Chopped - Season 29 (2016)

Comfort food king, fried chicken, gets the royal Chopped treatment for three rounds! A weird syrup and a savory pancake are two of the ingredients that the chefs must use in their fried bird appetizers. The poultry party continues in round two with fried chicken entrees that have to include peach cobbler, and what will be expected from the chefs in a fried chicken-themed dessert round?

When the chefs get escargot in the appetizer round, they have just twenty minutes to prove that snails can work with the other ingredients in the basket, including some troublesome sprouts. Garlic knots prove to be easy to use in the entree round, and a light and airy cake in the dessert round puts the chefs in a focused and inspired mood.

The theme for this competition is everyone's favorite all-American bun-buster, the hot dog! In the first round, the chefs get some very rare hot dogs and an uncommon condiment. A tiny ingredient causes big problems for two of the competitors in the entree round, and the last two chefs are left to tackle the strange challenge of making hot dog desserts.

Never stop cooking -- a seventy-something chef who blew off retirement to return to the stove is among the four chefs competing! In the appetizer round, he and the rest of the group must make trout dishes that also include dill pickle soup. A weirdly spicy beer is one of the entree basket ingredients. Then, dough and sugar in the dessert basket seem to give the finalists a head start, but looks can be deceiving!

The chefs battle in a Chopped chili challenge as they put their own spin on the classic American dish. Chocolate and sausage are two of the mandatory ingredients in the appetizer round, and degrees of spice and levels of creativity are big factors in the entree round. For dessert, chili-inspired sweet dishes are requested.

Sixteen young chefs-in-training will compete to see who can become the Chopped Teen Tournament Grand Champion and score the $25,000 prize! In this first preliminary battle, the young competitors must make appetizers from a strange hybrid snack and a decadent pork product. In the entree round, the teens must figure out how to combine poultry with a weird casserole, then work with a spicy nut and a savory green fruit for dessert.

Four new formidable young competitors fight to get to the finale, but in the first round, nerves and indecision keep everybody guessing whether all the teen chefs will finish their sausage appetizers. Seafood surprises await the teen chefs in round two, then some breakfast items take on a creative form in the dessert basket.

In the third of four preliminary competitions, a new group of teen chefs arrives in the Chopped Kitchen with tons of energy, which they put to good use cooking short rib appetizers. An already-cooked, artificially-colored ingredient appears to be the most puzzling ingredient in the entree basket, and in the dessert round, a pastry bag of pate a choux leaves the competitors wondering what to do.

Four more teen chefs battle it out for the last spot in the $25,000 finale. A can of something strange and a bottle of something sour are two of the ingredients that the competitors must use in the appetizer round. The fryer sees some action in the entree round when one teen chef decides to deep-fry the basket's protein. Then, the two finalists must figure out how to repurpose a cake they find in the dessert basket.

Four teen winners have returned to compete in the grand finale of the tournament with $25,000 at stake. The young cooks find a surf-and-turf combination in the appetizer basket and aim to distinguish themselves from their opponents with their first plates. Butchering skills come into play in the entree round, then one teen chef's premonition about a mango in the dessert basket comes true!

Teams of twins face off in this competition, bringing twice the excitement to the kitchen! In the first round, some improbable eggs and incomplete crustaceans are in the basket. A royal-inspired meat product and a soda shop staple keep things interesting in the entree round, then the last two pairs of twins make some surprising choices when they get pastry dough in the dessert basket.

A serious time management issue in the first round featuring naan and blood sausages gets one of the competitors in trouble as the last seconds tick away. A very expensive fish in the entree basket has the judges hoping that the chefs know how to treat it right. Then, the finalists come up with some creative desserts as they tackle a fruit-filled third basket.

Former winners and runners up from Worst Cooks in America arrive at the Chopped Kitchen with something to prove. In the first round, the competitors do a nice job with their frog leg appetizers, but the second round has the remaining chefs struggling to cook steak correctly. Then, in the last round, the cooks rely on ready-made doughs from the pantry to help them with their cocoa powder and pear desserts.