The Food Network's flagship program Chopped continues to be one of the most popular culinary shows on television. Since debuting in 2007, the cooking competition series has endured for 47 seasons and more than 600 episodes. During that span, several holiday-themed episodes have featured some of the wildest collection of basket ingredients on the entire series, be it Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more.
With the yuletide season in full effect, it's now time to look toward the latter for some of the most eccentric Christmas baskets of the entire series so far.
S3E6 - "Season's Choppings" - Appetizer
In Chopped's inaugural Christmas episode, the producers were still working out the kinks of the show's format. As such, the ingredients aren't as eclectic and challenging as they are later in the series.
For the appetizer round of "Seasons Choppings," the chefs were given 20 minutes to whip up a dish using venison tenderloin, quince, and eggnog. The latter two ingredients of which presented all sorts of problems for the chefs.
S8E9 - "Can't Catch Me, I'm The Gingerbread Lobster" - Appetizer
In one of the show's first holiday-themed episodes, Ted Allen and the Chopped judges showed very little mercy to the contestants during the opening appetizer round.
For their first course, the competing chefs were forced to cook with fresh lobster, the African chili paste harissa, candy cane beets, and a whole gingerbread house. Most challenging is the 20-minute time limit, ten less than allotted for the entrée and dessert rounds.
S17E13 - "Celebrity Holiday Bash" - Dessert
For the "Celebrity Holiday Bash" episode of Chopped Season 17, Anthony Anderson, Teri Hatcher, Dawn Wells, and Antonio Sabato Jr. participated in a cutthroat Christmas competition.
While the appetizer round featured the bizarre ingredient of reindeer pate, the dessert round was even stranger. The celebrity chefs were given 30 minutes to create a delectable dessert using Douglas Fir brandy, dried persimmon, plum pudding, and a chocolate Santa Claus.
S24E13 - "Holiday Cooking" - Appetizer
In the "Holiday Cooking" episode of Season 24, the contestants were comprised of Cooking Channel hosts Roger Mooking, Kelsey Nixon, and Gabriele Corcos. Given their level of expertise, the holiday baskets were made extra challenging.
For the appetizer round, the well-known chefs were tasked with creating a delicious dish made from a whole roasted goose, green cherries, parsnips, and brie en croûte (baked brie). After a tough battle, Roger Mooking of Man Fire Food fame took home the coveted $10,000.
S44E6 "Holiday Sweethearts" - Entrée
For the "Holiday Sweethearts" episode, iconic Chopped judges Chris Santos, Marc Murphy, Maneet Chauhan, and Geoffrey Zakarian all competed against one another for a charity of their choice. While every round was challenging, the entrée was the toughest.
For the main course, the chef/judges were provided with pork crown roast, chestnuts, swiss chard, and a chocolate yule log (Buche de Noel). Using chocolate in a savory entrée round was difficult, but Maneet Chauhan prevailed to win in the end and donated her winnings to the March of Dimes charity.
S26E7 - "Family Affair" - Entrée
In the "Family Affair" episode of Chopped that aired on December 15, 2015, a family of chefs working at the same restaurant competed against one another for culinary supremacy.
While every basket came with its own level of difficulty, none proved harder to navigate than the entrée round. For the main course, the family members were given 30 minutes to make a succulent dish out of cornbread stuffing, chicken breasts, stinging nettles, and tzatziki.
S30E7 "Holiday Reality Check" - Appetizer
In "Holiday Reality Check" the Christmas theme was combined with the culinary celebration of Hanukkah. The episode featured competition among four reality TV stars including Les Gold, Jenni Pulos, Claudia Jordan, and winner Karina Smirnoff.
The crazy appetizer basket came equipped with menorah bread, a truffled pheasant, variegated radicchio, and a tomato mozzarella wreath. The only ingredient stranger in the entire episode was the ugly Christmas sweater cookies.
S44E7 "Holiday Sugar And Spice" - Dessert
Returning Chopped champions comprised the competitive panel in "Holiday Sugar and Spice," the second Christmas-themed episode of Season 44. While all the baskets presented a major challenge, the dessert round took the cake.
The dessert basket included ingredients such as cinnamon tree leaves, a snow globe cake, blood oranges, and oddest of all, clam-flavored candy canes. In the end, New York pastry chef Melodie Asseraf won and gifted her prize money to the Save the Whales charity.
S22E4 - "The Holiday Kitchen" - Appetizer
In the fourth episode of Season 22, four of the five co-hosts of Food Network's The Kitchen competed against one another on behalf of their favorite charity. The contestants included Sunny Anderson, Jeff Mauro, Marcella Valladolid, and winner Katie Lee.
The four professional chefs were given three difficult baskets, with the opening appetizer round being the toughest. The chefs were allotted 20 minutes to make a delicious dish comprised of challah bread, seafood salad, prosecco, and a European confection called marron glace.
S35E15 "Chopped Grand Holiday" - Appetizer
The "Chopped Grand Holiday" edition featured competition among prior Grand Champion winners. As such, the baskets in each round were made more difficult than ever. For instance, the entrée round featured a deckle of beef and kugel and the dessert round included chestnut tree-honey.
But the appetizer round was even more challenging, with a basket that included goose breast, peppermint bark Vodka, Hannukah gelt cookie cake, and a Christmas tree vegetable plate.