30 cooking challenge ideas to do with friends

Updated 15 November 2026.

Ingredient challenges

Everyone cooks one dish with the same ingredient. These are from the ingredient calendar Plateoff's cooks are playing this season, with a tip from the house chef, a rat who cooks at a Michelin level in his own home.

1. Mushroom. "Give them a hot, dry pan and room to breathe. Salt only once they're golden."
2. Sweetcorn. "Char it in a dry pan until it pops and blisters. Then butter, lime and chilli. You're welcome."
3. Lentils. "Finish them with hot spiced oil poured over at the table. The sizzle is half the seasoning."
4. Pumpkin. "Roast it before it goes into soup. The oven makes caramel the pot never will."
5. Egg. "Pull scrambled eggs off the heat while they still look a little wet. They finish on the plate."
6. Garlic. "Slice it for sweetness, crush it for punch, roast it whole for butter. Same clove, three moods."
7. Cauliflower. "Roast it whole, brushed with spiced butter, and carve it at the table. Your guests will stand up."
8. Chickpeas. "For silky hummus, simmer tinned chickpeas ten more minutes with a pinch of bicarbonate. The skins slip away."
9. Butter. "Brown butter is ordinary butter with a better education."
10. Lemon. "Zest before you juice. The zest holds the perfume, the juice brings the brightness."
11. Tomato. "Never keep a ripe tomato in the fridge. The cold steals its perfume."
12. Chocolate. "Melt it gently over barely simmering water, and keep every drop of water out."

Format challenges

13. One pot. The whole meal comes out of a single pan or pot.
14. Thirty minutes. From the first chop to the plate in half an hour.
15. Five ingredients. Salt, pepper and oil are free; everything else counts.
16. Pantry night. Cook only from what is already in the cupboard and freezer.
17. Cuisine passport. Each week, draw a country and cook one of its home dishes.
18. Same dish, your way. Everyone makes the same classic, like fried rice or shakshuka, and makes it their own.
19. Family recipe. Cook something a parent or grandparent made, and share the story with it.
20. Restaurant at home. Recreate a dish you loved eating out.
21. Breakfast for dinner. The most ambitious breakfast you can make, served at night.
22. One colour. A plate that is all green, all red or all gold.
23. No recipe. Cook a full meal without looking anything up.
24. Remix night. Turn yesterday's dinner into something new.
25. Bake something. Bread, a cake or a tart, for people who usually only cook.

Group games

26. Mystery basket. One person picks three ingredients for everyone, announced the morning of.
27. Blind vote. Everyone posts a photo; someone who did not cook numbers them and the group votes without names.
28. Streak week. Everyone cooks at least once a week, every week, and the longest streak wins the month.
29. Potluck relay. Each person brings one course, built on what the person before them made.
30. Swap a dish. Each person cooks a dish from someone else's home country or region.
31. The league. Run it every week, with points and a table. That is what Plateoff does.

How to run it every week

• Announce the challenge on Sunday, so people can shop.
• Close it on Saturday night, so there is a deadline.
• Let people skip a week without losing their place.
• Vote blind, so nobody votes for their best friend.

Plateoff does this for you: one ingredient of the day for everyone, a week that closes at Saturday midnight, and blind judging by other cooks.