Ludacris, Trisha Yearwood, Selena Gomez, and Snoop Dogg on their cooking shows.
Photos courtesy of Discovery+, Food Network, HBO Max & VH1
While cooking and making music might seem like an unlikely pairing, quite a few musicians have been able to turn their love of working in the kitchen into a side career, adding hosting their own cooking shows to their resumes.
Among the more established musicians-turned-cooking show hosts are country superstar Trisha Yearwood, who has been hosting her own program on the Food Network for more than a decade.
Other musicians are eager to learn. This is the case for rapper and restauranteur Ludacris, whose awareness for his lack of cooking skills led him to host Luda Can’t Cook to, well, become Luda can cook. On his show, Ludacris enlists the help of master chefs to teach him tips and tricks in the kitchen. Selena Gomez‘s show, Selena + Chef, follows a similar premise, as viewers witness the singer and actress meet with chefs via video call so they can help her maximize her skills in the kitchen.
While most of these shows appeared on television networks — like Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart’s VH1 show Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party — a lot of musicians have taken advantage of streaming to share their favorite recipes. BTS‘ show, BTS Recipe is shared on YouTube, as was Adam Gardner‘s Quarantine Kitchen.
See some of the artists who have transferred their skills at entertaining to their own cooking shows.
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Selena Gomez, ‘Selena + Restaurant’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Food Network Network: Food Network
Years aired: 2024-present
The singer-actress added to her food-show portfolio with ‘Selena + Restaurant,’ which launched May 2, 2024. Similar to her earlier show, this one has the “Ice Cream” singer cooking with celebrities, only this time, she’s in some of L.A.’s trendiest restaurants, learning to cook from some of the most well-known chefs, and then trying to create her own dish that could land on the restaurants’ menus. The inaugural season’s participating chefs include Shirley Chung, Wolfgang Puck, Marcel Vigneron, Stephanie Izard and others.
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Trisha Yearwood, ‘Trisha’s Southern Kitchen’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Food Network Network: Food Network
Years aired: 2012-present
Country star and best-selling cookbook author Trisha Yearwood welcomes viewers into her Southern Kitchen, sharing some of her favorite recipes — old and new. The Daytime Emmy Award-winning show is packed full of fun and easy recipes, as well as genuine Southern hospitality. The show has been going strong since 2012, and after a brief pause due to COVID-19, is now in its 17th season.
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Selena Gomez, ‘Selena + Chef’
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max Network: HBO Max
Years aired: 2020-present
Selena Gomez welcomes master chefs to teach her tips and tricks in the kitchen via video chat. The show grew out of Gomez’s interest in cooking and food, which increased due to the coronavirus pandemic and the actress spending more time in the kitchen. Each episode of Selena + Chef highlights a food-related charity.
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BTS, ‘BTS Recipe’
Image Credit: Courtesy of HYBE EDU Network: HYBE EDU on YouTube
Years aired: 2021-present
BTS Recipe sees members of the global stars share some of their most loved recipes. The short videos, which are uploaded to HYBE EDU’s YouTube channel, encourage fans to follow along and learn some Korean phrases.
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Ludacris, ‘Luda Can’t Cook’
Image Credit: Courtesy of discovery+ Network: discovery+
Years aired: 2021-present
Ludacris may be able to rap and act, but he doesn’t cook nearly as well. Luda Can’t Cook explores the rapper’s quest to change that, as he enlists the help of world-famous chefs to teach him a trick or two. The one-hour episodes see Ludacris learning about different international cuisines such as Cuban, Korean, and Haitian.
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Paris Hilton, ‘Cooking With Paris’
Image Credit: KIT KARZEN/NETFLIX © 2021 Network: Netflix
Year aired: 2021
The “Stars Are Blind” singer brings her famous friends — including Demi Lovato and Kim Kardashian — over to whip up some recipes in the six-part series. According to the press release, “Paris will take us from the grocery store to the finished table spread — and she might actually learn her way around the kitchen.”
