The New Zealand version of show initially had teams of two contestants with pre-existing relationships —competing against each other to transform an ordinary home into an instant restaurant complete with theme and table decorations for one pressure-cooker night.
Judging panel
The current judging panel consists of celebrity chefs and hosts Pete Evans and Manu Feildel. Filling four spots at the Kitchen HQ judging table are local celebrity chef and former Masterchef NZ Winner, Nadia Lim; former Masterchef NZ judge, Ray McVinnie; 2016 Metropolitan Chef of the Year, Tom Hishon; and acclaimed restaurateur, Sean Connolly.
Previous format
Instant restaurant round
Grouped into two, the teams initially are to compete in an instant restaurant round. Each episode focuses on one team's day of cooking, setting up their instant restaurant and serving a three-course dinner—entrée, main, and dessert—for the judges and their opposing teams. Teams could only start cooking three hours before the other teams and judges arrive at their house. After the team served all three meals to the judges and their opposition, each opposing team must rate the total meal out of ten, then each main judge must rate each of the three courses separately out of ten. The lowest scoring team will be then at risk of elimination. Contestants do not necessarily cook in their own homes. In most cases when this happened it is the home of a family member or friend or a holiday home of one or both members of the team. ; Team progress and eliminations: There were variations on format in team progress and elimination process in this round.
During the first series of the show, the lowest scoring teams of each instant restaurant round were eliminated immediately from the competition. Meanwhile, top two scoring teams on both rounds advanced through to quarterfinals round. Teams placing third and fourth on both instant restaurant rounds have to compete in a Kitchen Cook-off, where two losing teams will be eliminated and the other two will proceed through to quarterfinals.
Pre-finals round
After the instant restaurant, the remaining teams compete in a four-round format and went from People's Choice directly to Sudden Death.
People's Choice Challenge – During this offsite challenge, teams would all have an hour and a half to prepare their dish relevant to a theme or event. The team with the most number of guest votes is declared as the People's Choice and will be safe for the rest of the round. A team with the worst dish will be chosen by the judges and will proceed straight through the Sudden Death round.
Rapid Cook-off – In Kitchen Headquarters, teams are challenged to create a dish using a key ingredient in 30 minutes. All teams will be reviewed by the judges with certain number of teams who will be safe from elimination, and who will be competing in a following showdown.
Showdown – Teams with the worst dishes during rapid cook-off compete in this round by cooking a meal using a core ingredient in 60 minutes. A team with the worst dish, again, will be chosen by the judges and will proceed straight through the Sudden Death round.
Sudden Death – Two losing teams from People's Choice Challenge and Showdown will battle it out producing a three-course meal for Pete and Manu, as well as for the four guest judges. Both teams must prepare their dishes for a total of three hours—90 minutes prior to serving entrée, 60 minutes for main course, and 30 minutes for the dessert. Each judge will score the total meal out of ten and the lowest scoring team will be eliminated from the competition. As of the fourth series, blind tastings were introduced and the guest judges will critique the dish without the knowledge who cooked it.
Finals round
Finals round consists of three rounds: two sets of semifinals, and a grand final. All follow a sudden death cook-off format where in teams will produce a three-course meal for the main judges and for the four guest judges. Teams will be scored their total meal out of ten by the judges and the lower scoring team will be eliminated.
Semifinals
Prior to grand final round, four remaining teams compete in a semifinal round. Teams going head-to-head in this round is determined variously in different series. The final four were divided into two semifinal match-ups based on their rankings in the Final 5 round. Like last time, #1 cooked against #4, and #2 cooked against #3.
Grand final
Winners of each semifinal will go straight through the grand final round, the last stage of the competition. Each team will be scored and the higher scoring team will be declared the My Kitchen Rules champions.
For Series 3, airing in 2017, a significant change was made to the format, in which the Kitchen HQ rounds were dropped. After the initial instant restaurant round, one team was eliminated. A series of sudden death rounds follow.
Series overview
To date, three series have been broadcast, as summarised below. ; Colour legend:
