There’s something satisfying about sitting down and binge-watching your favorite TV show. Binge-watching is “officially” defined as watching three episodes in one sitting, but who are we kidding? We’ve all sat down for “just one episode” of our favorite shows, and emerged days later after finishing the series (and several bowls of popcorn). Some shows are universally considered great for binge-watching, like Once Upon a Time and Breaking Bad. But what do you do when you’ve burned through all those shows, and you’re stuck scrolling through the endless columns of Netflix wondering what on earth there’s left to watch? Well, that’s when my favorite genre comes in: food shows.
Just about every Friday night, you’ll catch my husband and me curled up on the couch with some take-out, cheering on our favorite competitors in a cooking competition. On Saturdays, I sleep in while my husband binges through recipe shows, looking for a new dinner idea. Between the two of us, we’ve watched just about every episode of just about every food show on Netflix.
If you’re hungry for a new cooking show,
here are our top five binge-watching suggestions:
1. Cutthroat Kitchen
Admittedly, when I first saw this show, I thought it was silly. The premise is simple: contestants have a set time to make a pre-determined food using whatever ingredients they can grab from the pantry in sixty seconds. But there’s a catch. Contestants are given $25,000 at the beginning of the show to bid on “sabotages” they can inflict on their competitors. Whoever triumphs at the end of the show only gets to take home whatever money they haven’t spent, so it’s important to bid wisely. Cutthroat Kitchen is nerve-wracking, goofy, and totally addicting.
2. Chopped
Chopped is my second favorite cooking competition. On this show, competitors are given a basket of strange ingredients and tasked to make a completed dish from whatever is in the basket, along with ingredients from the pantry. Whether the ingredient is durian or three layer cake, the basket must shine through in the final dish. The judging panel contains many of your favorite faces from around Food Network, and they’re all ready to decide who will win $25,000…and who will just be chopped.
3. Iron Chef America
Iron Chef America is a fast-paced cooking competition in which prestigious chefs compete against Iron Chefs in an epic showdown reminiscent of any good sports game. With a mystery ingredient, nonstop action, and an on-the-floor reporter giving you the play by play, Iron Chef will hit the spot for anyone wanting a serious cooking challenge. If you like Alton Brown on Cutthroat Kitchen, you can find him here, too, calling the shots and explaining some of the more unique ingredients.
4. Worst Cooks in America
In Worst Cooks, Ann Burrell and Bobby Flay attempt to find the worst cooks in America and turn them into master chefs. After a series of cringe-worthy auditions involving some truly terrible home cooking, Ann and Bobby choose the worst of the worst for their “team” and immediately throw them into the kitchen. The chefs learn new techniques and compete against each other to reach the final round, in which they must present a restaurant worthy meal to a panel of three judges. There’s a prize for the winner, but there’s also bragging cred for whichever coach has the winning contestant. You’ll find yourself rooting for not only the contestant, but for either Bobby Flay or Ann Burrell as well. (Go red team!)
5. Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
If you liked Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations or Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre foods, you need to check out Parts Unknown. Travel with Bourdain as he explores the globe, meeting fascinating people and trying extraordinary food. From Koreatown to Libya to Quebec, you’re in for a journey as Bourdain goes places you never thought you’d want to go. Okay, so it’s not exactly a food show, but there’s food in it, so it counts…right?
What’s your favorite show to binge watch on Netflix? We’re always looking for new shows!
I am going to be busy with all these shows! I haven’t seen ANY of these actually. They look really interesting!
I remember watching Iron Chef America when I was younger! Still one of my favorite cooking show!
I haven’t seen half of these! I really need to get back into watching the cooking shows like I used to.
I love watching food shows and so do my kids! I’ll have to bingewatch some of these!
I just finished watching the new season of OITNB.. love these ideas for a new show to binge on!
I have not gotten into any of those food shows. Looks like I am missing out
I’m a huge fan of cooking shows and I could watch them for hours on end. I’m familiar with most of these but will definitely be checking out the ones I’ve never watched before.
I do love watching food shows & I have watched Iron Chef America before, though I have never had a chance to watch the other ones. Would love watching all of them to see if I can get some new tips & recipes on cooking.
I haven’t tried watching any of them. I’ve been very busy lately and we often buy cooked foods but I will check these shows as I really love to cook!
Cutthroat kitchen is one of my favorite cooking shows. I love to binge watch seasons of my favorite shows.
I’m a total foodie so I already binge watch all of these!!!! Such awesome shows if cooking is your thing!
These all sound good – I plan on sharing these with my dad, as he really likes to watch cooking shows.
We typically enjoy binge-watching certain shows, preferring it over one watching one episode at a time.
We like to call it marathon watching a certain show.
I am a huge fan of food shows because I love food and I really enjoy seeing people cook different recipes. Their creativity when it comes to preparing food is admirable. I’ll keep an eye on these shows!
I love binge watching when I can find something good to watch. Food shows sound like a fun way to spend a weekend.
I loved watching Iron Chef! I’ve seen advertisements for this one. It definitely looks like one I could get sucked into.
I am obsessed with cutthroat kitchen! Its such a great show, I can’t get enough of the cooking ones…. food is my life right now.
Looks like a great list of food shows to binge watch, thanks for giving me some new ideas!
These all sound look good shows. I will have to check out the Worst Cooks in America.
These sound like great shows to chill out to. I’ll have to take a look at them!
My 9 year old daughter and husband heck we all love all of those shows but teh Anthony Bourdain is not one we have watched yet. Thanks for sharing because of your post I am going to check out the parts unknown show with the family.
I love shows with Anthony Bourdain. He’s got both my love of food and traveled covered. Need to catch up on this one.
I have been watching some of these myself. I really enjoy watching the challenges and the creations the chefs come up with
I used to watch Restaurant Nightmares all the time. These are a great substitute for binging.
Ohh what some interesting sounding foodies watches – I will have to have a nose through them I think 🙂 x
Parts Unknown is one of my favorite shows around. I love how he combines food with the history of the area, its culture, and its current state. It’s really amazing.
I adore Iron Chef. Whether it’s the original or Iron Chef America, this series is crazy good! I love how they always have one key ingredient that they have to use in the most creative way possible.