Even if you've never used a kitchen a day in your life—aside from microwaving freezer meals or storing sweaters in your oven like Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw—odds are you've watched a cooking show. Food-based shows are a staple of feel-good comfort TV—and not just for people who want recipes elevated beyond the odd YouTube tutorial. Bingeworthy reality cooking and baking shows can offer thrilling competitions, gorgeous travelogues, astute historical and social analysis, and the ultimate cozy vibes, all as viewers fall in love with the personalities that show us why food can be a passion and a calling.
Luckily for fans who want to dive deeper into culinary content, most of the world's best cooking shows are available on streaming services including Netflix, Max, Hulu, and Peacock. Below, we've rounded up a wide-ranging selection of the best cooking shows to watch... though maybe not on an empty stomach. (If you're looking for more cooking shows on Netflix, we've got you covered.)
'Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown' (2013–2018)
The late chef Anthony Bourdain starred in several series over his career, but Parts Unknown is his landmark show that inspired many other global food shows. In each episode, Bourdain travels to a new location, from Sicily to Vietnam to Iran, and explores much more than the country's food. His best episodes give a snapshot of the city or country, exploring the region's history and giving viewers a closer look at the locals' daily lives. (If you're in the mood for lighter conversations, there's also his series No Reservations for a more comedic feel.)
'Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics' (2008–2021)
With Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten brings home cooking back to its roots: accessibility, entertainment, and comfort. Each episode follows the cookbook author and "queen of Thanksgiving" as she gives clear, jargon-free demonstrations of delicious recipes perfect for entertaining. Whether you're following along while cooking for a dinner party or just sinking into the culinary equivalent of ASMR, this show demonstrates why cooking can be a source of joy.
'Blue Ribbon Baking Championship' (2024– )
This new baking competition gives major Great British Bake Off vibes but stands out for its inventiveness. As the title hints, the theme of this series is the state/county fair, in which home bakers have competed for baking bragging rights for over a century. Hosted by Jason Biggs—who put a moratorium on American Pie jokes—and Sandra Lee, BRBC gathers 10 bakers from across the country to put their skills to the test in themed challenges, judged by Lee, Bryan Ford, and Bill Yosses. The bakes in each episode take the fair-food theme to the next level, from illusion cakes shaped like knitwear and snow cones to a handheld bar of potato candy.
'Chef's Table' (2015– )
This Emmy-nominated docuseries leans into the cinematography of food, turning dishes into works of art. Each season follows a group of award-winning chefs who are redefining the global culinary landscape in their own ways, by establishing themselves as visionaries or honoring and amplifying their cultural heritage. Meanwhile, Chef's Table's many spinoffs (including Pastry, Pizza, BBQ, and the upcoming Noodles) focus on chefs who specialize in a certain dish discipline, showing how one subset of the food industry is reinvented and celebrated across the globe.
'Cooking With Paris' (2021)
This one-season show hosted by pop culture's most famous heiress may be the most underrated celebrity cooking show. For six wild episodes, Paris Hilton invites a selection of famous friends to her home to make one of her imaginative recipes that embody both Hilton's signature flair and the show's ethos that "anyone can cook." (Sorry Paris, "sliving" didn't stick.) The episodes combine a "stars are just like us" charm with the immense relatability of a cooking challenge that's a bit outside of your skill set (plus a good dose of horror at the thought of ingesting one of the stones on Hilton's bling-encrusted cooking utensils).
'Crime Scene Kitchen' (2021– )
Despite the title, this competition is not a Gordon-Ramsay-true-crime mashup (though imagine what that would be!). Instead, the Fox hit hosted by Joel McHale has a very cool concept: Baker teams have to investigate the aftermath of a baking session and recreate whatever was made, based only on whatever crumbs, streaks, half-empty containers, and used cooking instruments are left. This series is an absolute must-watch for anyone whose cooking show binges involve playing armchair chef and yelling their knowledge at the screen.
'Culinary Class Wars' (2024– )
This new South Korean competition—best described as Physical: 100 but cooking—gathers 100 chefs to battle it out for culinary dominance, with an added "class" aspect as already widely famous chefs duke it out against up-and-coming talents. Like Netflix's other Korean reality shows, what makes this show stand out is the thoughtful gameplay—from five-hour cooking marathons centered on one ingredient to surprise twists in hidden rooms—and the lovable personalities among the stacked cast. Plus, judges Paik Jong-won and Ahn Sung-jae's discussions on whether variables from varietal skill to nostalgia affect their deliberations are super fascinating.
