Updated: August 1, 2022

The main photo is courtesy of PBS Food, which showcases the Mirror Glaze Cake recipe from The Greatest British Baking Show. 

Before having a plethora of cooking show options from the likes of the Food Network, Bravo, Netflix, Hulu and Prime, there was PBS – the Public Broadcasting Service – viewer-supported television that was available in every community. PBS gave us our first cooking and baking shows with great chefs such as The French Chef with Julia Child in 1965 (yes, it is in black and white), Jacques Pepin, and Martin Yan, to name a few.

About PBS Passport

If you grew up watching these classic shows, you can relive them with PBS Passport, a library of thousands of episodes of PBS shows, both new and nostalgic. Even without the Passport, many full episodes and clips are available for free. Pass-required videos are designated by a blue “compass rose” icon:

PBS Passport Compass Rose Symbol

PBS Passport is an added benefit available to eligible donors of participating PBS stations (i.e.: you must make a donation to your local public station to receive this benefit). Typically, the PBS Passport member benefit requires a station donation of at least $60 a year, or a recurring $5 per month “Sustainer” gift.

Table of Contents

Related:

 

Best Cooking Shows You Can Stream on PBS

 

The Great British Baking Show

The Great British Baking Show PBS Cooking Show

Amateur bakers compete for the title of UK’s best baker by tackling various technical, baking skills each week. With minimal instruction or recipes on hand, contestants must demonstrate their prowess and know-how of some of the most complex patisserie ever created. On Your Mark, Get Set, BAKE!

Note: Full episodes are currently unavailable, but short video extras are available for seasons 1-5.

See The Great British Baking Show on PBS for episode details.

 

Broken Bread with Roy Choi

Broken Bread with Roy Choi PBS Food Show

Roy Choi, an LA-based social activist, entrepreneur, and the Chief Chef of Kogi BBQ food trucks, journeys around his hometown exploring social issues such as hunger, food waste and sustainability. Known for his mantra “food that isn’t fancy”, Choi introduces viewers to inspiring individuals and organization who use food as a method of bringing about social change.

See Broken Bread with Roy Choi on PBS for episode details.

 

Meals Ready to Eat

Meals Ready to Eat PBS Food Series

Navy veteran and chef, August Dannehl travels the world and introduces viewers to Gourmet Military Food around the world. Foodie culture in the military-veteran community is an eye-opening experience, as Chef Dannehl explores some of the most meaningful, intriguing, delicious food operations in the world. The show is part military travel-vlog and part cooking inspiration show as creative dishes are prepared using modern military rations as innovation.

See Meals Ready to Eat on PBS for episode details. (PBS Passport not required).

 

The Migrant Kitchen

The Migrant Kitchen PBS Cooking Show

From the most ethnically diverse city in the world, Los Angeles, this show explores the ever-booming food scene through the eyes of new chefs that have been inspired by the immigrant experience. Taking an established ethnic cuisine and elevating it to a fusion of new flavors and techniques is the twist of this series. Chefs from some of LA’s most famous restaurants discuss how their backgrounds, experiences and mixed cultural influences have shaped the transformation of the food scene in the City of Angels.

See The Migrant Kitchen on PBS for episode details. (PBS Passport not required).

 

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street

Christopher Kimball's Milk Street PBS Cooking Show

Chef Christopher Kimball travels the world in search of the best techniques, ingredients and recipes to transform home cooking into spectacular results with less time and effort. From Savannah, Georgia to London to the Amalfi Coast, viewers can watch chefs from around the world create their local, mouthwatering delicacies that can be easily recreated in your own kitchen.

See Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street on PBS for episode details. (Some episodes do not require PBS Passport).

 

The Hook

The Hook PBS Documentary

Chef Ricky Moore takes viewers behind the scenes of the seafood traditions of North Carolina’s coastlines and restaurants. Famed for his Durham based restaurant, Saltbox Seafood Joint, Moore travels the coast, as he inspires cooks to trace the journey of the native bonefish from ocean to plate, interviewing black chefs and fishermen along the way to explore the coastal food culture.

