5 Food TV Specials to Watch This Holiday Season

Now that another Thanksgiving has come and gone, it’s time for the yuletide television specials to start rolling across the airwaves. This year, a few of food TV’s biggest stars are hosting one-off specials, and two cooking competition shows are returning for entire holiday-themed seasons. Here’s a guide to five of the big winter-themed cooking shows to watch out for between now and the end of December.

A Legendary Christmas With John and Chrissy

Watch it on: NBC
When: Wednesday, November 28 at 10 p.m.
The gist: Hollywood’s favorite couple, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, will host an hour-long yuletide extravaganza featuring a cavalcade of special guests, including Stevie Wonder, Kim Kardashian, Zach Galifianakis, Raphael Saadiq, and Kenan Thompson. The trailer indicates that the special will have plenty of singing as well as some cooking, and at least one scene involving Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina and a giant lollipop. Antoni Porowski and the rest of the Queer Eye gang will also make a cameo on the hour-long special, and expect a few plugs for John’s new Christmas album and Chrissy’s new Cravings book.

Netflix/The Great British Baking Show

The Great British Baking Show: Holidays

Watch it on: Netflix
When: Friday, November 30
The gist: Just three weeks after the US premiere of the Baking Show’s sixth season, Netflix is gifting viewers with a one-off holiday special hosted by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. The pastry experts will be welcoming “some favorite bakers back to the tent for a holiday confection competition.” A trailer for all of Netflix’s holiday shows includes shots of a half dozen or so bakers making holiday specialties, and a full band and children’s choir performing Christmas tunes outside the tent.

Nailed It! Holiday!

Watch it on: Netflix
When: Friday, December 7
The gist: The hit culinary competition show, where cake fails are celebrated as much as pastry wins, returns to Netflix for a special holiday-themed season. This time around, hosts/judges Nicole Byer and Jacques Torres will oversee competitions that involve recreating Hanukkah cakes and edible likenesses of Arctic animals. Netflix’s surprise cooking show hit always includes a few amusing pastry disasters as well as delightful play-by-play commentary from the two hosts. All six episodes will land on Netflix next Friday.

ABC/Great American Baking Show

The Great American Baking Show: Holidays

Watch it on: ABC
When: Thursday, December 6 at 9 p.m.
The gist: The British Baking Show’s American spinoff is back for a fourth season. This time around, Spice Girl Emma Bunton (AKA Baby Spice) and comedian Anthony “Spice” Adams are the hosts, and Paul Hollywood and Food Network fixture/Spago veteran Sherry Yard are the judges of these holiday-themed pastry competitions featuring 10 amateur bakers. The American Baking Show has never garnered as much buzz as its British counterpart, and the last season of the show got shelved after one episode when reports of sexual misconduct involving host Johnny Iuzzini came to light. Only time will tell if this newest iteration of the Baking Show will be a hit with audiences, but the casting of Bunton and Yard seems like a step in the right direction.

Food Network

Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, “Christmas at the Ranch”

Watch it on: Food Network
When: Saturday, December 1, 12:30 p.m.
The gist: When he’s not cruising the highways in his red Chevy convertible looking for diners, drive-ins, and dives, Guy Fieri likes to kick back and cook with his famous TV chef friends in the spacious indoor/outdoor kitchen of his Northern California ranch house. And on this holiday episode of his year-old Food Network show, the Platinum Prince will make braised endive with Marc Murphy, Cuban-style pork with Carlos Ruiz, fire-roasted goose with Jonathan Waxman, and fancy sweet potatoes with Damaris Phillips. “Christmas at the Ranch” is just one of many, many holiday-themed episodes of Food Network shows running over the next few weeks.

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