9 Popular Celebrity Chef Cooking Shows, Ranked Worst To Best

It's hard to move for celebrity chefs these days. There was a time when food professionals were out of the spotlight, but for generations now, being a chef can also be a pathway to star power — and your own show. In the age of social media, that's become even more obvious, and people who rise through the ranks of TikTok and Instagram can quickly end up on our TV screens. Interestingly, it seems there's recently been a slight shift away from the instructional-style cooking programs hosted by personalities like Ina Garten and Ree Drummond, and towards competition-style affairs, but there are still plenty of celebrity chef cooking shows for you to enjoy. The problem is, not all of them are good.

When a celebrity chef's cooking show is bad, it can be a hard watch: either the host isn't the most natural TV presence, or the food they're making just isn't that appealing (or overly simplistic). When they're good, though, they're simultaneously a haven from the stresses of life, instructional, and innovative, showing us things we'd never thought of before. We decided to round up as many current instructional-style cooking shows as we could find, and tell you which ones are the best and which are the worst. Tired of watching "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" (despite how good those sandwiches are)? Check these out instead. 

"Magnolia Table: At the Farm" is a show that adds to Joanna and Chip Gaines' already-substantial empire. In this show, which first aired in 2025 and which could be found both on Food Network and the Gaines' own Magnolia Network, Joanna Gaines has expanded on her "Magnolia Table" concept, and aims to bring viewers directly into her Waco, Texas kitchen. The idea is that Gaines' recipes are as stress-free and homely as her interiors. Sounds as though it should be a winner, right?

Well, the problem is that Gaines is an interior designer, and not a cook — and you can kinda tell in her recipes. All too often, the food that she makes on the show is overly simplistic, reliant on processed ingredients, or just boring, and doesn't exactly feel illuminating to people who want to learn new skills. In one episode, she makes a banana bread, which seeks to be classy and simple — but which instead feels basic.

Furthermore, Gaines herself can sometimes feel as though she's just going through the motions in yet another show to add to her belt. It kind of adds insult to injury, considering that Food Network has felt more and more like it's moving from actual cooking shows to flashier affairs, and getting rid of hosts who feel engaged and interested in making food, like Valerie Bertinelli. Joanna Gaines may be good at meal prep, but cooking shows? Not so much. 

Rachael Ray is obviously no stranger to food shows, and throughout her illustrious career, she's taught people how to cook time and time again. Unfortunately, "Rachael Ray's Meals in Minutes" is a bit of a dud entry into her canon. It doesn't have any of the sparkle of "30-Minute Meals," which made the cook such a success, or "The Rachael Ray Show," where she taught us how to cook delectable fresh sausages. Instead, in her opting for a similar format as her first program (the idea being that she teaches you how to make food quickly), it feels like she's retreading old ground, with diminishing returns.

Not only this, but there's something strangely stressful about watching "Meals in Minutes." A lot of the time, the recipes themselves feel a little hard to follow, and the meals she makes aren't particularly appealing. The general visual sense of the show is also slightly off, with a bit of a drab feeling that some viewers find tricky to get on board with. Above all, though, it feels strange that this show should have had such a small impact: Rachael Ray is a huge name, but as it is, "Meals in Minutes" is tucked away on FYI and A&E, and it hasn't built much of a dedicated audience. We kinda get why.

"Kitchen Curious" is a relatively new entry into the celebrity chef cooking show world, and one that maybe needs a bit more time to find its feet. The PBS show, which premiered in the fall of 2025 and is fronted by former host of "A Chef's Life" Vivian Howard, comes with the promise that it'll help to solve all of your big questions. Howard will dive into how to properly use a cast iron skillet, what the function of fat is, and the ways that we can use leftover fruit to make brand-new dishes.

This is a great starting point for a series — but the problem is that it doesn't quite stick the landing. This is because a lot of each episode is devoted to Howard's family life and business endeavors, instead of what it says it's going to do: Teach people how to get better at cooking. In that sense, it tries to straddle both reality show and cooking show, and that cover-all-the-bases approach means that the latter is lost in the mix. Howard has some great tips, but you don't come away from it feeling especially assured in the kitchen. Having said this, it's only had one season so far, so we have hope that it could still grow.

Okay, let's get this out of the way: "Girl Meets Farm" is not a bad show. Molly Yeh is a competent host, and she often produces some interesting recipes, which she likely trials in her must-visit restaurant. Plus, anything that runs for 15 seasons has to be doing something right. Its viewing figures throughout the years have also remained impressive, and over time, it's become one of Food Network's last-remaining instructional shows and holds a lot of weight in its schedule.

However, it's also fair to say that it's a show that seriously divides opinion. A lot of viewers find Yeh's presentational style a little tricky, and feel as though she's almost aiming at a younger audience than the one she has. There's something slightly mannered about the whole show, which puts people off, and Yeh hasn't quite managed to convert her Food Network success into broader cultural appeal, in the way that other chefs like Ina Garten have. In that sense, while it's not a poorly produced or uninformative entry into the cooking show pantheon, it also just kind of ... exists.

