Cooking shows are one of the most entertaining and informative segments on TV, whether it’s focused on failing restaurants like Kitchen Nightmares or centered on travel like Ugly Delicious. Aside from the mouth-watering food, what makes cooking shows enjoyable to watch are the charismatic chefs.
Oftentimes, reality cooking shows feature a competition where chefs (whether they’re skilled or not) show off their cooking chops in a series of challenges. From the Emmy-winning show Top Chef to the classic Iron Chef, users on Reddit dish out some of their favorite reality cooking shows.
The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off is a baking competition where home bakers need to undergo a series of challenges to impress judges and prove that they have superior baking skills. Some of the challenges that each baker needs to excel at are showcasing their favorite recipe, mastering a specific pastry or baked dish, and presenting a spectacular baked creation.
Reddit user dizzyghouls says that The Great British Bake Off is "so pure" because it's "a competition show but with far less drama than others". The whole atmosphere of the show is very supportive, and each home baker is constantly trying to better themselves.
MasterChef Australia
The iconic cooking reality competition MasterChef has taken a life of its own outside the United States. Amongst the different franchises, MasterChef Australia is one that truly stands out. For one, the show has a sheer amount of content in store for viewers, as each season has about 70 to 80 episodes, compared to Masterchef US, which has around 12 to 20 episodes per season.
Redditor restingbenchface notes that the show is nothing like the US series as "the obnoxious drama is clearly absent". What's more, viewers are bound to learn a lot from the show as each episode takes an in-depth look at a cooking technique, a dish, and an ingredient.
Chopped
Hosted by American author and TV personality Ted Allen, Chopped is a cooking series that takes on a game show format. In the show, chefs will have to show off their cooking skills and knowledge in three rounds. However, they have to keep in mind that they also need to perfectly mesh together a bizarre combination of ingredients.
Some of the most bizarre ingredients featured on Chopped are fermented scallops, canned whole chicken, and pig's blood. Viewers found the show to be very informative and Redditor AliceReadsThis says that they like chopped because it shows ingredients they've "never heard of and they take the time to explain them". For viewers who want to expand their food horizons, they should check out Chopped.
Top Chef
Unlike other shows that mostly showcase home cooks, Top Chef is a competitive platform for chefs all over the U.S. to display their superb skills and knowledge in cooking. Hosted by Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef has a progressive elimination format where every week, a chef is eliminated based on their performance in the main challenge.
Redditor RadiobreadEP notes that, unlike other reality cooking shows, Top Chef is a "little less dramatic" and "intense". That's not to say that the show doesn't get heated at times. And as with other reality TV shows, there are some contestants that the viewers think deserve better treatment from the show.
Best Home Cook
Viewers will find a lot of similarities between Best Home Cook and another popular show from the U.K., The Great British Bake Off. For one, Mary Berry is a judge in both shows, although she has already departed The Great British Bake Off in 2016. In addition, both shows feature amateur cooks who just want to showcase their skills in the kitchen.
Reddit user No-Nefariousness2883 notes that they like Best Home Cook as the challenges "were all things that a good cook would/could actually do in a home kitchen with standard home kitchen equipment and ingredients". The show doesn't ask the cooks to try and be on the same level as professional chefs and just asks them to do their best with what they know.
MasterChef UK
Viewers are often repelled by the original MasterChef as most think that the drama is manufactured thanks to its harsh judges like Gordon Ramsay and that the challenges aren't exciting and informative. However, that doesn't mean that all MasterChef franchises are duds. MasterChef UK, for one, is arguably better than the original iteration of the show.
On Reddit, DConstructed praises MasterChef UK for clearly explaining the technical challenges to the cooks, allowing everyone to perform well. What's more, they also say that the show is "much more focused on cooking", and removes the unnecessary drama that's often present in other cooking shows.
Salt Fat Acid Heat
The show Salt Fat Acid Heat is a documentary cooking series that follows the author and chef Samin Nosrat and is based on her book of the same name. In every episode of the show, Samin travels to different places to see for herself how the different elements of successful cooking are used to their best potential.
Reddit user jrbake gives praise to the show in a thread and says that Salt Fat Acid Heat is very informative and is "full of culture and genuine people". For Netflix users who want a cooking show that's not just about cake, they should check out Salt Fat Acid Heat on the streaming platform.
Iron Chef
One of the most recognizable cooking shows of all time is Iron Chef. Originally airing on Japanese TV, the original Iron Chef carries the same format as Iron Chef America. However, the original Iron Chef has been received by audiences better than its American counterpart as it was less dramatic and focused more on the chefs' mission to best interpret the theme ingredient.
Reddit user sfchin98 adds that the show had no manufactured drama and just showcased "just real people cooking real food". But that doesn't mean that emotions don't run high in the show, especially since both chefs want to win the competition.
Nailed It!
Nailed It! is one of the more popular cooking shows on Netflix. The show picks out three amateur bakers who have to try their best and create a copy of breathtaking cakes to win $10,000. The show is hosted by comedian Nicole Byers and chef Jacques Torres, who have excellent chemistry on screen.
Despite it being a competition, Redditor FunctioningDisaster points out that the show is essentially about "three people having some fun laughing at themselves in the kitchen". No one gets eliminated after the first round, and the judges and other competitors cultivate a supportive atmosphere that's not usually present in competitive cooking shows.
The American Barbecue Showdown
The American Barbecue Showdown is a cooking show on Netflix that features contestants who want the title American Barbecue Champion. The show shows an in-depth look at the meticulous art of barbecuing. Aside from making sure that all the flavors are on-point, the contestants also have to properly maintain the smoking ability and temperature of the barbecue.
The show has found a lot of fans as it has a less competitive atmosphere compared to other cooking competitions. Redditor Angrychipmunk17 notes that it's the closest show to The Great British Bake Off they've found, as all the contestants "are super nice to each other". Some users also pointed out that they give realistic cooking times to their grillers, so the contestants don't feel super pressured by the time constraint.