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Think your kitchen gets hot? Try cooking alongside these guys.
The newest star chefs are doing far more than oiling a pan — they’re stripping off to sell their wares, leaving sautés and sauces as a side dish for their main course of pecs, come-hither glances and a dollop of cheeky humor.
Take Sultry Samoan chef Daniel Rankin, who serves up dishes alongside his constant sidekick, a yawning, 6-year-old pug named Fraser — though it’s debatable whether the food is anyone’s focus.
“We had no plan to be very sensual or thirst-trappy,” the 31-year-old New Zealander told The Post, sweetly using “we” to include the most scene-stealing dog ever. “We just baked and had a good time, and I think as our content evolved, I saw what people were enjoying, and I kind of came out of my shell a bit more.”
Rankin is among five popular chefs The Post found who are leading the growing trend to sizzle across television appearances, social media and publishing. Here’s what they’ve cooked up.
Daniel Rankin | ‘Man Can Cook NZ‘
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Daniel Rankin’s attention-getting videos can make eyes widen and jaws drop in the wake of his over-the-top antics.
The former gym owner serves up recipes alongside his constant sidekick, a yawning, 6-year-old pug named Fraser — though it’s debatable whether the food is anyone’s focus.
Whether he’s lip-syncing Kelis’ “Milkshake” as he pours creamy coconut milk over his (shirtless) chest, or prepping lasagna in sensual slow-motion, backed by Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” Rankin fixes a self-aware gaze that teases, “I know the pasta isn’t the star attraction — my biceps are.” (And don’t even get us started on his favorite hot-pink thong.)
All of it brings scandalous interactions from his more than 1.5 million digital followers.
“Oh, I get a lot of naked pics, a lot of OnlyFans requests. I don’t have OnlyFans, by the way,” the single Rankin quickly added with a smile. “But I’d say the most outrageous would be, you know, a d–k pic. I just laugh at it and move on.”
A majority of his rabid following is from NYC, and he gets “recognized more in New York than I do in New Zealand,” he said.
Whatever he’s cooking up, it’s a tasty draw.
“I always try and be vulnerable and comedic, rather than, you know, serious,” said Rankin. “When you’re sexy and funny, it’s just a different vibe.”
Gianluca Conte | The ‘Pasta King’
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
As a former model, baby-faced Los Angeles content creator Gianluca Conte’s first campaign was for Alexander Wang underwear. He’s wearing only marginally more clothing these days.
The 6-foot-1 “Pasta King,” who turned 26 on Jan. 11, is red-hot since starting cooking videos just six years ago as the pandemic kicked in. In a sense, he’s following in the footsteps of his father, Augusto Conte, who owns four restaurants in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, and is showcased in some of Conte’s boisterous clips.
Conte’s frantic, provocative antics include punctuating his videos with a pointed “betch,” a phrase that is emblazoned across a blue apron covering his shirtless torso and also made it into the title of his 2024 tome, “Italian/American: It’s a QCP Cookbook, Betch!”
“People thought that was hilarious, and I kept bringing that back,” he told The Post. “That’s been pretty much the classic seal the deal, end of the video, ‘Bon appetito, betch!’ ”
To bolster views for his more than 16 million social followers, the globe-trotting chef can spend weeks away from home, traveling to the top of the Empire State Building, the Indianapolis 500, the Colosseum in Rome and more.
When Conte’s not filming in-your-face, diet-busting dishes like a giant meatball sub, or guzzling olive oil straight from the bottle (“It doesn’t phase me at all”), he is racking up collabs, including cooking mouthwatering lobster grilled cheese with actor Will Smith, creating a massive chimichurri steak sandwich alongside MMA fighter Alexander Volkanovski, and concocting the “Craziest Sandwich Ever Made” with viral Brooklyn bodega bigwig Rahim “General Ock” Mohamed.
Chef Ronnie Woo | ‘The Delicious Cook’
Instagram | TikTok | Facebook
In Ronnie Woo’s cookbook, “Did You Eat Yet? Craveable Recipes from an All-American Asian Chef,” he is described as a “model turned thirst trap turned therapist turned chef and beloved food personality.”
It’s no joke: He’s modeled for Ray-Ban, Nordstrom and more, and even has two master’s degrees — in marriage and family therapy, plus business administration.
“I originally wanted to be a relationship therapist, but I think my personality is a little bit too in-your-face, probably too blunt,” he told The Post. “I think I’m a good enough therapist to know that I’m not gonna be a good therapist.”
Los Angeles-based Woo, the 40-year-old owner of the private-chef company The Delicious Cook, instead built his business, infusing cheeky charm into his oft-shirtless social media presence and saucy television appearances.
