Two-Time 'Chopped' Champion Sara Bradley Defeats the Titans, Releases Her First Cookbook

Kentucky is famous for their bourbon, bluegrass and The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports. And while all those things are certainly noteworthy, locals know there’s so much more to Kentucky’s “Unbridled Spirit” — like it’s rolling miles of picturesque farmland worthy of a postcard.

Or my dad’s corn guy. For several summers, he’d drive from our home in Nashville across the border and bring back giant trash bags of sweet, yellow-and-white speckled corn — corn competes with poultry and soybeans every year for Kentucky’s top commodity — and we’d shuck it at the kitchen table.

In chef Sara Bradley’s Kentucky hometown, which she writes in her debut cookbook is “in the middle of everywhere,” you’ll find tree-lined streets quite literally worthy of a Hallmark movie (they were filming there while she wrote it); a UNESCO-designated crafts and folk art scene; and — thanks to her hometown’s proximity to its neighboring states and historically significant railroads and rivers — a diverse food scene. “That’s why I think our food is so damn good,” she says. `

“No matter how far I travel, no matter which direction I go, for me, all roads lead me back home to Paducah,” she writes in The Kitchen I Came Home To: Big Flavors and Tall Tales from My Corner of Kentucky, which she released in September 2026 and co-authored with Emily Timberlake (who also co-authored Bobby Flay: Chapter One). The cookbook showcases both Kentucky’s and the Michelin-trained chef’s range: Hot Brown with Garlic Butter and Mornay, Bison Tartare with Hot Sauce-Cured Egg Yolks, Gulf-inspired Mussel Gumbo, Goetta Meatloaf, a riff on the German-American, meat-and-grain sausage that originated in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky that Sara serves on a pile of spaghetti.

Sara is all about family. She grew up with a Jewish mother and an Appalachian father, and there’s several close-to-home: her mother’s Five-Onion Brisket; her sister’s Pepperoni Dip (that her sister stole from her mother); Grandma Jettie’s Oniony Everything Spice Bagels, which she adapted from a spiral-bound cookbook she inherited from her great-grandmother; the Riverfront Steak recipe she “perfected under the scrutiny of a very harsh critic: my daughter Lula" who likes her steak perfectly medium rare; and a spinach casserole recipe that’s a long story — as most Southern stories are.

It was her family gave her the push and support needed to open a restaurant in her home town, Freight House, in 2015. “I wanted the food to reflect the two sides of my culinary upbringing — the sense of exploration and adventure, but also the deep respect for our family history and the regional traditions that make Paducah so special,” she says. Her entire family had a role in bringing that vision to life and giving her “the confidence to move back home and really go for it.”

There’s no doubt that confidence is how Sara became a Chopped champion not once, but twice — becoming the first-ever Chopped Legend — and how she played it cool, calm and collected in a fight against Bobby Flay’s Triple Threat Titans and won.

“Sara is a very thoughtful, sort of New American cook,” Bobby said. “She’s very proud of her Kentucky heritage and she makes dishes from her Southern-Appalachian-Jewish roots. It’s a lot of different influences but they all make sense when you see them on the plate.”

Round 1, vs. Brooke Williamson: Whole Duck and Apricots

Sara was actually delighted to see Bobby’s selection of duck and apricot. “I love cooking with fruit,” she said. She chose Brooke Williamson as her first challenger, claiming she hoped Brooke would struggle with the cook on the protein, but secretly told producers she didn’t want to give Brooke the opportunity to cater to the judge, who they would later find out was award-winning New York Times writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark. “I love these ingredients, this is like, totally me … Paducah, Kentucky — everybody’s coming there to go duck hunting. So, I work with duck a lot and I think I have what it takes to beat Brooke.”

Sara made Apricot-Glazed Duck Breast with Apricot Salad and Duck Fat-Roasted Turnips, rendering the fatty duck breast skin until it was super crispy, then she added bourbon (“I had to use bourbon, it was my password to get in.”) to her apricot glaze. Knowing the judge would want to see several parts of the duck used, for her second dish, she ground up duck meat and apricots for a Duck Leg Laab (a Thai salad of ground meat and fresh herbs, usually served with lettuce) With Fresh and Dried Apricots.

Brooke also went the duck breast route with a Roasted Duck Breast With Apricot Cognac Sauce. For her second dish, she made Duck Potstickers With a Sweet-and-Sour Apricot Glaze.

Judge Melissa Clark loved Sara’s well-balanced duck laab, and the combination of flavors for her duck breast and roasted turnips, but the salad was soggy. Protein wasn’t Brooke’s problem — Melissa said her duck breast was “captivating” and perfectly cooked — it was the cook on her potstickers’ wonton wrappers, which Melissa said were undercooked. Melissa gave Brooke 6 points out of 10, and gave Sara 8 points.

