For foodies, Food Network is the holy grail. Watching Food Network shows is a common pastime of mine so I know it can be overwhelming to decide which show to watch. With a wide range of shows from basic instructional pieces to shows that highlight the best dishes around the country, it’s hard to find what show is the best for you.
Which is why I’m here to help — here are the top five (totally unbiased) Food Network shows.
5. Restaurant Impossible
Restaurant Impossible makes the list because of its high intensity host, Robert Irvine. The basis of the show is that Irvine goes to failing restaurants around the country and helps the owners completely revamp (menu, design, staff) in two days.
Almost every episode features an owner who is unwilling to accept Irvine’s criticisms and often either screams in his face or runs off crying…or both. And if it’s not the owner, it’s the employees who often have gone rouge and pretty much do whatever they want.
Watching Robert Irvine rip these people down in a way only an ex-military cook can is more entertaining than I would like to admit (especially when he refuses to even try the restaurant’s food).
Just like any remodeling show (see HGTV), you know that Irvine will finish the restaurant on time but it’s stressful nonetheless when it seems that his mission is truly impossible.
Restaurant Impossible is the Food Network show that combines reality T.V. and a cooking show. Just be ready for a lot of yelling.
4. Guy’s Grocery Games
Food Network shows are more often than not cooking competition shows and somehow they’re all engaging and, honestly, nerve wracking. Guy’s Grocery Games is no exception.
The show features none other than Food Network favorite Guy Fieri in all of his glory. Each show includes four chefs in a three-round competition that requires them to create a dish based on a theme with ingredients commonly found in grocery stores (hence the name).
My favorite part of the show is watching the gourmet chefs try to adapt to the “plebeian” grocery store food but still create a dish that they would be able to serve in their restaurant.
Guy Fieri’s personality plays a large role in my love for Triple G (and yes, that’s the show’s official nickname). His iconic look is highlighted on the show and no episode lacks his humor and playfulness.
Triple G also has interesting themes that the chefs have to cook within, like having a certain amount of money or only using frozen foods. It’s a creative twist on the standard appetizer-entree-dessert format we see so often.
3. Worst Cooks in America
Like Restaurant Impossible, Worst Cooks in America, plays to that part of us that likes to watch people mess up. This Food Network show features contestants who are divided up into two teams: Team Anne Burrell or Team Bobby Flay. Then, they are put through what is called “a culinary boot camp.”
Each episode features a different dish the contestants must make and one person is eliminated every round.
The show is true to its name, almost too much so, as some of the mistakes contestants make are practically unbelievable. But that doesn’t make it any less entertaining!
If you want to feel better about your less-than-amazing cooking skills, watching even half an episode of Worst Cooks in America will make you feel like Rachel Ray.
2. Cupcake Wars
Cupcake Wars was the first Food Network show of its kind. Many other “war” Food Network shows have followed but nothing will beat Cupcake Wars with the original host, Justin Willman.
Each episode of Cupcake Wars stands alone and begins with four different teams, with a head chef and an assistant chef.
What differentiates Cupcake Wars from other cooking competition shows is that each episode features an event happening in the area that the chefs are making cupcakes for. The winning team serves their cupcakes at whatever event and some of them are pretty impressive, like a SeaWorld event (pre Blackfish) or the Ace of Cakes 100th episode celebration.
The best part about Cupcake Wars is the judges. Particularly Florian Bellanger, a French pastry chef. He looks and acts exactly how you would imagine a French pastry chef would. He has a heavy French accent, is snarky, and unafraid to tell the chefs exactly how he feels about their cupcakes. Some of the best moments on the show come from Bellanger and his brutal French honesty.
1. Chopped
And now, first place: Chopped.
Chopped is indisputably the best show Food Network has ever produced. Its unique concept and thrilling competition push it above all other shows.
Chopped is a cooking competition show (are you noticing a pattern here?) in which each episode features four chefs. There are three rounds – appetizer, entree, dessert – and one chef is eliminated after every round.
At the beginning of each round, the chefs are given a basket with four ingredients inside, which are normally a little outlandish and force the chefs to be creative. Each round has a certain time limit and in practically every round in every show the contestants are rushing to drizzle a sauce or even plate their entire dish in the last two seconds.
A lot of the drama comes from one specific kitchen utility: the ice cream machine.
During the dessert round, it’s pretty common for chefs to make an ice cream BUT there’s only one ice cream machine. Whoever gets there first wins, as the machine takes a long time to make the ice cream and it takes an even longer time to clean it. So, whenever a chef plans on making ice cream, you know it’s going to be an intense round.