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With the sudden need to self-isolate and quarantine, everyone has become the next top baker. Those cake projects, cookie art mastering, and attempts to not mess up a trifle are all now possible with more free time. Baking is no longer a casual hobby: It’s a lifestyle. For those of us looking for baking inspiration, Netflix has our best interest at heart. The streaming service is the hot spot to hit for an abundance of baking show options. Netflix is the home to such fun and tasty shows like The Great British Baking Show and Nailed It!
These Netflix reality programs and competition series inspire you to challenge your pastry skills while making you feel good (and a bit hungry). For this list, I tried to pick series all about baking, but there are a few hybrid series that focus on cooking in general. So get ready, set, and...read about baking shows. Go.
The Great British Baking Show (2010)
Amateur bakers compete in a series of rounds to try to impress expert judges. Every week, the home cooks must complete a series of challenges to prove their baking skills, show their creativity, and test their mental and emotional endurance. The contestants who perform the worst each week face elimination, until one winner takes the Great British Baking Show crown.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: The Great British Baking Show is very inspirational. It makes you feel powerful and bold. You see regular people taking on these massive baking challenges and succeeding, so it makes you believe in your own skills as well. As you watch The Great British Baking Show, you marvel at these delicate, delicious, and decadent desserts.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Nailed It! (2018)
Comedian Nicole Byer and world renowned pastry chef Jacques Torres act as hosts and judges on Nailed It, a series that rewards people for their bad baking and decorating skills. Each round, three amateur home cooks attempt to make professional level pastries under a time limit. This leads to grand dessert flops.
Why It's A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: Nicole Byer and Jacques Torres are a quirky duo that keeps you smiling and in the mood to bake. Nailed it features exquisite cakes that most mere mortals could never execute. The series makes you want to test your baking skills by challenging yourself to make these treats or ones like them. Nailed It allows you to laugh at yourself when you don’t necessarily hit the baking target.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Zumbo’s Just Desserts (2016)
Adriano Zumbo and Rachel Khoo host Zumbo’s Just Desserts, a baking competition show that has amateur bakers prove their skills in two rounds of challenges. The first round has contestants creating treats by following the episode’s theme, and then the two competitors in danger of elimination must create one of Zumbo’s complex desserts in the Zumbo Test.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: Zumbo’s Just Desserts is like many other cooking shows, but exclusively focused on baking. Additionally, Zumbo’s home cooks must have professional level skills because they have very high standards to meet. These challenges require a lot of skills and knowledge that only dedicated bakers have. These desserts will mesmerize you, but caution, Zumbo’s Just Desserts may make you want to attempt to make a molten lava cake.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Sugar Rush (2018)
Imagine trying to create three desserts while under an extreme time pressure. Is this concept in your head? Then you just imagined the premise for Sugar Rush. Each episode features four teams consisting of two professional bakers. These bakers must create desserts following a certain theme. Each round, they’re allotted a certain amount of time, but if they finish early, that time transfers over to the next round. A team is eliminated every round until there is only one winning team.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: Sugar Rush is all about creativity. It’s almost like the opposite of Nailed It. Contestants use their talent and skills to create beautiful and delicious dishes, and the more tasty, more creative, and more skilled, the better your chances of winning. Sugar Rush is a show that can help you test your own creativity and baking skills.
Stream it on Netflix here.
The Big Family Cooking Showdown (2017)
Each week, a group of families compete in a series of heats to win their spot in the finals, and eventually win the title and prize. The challenges consist of a skill based challenge and ones that allow the families more freedom to create some of their family favorites.
Why It’s a Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: The Big Family Cooking Showdown isn’t a series only about baking. It’s about cooking a variety of different meals and courses. This series has the same good nature tone as The Great British Baking Show, but more family centric. Watching these families come together under pressure, might make you want to bake more with your family.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Chef’s Table (2015)
Chef’s Table is a docu-series that highlights different world renowned chefs. The original Chef’s Table currently has six volumes, and Volume 4 is all about pastry chefs. That volume focuses on four master bakers, including Milk Bar owner and former MasterChef judge Christina Tosi.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: Chef’s Table will give you a long list of restaurants and foods that you now must try. It also goes deep into the passion, history, and drive that led these talented chefs to their careers. It’s a very inspirational series that makes you really think about your own passion and appreciation for food and art.
Stream it on Netflix here.
The Chefs’ Line (2017)
This Australian reality competition series puts home cooks against professional chefs as they make their way through a restaurant line. Each episode of The Chefs’ Line shows home cooks and professional chefs creating their own version of a popular dish. The series showcases different styles of cuisine (Vietnamese, Italian, French, etc.) for a series of episodes, then shifts to another culture’s cuisine.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: The Chefs’ Line explores many different cultures and showcases different ways to elevate and give different dishes your own signature flare. It’s a series that educates as well as entertains. You might use some of the desserts and dishes highlighted to create your own version, or just research to find out more about these dishes.
Stream it on Netflix here.
The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass (2013)
The Great British Baking Show judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood host The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass, a nearly hour long series where they put their own spin on some of the dishes showcased on the original series. It’s more of a tutorial series than the regular Great British Baking Show.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: Roll-up your sleeves, grab an apron, and order some groceries because it’s time to get down to business. The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass puts you in the driver’s seat as you explore some complex dishes with step-by-step guides. It’s a fun way to test your skills and learn some new dishes. Netflix has four seasons of The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass available, so you should have plenty of dishes to keep you busy.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Nailed It: Mexico (2019)
Omar Chaparro and Anna Ruiz host Nailed It! Mexico. This reality baking series has amateur bakers try to recreate intricate treats and desserts. These three home cooks compete in two challenges to win 200,000 pesos and a Nailed It trophy.
Why It’s A Good Option If You Now Love To Bake: The original Nailed it spun a few spin-off series, including a holiday one, and then Mexico, France, and Spain versions. Nailed It! Mexico was the first international spin-off series and has the same DNA as the original, while sticking to its Mexican roots. It’s a good show to watch if you’ve run out of episodes from the original Nailed It! If the series being in Spanish seems intimidating, Netflix gives you the option to add English subtitles or voice-overs.
Stream it on Netflix here.
Sugar Rush: Christmas (2019)
Hunter March, Candace Nelson, and Adriano Zumbo return to host and judge this Christmas edition of Sugar Rush. Sugar Rush: Christmas has the same timed competition with three rounds of themed challenges and four teams of two.
Why It’s A Good Option if You Now Love To Bake: Baking and holidays, especially Christmas, are a marriage made in heaven. It’s almost like one should not exist without the other. Sugar Rush: Christmas will give you a jolt of jolly in July, while helping you think of some dishes to cook once the holidays roll around again. Also who says you can’t make gingerbread cookies in spring or summer? Rules don’t apply anymore.
Stream it on Netflix here.
There is a wide, wonderful world of treats and desserts waiting for you. You just have to have the optimism and hope to attempt them. Here’s hoping you nail your baking challenges in a good way.
