Our monthly cooking challenge is your excuse to roll up your sleeves, cook something delicious, and connect with an amazing community of home cooks. Simply make this month’s challenge recipe, share your thoughts, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a little something as our way of saying thanks for joining in.
Ready to get started?
October Recipe
15 Bean Soup
I could happily eat soup all through October, so choosing this month’s challenge was really just a matter of deciding which favorite to share next! I landed on 15 Bean Soup because I love how a simple bag of beans turns into such a rich, hearty dinner. The beans get wonderfully tender, and the broth has so much flavor that I always want to scrape every last bit from the bowl. I’m excited for you to try it!
How It Works
Sign Up
Subscribe to my emails to get notified about each challenge!
Cook
Make and try the challenge recipe for the month, specified on this page.
Comment
Leave a comment on the challenge recipe’s post on the Chelsea’s Messy Apron website.
Last Step: Verify Entry
Click the link below and enter the name you used to leave your comment. Then you’re officially in!
October 2026 Chelsea's Cooking Challenge
*No purchase is required to enter or win. Positive feedback, ratings, or sentiment do not affect eligibility or chances of winning. Feedback is voluntary and may be positive or critical. Entries are not reviewed, judged, or weighted based on feedback content. Participants may choose to disclose that feedback was shared as part of Chelsea’s Cooking Challenge.
What’s the Prize?
Snack Stack Bowls
This month, the winner of our cooking challenge will get one of our snack stack bowls sold here on the site!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can enter by trying the challenge recipe specified on this page and leaving a comment on that recipe’s site post. Make sure to verify your entry here. Read all the rules here.
No, only one recipe (the one specified on this page) will count towards an entry. Additionally, only one comment per person will be counted.
If you have won, you will be notified by the email you used to leave a comment.
For each month’s challenge, comments made between the first day of the month and the last day of the month will be counted. This month (October), entries submitted starting on October 1st at 10:00 a.m. (MT) and ending on October 31st at 11:00 p.m. (MT) will be accepted.
You can leave your comment in the comment section at the bottom of the post where you found the recipe.
Anyone 18 years or older residing in the 50 U.S. states.
Go here for the full list of rules.
Past Winner Highlights
September Winner
“My husband & I enjoyed this soup last weekend while watching college football – it was sooooo good- we loved it!! We were so glad we had enough leftover to enjoy a few days later – best pot of comforting soup we’ve had in awhile- thank you for the recipe!!” – Tammie
August Winner
“I’ve made this at least a dozen times. At some point I forgot to add the butter and it was still perfect, so now I only use 1-2 T or leave it out. I also usually add a couple T nutritional yeast.” – Aimee
July Winner
“My husband says it’s the best banana bread I’ve ever made! We live in Mexico and are limited in choices of yoghurt etc but I followed the recipe as closely as I could, substituting avocado oil for the vegetable oil and high protein vanilla Oikos yoghurt for the Greek yoghurt. It was a fun and different recipe and will become a regular in our household from now on. Thanks. 🍌🍌” – Maggie
June Winner
“This salad reminds me of my childhood, the only change I’ve made to the recipe is using chicken breast instead of ham. It’s phenomenal!” – Marlee
May Winner
“This fruit salad was so delicious – one of the best I have ever had! The dressing made it perfect. It didn’t overtake the fruit but gave a wonderful accent to it, which brought out the fruit flavors more than ever!” – P. Thompson
April Winner
“We loved the Cilantro Lime Sauce on it’s own and mixed with the cabbage to make the slaw topping! Also, I found an unopened box of hard taco shells in the pantry and we decided to heat and use those instead which added an interesting and good crunch to the tacos, even though they aren’t traditional.” – Becky
Ready to join this month’s challenge? Try the recipe, leave a comment, and you’re in! I can’t wait to see what you cook up!
I made your life changing dinner rolls yesterday. Not gonna lie, they looked too easy. But I committed and within 3 1/2 hr I had a pan of large, fluffy, tasty rolls! Confirmed by daughter, my husband and myself. Thank you! These move to the holiday must have section of my recipe file.
I’m so thrilled to hear this! Thanks Teri!
Recipes look delicious.
Thanks Jan!