YouTube is the home to content creators of all types. The more you dig deep into it, the more binge-worthy content you can find. Most of my YouTube history consists of food reviews and recipes. Even if I never try any of those, who cares? Watching food being prepared provides a whole level of satisfaction that nothing else can bring to my life.
Now, with YouTube shorts, things have spiced up even more (pun intended). So, if you are also the kind of person who watches food videos at 2 in the morning when they’re hungry, we should be best friends. There are so many content creators on YouTube that post amazing recipes. Some of them are actual chefs while others just produce really good content. In any case, here are some of my top picks:
Joshua Wiesmann
Papa needs no introduction. If you don’t follow Joshua, you are missing out on so much entertainment. His recipes can be completely over-the-top and he is known to make everything from scratch. When Joshua makes burgers, he starts from the bun y’all! All this and the frequent shots of his behind, Joshua is a crazy chef. Crazy talented, that is!
He has taken on almost all famous food chains and replicated their recipes – but better! He calls this series But Better and is probably one of the biggest reasons for his fame. Legend says that McDonald’s is still looking for him after he destroyed them in a nuggets battle. He recently also released a cookbook “Joshua Weismann: An Unapologetic Cookbook” which is New York Times Bestseller. Do you need any more reasons to hit the subscribe button on his channel?
Andrew Rea
Andrew runs a YouTube channel called Binging with Babish. As the name suggests, the content is definitely binge-worthy. If you seriously want to learn from Andrew, you should follow his Basics with Babish series. He has covered almost all basic recipes from roast chicken to cookies to stocks. Anyone can learn to cook by following the easy recipes he posts. Moreover, his tiny whisk and hands-only shots definitely bring in more personality to his channel.
Andrew makes some of the most unique recipes sometimes. He takes inspiration from the food that we see in famous TV shows and movies and replicates them as best as he can. Some of his creations include the Dalgona toffee from Squid Game and Crabby patty burgers from SpongeBob. He is an amazing chef and has now run collaborations with Sohla el-Wahly and Rick Martinez.
Claire Saffitz
I would have died for Claire from the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen. But BA had to be racist and unapologetically unfair to its PoC employees and most people boycotted the channel. After the Bon Appetit fiasco, I didn’t know what to do with my life. It was as if everything fun had been taken away from me and life would never be better. Until, Claire released her cookbook Dessert Person, and made a separate channel for herself!
Claire Saffitz is the modern-day Julia Child and her videos are a breath of fresh air. She recreates the recipes from her book on her channel ft. her cats. If you just want to be happy and at ease, just watch Claire cook. Also, it is a complete journey to watch her so in control in her kitchen. Especially after the years of torture she went through doing Gourmet Makes. If you know, you know!
David Seymour
David Seymour was probably the worst cook on this list when he started off his channel. Since then, his cooking skills have visibly improved over the years. Although, his hate for cream cheese has only gotten worse. If you are a regular on his channel, you’d know what I’m talking about. If not, there’s a mystery you need to solve!
He started off by testing BuzzFeed recipes and gained a large number of followers. Now, he does more interesting formats along with the recipe tests. He recreates a recipe from different chefs and then rates them. For the last five years, he has developed weekly recipes featuring pumpkin spice every October. Some of those recipes have completely blown us away with his creativity and understanding of flavors.
Chef John
Chef John has probably been around longer than anyone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandma knows him too! His channel is called Food Wishes and he also runs a blog with the same name. Chef John’s recipes are really easy to follow and always spot-on! His lovely voice and unique voice-over style really set him apart from everyone else. I can almost hear this phrase in his voice: Hello I’m Chef John, from Foooood Wishes dot com. The wit, puns, and rhymes he uses will make you smile as you follow his recipes.
