Top Chef is an American reality (reality television) competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo (Bravo (US TV channel)), in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants eliminated in each episode. The show is produced by Magical Elves Productions, the same company that created Project Runway.

Three spinoffs extending the Top Chef brand are planned: Bravo has ordered Top Chef Junior, featuring contestants in their early teens; a second spinoff began airing in June 2009 and is called Top Chef: Masters (Top Chef Masters), featuring "some of the brightest stars in the world of food, award-winning, widely-renowned chefs," according to Bravos press release. A third spinoff, Top Chef: Just Desserts has been ordered.