Ever since we discovered episodes of CHOPPED online for free, we’ve enjoyed watching them as a family. Many times, while sitting down to a meal, one of the kiddos would take a bite, critique the flavors, and declare whether or not the chef had been chopped. (They are kind enough to never chop mom!)
A few weeks ago we decided it would be fun to play Chopped as a family and we thought all of you would enjoy seeing how we put it together and maybe try it with your family!
Our oldest four children were the chefs. Daddy, Mommy, and the 4 year old were the judges. If you are familiar with the show, you know there is an Appetizer round, a Main Course round, and a Dessert round, each with their own set of mystery ingredients. One chef is eliminated (chopped) after each round based on presentation, creativity, and flavor. The kids all agreed ahead of time that it would be okay to be eliminated from the competition if they were chopped. (If they hadn’t agreed to this, we would have let all of them cook all 3 rounds.)
The night before, I planned out the mystery ingredients. It also might be a good idea to have your kids go through this FREE KNIFE CLASS:
On the show each chef has a basket of ingredients for each round. Our family version had us pulling from one picnic basket and the kids had to share the ingredients within. Dad played the part of host and announced the ingredients as they pulled them from the basket.
On the show, the picnic basket always has at least one ingredient that is bizarre. So, for instance, our Main Course round had:
- precooked hamburger
- oatmeal
- pineapple
- mayonnaise
By the way, if you do this, remember as a judge, you have to be able to eat whatever is put in front of you. Plan your mystery ingredients with that in mind!
Once the mystery ingredients had been revealed, I set the timer and they got to cookin’!
Appetizer Round – 15 minutes
Main Course Round – 20 minutes
Dessert Round – 15 minutes
At the end of the round, the children presented their dishes to us and explained what they had created. The first round, we had them make 4 separate plates just like on the show (1 for each judge and 1 to be potentially chopped – more on that later), but we soon realized our kitchen does not accommodate 16 plates of food very well, so we decided to have them make 1 big plate for the judges to share and 1 small plate to be chopped.
After presenting their dishes, they headed back to the boys’ room where we had set up a card table and chairs and bottles of water (just like on the show!).
I have to tell you the kids did such a great job it was really hard to choose one dish to chop! When we finally managed to make a decision, we brought them out and just like on the show, we had the “chopped dish” under a lid (in our case, a big ole roaster lid!).
Now, on CHOPPED, the winner gets a $10,000 cash prize. That’s a little steep for us, so instead, we awarded each chopped child $1, with the winner getting $2. The chopped child also had the privilege of being a judge in the next round.
The Dessert round had the 8 year old and the 15 year old competing against each other for the championship!
The ingredients?
- cranberries
- maple syrup
- muenster cheese slices
The last round is not judged solely on dessert, but rather a culmination of the 3 courses together. The 15 year old won our version of CHOPPED, and took home the $2 cash prize!
We saw some really neat things from the children throughout the competition. We saw them work together, we saw them get better at putting together their dishes with each round, we saw a ton of creativity. But what really impressed us was watching our 8 year old in the final round make a caramel sauce based off of what she saw her brother doing. She had no idea how to make a caramel sauce, but she watched and learned and tried her hand at it.
The entire event took about 2.5 hours. We ate the dishes they prepared as our lunch that day.
The kids spent the rest of the day talking about how much fun they had. In fact, they still talk about it excitedly and wonder when we can do it again! So, if you ever have a free Saturday afternoon, grab a picnic basket, a few aprons, and some crazy ingredients from the pantry, and have a blast playing CHOPPED!
Melissa says
What a great way to get kids excited about cooking! Can’t wait until my kiddos are old enough to do something like this.
Kim says
I love “Chopped” also and have my DVR set to record it. I often watch it while walking on the treadmill (at least in the winter when I can’t walk outside). That’s probably not the smartest idea – watching a food show while trying desperately to walk off calories. Anyway, looks like a fun idea for your family! I’d love to know more about what your children created.
Amy says
LOL – my kids always say watching Chopped makes them hungry!
kathy lapan says
Awesome!!! We are already planning our version – we only have two kids so they’ll compete the entire thing together. So fun!!
Elise says
What a brilliant idea! We were introduced to Chopped! when our daughter-by-love and grandson stayed with us for part of our son’s deployment. I would actually truly love to do this as most of my children at home (23-9) are pretty good cooks. I just don’t trust myself to choose mystery ingredients that would be used in a palatable way!
Hillary N. says
I really loved seeing this! My four year old son loves “Chopped!” He has his own basket and everything. My husband and I are trying to figure out a way we could make this work…maybe pairing the 4 yr old with a parent or grandparent and pairing another child with another adult since our kids are so small. Our little guy understands the concept, though, and it is a really kicker when he goes “Chef Man/Lady (that’s what he calls the cooks on TV) you are not the Chopped champion!” 🙂
Lana @ ilovemy5kids says
You, my friend, are officially the coolest Mom evah! Too cool! And brave! I’d be so scared to eat my boys dishes. Love this post!
Amy says
Aww, thanks for the Cool Mom Award! lol
Victoria says
How fun! I love watching that show on the Food Network. I’d be really interested in seeing the recipes of the winners!
Amy says
Hee hee! They were interesting to say the least! 😉
Char G. says
I want to play!!!! Wonder what I could come up with??? Sounds like a good idea. We love to watch the real show. I think my kids would have fun with it, but I probably should let Dad put the ingredients together and not ME. You never know what I might come up with. lol
Amy says
This would be so up your alley, Char! lol
Miranda says
That sounds so fun!
Sofi says
Love it! I have often wanted to play chopped myself! Great idea, and i especially like the table and water touch. You left nothing out!! 🙂
Josi says
Okay, gotta say you and your husband are amazing! I award the two of you the $10,000. dollar prize for being such fun parents. I want to be your kid! My favorite is the picture with your daughter with her hands over her mouth. I really wanted a caption for that picture….”What?!!!… lizards are an ingredient?!!” I’m having fun imagining what it was that your husband was saying about the basket at that point! Plus I’m impressed you had muenster cheese. I’ve never bought that and apparently I need your kids to teach me how to use it! 🙂
Amy says
LOL – That was Ty’s favorite pic too! He was really hamming it up! And he loves Muenster cheese, thus the reason we had some on hand. 😉
Rebecca says
That sounds like a lot of fun…I’ve never heard of Chopped.
Bekki says
Curious: How did you manage stovetop/ baking time?
Dawn says
We have been trying to figure out ingredients to give our kids…any more suggestions would be great
Amy says
You can use anything, but the key is to make the ingredients not really go together. So, try to think of something you wouldn’t expect in an dessert – like olives – and build around that. That’s what makes it interesting. 😉
Stacy says
We frequently have chopped family nights in our house. We have 2 girls so we divide up one with mom, one with dad. We decide who is making main course and who is making dessert – we then buy each other the mystery ingredients and then make supper together. Recently the kids have asked to be their own team so we have added an appetizer. No one gets chopped but we all have an interesting meal and have discovered some crazy things that have been delicious!