Chef Amanda Freitag, YouTube star Harley Morenstein and actress Anika Noni Rose preside over an all-pizza competition! Three courses of pizza begin with appetizers comprised of exotic looking mushrooms and a creamy Italian sauce. The fun continues as the junior chefs battle against some challenging dough and more sauce in the entree round. Then, the finalists tackle pizza dessert using cheese with a funny name and a wild assortment of fruit!
Four lucky duck chefs are pumped to get a beautiful appetizer basket that includes a delicious duck as an ingredient, and the judges cheer the competitors on as they race to make a great first impression. In the entrée round, the chefs continue to cook with confidence and creativity when faced with a basket featuring a comfort food mashup. Finally, the two competitors left standing must make desserts using cheese, fruit, and a cornbread mix.
The chefs take on a football-themed competition, aiming to create elevated game day food in every course. Creative reinterpretations of mac and cheese add a comfort food spin to the appetizer round. Artichokes prove to be a difficult ingredient for some of the competitors in the entree round. And will a stadium starch in the dessert basket help or hurt the final chefs' chances of finishing strong with their football feasts?
There is chaos and confusion in the Appetizer Round as the chefs race to get their perch plated. Then in the Entrée Round, one chef is taken to task for undercooking meatballs, while another is left to explain how her plan for cheese crackers from the mystery basket went wrong. And the two remaining chefs go all out in the final round, after discovering hard candy and hard liquor in the Dessert Basket.
The judges are dismayed when some of the chefs fail to creatively transform the mystery ingredients in the appetizer course. But what can you do with string cheese? The contestants set out to aim higher in the next round. Unfortunately, they face a challenging basket: striped bass, jicama, mango, pimento peppers and brie. Then the final round brings about some caffeinated, cookie fun, when the two remaining chefs must work with instant coffee and gingersnaps.