The Kitchen kicks off grilling season with Sunny Anderson's Double-Decker Blackened Grilled Chicken and Accordion Sweet Potatoes. Learn all the components for a Perfect Pasta Salad and new ideas for setting up an outdoor entertaining space. Marcella Valladolid raises the bar for dessert with her Toasted Coconut Mango Bars, then it's a burger showdown between Katie Lee and Jeff Mauro. Plus, cookbook author Lee Brian Schrager stops by with a grilled breakfast pizza and Geoffrey Zakarian whips up a Smokin' Lemon Cocktail.
Evil spirits are leaving creepy notes all over the manor, so host John Henson asks the bakers to channel the haunting energy of the entities by creating cryptic message desserts that reveal an eerie dispatch from the other side. For the first time this season, there is only one bake, which means everyone is baking for their lives. Judges Carla Hall, Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell must decide who wins $1,000 for their mysterious missive and whose message now reads "exit."
Off the couch and into the fire! Four lucky superfans get the chance of a lifetime to compete in the Chopped kitchen! It's all high fives and optimism at the start, but these gung-ho home cooks will have to make delicious dishes while the clock counts down and the judges look on. In the first round, the pressure mounts as the competitors realize just how difficult a challenge they're facing. In the second round, a giant gummy creature and an intimidating piece of protein lurks in the basket. Then in the third round, the judges hope the finalists will use two tricky ingredients judiciously.
Making amazing meals out of absolutely anything is this competition's modus operandi, so leftovers is an all-time favorite Chopped theme. In the appetizer round, everyone is excited to show they have what it takes to repurpose foods that might have otherwise been tossed out, and the judges are in for four interesting takes on the first basket. In the entrée round, the chefs attempt to impress the judges using a variety of tools and techniques. The two finalists open the dessert basket to find a single slice of birthday cake, but only one chef will be left celebrating at the end of this leftovers battle.