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15 Most Famous Spanish Chefs

Originally published by Beatrice J on October 2022 and updated by Vanessa M on May 2024.

Behind all famous Hispanic chefs, there’s a fascinating origin story to share. These food innovators have a flavor of their own and people can’t get enough of their inventive cuisine.  Food unites people, and Latin American and Spanish food is super popular in the United States. It’s fun to learn about Hispanic cultures through food. Read on to sample a selection of the top Hispanic chefs in the industry. Learn how they’re creating waves well beyond their countries of origin.

1. José Ramón Andrés Puerta

Jose Andrés in 2012, photo by Bob Nichols.

José Ramón Andrés Puerta is a Spanish chef born on 13 July 1969 and, has received honorary doctorates from Georgetown University, George Washington University, Harvard University, and Tufts University

 He is also the founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals when natural disasters strike. At a 2016 White House ceremony, he was awarded a 2015 National Humanities medal for his work with World Central Kitchen.

The chef owns restaurants in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Las Vegas, South Beach, Florida, Orlando, Chicago, and New York City where he brings the Spanish cuisine to America.

2. Ferran Adrià

Ferran Adrià is one of the most influential 21st-century chefs in the world. His name is often associated with contemporary Spanish cuisine and as one of the forefathers of the trend known as molecular gastronomy.

His cuisine is unique and creative as expressed in his now-closed el Bulli restaurant. He reinvents classic dishes to give them new appearances, new textures and new personalities.

One of his famous dishes is the spherified olive: an olive which looks like an olive, tastes like an olive but appears as something different in the mouth.

3. Victor Arguinzoniz

Victor Arguinzoniz is a chef mostly known for cooking everything over a grill. All his dishes and courses, even dessert, have the taste of fire. He is Self-trained and has worked only in his own kitchen, at his Basque Country restaurant the Asador Etxebarri.

He was born in the same village, next to the restaurant, and worked in a flag factory for a couple of years. He uses ingredients that come from his own farm and garden to prepare all his dishes including  his famous dishes such as palamós prawns, homemade chorizo tartare, and tomahawk steak.

4. Ana Garcia

Ana Garcia is a chef whose dishes are mostly inspired by her upbringing in Mexico. Her great-grandmother was a well-known butcher at the local market, making meat her best dishes. Her special and signature meat dish is the albóndigas (meatballs).

Chef Ana creates recipes such as flan, ceviche, and baked spicy salmon. She also makes dishes like  longaniza and chorizo from scratch.  She founded La Villa Bonita Mexican Culinary Vacation, a high-end cooking school in 2001.

The chef has been on several television programs and has been part of the miniseries, Babble Eats. Ana also loves to teach people how to cook and she gives advice and trains chefs from all over the world.

Chef Ana also founded Café Cinco, an ecological café made from recycled products in support of her activism and support for the greater use and protection of the environment.

5. Gastón Acurio

Gastón Acurio, photo by Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.

Gastón is a highly recognized chef because of his involvement in the gastronomical revolution that happened in Peru. Gastón Acurio is known for creating food classics from street food like grilled cow heart skewers or Andean stable cuy (guinea pig).

 In majority of his restaurants, they focus on dishes from various regions in Peru. At La Mar, there’s a buffet with typical dishes from several parts of Peru. Specifically in his restaurant, Tanta, Peruvian-Asian fusion cuisine and amazing empanadas are offered.

6. Joan Roca i Fontané

The chef’s dishes make use of avant-garde techniques to offer guests a new experience of the familiar. The chef works at a family-owned restaurant located near Girona in Catalonia, El Celler de Can Roca. Grounded in traditional Spanish and Catalan cuisine.

The restaurant has since twice been voted the best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine. Joan and his brothers manage the restaurant namely Josep and Jordi Roca. Joan is the head chef, the second brother is the sommelier and the other is a pastry chef.

7. Martín Berasategui

Martín Berasategui, Spanish chef, photo by Irekia.

Martín Bersasategu is one of the founders of New Basque Cuisine. He started working at a time when there were no Michelin stars in the Basque Country and has gone on to hold the most stars of any Spanish chef ever.

At the age of 25, he received his first star in his parents’ restaurant. One of his greatest accomplishments involves running the first restaurant in Barcelona to receive three Michelin stars.

8. Andoni Luis Aduriz

 DINNER Mugaritz Errenteria, Spain, photo by Lou Stejskal.

Andoni Luis Aduriz was voted the number 3 chef in the world and gives lectures at both Harvard and MIT. He dropped out of school at the age of 14 and failed his first year of cookery school. The chef has won two Michelin stars for his restaurant Mugaritz and was voted fourth best restaurant in the world in 2006.