Round 2, vs. Ayesha Nurdjaja: Delicata Squash and Artisanal Honey

This time, it was Ayesha Nurdjaja who was thrilled; showcasing nature’s best with bold, Mediterranean twist is the Shuk and Shukette chef’s specialty. She got to work on a tempura-style Fried Delicata Squash with Whipped Tahini and Hot Honey, a play on onion rings, and Honey Roasted Delicata Squash with Whipped Feta. (She made her own tahini, of course, sharing that adding ice water helps give it a velvety texture.)

Noting the delicata squash’s mild flavor, Sara decided to treat it like a potato. She made Loaded Delicata Squash With Honey Goat Cheese, and Fried Chicken With Honey Mustard and Delicata Latkes. “I’m a Southern Jew from Paducah,” she said. “I can make a latke out of anything.”

Sara hoped by choosing Ayesha for the second round, she’d force her to “spread her energy and thought process across two dishes as opposed to just allowing her to focus on one.” Ayesha tripped at the finish line, dropping her citrus-scented hot honey on the floor while trying to strain it. She she was going to use the hot honey to make a Fresno-chile hot sauce for the fried delicata rings. Melissa noted the missing punch of acidity, and though she “loved everything else about it,” said the honey-roasted delicata squash was slightly undercooked. Despite this, she awarded Ayesha 8 points.

Melissa wished there was more crème fraiche on Sara’s fried chicken and delicata latke plate; she loved the “brilliant” loaded squash, especially the tangle of thin-cut fried squash Sara added as a garnish, but said the “honey faded into the background.” She also awarded Sara 8 points.

Round 3, vs. Michael Voltaggio: Pork Spare Ribs and Benne Seeds

Going into the final round just two points ahead of the Titans, this match had a bit of added pressure for both chefs: Last fall, Michael Voltaggio and his brother Bryan knocked Sara and teammate Damaris Phillips out of Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas. Coincidentally, Sara’s chosen ingredients — pork spare ribs and benne seeds (heirloom, West African sesame seeds popular in the Low Country) — remind us of last year’s Triple Threat battle Michael had with Bryan; he brought in blue crabs and paw-paw vinegar, a native fruit tree found along the Potomac River in their home state of Maryland.

Also like Bryan, Sara told Michael, “I’m not trying to trip somebody up here. I’m trying to bring ingredients where we can both do something amazing. These are two of my favorite ingredients.” For Sara in her first one-on-one match against Michael, it’s not necessarily revenge she’s looking for: “I’m here to defend my honor.”

Sara made a dish you can get at her restaurant, Freight House, that she “knows tastes good” — sweet-and-savory Pork Spare Ribs With Smoked Benne Streusel and Benne Slaw. She cut the rack into individual ribs and then deep-fried them, noting it was the best way to get them tender in the 40-minute time limit, before adding them to the pressure cooker in a braising liquid of ginger, black garlic, guanciale and veal stock. In a move Ayesha, Brooke and Bobby admitted they had “never seen before,” she rolled the ribs, which she coated in cornstarch and fried again once they came out of the pressure cooker, in the benne-seed streusel.

Michael’s trick to tender spare ribs is a bit of baking soda added to the pressure cooker — “that reaction will tenderize meat faster.” He cleaned up some beets to make a char siu glaze and used the benne seeds to make a green chili crunch with cilantro, parsley, scallions, green peppers and garlic. Michael also went for dumpling redemption and made pork and benne seed shumai, a Chinese open-faced dumpling. “It’s like a sidecar shumai,” Ayesha noted.

Michael let out a huge sigh of relief when Melissa said his Beet Char Siu Spare Ribs were “perfectly tender” and the dumpling wrapper was thoroughly steamed. The issue was the chili crisp: Michael knew while assembling it the garlic was overtoasted, hoping layering all the elements would soften any bitterness. “Once you taste that,” Melissa said, “you can’t get that taste out of your mouth.” She also noted the dish was a bit too salty. She ultimately awarded him 15 points out of 20.

Melissa called Sara’s dish a “gutsy maneuver” and said she “loved the combination of the tender meat and the crunchy outside” the benne-seed streusel provided as well as the bright cabbage and benne-seed slaw. She went back and forth on whether it was too sweet, but ultimately decided “when you eat it with everything together, it works.” She gave Sara 18 points for her dish, giving Sara a 34-29 win against the Titans. “The whole dish just sang.”

“I’ve watched you guys for years, so it really was an honor,” Sara said. “I hope that people in little towns across America feel connected and know that there’s good food in little places.”