In the first round, the mentors must make an updated version of meatloaf; the home cooks revisit their first challenge cooking with lunch box ingredients.

Professor Richard Blais and Professor Haylie Duff test the cooks in the subject of literature; dishes inspired by a genre of literature; dishes with assigned nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Guest professor Adam Richman tests the cooks on science; the chefs must dissect iconic dishes and use those ingredients in a new way; the mentors switch teams to test how well they can train students; dishes featuring the four elements.

Scott Conant and Geoffrey Zakarian serve as guest professors; the mentors cook a gourmet dish featuring a popular snack food; the cooks try to avoid elimination as they create a gourmet dish using pretzels.

The Kitchen's Katie Lee and Jeff Mauro join the Academy as guest professors, where the subject is math and the group test is a numbers game: they'll be split in two groups of three to create an appetizer trio featuring one main ingredient! The trio sent to the elimination test must create a dish using only seven ingredients from the pantry, plus a surprise ingredient from the opposing team's mentor.

Duff Goldman serves as guest professor for a set of art-inspired challenges; the mentors face off in two battles featuring desserts in different colors.

The home cooks compete in a tag-team challenge, making dishes that combine the styles of their geographical backgrounds. Later, the elimination test features ingredients from the popular cuisines of Thailand, Italy and Mexico.

The first day at All-Star Academy begins as nine home cooks enter the kitchen and meet their mentors: Alex Guarnaschelli, Robert Irvine, Curtis Stone and Andrew Zimmern. The cooks are put to the test preparing a dish using the contents of a lunch box, which the mentors taste and rank in order. While the lowest-ranked cook is eliminated, the remaining eight choose their mentors. Then, the mentors must cook to impress guest judge Carla Hall and win a Save Card, which they can use later to keep one of their cooks from elimination.