Seasons & episodes

S7 · E5A Mexican Mystery 2016-06-29＋

The remaining 17 home cooks are greeted by Chefs Ramsay and Tosi, as well as Season 6 winner Claudia Sandoval and guest culinary judge Aarón Sánchez.

S7 · E6Gordon Ramsay Masterclass 2016-07-06＋

The remaining 16 home cooks get a very special treat leading into the next challenge as Chef Ramsay demonstrates how to properly deconstruct a lobster.

S7 · E7Vets, Jets, and Home Cooks 2016-07-13＋

The Top 15 home cooks are challenged to serve 101 hungry veterans!

S7 · E8The Good, the Bad and the Offal 2016-07-20＋

The contestants are introduced to special culinary guest judge Edward Lee, chef and owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, KY.

S7 · E9A Piece of Cake 2016-07-27＋

The remaining 12 contestants are broken up into two teams to prep, cook and plate 30 dishes for teenagers celebrating their Sweet 16 birthdays.

S7 · E10The Weakest Links 2016-08-03＋

The losing sweet-16 team members must bake a three-layer birthday cake in 90 minutes, and then the remaining contestants are taken to a vegetable patch for their next team challenge, where they'll cook for and serve 100 farmers.

S7 · E11Sweet Surprise 2016-08-03＋

The Top 10 cooks have one hour to make breakfast using a chocolate-hazelnut spread, and the winner gets to choose the dish for the next elimination challenge.

S7 · E125 Star Food 2016-08-24＋

Guest judge Kevin Sbraga cooks alongside the Top 9 in the next Mystery Box Challenge, as they create an impressive dish using unique upscale ingredients. The contestants then go head-to-head in the elimination challenge, cooking with either fresh salmon or canned salmon.

S7 · E13Hot Potato 2016-08-24＋

The Top Eight remaining contenders must battle through a three-part potato proficiency challenge.. Guest judge Kevin Sbraga.

Three basic utensils are used by the Top 7 contestants in a mystery-box challenge.

The 6 remaining contestants compete in the series' classic pop-up restaurant challenge.

The 5 remaining contestants are introduced to special culinary guest judge Richard Blais – chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author – who reveals the seventh Mystery Box challenge. The winner will avoid competing in the elimination challenge and the remaining contestants are given five minutes to shop for a basket full of twenty ingredients. With an unexpected twist in the competition, one is eliminated.

The 4 remaining contestants are given 90 minutes to prepare either a halibut or duck entrée for VIP food critics in the Studio Box challenge. The winning team will be exempt from the elimination challenge and the losing team will face the Pressure Test to recreate three pork dishes.

In the next challenge, with help from some familiar home cooks, the remaining 3 will have one hour to prepare an amazing appetizer dish. The contestants will then have one hour to create entrees and one hour to create a dessert. After evaluating the final dishes, the judges will reveal America's next MasterChef, and the deserving home cook will walk away with the trophy, a book deal, and the $250,000 grand prize.

The contestants will have one hour to create entrees and an hour to create a dessert. After evaluating the final dishes, the judges will reveal America's next MASTERCHEF, and the deserving home cook will walk away with a MASTERCHEF trophy, a book deal and the $250,000 grand prize.

S8 · E1Battle for a White Apron, Pt. 1 2017-05-31＋

In the Season Eight premiere episode, 40 of America's best home cooks travel to Los Angeles to compete in the MASTERCHEF Battle for a White Apron challenge, during which they will face off against each other to try to earn a place in the Top 20. Judging the battle rounds will be Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, and new judge and award-winning chef Aarón Sánchez, who will taste for flavor, creativity and presentation. After each battle, the judges will decide whom they think deserves to make it to the next round and a chance to compete for the coveted title.

S8 · E2Battle for a White Apron, Pt. 2 2017-06-07＋

In Part Two of the Battle for a White Apron, the remaining chefs compete for a spot in the Top 20. Only nine aprons remain and it will be up to the judges to decide who makes it and who goes home.

S8 · E3America's Grocery Bag 2017-06-14＋

Top 20 will have to take 12 of the most popular ingredients found on any American home cook’s shopping list and make the judges a MASTERCHEF-worthy dish.

S8 · E4Feeding the Lifeguards 2017-06-21＋

The top 19 chefs will have to prepare and cook fresh fish for 101 lifeguards who will then vote on their favorite dish.

S8 · E5Shell-Shocked & Scrambled 2017-06-28＋

The Top 18 home chefs must cook some of the world's finest shellfish for their mystery box challenge.

S8 · E6Silenced by the Lambs 2017-07-12＋

This week on MASTERCHEF, the cooks take part in a challenging skills test, during which they must prepare racks of lamb with fine artistry. Those who fail to impress the judges will face an elimination challenge that includes recreating Gordon Ramsay's signature lamb chop dish. It is then up to the judges to decide who will leave the kitchen.

S8 · E7Breakfast, Lunch & Winner 2017-07-19＋

The home cooks travel for The Belvedere restaurant in Beverly Hills, to take over the dining room breakfast service in two teams.

S8 · E8Whole-y Cow! 2017-07-26＋

The Top 15 are given a mystery box challenge that tasks them with creating a dish featuring a different body part of a cow.

S8 · E9Holy Cannoli 2017-08-02＋

The kitchen is transformed into a full dining room to welcome purveyors of local ingredients, including butchers, vegetable farmers, beekeepers and herb growers, when the contestants split up for a team challenge using their guests' products. Later, the losing team must prepare cannoli as part of a pressure test.