food Network series features quizzes, bonus rounds and mystery clues in addition to the usual format of chefs competing to create dishes with specific ingredients. The stakes here may not be as high as some of the other shows on this list, but as is often the case with Guy Fieri shows, this is a fun, laid-back atmosphere that will keep you watching. .

The latest on this list, this Fox show from Gordan Ramsay is pure spectacle.In a crowded food competition genre, all you need to stand out is a good gimmick, and that’s exactly it next level chef I have Fifteen chefs split into his three teams to take on a series of culinary challenges under the guidance of Ramsay and chefs Naisha Arlington and Richard Brace. It all sounds pretty standard until you find out that everything is cooked within a massive 3-level structure that includes 3 different kitchens. The top floor has a modern, upscale kitchen with all the modern tools you need, the middle floor is the standard commercial kitchen you’ll find in almost any basic restaurant, and the bottom floor contains low-quality utensils, so the chef adapts to each level. Now is the time to catch up on this silly but highly entertaining show.

Food trucks are all the rage these days, great food truck race It does a great job of capturing the spirit of the industry. Hosted by Tyler Florence, the Food Network competition follows dozens of food truck teams each season driving trucks across the United States and selling food in different cities, each earning money and not being eliminated. I am trying to Along the way, the team must adapt to the challenges of the new game while securing profits and keeping the hood his track. It’s a chaotic and entertaining show that is insanely easy to get hooked on.