Iron Chef Competitions

We started doing Iron Chef Competitions at a bachelorette party for Wormfood33. One of the themes of her wedding was apple, so that was our first secret ingredient. We had so much fun that we decided to keep having competitions. Below you'll find a recap of our competitions and some of the recipes. Iron Chef Apple and Citrus occurred before we started this blog, so there are no recipes from those competitions.

How the competition works: Since we are just home cooks and not real Iron Chefs, we pick the secret ingredient way in advance. Everyone selects a course (appetizer, side, main, dessert, drink) so that we have some of each and then they bring a dish that brings out the hero ingredient. Then we vote on our handy score cards and a winner is selected! It's taken us awhile to figure out the best scoring system, but as of right now we usually rank the dishes in order of our favorites to least favorite based on taste, presentation and creativity. Our only other rule is that the hostess of the competition cannot win, so in those cases, the win passes to the next best dish.

The competition is usually fierce, but the best part about doing Iron Chef is getting together with our friends and just having a great night with some really delicious food.

Iron Chef Citrus
Winner: Cara's Blood Orange Roasted Pork
Runner Up: Emily's White Sangria

Iron Chef Bacon
Winner: Jen's Honey Mustard Chicken with Bacon
Runner Up: Greta's Bacon and Crab Stuffed Mushrooms and Cranberry Chicken Salad

Iron Chef Wine
Runner Up: Cara's Drunken Brie

Iron Chef Melon

Iron Chef Coffee
(Featured in R.Home magazine)
Winner: Kim's Black Bottom Cupcakes
Runner Up: Emily's Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Iron Chef Pumpkin
Winner: Jen's Pumpkin Jambalaya
Runner Up: Laura's Pork Tenderloin with Pumpkin Butter Sauce

Iron Chef Nuts
Full Recap 
Winner: Morgan's Macadamia Crusted Tilapia

Iron Chef Green
Winner: Emily's Green Papaya Salad
Runner Up: Lee's Pistachio Cookies

Iron Chef Strawberry
Full Recap
Winner: Cara's Strawberry Chipotle Jam
Runner Up: Doan's Salmon with Strawberry Salsa

Iron Chef Chocolate
Full Recap
Winner: Greta's Brie Crostini with Chocolate Wine Sauce
Runner Up: Wormfood33's Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake

Iron Chef Spicy
Full Recap
Winner: Emily's Spicy Pork Tacos
Runner Up: KSP's Indian Spiced Pinwheels

Iron Chef Cheese
Full Recap
Winner: Chelyen's Chicken Caesar Salad in Parmesan Cups
Runner Up: Emily's Parmesan Crusted Goat Cheese Ball with Basil Oil

Iron Chef Honey
Full Recap
Winner: Cara's Pear, Honey and Goat Cheese Crostini
Runner Up: Morgan's Honey Spread


Iron Chef Basil
Full Recap
Winner: Cara's Lemon Basil Ice Cream
Runner Up: Jen's Strawberry Basil Vodka Cocktail


Iron Chef Chips
Full Recap
Winner: Chelyen's Frito Chili Pie
Runner Up: Kim's Peanut Butter Chip Cookie Bomb


Iron Chef Ginger
Full Recap
Winner: Emily's Sweet & Sour Pork Sliders
Runner Up: Jen's Ginger Scallops


Iron Chef Grapes
Full Recap
Winner: Kim's Grape Salsa on Sweet Potato Waffle Fries
Runner Up: Shu's Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Grape Compote

Our next Iron Chef competition is TBD! If you have any ingredient ideas for upcoming competitions, we'd love to hear them.

(Click here for all Iron Chef competition recipes)
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