Looking for something fun to do with your family or friends? Learn how to play Chopped at home!
It’s pretty simple. All you need is 4-5 people, a kitchen, two baskets and ingredients. If you are worried your kitchen isn’t big enough we’ve played in a tiny Portland kitchen, so chances are you have more than enough space. If you don’t have enough counter space have one person do their prep work on the kitchen table.
Next you have to decide if you want to DIY the game (come up with your game rules, figure out how to score judging, decide on the time limit, etc.) or you can make things simple and download the FoodFu app, it’s free! FoodFu will do all the hard work for you so you and your friends focus on the fun part, cooking and judging! FoodFu even gives you fun question so you can interview your friends like you are Ted Allen.
If you are using FoodFu to play Chopped at home simply list “Chopped Basket” as the Featured Ingredient.
You do have one big decision to make. What are you going to put in the baskets??? Remember, most likely your friends aren’t professional chefs. Giving them a basket with liver, strawberries and brussel sprouts will only hurt the judges. Chances are if you put together a basket of friendly ingredients your friends will still be under the gun. When was the last time anyone plopped four ingredients in front of you and said, “you better have dinner ready in 45 minutes.” If you are having trouble coming up with basket ingredients we’ve listed some fun ideas for you.
Kitchen Hack: If you don’t have baskets use 2 large bowls and a towel to conceal the “basket” ingredients.
Chopped at Home Basket Ideas:
Skill Level = Easy
Basket Idea #1
- Pizza Dough
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Basil
Basket Idea #2
- Burrito Shells
- Black Beans
- Avocado
- Tomatillos
Basket Idea #3
- Rye Bread
- Any kind of Cheese
- Apple
- Mayonnaise or Mustard
Skill Level = Difficult
Basket Idea #1
- Tofu
- Parsnips
- Curry
- Nutritional Yeast
Basket Idea #2
- Chicken Thighs
- Whipping Cream
- Tarragon
- Grapefruit
Basket Idea #2
- Pork Chops
- Pine Nuts
- Greek Yogurt
- Leeks
Thanks for ur ideas. I’m hosting a monthly ladies party and can’t wait to re-create Chopped. Will definitely check out the app.
So glad it inspired you. We hope your party was fun!
Thanks for your ideas. It really helped me and my family have a good time playing chopped. Your ideas really inspired us.
So glad to hear this! Keep us posted on your Chopped at Home adventures :o)
We have done a chopped challenge with our kids and it was great fun. Changed a few rules, first no time limit, second we pre chopped some ingredients to reduce knife skill issues, third paired each child with a parent. It was awesome. Our autistic daughter who loves to cook was the star and we video taped her presentation which is priceless.
I love the parent tag team idea! Glad you’ve been having fun playing in the kitchen!
Who is chopped? I’ve never heard of her…
Do you mean what is Chopped? Chopped is a television show on the Food Network where chefs compete and turn baskets of mystery ingredients into a three-course meal. The show starts with 4 chefs and each round they chop a chef until there is a winner.
Where does your business originate?
FoodFu was created in the Pacific Northwest.
We are excited to try this next weekend – getting the app now. Thank you!
We can’t wait to hear how about your Chopped at Home experience!
I was playing with kids
Looking for silution ideas to doing a chopped challenge in an ordinary kitchen (one stove, one oven, one mixer, etc) How are you all managing this conundrum?
We just look at that as part of the challenge. We’ve had players share the oven and other times where players changed their idea because their competitor already claimed the oven. We’ve also told people they can bring what they need with them and one person brought their own immersion blender.
I’m a Girl Scout leader with teenage girls. We did this once before, DIY style. They did not have identical baskets. They had to pick (out of a hat) one protein, one canned item, one fruit or vegetable, one starch. They had a budget (we went shopping). They could add ingredients but had to use at least what they were assigned. There were great lessons learned that day and they want to do it again which is why I came across your site (looking for ideas of how else to do this). Sad to me that Scouts doesn’t do something like this as a workshop!
How fun! You’ll have to tell us how the next one goes and if you incorporated any of our ideas. Another idea would be to have teams so they have to learn to work as a group to complete the task on time. Maybe you should pitch this idea to the Scouts? Maybe they’ll pickup your workshop idea.