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Season 1 – America's Culinary Cup

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – America's Culinary Cup Next Ep Apr 8 Reality Special Interest Play Trailer Watchlist
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An invitation-only cast of the nation's most decorated chefs embark on a one-of-a-kind competition designed to challenge their creativity, endurance, presentation, leadership and more.
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America's Culinary Cup — Season 1

Critics Reviews

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Melissa Camacho Common Sense Media Mar 10
3/5
Foodies will appreciate it, and viewers who like food challenges will find that tuning in to America's Culinary Cup is both entertaining and mouthwatering. Go to Full Review
Joel Keller Decider Mar 6
While America’s Culinary Cup doesn’t reinvent the cooking competition genre, an energetic hosting job by Lakshmi, the elite chefs in the competition, and the format tweaks by Lakshmi and her fellow producers make the show an entertaining watch. Go to Full Review
Andy Dehnart Reality Blurred Mar 5
B-
If Bravo had cancelled Top Chef and this was Padma’s reboot of it, I’d say: Wow, Top Chef improved! If you like what Top Chef does, I can easily recommend this. ... I’m just missing [the promised] "thrill of sports" and "something new and different" Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Helen S @RT74586215 15h Boring judges, boring Padma and boring contestants. The challenges are snooty and the decor is ugly and cold. Cannot understand why Padma left Top Chef for this second rate show. See more H H @HHHHHH739 6d Feels overproduced and forced. The chefs don't seem to be happy to be there. I love Padma as a person but she comes across as a little haughty as the main focus of the show. Maybe the whole cooking competition genre is getting a little long in the tooth. See more Chuck B @RT15187617 Mar 24 Just doesn't work. Calling disciplines commandments makes Padma look ignorant and having a sustainability challenge that she takes a helicopter to is so damn tone deaf. Losing a chef with two of the highest scores of the week, and one you tout as a real favorite, was also asinine. Gave it 3 looks but just need to go. See more Dario C @RT12685279 Mar 22 I love this new cooking reality and competition show, it's inspiring to see what the most experienced & acclaimed chefs make. Not only that, it is different to top chef and other cooking shows where there is a given format, it has a structure to it with the pointing system, so it is more transparent for one to follow how the chefs are judged. And because it does not follow a format like top chef, but instead has a framework were the chefs need to cook, following the 10 culinary commandments, one never knows what will happen in each episode, which makes it exiting and suspensful to watch. Another good thing is, that the chefs don't need to fight for ingridients and that there is no tricks they use to throw the chefs of their ability to cook the best dish they can with the ingridients they have access to. The kitchen those chefs cook in, is a dream come true for any professional chef, it does look & feel like, it is the olympics of cooking. I hope this gets renewed for a 2 season See more Zz L @Zz-lobster Mar 17 It’s not real competition when 2 of the top competitors (who both scored some of the highest scores) are forced in sudden death by lower scoring chefs just because the lower scoring chefs won their initial battles. This method ensures a wide disparity of finalist with some not deserving the spot and is not rewarding to the top actual winners. I want to watch the best not sketchy loop holes See more Michael Fabian P @RT21665530 Mar 16 Feels shallow, from the kitchen to the show production quality. It feels like a teenager trying to look sophisticated. I don't think it will get a 2nd season. Something feels off about Padma. She seems different from her social media and she's not like Padma from Top Chef. I want to see the elite cooking and the hell they gotta go thru. Buddha's got twins !! Nice . I'm not interested watching that on a cooking show, I can see that on instagram. See more Read all reviews
America's Culinary Cup — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Mar 4, 2026 Spoiled for Stroganoff Sixteen of the nation's most talented chefs step into Padma Lakshmi's fiercely competitive arena to battle it out for the $1 million prize. Details Episode 2 Aired Mar 11, 2026 Meat the First Commandment The chefs head to the farm, where they must break down a massive 250-plus-pound hind saddle of beef, then transform their cuts into unforgettable dishes for more than 100 meat-loving guests at the inaugural America's Culinary Cup Carnivore Classic. Details Episode 3 Aired Mar 18, 2026 Nice Big Squash The remaining chefs must transform farm-fresh produce alongside hyper-sustainable ingredients like ants and mussels into bold, elevated dishes; the bottom two chefs are pushed into a ruthless head-to-head battle. Details Episode 4 Aired Mar 25, 2026 Let's Get Saucy The competition reaches a boiling point as the top 10 chefs battle it out in a full-scale tournament of sauces. Details Episode 5 Aired Apr 1, 2026 The Roots of Success The remaining chefs face off in teams of three to deliver a vegetarian three-course menu to a dinner party of elite guests from the culinary world. Details Episode 6 Airs Apr 8 Good vs. Evil The final eight competitors must each create two desserts, one heavenly and one devilish, using a shocking forbidden ingredient chosen by their rivals. Details Episode 7 Airs Apr 15 The Gastronomic Gauntlet The chefs showcase different molecular gastronomy techniques while creating as many dishes as they can in five hours. Details Episode 8 Airs Apr 22 Consistency Is Key Whipping up 30 identical fish dishes may be a team effort, but when push comes to shove, it's every chef for themselves as they scramble to deliver what the judges are looking for. Details Episode 9 Airs Apr 29 Passport to Pressure The remaining five chefs must prepare global cuisine to impress a table of judges. Details

Season Info

Executive Producer
Padma Lakshmi, Susan Rovner
Network
CBS
Rating
TV-14
Genre
Reality, Special Interest
Original Language
English
Release Date
Mar 4, 2026