Now more than ever, staying inside is not only recommended, it’s expected. Grab your favorite blanket and a glass of your best whiskey because it’s going to be another season of bingeing the best Netflix shows.
With all of the time we spend indoors these days, why not pick up a habit that will impress your friends, family, and loved ones? Cook, grill, sauté, roast, bake, fry, sear, char, and braise. If these words don’t make your mouth water, they’re about to. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best food and cooking shows on Netflix to binge right now. Want to watch a head chef berate a local cook? Netflix has it. How about a movie based entirely on meat? We understand and we are here to facilitate.
Rotten
Returning with its second season, Rotten explores the, well, rotten side of food production. In season one, you can find explorations of garlic, honey, milk, and more. Season two tackles a new set of topics, including avocados and sugar. This isn’t a feel-good series, but it is worth a watch. You’ll feel disgusted at times, angry at others, and most likely you’ll not ever look at the foods you eat the same ever again.
Total Episodes: 12
IMDb Rating: 7.2
Taco Chronicles
It has the word taco in it, do we really even need to say more? We don’t, but we will. Taco Chronicles is a Spanish-language series from Netflix that looks at, you guessed it, tacos. Each episode explores a different type of taco. From how it’s made to its cultural import, you get a firsthand view of one of the best meals on the planet. Like many food-related shows, be ready, because it’s going to make you very, very hungry. Like, very hungry.
Total Episodes: 13
IMDb Rating: 7.8
The Chef Show
The beginnings of The Chef Show stretch back to 2014, when Jon Favreau met Roy Choi during the filming of Favreau’s movie Chef (Choi was a consultant). This meeting, we can assume, created a lasting friendship based on a mutual love of food. In The Chef Show, Favreau and Choi explore just how much fun it can be to cook with friends. From celebrity chefs (pitmaster Aaron Franklin) to film celebrities (Bill Burr), the duo behind the show cook, eat, and in the process learn more about how food brings people together.
Total Episodes: 25
IMDb Rating: 8.2
Chef’s Table
If you checked out our list of the best food documentaries on Netflix, then the creator of Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Chef’s Table, David Gelb, is no stranger. Gelb considers Chef’s Table, a series that follows one world-famous chef per episode, the sequel to Jiro. The methods and approaches of Magnus Nillson (also profiled in Mind of a Chef), Grant Achatz, Christina Tosi, and many more are all put on display across the series.
Total Episodes: 30
IMDb Rating: 8.6
Street Food Collection
Street Food is a new project from the filmmakers behind Chef’s Table. Lovers of Chef’s Table get a bit of a different view in this series. Instead of the finest of fine dining establishments around the world (and the chefs that command them), Street Food looks at, well, street food. From roadside stands to markets brimming with locals-only cuisine, each episode explores the experiences in culinary greatness that are feasted upon by countless people every day. In the collection’s first installment, Street Food Asia takes audiences through a nine-episode journey, touring a different Asian country each session. Street Food Latin America, released in 2020, introduces viewers to the vibrant food culture of Oaxaca, Mexico; Salvador, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and other Latin American destinations. This is one of the best travel shows on Netflix and one of the best travel shows streaming overall.
Total Episodes: 15
IMDb Rating: 8.0
The Final Table
A Netflix original, The Final Table is a competitive cooking show that spans the globe. The competition involves 12 pairs of chefs from around the world, all fighting to earn a place at the Final Table, and features a veritable who’s who of famous chefs. Those chefs include Grant Achatz (U.S.), Enrique Olvera (Mexico), Clare Smyth (U.K.), Andoni Aduriz (Spain), Helena Rizzo (Brazil), Vineet Bhatia (India), Carlo Cracco (Italy), Yoshihiro Narisawa (Japan), and Anne-Sophie Pic (France). Each episode focuses on one country’s national dishes and will feature a variety of celebrity critics and ambassadors. Teams are eliminated until just the finalists reach the finale. The Final Table is presented by Andrew Knowlton (James Beard Award-winning writer and editor-at-large for Bon Appétit).
Total Episodes: 10
IMDb Rating: 7.7
Nailed It!
Nailed It! has, in its first four seasons, developed a cult-like following. Whether you like the game-show format, the wit of host Nicole Byer and her co-pilot in culinary misery, Jacques Torres, or the train wreck that is amateur bakers believing they are better than everyone else, there’s a little something for everyone on this show. After the show’s widely receptive debut, it has since branched out to a number of spin-offs like Nailed It! Mexico, Nailed It! Spain, Nailed It! Germany, and Nailed It! Holiday. For its fifth season, titled Double Trouble, Nailed It! contestants will compete in teams of two in what promises to be double the fun.
Total Episodes: 27
IMDb Rating: 7.4
Food Wars!
You may be thinking to yourself, how can anime on Netflix be considered a cooking show? Food Wars! is not your average everyday anime series, it’s a full-on cooking saga that just so happens to be animated. The story follows a young chef who finds himself being admitted to a prestigious culinary academy that just so happens to settle disputes through food wars. The actual recipes and techniques used in the show are pretty solid overall, and you may find yourself trying some of them.
Total Episodes: 37
IMDb Rating: 8.2
Salt Fat Acid Heat
Salt Fat Acid Heat is based on (and hosted by) James Beard Award-winning author Samin Nosrat. The four-part series is based on Nosrat’s book of the same name and will see the host travel to California mainstay restaurant Chez Panisse as well as restaurants in Japan, Mexico, and Italy. In each episode, Nosrat explores what good cooking is through a lens that investigates the fundamentals needed to create a good meal. This is the first process-based cooking show on Netflix, and it’s quickly becoming a favorite among the food-minded.
Total Episodes: 4
IMDb Rating: 7.7
Ugly Delicious
Ugly Delicious is celebrity chef David Chang’s exploration of foods from across the globe that are — if you couldn’t tell from the title — often overlooked. Along the way, he’s got a who’s who of celebrities joining him to eat, discuss, and delve into what makes good food good while also investigating how food can be used as a tool for cultural change. If you’re a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s temperament and approach, then Ugly Delicious will be right up your alley.
Total Episodes: 12
IMDb Rating: 7.8
Cooked
In this documentary series, Michael Pollan (who has shown up in practically every food documentary and show about how we could be doing the whole “good human stewards of the earth” thing better, in addition to penning a series of bestselling books on the topic of food) sets out on a quest to see just exactly how the act of cooking transforms both food on the physical level and the world that we as people build around food. Pollan bakes, brews, and braises his way to a higher level of culinary and cultural knowledge.
Total Episodes: 4
IMDb Rating: 8.1
Full-Length Food Documentaries
Todo Sobre el Asado (2016)
In the self-describing Netflix documentary film Todo Sobre el Asado (All about Asado), we look at an examination of Argentina’s culture which, as you learn in this film, has a lot to do with barbecue cuisine. Delving into flavor, tenderness, choice cuts, and cook timing, this contemporary group of artisans will throw you into their world of meat, proving that barbecue is not simply a method of cooking — it’s a lifestyle.
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (2017)
If you don’t consider yourself a foodie, you might not know who Jeremiah Tower is. Tower, an American chef, is credited with being one of the people to change how people view dining. Not only is he seen as one of the fathers of “California Cuisine,” but he has had an impact on food genres across the globe in his many decades of chef-dom. Produced by the late, great Anthony Bourdain, Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent is an, ahem, magnificent look at a chef that everyone should be acquainted with if they love food.
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