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Lagos-born brand consultant Olaolu Olorunnimbe celebrates earning a white apron on MasterChef Australia Season 18. He is one of 24 home cooks competing for the title in 2026. Photo Credit: Olaolu’s Kitchen/Instagram
Nigerian cuisine has a new stage, and it is one of the most watched cooking shows in Australia.
Olaolu Olorunnimbe, a 34-year-old brand consultant born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, has secured a white apron on MasterChef Australia 2026 — earning his place in the Top 24 with a dish that stopped the judges in their tracks: a traditional Ofada stew served with rice, plantain, and a coconut and carrot sambal. The bold ingredients — tripe, offal, and fiery scotch bonnet chilli — were never going to play it safe in an Australian kitchen, and that was entirely the point.
Judge Jean-Christophe Novelli was so taken by the plantain that he told Olaolu it was “the best plantain that I have had so far in my life.”
The heritage-inspired audition dish prepared by Olaolu Olorunnimbe on MasterChef Australia 2026. The meal features bold Nigerian flavours, including tripe, offal, and fiery scotch bonnet chilli. Photo Credit: Olaolu’s Kitchen/Instagram
Olaolu’s journey to that kitchen is one worth knowing. He left Lagos at 12 to attend boarding school in England, where he spent five years eating mass-catered food and learning to adopt a different accent so he could fit in. It was not until university, when he finally had his own kitchen, that he began cooking the flavours of home again. When he later moved to Sydney in 2017, that connection deepened. During the Covid lockdowns, cut off from travel and craving Nigerian food, he rallied his mum, sisters, aunts, and friends over text for recipes and began cooking in earnest. It led to a home kitchen pop-up selling Jollof rice that became a labour of love — and the feedback, he said, blew him away.
MasterChef Australia, now in its 18th season, sees 40 home cooks audition live in front of judges Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, and Jean-Christophe Novelli, with only 24 earning white aprons and a place in the competition. The prize is $250,000 and the title of Australia’s next MasterChef.
Contestant Olaolu Olorunnimbe at work in the MasterChef Australia kitchen. After years of perfecting recipes from his family in Lagos, he presented an Ofada stew that earned high praise from judge Jean-Christophe Novelli. Photo Credit: Olaolu’s Kitchen/Instagram
Olaolu walked in with Ofada stew and walked out with an apron. He said of his experience: “Getting to the MasterChef Australia auditions felt like a long shot. Getting an apron feels like a miracle. Looking forward to putting this bad boy on every day and seeing how far I can go. It takes a village to raise a wannabe chef. I’m incredibly grateful for mine.”
Beyond the competition, he has bigger plans — a restaurant, food products, and a food truck that travels across Australia bringing Nigerian food to everyday kitchens.
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