In the early nineties, he went to work under Ferran Adrià at elBulli and he saw the possibilities that innovation held for cooking. It motivated him and made him a champion for innovation, embracing new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches to the culinary experience.

9. Juan Mari Arzak

Juan Mari Arzak is considered a veteran of Spanish cuisine. He was born into a family of restaurant owners in the Basque Country. He took over from his parents in 1966 and brought a different and new perspective to the recipes that had been in his family for generations.

At his age of 75, the chef has achieved a lot during his lifetime such as the awards he received for his own restaurant. His restaurant, Arzak, was awarded 3 Michelin stars in 1989 and his daughter Elena has joined him in the kitchen and has been spotted as one of the world’s best female chefs.

10. Carme Ruscalleda

Carme Ruscalleda  in her restaurant in Spain, photo by Matti Hillig, work by Fotodimatti.

Carme Ruscalleda is considered as the best chef yet and has successfully become the world’s only female chef to be awarded five Michelin stars. The chef was born to a family of farmers from rural Catalonia.

Carme at the moment runs a two Michelin star in Tokyo alongside her main restaurant, Sant Pau, in the seaside town of Sant Pol de Mar and Moments in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona.

11. Daniela Soto-Innes

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Daniela Soto-Innes is not the type of chef who promotes the idea of working every waking minute. This is remarkable even by restaurant standards, especially given that she runs three kitchens (Atla and Cosme in New York City, as well as a new location in Los Angeles).

After studying at Le Cordon Bleu and working for a number of high-profile restaurateurs, the Mexico City-born swimmer-turned-chef became the unexpected star of Enrique Olvera’s Flatiron hotspot Cosme, which serves a modern take on Mexican cuisine.

She had won a slew of prestigious awards before the age of 30, including World’s Best Female Chef by World’s 50 Best Restaurants, but after co-founding Olvera’s NoHo spinoff Atla, she decided to return to her roots.

12. Gabriela Cámara

Cámara is a reputable cook and author who carries Mexico’s vibrancy with her. Aside from that, she has handled the culinary world and social justice with flawless grace. Her powerful influence even led to her recent appointment as Mexico’s president’s food advisor.

Mexican cuisine is widely available throughout the United States, but at chef Gabriela Cámara’s restaurants on both sides of the border, dishes are made with fresh, local ingredients that add a unique twist to traditional favorites. 

13. Paola Velez

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Paola Velez is an award-winning pastry chef based in Washington, D.C., who has appeared on shows such as “Selena + Chef” and “What Am I Eating” with Zooey Deschanel.

Paola was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Award in 2020, and she received “Pastry Chef of the Year” awards from Esquire Magazine and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW).

She was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs, The Art of Plating’s Rising Talent, Time Out Magazine’s “People of the Year”, Cherry Bombe Magazine’s “Person of the Year”, and Instyle Magazine’s “Women Making the World a Better Place” in 2021. She also received Emmy and Webby nominations for her work with AJ+.

Her recipes have been featured in People Magazine, Food & Wine, the Washington Post, Eater, the National Post (Canada), Robb Report, and Dwell, among other publications. She has also spoken at several events, including the James Beard Awards, the Star Chefs Congress, and Yale’s Sustainable Food Program

14. Enrique Olvera

Enrique Olvera, born in Mexico City in 1976, is Mexico’s most prestigious chef. His Pujol restaurant is ranked 25th on the “The World’s Top 50 Restaurants” list.

Olvera’s cuisine is based on Mexico’s culinary universe, combining traditional and contemporary techniques with a focus on local ingredients. His dishes incorporate culture and ecology into their narratives, resulting in committed and sustainable cuisine.

The Mexican chef attended the Culinary Institute of America and is currently a member of the International Council at the Basque Culinary Center (which brings together the most influential chefs from countries with the greatest gastronomic significance in the world to advise the teaching center on strategic techniques). He has received the Diners Club Award and two Chefs’ Choice awards at the Gourmets Awards.

15. José Mendín

Photo by ELEVATE from

José Mendín is a top chef in the southern United States. His work at Pubbelly, a popular Asian restaurant in Miami Beach, helped him gain recognition.

The 39-year-old chef has made quite the impression in Miami with his collection of restaurants that serve innovative takes on Asian, Latin, and Spanish cuisine.

The chef/restauranteur is also a founding member of the Pubbelly Group and, more recently, the Food Comma Hospitality Group, which manages some of their comfort food staples, including Pubbelly Noodle Bar, the Baja Bao food truck concept, and Pubbelly Sushi, to name a few.

Indeed Hispanic chefs inspire people with their food. Their cooking is an art and a wonderful way to learn. Using Latin American and Spanish ingredients is a wonderful way to further your Spanish knowledge. From their restaurants or street food, there’s nothing better than trying food such as delicacies.