January 28, 2026. Louisville, KY. – With the winter storm keeping grills covered, the Kentucky Derby Festival is giving foodies, grill masters and burger enthusiasts more time to submit their best and beefiest recipes for the 2026 ‘Derby Burger’ Challenge. Entries will now be accepted through Saturday, Feb. 7, online at KDF.org/Beef. The annual competition is in its 14th year, and is sponsored by Dan-O’s Seasoning, Kentucky Beef Council and Kroger.
“The Derby Burger Challenge has always been about creativity and bringing people together around great food,” said Matt Gibson, Kentucky Derby Festival President and CEO. “With the winter weather impacting so many across the region, we wanted to give burger fans a little extra time to craft their best burger recipes. We can’t wait to see what everyone cooks up!”
Participation is open to all chefs – from the home kitchen to restaurants. Entrants are encouraged to use a creative burger name, description, and photo as part of their submission. All burgers must be 100 percent Kentucky Cattlemen’s Ground Beef and include Dan-O’s seasoning (Official Seasoning of the Kentucky Derby Festival) in the recipe. The burger recipes are judged based on Taste, Appearance, Creativity and Ease of Preparation.
“The Derby Burger Challenge is a fun and flavorful way to celebrate Kentucky agriculture, the Kentucky Derby season, and show how creative a burger can truly be,” said Kelly Baird, Director of Communications and Events of the Kentucky Beef Council. “For anyone considering entering this year’s Derby Burger competition, my advice is to keep it simple, creative and tasty. Let the beef shine and your burger will do the talking!”
Derby Festival and burger fans will help choose the finalists in the competition. In February, eight preliminary finalists will be announced from all submissions and then voting will open online. Those votes will help narrow it down to the final four ‘Derby Burger’ contestants who will then move on to a cook-off in March.
The winning burger will be featured at Kroger’s Fest-a-Ville during Derby Festival, as well as inside Kroger stores. Official rules of the competition can be found online at KDF.org/Beef.
The winning chef receives a 2026 Official Derby Festival Poster, two tickets to the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport Thunder Over Louisville VIP Rooftop Party, two VIP tickets to Republic Bank BourbonVille, a $100 gift certificate to Kroger, a grilling prize package courtesy of the Kentucky Beef Council, which includes a grill, and a prize package from Dan-O’s Seasoning.