See The Hook on PBS for details on this documentary. (Does not require PBS Passport).

 

Jamie Oliver Together

Jamie Oliver Together PBS Cooking Show

Enjoy home cooking? Then let Chef Jamie Oliver inspire you to take your home cooking talents to another level. Spending more time in our own kitchens means learning new recipes, techniques, cuisines and tips on ambiance and presentation. Inspired by Oliver’s new book, Together, this series features recipes specifically designed for autumn feasts that are intended to bring people back to the family table to eat together, as a celebration to home-style feasting and reunions.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Jamie Oliver Together on PBS for episode details.

 

Kevin Belton’s Cookin’ Louisiana

Kevin Belton's Cookin Louisiana PBS Cooking Show

A salute to Chef Kevin Belton’s fourth book, Cookin’ Louisiana: Flavors from the Parishes of the Pelican State, this series will inspire your inner chef to create Louisiana favorites such as Stuffed Crab, Louisiana Oyster Stew, and everyone’s favorite Étouffée and Gumbo. Belton keeps the recipes simple, with his goal of keeping the art of fine cooking non-intimidating, yet interesting for those who love Cajun-cuisine and are just learning to prepare its many dishes.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Kevin Belton’s Cookin’ Louisiana on PBS for episode details.

 

Lidia’s Kitchen

Lidia's Kitchen PBS Cooking Show

Some of our first Italian cooking trials in the kitchen were from watching Chef Lidia Bastianich on PBS. This Daytime Emmy award-winning series follows Lidia as she prepares simple, seasonal and economical dishes, while dispensing expert wisdom, tips and history about the foods she prepares. Drawing from her own Italian heritage, Chef Bastianich has been a regular contributor to public television since 1998, and has an extensive library on tape to increase your culinary knowledge.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Lidia’s Kitchen on PBS for episode details.

 

Simply Ming

Simply Ming PBS Cooking Show

Chef Ming Tsai is the host of this Emmy and James Beard nominated series that has over seventeen seasons of delicious, vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes. One of Chef Tsai sons has food allergies so he has been a food allergy advocate, who promotes awareness of food allergens in cuisines. With shows on roasting whole birds, pounding meat and proper pan roasting technique, this is more than just your average Asian cooking show.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Simply Ming on PBS for episode details.

 

Taste of Malaysia with Martin Yan

Taste of Malaysia PBS Cooking Show

As part of Chef Martin Yan’s “Yan Can Cook” series, viewers can tour Malaysia with Chef as he gallivants around the Southeast Asia country enjoying the people and its cuisine. With Malay, Indian, European and Chinese cultural influences, Malaysia and its cuisine are both a complex and multilayered experience. Travel from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, to the eastern territory of Borneo to Malacca and the Cameron Highlands, all unique in their beauty but all distinctively Malaysian.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Taste of Malaysia with Martin Yan on PBS for episode details.

 

Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom

Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom KQED PBS Cooking Show

Another series from the Yan Can Cook franchise, Spice Kingdom explores how food and spices have shaped Western China. Part history lesson, part culinary instruction, Chef Yan takes his international-viewing audience on a gastronomic tour of the region and to cooking academies and award-winning restaurants, along with their award-winning chefs, who share and demonstrate their culinary creations with the world.

Note: Full episodes are currently only available to PBS Passport members.

See Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom on PBS for episode details.

 

Free Cooking Shows on PBS.org

Here are list of cooking shows that have at least several episodes, if not all, that you can stream without having a PBS Passport. Again, just look for video thumbnails that DO NOT have the blue compass overlay in the upper left-hand corner to find free videos.

 

PBS Food Shows on YouTube

PBS Food also has a large collection of full episodes and clips of a wide range of cooking and food shows on their YouTube channel.

 

Links to PBS Food Recipes

PBS Food has an incredible recipe database that can be searched by course, cuisine, occasion and theme. Since it is not possible to search recipes by show, we provided links where you can browse recipes of several of their most popular shows.

You can also find recipes of your favorite chefs, by clicking on the individual photos on their illustrious directory of contributing chefs and scrolling below the bio section to see available recipes.

 

PBS Food Resources

 

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