Things get sweet tonight on “Top Chef” season 23 on Bravo for the 9 remaining chefs. The chefs will be making desserts inspired by Southern classics for a group of “Top Chef” super fans. And those super fans will be picking the winning dessert on “Top Chef” 2026 tonight! Watch it all go down with us during our “Top Chef” 2026 live recap and see who got eliminated on “Top Chef” tonight with us.
Dessert Time on ‘Top Chef’
For tonight’s episode, the chefs will need to make desserts fit for a queen. The city of Charlotte, North Carolina, was named after a Queen. They celebrate Queen Charlotte every year, but now “Top Chef” is celebrating its own 20th anniversary with super fans.
The chefs will also take part in a Quickfire Challenge with some of your favorite stars from “Southern Charm” on Bravo. We have $250,000 on the line for the winner of “Top Chef” season 23. Who stays and who goes home on “Top Chef” tonight? Follow along with our Live Recap below!
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD: THIS LIVE RECAP WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE, SO DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ SPOILERS.
April 20 Live Recap – Week 7
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Week 7 Begins
We start the episode with Laurence and Duyen chatting. She feels confident the judges like her food, but is not sure what’s holding her back from getting a challenge win.
Quickfire Challenge
The chefs then head to the kitchen and meet Kristen Kish. For this challenge, it’s inspired by Cracker Barrel’s all-day menu. The chefs will split into teams of three and prepare three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Southern classics will inspire each meal.
Kristen is joined by “Southern Charm” stars Madison LeCroy and Craig Conover. They bring out the infamous peg game played at Cracker Barrel. Those pegs will be used to draw the teams tonight on “Top Chef” season 23:
- Orange Team – Laurence, Oscar, and Sherry
- Yellow Team – Anthony, Brandon, and Jonathan
- Green Team – Jennifer, Duyen, and Justin
Each chef will be responsible for one of the courses. They will have 45 minutes to make their dish. However, there is a twist. Each team can only have one chef cooking at a time, so they have to figure out how to split their time. When a dish is ready, the judges will immediately come over and taste it, so that the next chef can get to work on their dish. They will have three minutes to discuss their menus and strategies. The winning team will get $12,000.
Cooking Time
After a quick strategy talk, the chefs start on their breakfast dishes. They all feel the breakfast dish will be the quickest. This will give more time to the dinner chef. Oscar, Brandon, and Justin are working on their breakfast dishes. Oscar and Brandon are quick to get theirs done. However, Justin goes over his 15 minutes, so going to put a damper on Duyen and Jennifer.
Anthony and Duyen are both frying green tomatoes for BLTs. Duyen definitely made up time. All three teams finish about the same time with their lunch dishes. All of the remaining chefs have about 15 minutes to create their dinner dishes.
The time is moving fast, but the final chefs are reusing batter to help cut time down on cooking. All three chefs get their dishes plated, and to the judges, so results will be coming soon.
Final Tasting & Results
The final chefs serve their dinner dishes. The judges have tasted all the dishes, and it’s time to pick the winners and losers from this challenge:
- Least Favorite Team – They thought Justin’s dish was cute, but the meat was tough. They thought Duyen’s lunch was the best lunch dish. Jennifer’s batter didn’t work, so she needed to use her own.
- Orange Team – Oscar’s breakfast dish was Craig’s favorite dish of the competition. They thought Sherry had so much flavor for such a short amount of time. Laurence’s chicken was undercooked.
- Yellow Team – Madison said her son would devour Brandon’s hashbrowns. Kristen said Anthony had a lot going on. Madison said he added a little kick to his fried green tomatoes, and he won her over with that. They thought Jonathan’s dish was good and tasted good, but his meat was a little overdone.
Results – The winning team tonight is the Yellow Team, who just won $12,000, so $4,000 for each chef.
Elimination Challenge on ‘Top Chef’ 2026
For this challenge, Kristen welcomes the guest judge: actress and super fan Melissa Benoist. The city of Charlotte was named after a Queen, who happened to love decadent desserts. “Top Chef” is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.
They bring out a display of some Southern desserts. For this challenge, each chef will have to create a dessert fit for a queen. They each get to grab one dessert from the display to inspire their own dish.
