This season marked Khanna's sixth consecutive season serving as a judge on the show and Brar's third season.[3]
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 (24 September), Delhi (1 October), Hyderabad (8 October) and Mumbai (15 October). 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.
(RUNNER-UPS) The cooks finished in the second and third place.
(WIN) The cook won the Mystery Box challenge, or any other individual / pair challenge.
(WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and directly advanced to the next round.
(TOP) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge.
(IMN) The cook won an Immunity Pin in a given challenge.
(IMM) The cook didn't participate in the challenge as he/she already advanced to the next week.
(IN) The cook wasn't selected as a top or bottom entry in an individual / pair challenge.
(PT) The cook competed in the Pressure Test in elimination round, and advanced.
(LOW) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge.
(LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual challenge.
(BTM) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual challenge and had to compete in the upcoming elimination challenge.
(NOT) This cook did not participate in the challenge(s) as he/she had won Ticket to Finale or was disqualified.
(WDR) The cook withdraw from the MasterChef Kitchen.
(ELIM) The cook was eliminated from the MasterChef Kitchen.
(VIS) The cook returned to MasterChef Kitchen as Visitor Appearance and participated in a challenge.
^Avinash and Suvarna were given the black aprons after the challenge due to being the weakest contestants.
^Even though she won the previous challenge, Suvarna had to compete in this challenge and did not advance for next week because of previously having the black apron.
^Aruna used her previously won Immunity Pin to spare herself from the elimination challenge in this episode.
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,[11] was allowed to cook paneer as a substitute for fish.[12] Audience termed this move as biasedness and favoritism towards Aruna.[13]
Homecook Aruna Vijay's dish was selected in Top 3, wherein she had made "Appam Stew".[14] 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.[15]
