MasterChef India – Hindi season 7
Season 7 of the Indian Hindi-language competitive reality TV series MasterChef India – Hindi premiered on Sony Entertainment Television on 2 January 2023. The winner of this season was Nayanjyoti Saikia. The first runner-up was Santa Sarmah.The second runner-up was Suvarna Bagul.
Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar returned as one of the judges for the show while Vineet Bhatia was replaced by Garima Arora.
This season marked Khanna's sixth consecutive season serving as a judge on the show and Brar's third season.
Similar to the past seasons, Amul remained the title sponsor of the show. The Masterchef India season 7 was announced on 14 August 2022 on Sony Entertainment Television channel and audition rounds were conducted in 4 cities across the country- Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The shown ended with grand finale on 31 March 2023. The winner was Nayanjyoti Saikia, a student from Tinsukia, Assam and got the prize money of ₹25,00,000 while the first runner-up was Santa Sarmah, a homemaker from Guwahati and second runner-up was Suvarna Bagul, a homemaker from Mumbai, both got the prize money of ₹5,00,000.
Masterchef India-Masterclass- an extension of the show, featuring the same contestants and judges as 7th season but instead the judges will cook for the contestants, teaching them skills and recipes started on 2 April 2023 and ended on 8 April 2023.
Top 16
A large number of home cooks appeared at the nationwide auditions, of which 36 cooks were selected by MasterChef India judges and welcomed at the MasterChef Kitchen. They competed in a cook-off to win the final 16 spots. The top 16 contestants were revealed on 6 January 2023.| Contestant | Age | Hometown | Occupation | Status |
| Nayanjyoti Saikia | 26 | Tinsukia, Assam | Student | Winner; 31 March |
| Santa Sarmah | 34 | Nagaon, Assam | Homemaker | Runner-Up; 31 March |
| Suvarna Bagul | 41 | Mumbai, Maharashtra | Homemaker | Third; 31 March |
| Aruna Vijay | 36 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Digital Creator | Eliminated; 29 March |
| Kamaldeep Kaur | 40 | Ludhiana, Punjab | Homemaker | Eliminated; 28 March |
| 24 | Haryana | Lawyer | Eliminated; 28 March | |
| Sachin Khatwani | 22 | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh | Cloud Kitchen Owner | Eliminated; 17 March |
| Priyanka Biswas | 32 | Kolkata, West Bengal | Cake Artist | Eliminated; 10 March |
| Deepa Chauhan | 52 | Bangalore, Karnataka | Entrepreneur | Eliminated; 24 February |
| Nazia Sultana | 33 | Guwahati, Assam | Homemaker | |
| Priya Vijan | 34 | Bangalore, Karnataka | Nutritionist | Eliminated; 10 February |
| Avinash Patnaik | 32 | Bhubaneswar, Odisha | PhD Student-Horticulture, Food Consultant | Eliminated; 3 February |
| Vineet Yadav | 23 | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh | Mehndi Artist | Eliminated; 27 January |
| Yashu Verma | 19 | Kolkata, West Bengal | Student | Eliminated; 20 January |
| Dyuti Banerjee | 32 | Kolkata, West Bengal | Professor, Lawyer | Eliminated; 20 January |
| Urmila Jamnadas Asher "Baa" | 78 | Mumbai, Maharashtra | YouTuber | Eliminated; 13 January |
Controversies
The season was marked by a series of controversies, including:- The season first landed in controversy when home cook Aruna Vijay, who is a vegetarian, was allowed to cook paneer as a substitute for fish. Audience termed this move as biasedness and favoritism towards Aruna.
- Homecook Aruna Vijay's dish was selected in Top 3, wherein she had made "Appam Stew". Netizens alleged that it was a 'plain looking' dish and saw this as an act of biasedness and how it appeared as though the show was fixed.