The Best Food Podcasts (And How To Listen)

SomethingSwanky is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.

I’ve been obsessed with podcasts since my nephew introduced them to me a few years back. I often listen while running boring errands, while walking the dog in the evenings, and while doing tedious cooking tasks like chopping vegetables or beating whipped cream.

Some of the best food podcasts are about cooking, while others are about the fascinating world of food outside of the kitchen. If you’re reading this post, though, I’m guessing both would appeal to you, and that means you should read on. Because in this article, I’ll discuss what makes a good podcast, recommend 11 of the best food podcasts out there, and tell you how you can start listening to them.

What Makes a Good Podcast

First off, what are the ingredients that make a food podcast worth listening to other than a generally interesting premise? I’m not calling podcasts that don’t meet the following five criteria “bad,” but I think any podcast could improve by adhering to them.

Research

The more preparation a podcast does for each episode, the better. And part of that preparation is digging into the subject in cookbooks or on the internet for background information on the subject being discussed. This is one of those situations where the long preamble before the recipe in cooking articles really comes in handy.

Guests

A good podcast should have a new guest on at least once every few episodes to keep things fresh. There’s nothing wrong with listening to the co-hosts every episode, but bringing in new blood every now and then keeps things fresh and also allows new viewpoints and fields of expertise to be put on display. This factor is especially important with food podcasts, because the same old views on cooking episode after episode can easily get stale.

Sound Quality

It’s understandable if the first few episodes of a podcast take place in one of the hosts’ apartment, but, once it has over a thousand listeners, it really should move into a more professional recording studio or at least a very quiet sound-proof room. Someone should also be editing out ambient noise in the recording. All of this really contributes to the listening experience.

Humor

Even if a food podcast is well-researched, it’s not going to hold your interest if it is completely devoid of humor. And I don’t just mean jokes; a sprinkling of quirkiness or innovation in the way stories are told are also forms of humor. In short, the podcast should have some distinct flavor that draws in listeners and keeps them there.

Host Chemistry

Perhaps the most important part of a podcast as far as I’m concerned is the ability of the hosts to have a great back-and-forth. It should make them seem like real friends – not only of each other but also of the listener. They need distinct personalities that you take an instant liking to but also grow to love even more as you listen to more episodes.

The 11 Best Food Podcasts

The 11 best food podcasts are listed below. To listen to them, just download one of the mobile apps shown in the “how to listen” section at the end of the podcast description and enter that podcast’s name in the app’s “search” function.

1. Burnt Toast

Every week, show host Micheal Harlan Turkell looks at a different food or aspect of food culture, from the history of the tuna melt to the myths behind milk consumption to a primer on waiting time at restaurants. Turkell is brilliant and has multiple experts on the subject come on every episode that give valuable insights. The show is fun, well-produced, and packed with information, which is why it takes the #1 spot on this list.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Player FM, aCast, Overcast, Stitcher, Radio Public, RSS, and more.

2. Food People

At the start of each episode, host Amanda Shapiro asks a single question about cooking or food and the rest of the episode is dedicated to exploring the answer. Some questions recently explored include “what are our secret weapon ingredients?”, “why are people obsessed with Trader Joe’s?”, and “what’s the best way to grill chicken?”

Since Food People is the main podcast of Bon Appetit, a huge cooking magazine, the crew behind the show has access to some of the greatest cooks and food scholars on the planet, which makes the show immensely informative. Since Shapiro is the magazine’s editorial director, she is great at picking directions to go with each installment.

Bon Appetit used to do another popular podcast, The Test Kitchen, but they stopped in 2020. I’d encourage you to check out the back-catalog.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Deezer, and more.

3. Black Girls Eating

Candace and Tannoria, two very accomplished African American chefs, started this podcast in 2021 as a place to discuss the contributions of black culture to the American culinary scene. Since then, the cast has evolved into a thoughtful look at black culture in general by inviting on a different person of color every week and exploring their story. Even for non-black listeners, though, it’s a great way to enjoy the rich cultural diversity that has made cooking what it is today.

What really makes this podcast stand out is the chemistry between Candace and Tannoria. You can tell through their voices that they really are long-time best friends who thought it would be fun – and culturally impactful – to sit behind some microphones and discuss things they’re passionate about.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher.

4. Spilled Milk

The two hosts of this podcast, Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton, are both comedians, and it shows. Each week, they take a specific type of food or kitchen implement, like boba tea or cheese graters, and talk about it in consistently hilarious ways for 30-60 minutes. The podcast is well-researched and the hosts often have guests that help them explore the topic further, but the real draw of the show is how funny it is. It’s a great one to have on in the background while you’re doing something that might occasionally distract you from a more information-heavy podcast.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, RSS, and more.