'The Great British Baking Show' (2017– )
The Great British Baking Show—or Bake Off if you're an Anglophile—is among the most popular baking shows right now, and for good reason. Since 2010 (Netflix only has episodes from 2017 forward), dozens of the U.K.'s most talented amateur bakers have competed in themed weekly challenges to show their skill and share their love of baking. GBBO has gone through its rough patches—we do not speak of Mexican Week—but the best part of watching is following each year's bakers as they support each other through the often high-stress competition.
'High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America' (2021–2023)
In this important docuseries, food writer Stephen Satterfield explores the ancestry of Black food and culinary traditions, as he travels from West Africa to rural Southern communities speaking with renowned chefs and food historians. Much of Black history is passed down through oral traditions and kept within insular communities; with High on the Hog, Satterfield documents this legacy of culinary invention, while honoring the ancestors who contributed to some of the country's most popular foods. If you love soul food, this is an essential watch to understand its history.
'MasterChef Junior' (2013– )
There have been many iterations of MasterChef over the past 34 years, but MasterChef Junior remains iconic for giving child virtuoso chefs the spotlight. It's objectively amazing to watch children between the ages of 8 and 13 pull off culinary feats that even adults watching at home would have trouble with, and the friendships that form among the cast can be even more adorable than the most memorable GBBO season. Sure, legendary-yet-controversial host Gordon Ramsey is still there, but he manages to reign in the cursing around the kids, making this the show to watch for people who like their cooking competitions with marginally less yelling.
'Nailed It!' (2018– )
Another show that turns culinary challenges beyond a baker's skill set into the ultimate experience in relatability, Nailed It! seeks out truly amateur home bakers and tasks them with recreating complicated bakes. (In other words, this is the only baking show I could compete in at my current skill level!) It's refreshing to watch a cooking show where failure is not only expected but the point and host Nicole Byer makes sure that the jokes about the contestants' failures are never mean to the contestants themselves. We love a show where everyone involved isn't afraid to laugh at themselves.
'Salt Fat Acid Heat' (2018)
Based on host Samin Nosrat's 2017 cookbook of the same name, this excellent travel show follows the chef on a global exploration of her four cornerstones of cooking: salt, fat, acid, heat. Each of the first three episodes take Nosrat to a different country, where she works with practitioners specializing in one of the titular elements—i.e. exploring the origins of fatty cheese, olive oil, and pork in Italy. For the final episode, the host returns to her home in Northern California to play with heat and bring her cookbook to life, showing how all four elements come together to make a delicious home-cooked meal.
'Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy' (2021–2022)
What sounds better than traveling through Italy and dining on mouth-watering dishes with the eternally suave Stanley Tucci? In this short-lived travel series, the Julie & Julia actor and cookbook author channels his love of Italian food and culture into a dreamy exploration of the less tourist-filled corners of the country. In addition to being a charming host, Tucci offers some history on each region, meaning your couch-bound tour of Italy can be gorgeous and educational.
'Top Chef' (2010– )
Top Chef is the model of a modern cooking show: Each season, a group of chefs from a different U.S. city compete in weekly challenges to avoid elimination and become the last chef standing, $250,000 richer. The Bravo series is also an institution, with a dedicated fan base and a history of former contestants who become award-winning stars in their own right post-show. Whether you go back to the beginning or tune in on the latest season, led by new host (and former winner) Kristen Kish, Top Chef's guaranteed to thrill viewers with heart-racing displays of cooking excellence.
Ugly Delicious (2018–2020)
In this irreverent docuseries, Momofuku founder (and former Bourdain collaborator) David Chang puts his spin on the culinary travel show. Chang's take includes multiple celebrity guest stars, inserts of food-related pop culture clips, and smart debates on topics surrounding cultural fusion, racism in elitist food culture, and tradition versus innovation. After binging shows like Chef's Table that elevate the food industry to elite art forms, it's nice to watch a show purely focused on passionate foodies discussing their comfort foods.
