Northern High Wins 2025 State Jr. Chef Cook-Off

The Northern High School “Knights of Culinary” team from Durham Public Schools took top honors in the North Carolina Junior Chef Competition with their chipotle beef and sweet potato skillet dish.

The team includes students Daniel Gomez, brothers Evan and Wesley Shaddox, and Samiaya Wilson.

For their recipe, the Knights of Culinary sauteed ground beef, onions, and peppers with spices and added roasted corn, collard greens, and sweet potatoes. Then they added cheese and a homemade avocado jalapeno crema.

“Congratulations to each of the N.C. Jr. Chef teams,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green. “The NC Jr. Chef Competition is a wonderful collaboration among school and community partners to offer students an opportunity to explore future career options and apply lessons learned in the classroom to a real-world application in creating recipes for appealing, nutritious school meals.”

Students worked with teachers and school nutrition administrators to develop creative recipes meeting a list of requirements including nutrition compliance, using at least two North Carolina-grown products and one USDA Foods item. Finalist teams turned in a recipe, photo, nutrient and cost analysis, a work plan for preparing the entree within 90-minutes, and a video of their team preparing and plating the entree.

Rachel Findley, NCDPI’s senior director for school nutrition, said that “students learn about and appreciate all that goes on behind the scenes to create recipes for school meals that not only meet required nutrition guidelines, but also appeal to students.”

The Northern team now advances to the regional competition at Kentucky’s Sullivan University in May.

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