This party will start in three hours! The chefs now have 3 hours to create their dessert, and then serve it to 60 super fan guests. To add another twist, these super fans will be responsible for deciding the winning dish of the night.
The chefs rush to grab the dessert they will use as inspiration, and now the time clock starts, and the pressure is on.
Baking Begins
The chefs, who are not excited about desserts, get started on their dishes. There is no going to the market for ingredients. They are just using the ingredients in the pantry.
Things are heating up in the kitchen as the chefs have gotten started.
Justin had ambrosia salad and said he isn’t going too far away from the original. The chefs keep opening and closing the oven doors, so things aren’t properly cooking.
Duyen keeps struggling to make her dessert sweeter. Oscar has a very deep dish for his bread pudding, so that might not bake too well.
The time is running out, and the chefs are putting their final touches on their plates. The super fans have arrived. We see the time run out, and now time for the judges to taste these dishes.
Tasting & Results
The Super Fans start making their way around the room. They are loving the experience. Now the “Top Chef” judges arrive to taste the dishes, also:
- Anthony – The flavors were actually nice. It wasn’t too sweet.
- Jonathan – They said he had a great story, but all he basically made was chocolate pudding with whipped cream.
- Laurence – The cake was nice, but Tom wanted more coconut.
- Oscar – He is definitely schmoozing with the super fans.
- Duyen – Melissa said she was a little confused. Gail said she didn’t find it visually appealing, and it had no caramel.
- Jennifer – They loved it.
- Justin – Kristen said the ratios were off. Tom said it was a cold mess.
- Sherry – They said her galette was undercooked. Kristen liked the pops of tartness in it. Tom said the dish was flavorful.
- Oscar – They said it was overwhipped. They said it needed more custard. It wasn’t pudding-like, it was bread-like. Kristen was upset with how thick it was when he baked it.
- Brandon – They said it was very good. The right amount of cake to banana to cream.
The super fans have voted, and the results are in! They will be coming up after the commercial break.
The top three vote-getters were: Laurence, Anthony, and Sherry. By one vote, the winner of this challenge is Anthony, and he wins immunity for next week’s challenge!
Judges’ Table on ‘Top Chef’
The chefs are back in front of the judges. Tom said, overall, it was a great night for the most part. They said Anthony was on top for them, as well, as his dessert was great.
The least favorite dishes of the night come from Justin, Duyen, and Oscar. The judges give their feedback and then discuss it a little bit more.
The chefs are back, and the judges decide to eliminate Justin tonight on “Top Chef” season 23. He is now headed to “Last Chance Kitchen” to have a chance to fight his way back into the competition.
After saying goodbye to Justin, the chefs are surprised when Kristen walks in and asks them all to come back to the Judges’ Table!
They wanted to congratulate the chefs for making it halfway through the competition. Jennifer seems to be having a facial issue now, as her jaw is bothering her and some pain.
Restaurant Wars Is Coming
Since there are only eight chefs left, it’s time for Restaurant Wars on “Top Chef” season 23.
They will have to develop a restaurant concept in 36 hours. They have to assign an executive chef, floor manager, and two line cooks. Together, they then have to come up with a three-course menu with at least two options for each course. The chefs get to decide how they want to divvy up into two teams. The teams are:
- Team 1: Brandon, Jonathan, Jennifer, and Oscar
- Team 2: Laurence, Anthony, Sherry, and Duyen
They will have one hour tonight to come up with their concept. For a new twist this season, the teams will also be responsible for fielding takeout orders! Kristen said the prize for this season’s winner will be epic, but can’t say how much yet!
With the teams heading back to discuss their concepts, Jennifer said medics told her she has to go to the ER to check things out. That leaves her team without her for the planning. Then we see Kristen backstage, and she talks with Justin. They are going to ask Jennifer to leave the competition with everything going on, but she can come back another season. Since Justin was the last one eliminated, he can come back and take her spot.
He talks with Jennifer, and he wants to be with her and everything she is going through, so he will be leaving the competition for good. Both Jennifer and Justin were eliminated tonight, but that definitely puts a twist on the teams for Restaurant Wars and in Last Chance Kitchen.
BravoWhat do you think of the results tonight on “Top Chef” 2026?