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Martina McBride, ‘Martina’s Table’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Food Network Network: Food Network
Year aired: 2018
Grammy Award-nominated singer Martina McBride might be known for her music, but Martina’s Table unveiled a whole different side of McBride as she invited viewers into her kitchen to witness her prepare meals for friends and family. Some special guests who have stopped by the single-season show include Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, and Faith Hill.
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Snoop Dogg, ‘Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party’
Image Credit: Courtesy of VH1 Network: VH1
Years aired: 2016-2020
While they might seem like an odd pair, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart make a remarkable team on VH1’s Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, which sees the rapper and iconic domestic doyenne prepare weekly dinner parties for their celebrity friends. The show gives way to hilarious situations involving stars such as Matthew McConaughey, Meghan Trainor and the Jonas Brothers.
A fourth season has not yet been announced.
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Patrick Hallahan, ‘In the Kitchen With Patrick Hallahan’
Image Credit: David Boone Network: Virtual (via Seated)
Year aired: 2021
My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan is on a mission to show Americans that really interesting dishes can be found tucked away in cupboards and drawers. While the musician claims he is no chef, his interest in cooking grew when his band went on hiatus in 2015, and he even thought of writing a cookbook. Three episodes of In the Kitchen With Patrick Hallahan premiered via live event streaming platform Seated, where fans could tune in by buying a ticket.
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Adam Gardner, ‘Quarantine Kitchen’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Reverb Network: YouTube
Years aired: 2020-2021
Quarantine Kitchen was hosted by Guster frontman Adam Gardner for the organization he co-founded, Reverb, which aims to make touring a little greener. The show invites guest chefs to come share sustainable recipes and chat about food, music and the environment. There hasn’t been a new episode since June 2021.
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Haylie Duff, ‘Real Girl’s Kitchen’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Haylie Duff Network: Cooking Channel
Years aired: 2014-2015
Singer and actress Haylie Duff started sharing her passion for cooking in 2012 when she started her blog, Real Girl’s Kitchen, and released a cookbook of the same title the following year. Real Girl’s Kitchen was picked up by the Cooking Channel in 2014 and aired for two seasons, during which Duff shared recipes inspired by her life in L.A., as well as her time spent in New York City.
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Kimberly Schlapman, ‘Kimberly’s Simply Southern’
Image Credit: Becky Fluke Network: Great American Country, Cooking Channel
Years aired: 2012-2014
Kimberly Schlapman’s cooking show, Kimberly’s Simply Southern, saw the Little Big Town vocalist sharing what she is passionate about outside of the music world, which is finding amazing recipes to cook for her family and friends. The cooking show, which was originally broadcasted on Great American Country and then the Cooking Channel, followed Schlapman as she traveled throughout America to find the best food, bringing inspiration back to her Nashville kitchen, and welcoming guests such as her bandmates, Jewel, Lady A’s Hillary Scott, and many more.
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Kelis, ‘Saucy & Sweet’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Kelis Network: Cooking Channel
Year aired: 2014
Ahead of dropping her sixth studio album Food in 2014, the artist — who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu — launched her show Saucy & Sweet. The series celebrated the release with a dinner party that saw her preparing dishes such as jerk ribs, shrimp fricassee, and goat cheese ice cream.
Though Saucy & Sweet has ended, Kelis has since hosted Netflix’s 2020 competition series Cooked With Cannabis, which sees chefs creating “elevated cannabis cuisine” to get her and the show’s guests high. There is only one season so far, but the show is still available to stream.
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Patti LaBelle, ‘Patti LaBelle’s Place’
Image Credit: Derek Blanks Network: Cooking Channel
Years aired: 2015-2017
The iconic R&B singer may be known for her voice and famous sweet potato pies, but she wasn’t shy about showing off her cooking skills either. LaBelle did just that on Patti LaBelle’s Place, inviting stars over for a cooking lesson and tasty home-cooked meal. Guests during the shows two seasons included 50 Cent, Ledisi, Laurie Hernandez and more.