5. Home Cooking

This is my favorite cooking podcast, hands down. The hosts are Samin Nosrat, the author of award-winning cookbook Salt Fat Acid Heat, and experienced podcaster Hrishikesh Hirway, and the upbeat rapport between the two of them on every single episode is simply a joy. The guests and callers they have on each episode are uplifting and hilarious too. Unfortunately, there were only 16 episodes, each under an hour, the last of which aired in November 2021. You should definitely listen to what’s out there, though, because the episodes have achieved nearly legendary status.

Each episode, Samin and Hrishikesh focus on one style of cooking or one ingredient and talk about how it can be used to delicious effect. Samin Nosrat is especially great at advising home cooks listening to the podcast on how they can up their cooking game, and Hirway excels at injecting every conversation with some humor – often through use of delightfully cheesy puns. I can’t stress enough how every episode of this podcast is like cooking in a warm, fragrant kitchen with your best friends.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Radiotopia, and more.

6. A Taste of the Past

This one’s more about the history of food (and food-adjacent topics) than about cooking. It’s hosted by Linda Pelaccio, who has been a culinary historian for decades and was one of the founding members of the TV Food Network. The episodes have a more academic tone than most food podcasts, which makes them perfect for all you chefs out there who also love history. 

The stories are mostly pretty fascinating, and they demand enough attention to make your trip to the gym or your wait in line at the DMV fly by while you lose yourself in the narratives presented. Plus, the podcast has been airing since 2009, so you’ll have quite a few episodes to listen to.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RSS.

7. Good Food

The scope of KCRW’s Good Food podcast is pretty incredible. Every week, host Evan Kleiman does a series of well-researched stories on varying topics. Many of them are exposees that reveal the impact of foreign cuisines on American cooking, but others are about topics like nonstick pans, the importance of watering vegetable gardens, and how European potato farmers bring about a more delicious product. The show even gets tons of well-spoken experts to come on to speak about everything they cover. The 10 minute stories that make up each episode are available on the Good Food podcast website, and they make for wonderful bite-sized listening experiences.

Note that the BBC also produces a podcast called Good Food, but I prefer the KCRW one.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more.

8. The Sporkful

The Sporkful’s slogan is “It’s Not for Foodies, It’s for Eaters” and you can tell why if you look through their catalog. Most of their stories take a “pop culture” approach to cooking, covering simple food concepts like how to make a great peanut butter and peach jelly sandwich or the depiction of food on The Simpsons… topics that you don’t need to be a cook to enjoy. So far, the series’ magnum opus is “ImPASTAble,” a seven-part series where host Dan Pashman created a new pasta shape based on background research and interviews with pasta company sales reps.

The Sporkful is tons of fun, and it’s a great window into the more human side of the culinary scene. It’s not a great podcast to learn about cooking, but it’s a nice break when I want to listen to something more purely entertaining than most food podcasts.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, RSS.

9. A Hotdog is a Sandwich

As you may be able to tell by the name, A Hotdog is a Sandwich is all about culinary debates – more specifically, the food-related arguments constantly raging on the internet. Hosts Josh and Nicole look at both sides of contested questions like “Is the ocean a soup?”, “Is cold brew coffee a scam?”, “Is meatloaf just a long meatball?”, “What time does brunch actually start?”, and more. It’s a pretty silly concept, but the viewpoints are surprisingly well thought out and the chemistry between the hosts is great. My son is interested in both cooking and internet culture and he loves this show. I know next to nothing about internet culture and I find it pretty entertaining, too.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Ramble, Audible, Deezer, Audacy, Amazon Music, RSS.

10. Doughboys

This podcast is all about chain restaurants, including fast food joints – how they market themselves, how they make their foods delicious on the cheap, how they grow, and more. The two hosts are comedians, and their observations are both interesting and hilarious. It’s a pretty bingeable show because the fare is so light, so you’ll love it if you want to get into a food podcast that can really take your mind off things while you’re listening.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS.

11. Recipe Club

If you’re looking for food podcasts that will actually introduce you to new recipes, this is the one for you. Each week, the large panel of hosts cook a popular meal before dissecting the recipe, debating it, and then making tweaks that make the recipe taste better or make it quicker and easier. I’ve been cooking for decades, but I still learn a lot from this podcast every week. It’s accessible for beginning and advanced cooks alike, and it’s one of the first food podcasts I recommend to my friends who are learning the culinary arts.

How to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and more.

Food For Thought

For those who want to surround themselves with the culinary world rather than just visit it when they’re cooking, food podcasts are a great way to spend time. Identifying the best food podcasts for your individual tastes and keeping them on the back burner for whenever you have time to kill has the potential to improve your cooking skills and give you hundreds of hours of quality entertainment.