Rick Bayless (born November 23, 1953) is an American (United States) chef who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is, perhaps, best known for his PBS series Mexico: One Plate at a Time.

Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, into a family of restaurateurs and grocers specializing in the local barbecue. Having begun his culinary training as a youth, he broadened his interests to include regional Mexican (Mexico) cooking as an undergraduate student of Spanish (Culture of Spain) and Latin American culture. After finishing his undergraduate education, he did doctoral work in Anthropological Linguistics at the University of Michigan and, from 1980 to 1986, lived in Mexico with his wife, Deann, writing his first book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking From The Heart of Mexico.