Cooking with the Stars 2026: Who is paired with who, recipes and how to watch

Cooking with the Stars returns to ITV1 tonight, Monday 5 October, with Caroline Quentin, Gladiators star Nitro and Emmerdale’s Mark Charnock among the celebrities taking on a new set of professional chefs.

The new series of Cooking with the Stars gets underway tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with presenters Tom Allen and Emma Willis back in the kitchen.

This time around, episodes are being served up in a more bite-sized format, with a 30-minute episode airing every Monday.

And, as ever, the idea is simple: celebrities who can usually be found acting, presenting, competing or performing are paired with professional chefs and challenged to learn how to cook at a serious level.

There is one particularly useful detail for viewers who fancy recreating what they see on screen: all of the recipes featured in the series are M&S recipes, with the supermarket sponsoring the show. M&S says the recipes from each episode will be made available online after they feature on the programme.

Who is paired with who on Cooking with the Stars?

If you’re watching the first episode and wondering who is partnered with which chef, here is the full line-up.

Celebrity	Professional chef
JB Gill	Poppy O’Toole
Caroline Quentin	Michael Caines
Bez	Kate Austen
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey	Rosemary Shrager
Joey Essex	Nokx Majozi
Karen Hauer	Angelo Sato
Dame Laura Kenny	Tony Singh
Lesley Joseph	Jean-Philippe Blondet
Mark Charnock	Shelina Pemalloo
Scarlett Moffatt	Jack Stein
Seann Walsh	Sam Holland
Zara McDermott	Elliot Grover

The celebrity-and-chef pairings have been confirmed by M&S ahead of the new series.

That means viewers can expect plenty of contrasting personalities in the kitchen, from Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey – better known as Nitro – to Emmerdale favourite Mark Charnock.

What happens in the first episode?

The opening episode wastes little time putting the celebrities under pressure.

Caroline Quentin is the first celebrity to be paired with her professional chef partner Michael Caines, and she finds herself becoming emotional during a particularly trying cooking challenge.

Her dish is a chicken fricassee with mushrooms, garlic mash and green beans, a Michael Caines recipe that is considerably more involved than its comforting name might suggest.

The M&S recipe describes it as a chef-worthy challenge involving everything from breaking down a whole chicken to creating a quick stock from the carcass. It takes around one hour and 30 minutes to make and serves four.

How to make Caroline Quentin’s chicken fricassee

For anyone watching and immediately wondering “What is the chicken fricassee recipe on Cooking with the Stars?”, M&S has published the full recipe.

Michael Caines’ dish combines chicken with mushrooms, cream, Greek-style yoghurt, Dijon mustard, lemon and tarragon, served alongside garlic mash and green beans.

You can find the full Michael Caines chicken fricassee recipe on M&S.

It is likely to be one of the recipes viewers search for immediately after the programme – particularly after seeing Caroline tackle the dish under pressure.

Nitro has a rather unusual way of cracking an egg

While Caroline has a tougher time in the kitchen, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, aka Gladiators‘ Nitro, appears to be having considerably more fun.

At one point, he demonstrates one of the advantages of having serious upper-body strength by cracking an egg using his bicep.

It is exactly the sort of moment that gives Tom Allen something to get excited about, with the presenter suitably giddy at the demonstration.

Nitro is paired with veteran chef Rosemary Shrager, making for a particularly entertaining combination.

Mark Charnock finally gets to cook

For Emmerdale viewers, there is another reason to tune in.

Mark Charnock, who has played chef Marlon Dingle in the ITV soap for around three decades, finally gets the opportunity to actually cook.

After spending years playing a chef on screen, Charnock is now paired with professional chef Shelina Pemalloo and must prove that his fictional kitchen experience translates to the real thing.

It’s a neat twist for the actor – although cooking for real is rather different from pretending to run a busy restaurant kitchen on a soap.

What recipes are on Cooking with the Stars?

One of the biggest potential search questions around the new series is “What are the recipes on Cooking with the Stars?”

M&S has created a dedicated collection of recipes from the programme, with dishes being added as they appear on screen. The supermarket says viewers can use the recipes to create the dishes at home, with ingredients available through M&S Foodhalls or Ocado.

You can find the Cooking with the Stars recipes here.

That makes the show slightly more useful than the average celebrity cooking competition: if something catches your eye during an episode, there is a good chance you’ll be able to find the recipe afterwards and attempt it yourself.

Who are the presenters?

Tom Allen and Emma Willis return to host the new series.

Allen brings his usual enthusiasm to the kitchen, while Willis returns for another run after presenting previous series of the programme.

There is, however, a question hanging over the future of the presenting line-up. With Emma Willis now busy with Strictly Come Dancing, it is not yet known whether she will return to host another series of Cooking with the Stars.

For now, though, the pair are back together for this new run – and with episodes reduced to 30 minutes, the format should make for a brisk Monday-night watch.

When is Cooking with the Stars on?

The new series of Cooking with the Stars starts on Monday 5 October at 7.30pm on ITV1.

It is also available to stream on ITVX.

New episodes will air every Monday, with each episode running for 30 minutes.

So if you’re searching for Cooking with the Stars tonight, the answer is 7.30pm on ITV1 – and ITVX is the place to catch up afterwards.

And if Caroline Quentin’s chicken fricassee, Nitro’s bicep-powered egg cracking or Mark Charnock’s long-awaited chance to cook has left you hungry, the M&S recipe collection is ready and waiting.

After all, with celebrity nerves, professional chefs and a whole lot of food involved, Monday nights have just become considerably more delicious.

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