Following her departure from “Top Chef,” Padma Lakshmi returns to hosting with new cooking series

It looks like Padma Lakshmi isn’t retiring from hosting cooking competitions anytime soon. According to a new report from Deadline, the former “Top Chef” host and judge will host a new cooking competition series for CBS.

Information about the series’ format and premiere date is sparse as the project is still in its beginning stages. The series, which remains unnamed, is CBS’s first foray into food entertainment and hopes to rival several big-name cooking shows, including “Top Chef” and “MasterChef.”

Lakshmi’s upcoming hosting gig comes after she announced her departure from “Top Chef” as host and judge last June. The show, which Lakshmi had been on for nearly two decades, had taken a toll on her physical health and metabolism throughout the years. “I’m really proud of the legacy I helped build in all these countries around the world and for two generations of young people,” Lakshmi said in an April interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I didn’t know what an amuse-bouche was, and for that reason I will always root for ‘Top Chef.’”

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lakshmi said another reason why she left “Top Chef” was so she could focus on her Hulu docuseries “Taste the Nation.” In August 2020, Hulu renewed the show for a second season, which officially premiered on May 5, 2023.

At this time, CBS has “struck a development deal” with Lakshmi and former NBCU content chief Susan Rovner. Both Lakshmi and Rovner will serve as executive producers. The culinary series will come from Lakshmi’s Delicious Entertainment and Rovner’s Aha Studios, Deadline reported.