Masterchef 2021 start date: New series is back for Series 17

Masterchef 2021 starts with series 17 this month – here’s all you need to know.

Back with a bang for the new year, MasterChef, TV’s biggest cooking competition will see 40 contestants fight to be crowned the UK’s best amateur cook.

MasterChef will return with three episodes in its launch week on Monday, 1 March; Wednesday, 3 March and Friday, 5 March on BBC One.

The new series will once again be led by judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.

The competition begins with four weeks of heats which will see 10 cooks compete each week.

In two separate episodes, they’ll begin split into groups of five facing their first test in the Signature Dish round. They bring from home the ingredients they need to put their best culinary foot forward.

The best two cooks go straight through to the next stage while the remaining three get a second chance to prove themselves in another new test – the Favourite Ingredients Challenge.

Handed with their chosen favourite ingredient, the chefs are told to create one exceptional dish that showcases it. The two best will go through while one will be eliminated.

The top four contestants in the group must then produce their own two-course menu to impress not only John and Gregg, but past MasterChef finalists and winners. Two more cooks will be eliminated leaving two to take their places in the Quarter-Final at the end of the week.

The third episode of the week’s heat will see the quarter-final. The top four cooks from the original two groups of five will come together to face a brand new challenge in order to make it through to knockouts week.

Setting the first is one of the country’s toughest food critics, Grace Dent, who challenges the contestants to make their take on a great British pudding – a brief set by

Those that make it through to the knockout week will be one step closer to being crowned MasterChef 2021 champion.

MasterChef begins Monday, 1 March and continues Wednesday, 3 March and Friday, 5 March on BBC One.

You’ll be able to watch and catch up on episodes via the BBC iPlayer.

Picture: John Torode, Gregg Wallace – (C) Shine TV – Photographer: Production