If you've ever watched even an hour of Food Network, you've probably seen "The Pioneer Woman." Ree Drummond's show is all over the network, and barely a day goes by without her appearing on screens with her family to teach you how to make simple, homely food that doesn't require that much effort. With 38 seasons, its influence is clear, and Drummond has translated the show and her various media ventures into huge (and, we imagine, very lucrative) success.

However, there's no denying the show has its issues. The main problem with "The Pioneer Woman" is that it's happy to sit in pure comfort viewing territory. It's safe; the food is samey; and honestly, some of the recipes she makes are just bland, relying on regular frozen staples that don't feel that nutritious. She sometimes veers into Sandra Lee territory with her embrace of processed foods, and while you don't necessarily watch her to learn how to cook, it'd also be nice if there were a touch more innovation going on. Additionally, now and again, you get the sense that maybe, just maybe, Drummond's over it all. "The Pioneer Woman" remains an easy watch, and plenty of people still tune in, but if you're looking to learn how to cook, you can do a lot better.

We love it when a cooking show is fronted by someone who has the chops to back up what they're doing. "Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Television" is a great example of one of these. As a host, Kimball brings decades of experience at America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and Christopher Kimball's Milk Street, and puts it front and center in a show that aims to be genuinely instructional and helpful. A lot of the time, it succeeds, and the long-running PBS show remains a useful watch for home cooks who actually want to learn something new, or want to see how they can use new ingredients in interesting ways.

That said, while it's definitely more of a "cooking" show than a lot of the stuff on Food Network, it does sometimes feel slightly sterile and cold. There's a strange fussiness to "Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Television," and a distance to it that means that you really have to be into the practice of cooking to get the most out of it. Kimball himself can sometimes be a little bit of an awkward host, and the result of all of this is that it can feel somewhat like background noise, instead of must-watch TV. It could do with much more warmth, but we appreciate how it actually helps people get better at cooking.

The cultural dominance and legacy of Ina Garten is undeniable. "Barefoot Contessa" put the warm, approachable cook, with her fondness for premium ingredients and certain kitchen tools, on the map — and for decades now, she's been a fixture on our screens and in our hearts. Garten exudes comfort, and she aims to bring that charm to "Be My Guest With Ina Garten," her newest show, in which she invites a host of celebrity friends to cook with her while also interviewing them about their lives and careers.

It should be a recipe for success, especially considering the high-profile names she manages to draw (Stephen Colbert, Christine Baranski, and Tina Fey being just a few of them). It's also a lovely spin on a classic instructional show: Viewers are able to learn something through the eyes of her guests. Its 2024 win of a Daytime Emmy confirmed that she was onto something good with it, too. Some people, though, have found that the format of "Be My Guest" just doesn't quite work as well as her previous shows. The interviews can take precedence over the actual cooking, and Garten can come across as slightly awkward when having to navigate both her friends and the task at hand. All that said, Garten is such a stalwart presence on-screen and in a kitchen that she still makes it work, and we love that she's still making shows. It just doesn't quite have the magic of "The Barefoot Contessa" — but what does?

"Global Soul Kitchen" is a show that deserves a lot more success. This show, which airs on FYI, is fronted by Deborah VanTrece, the Atlanta chef who's steadily built a name for herself as an expert on Southern food and soul cooking with a global slant. VanTrece has honed this specialty both at her own restaurant, Twisted Soul Kitchen and Bar, and through appearances on various TV shows.

In "Global Soul Kitchen," she brings all that experience home, in a show that celebrates Southern cuisine while also considering how it can look forward to the future. That push and pull is what makes the program such a win: VanTrece rustles up takes on favorites like the Dutch Baby (turning it into a BLT) and Cajun chicken, elevating them while also keeping them rooted in tradition and flavors that everyone can enjoy. It's genuinely impressive and tasty food, made by an assured host who knows exactly what she's doing, and doesn't gatekeep secrets. We only wish that it had more visibility than it currently does, although with only two seasons so far, it still has time to grow into something really special.

As cooking shows go, "Pati's Mexican Table" is a cut above the rest. Hosted by political analyst-turned-chef Pati Jinich, it's in many ways a love letter to Mexican cuisine. For 14 seasons, Jinich has taken her viewers through classic, authentic Mexican recipes in an instructional (but never fussy) style, while also paying homage to where these recipes come from. You can feel the love she has for the food she's making coming through in every frame.

It's no wonder, then, that viewers also love the show right back and appreciate how much Jinich balances instruction with charm. "I really like Pati," says a fan on Reddit. "I feel like lots of food personalities focus on being accessible or down to earth, and others focus on making The Best with the best technique, and I think Pati is just the platonic ideal of both." "Pati's Mexican Table" is also, in part, a travel show: In the first episode of season 14, Jinich takes viewers on a tour of Mexico City, profiling its rich culture, markets, and local chefs, before showing us all how to make everyone's favorite: tacos. It all ties into the show's holistic approach to cuisine, which makes it a winner, time and time again.