Those include laughing alongside “Today” show host Jenna Bush Hager and guest Tiffany Haddish as he whips up “scrumpdiddlyumptious” tacos, and shocking comedian Kevin Hart during an innuendo-laced cooking demonstration at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. (“Growing up in a Chinese household, you know, I always had something in my mouth,” Woo told the flabbergasted comic. “That did not sound right, but you know what I mean, right?”)
His background in modeling bolstered his nonchalant attitude about the sexy side of his social media presence.
“When you’re a model, people don’t see this, but in the back of runway shows, everyone’s naked. There’s just boobs and d–ks and butts flying everywhere. That’s just the way it is, and no one bats an eye,” he said.
Not that he’d show off everything online, of course.
“I try to keep certain parts of my body private, and only designated for my husband’s consumption,” referencing his longtime spouse, Doug, with whom he shares a house and four dogs — but not the kitchen.
“I do most of the cooking. He’s really bad at cooking,” Woo joked.
Anthony Randello Jahn | ‘Donut Daddy’
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
There’s nothing subtle about the videos by baker Anthony Randello Jahn, aka the “Donut Daddy,” who has logged millions of views and admirers and was named “High Quality Content Creator of the Year” at the 2025 Australian TikTok Awards.
His viral clips are highly suggestive: dough that gets slapped and pounded into submission, a stand mixer caressed by a strong hand, a mouth plunged into a juicy, sliced mango. An entertaining promo video for his upcoming “The Donut Daddy Cookbook” — available Feb. 3 and subtitled “Sugar & seduction in 69 recipes” — even asks the question, “Is your donut hole ready to get glazed?”
“The whole time that I’ve been making my content, I’ve thought to myself, ‘You know, it feels a bit bland, like, this video’s missing something, how can I spice it up a bit?’” he recently told The Post from his home in Melbourne. “I guess it’s just playful, suggestive.”
That’s an understatement.
Sure, the 33-year-old Australian baker’s gorgeously crafted treats are a sight to behold, and he’s happily continuing to perfect his craft. “I still like making donuts, because I can do it basically blindfolded,” said the entrepreneur, who launched donut shops and dessert bars in his hometown. “But I like making really complicated stuff now — it challenges me.”
However, fans are really tuning in to watch Jahn — who is mum about his relationship status — when he takes a morning swim, showers, plays the piano (shirtless, naturally), and gets dressed before he prepares poached eggs in a clip that gratuitously zooms in on dripping batter and the ripped chef’s muscled forearms.
“I know that I do some crazy stuff — you know, slap-slap the dough — and people love to watch it,” he told The Post.
He does, however, try to keep things “tasteful,” he said.
“I don’t want to go too tacky. I want to try and keep it sexy and sophisticated, you know?”
Zachary Rodriguez
Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | YouTube
Zachary Rodriguez is one of the hot chefs who doesn’t strip off — focusing his camera squarely on his delectable dishes instead of training it on his pecs — but doesn’t matter to his more than 1.8 million fans who seek his heat.
“I’m not shy — it’s just something that I never thought about doing, you know?” the ginger-bearded creator told The Post.
But he was happy to show off his studly side in a recent photo shoot for The Post that found the shirtless Austin, Texas, resident grilling up a steak in a cowboy hat and apron that highlighted his physique.
“It’s not something that I would be opposed to,” he said of potentially mixing things up on social media. “It’s just what I found, how I do things now; it kind of works, so I just stuck with it.”
He still has thirsty women interested in turning up the temp with him — but, sorry ladies, he’s been dating a 31-year-old dental assistant named Selena for about two years.
“I met her on Hinge, and my opening statement was, ‘I’d cook for you every day.’ I think that’s kinda what set the path there,” he said with a chuckle, noting that he’s still amused by the efforts of admiring females.
“It’s crazy, you know? I would have never thought I was somebody all these girls loved in the comments,” said the creative services manager by day who last summer published a cookbook, “My Mexican Favorites,” with 60 recipes that pay homage to his paternal heritage, from tacos and quesadillas to pico de gallo and chilaquiles verdes. (He’s working on a second.)
He’s still faced with randy commenters. “They’re all, like, ‘Oh, yeah, I don’t see a ring — we still got a chance,’ ” chuckled Rodriguez. “I get a lot of, ‘Marry me.’ “
Be warned: Selena does take notice.
“She probably gets a little jealous sometimes. She’ll throw some comments in there and respond to some of them, and it’s pretty funny,” he said with a big smile. “But for the most part, it’s just good fun.”
