The BEST episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals season 18
Every episode of MasterChef: The Professionals season 18, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of MasterChef: The Professionals season 18!
Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing and vegetable expert and MasterChef veteran Gregg Wallace are on the hunt for a young chef who wants to make it to the top of the culinary world.
#1 - Episode 18
Season 18 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/19/2026
The semi-finalists are whisked off to the stunning Scottish Highlands, where maestro Mark Donald puts them to work at the Glenturret Lalique, a two-Michelin-star restaurant.
#2 - Episode 3
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/12/2026
It's the first quarter-final, and the chefs face an invention test demanding that they do something magical with an ingredient they will all have probably worked with before – king prawns!
#3 - Episode 9
Season 18 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/27/2026
This week's quarter-finalists are faced with an invention test that must scream chicken, but which only includes off-cuts.
#4 - Episode 5
Season 18 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/18/2026
Philli Armitage-Mattin sets the chefs a skills test challenge using her own recipes. Two must recreate chicken wings stuffed with pork mince, the other chefs, souffle pancakes with sake-poached plums.
#5 - Episode 8
Season 18 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/25/2026
The chefs have just 20 minutes to prepare and cook a bavette steak served with a papaya and noodle salad and crispy noodles.
#6 - Episode 1
Season 18 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/10/2026
2016 winner Gary Maclean, who has gone on to become the first National Chef of Scotland, sets the challenges for four chefs seeking to make it through to the quarter-finals.
#7 - Episode 10
Season 18 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/3/2026
2018 finalist Matthew Ryle sets the competing chefs skills tests inspired by French classic cookery, highlighting just what you can achieve with red mullet and roasted poussin.
#8 - Episode 4
Season 18 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/17/2026
2020 professional finalist Philli Armitage-Mattin sets the contestants a Korean-inspired skills test to make it through to the quarter-finals.
#9 - Episode 11
Season 18 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/4/2026
2018 finalist Matthew Ryle sets the skills test challenges: raviolo stuffed with pea and ricotta and poached pear mille-feuille with a hazelnut praline cream.
#10 - Episode 6
Season 18 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/20/2026
The chefs are challenged to create their own special twist on rice pudding, before serving up two plates of food to impress restaurant critics Jimi Famurewa, Jay Rayner and William Sitwell.
#11 - Episode 14
Season 18 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/11/2026
Knockout week continues as the ten remaining professional chefs are split into two groups. Five of them head to Boxhall in central London to meet Marcus and Monica for their first challenge.
#12 - Episode 2
Season 18 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/11/2026
The challenges for another group of contestants aiming for a place in the quarter-finals include preparing a dish of steamed razor clams and a dessert with authentic cranachan cream.
#13 - Episode 7
Season 18 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/24/2026
2022 champion Nikita Pathakji sets a new group of chefs the task of recreating her dish of king prawns served in a coconut and lemongrass broth.
#14 - Episode 20
Season 18 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/24/2026
The three chefs left standing head off for an Italian culinary adventure in South Tyrol, where they help prepare a lunch service at the three-Michelin-starred Atelier Moessmer.
#15 - Episode 13
Season 18 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/10/2026
Knockout week has arrived. It will see the best 13 chefs who have cooked their way through the heats and quarter-finals face an invention test.
#16 - Episode 15
Season 18 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/13/2026
Five more chefs take on the pop-up challenge of a lifetime as they prepare tacos, octopus and custard tarts.
#17 - Episode 12
Season 18 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/8/2026
The last group of quarter-finalists must do something magical with mince if they are to make it through to knockout week.
#18 - Episode 17
Season 18 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/17/2026
The six semi-finalists are asked to cook their own Thai-style dish from a larder of ingredients selected by John Chantarasak.
#19 - Episode 16
Season 18 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/16/2026
The semi-finals begin with the remaining eight chefs challenged to deliver a dish that uses all the chosen ingredients, with absolutely nothing wasted.
#20 - Episode 21
Season 18 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/26/2026
Just one cook-off stands between the three remaining chefs and the title of MasterChef: The Professionals 2026 Champion.
#21 - Episode 19
Season 18 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/23/2026
Finals week has arrived, along with the biggest challenge the four remaining in the competition have faced in their careers: cooking for 27 of the UK and Ireland's leading chefs at the Goring Hotel.