United States
Derek Wolf built the Over the Fire Cooking brand from a single formative moment: a Netflix documentary featuring a South American chef's open-fire cooking…
Total Followers +0.0%
6.6M
Across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok
Primary Platform
3.7M followers · 57% of audience
Engagement
2.3%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Mega
Est. $45K–$105K / IG post
| Window | YouTube | TikTok | Combined | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | -1123 -0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | -1123 |
| Last 30 days | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 |
| Last 90 days | +13K +0.4% | +20K +1.2% | +0 +0.0% | +34K |
| Last 365 days | +13K +0.4% | +20K +1.2% | +0 +0.0% | +34K |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ninja Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Mar 2025 | — |
| Over The Fire Cooking (OTFC) Food / Seasonings | Founder / owned brand | Long-term | — | |
| Montana Knife Company Outdoor / Cutlery | Brand ambassador | 2024–present | — |
Derek Wolf built the Over the Fire Cooking brand from a single formative moment: a Netflix documentary featuring a South American chef's open-fire cooking methods, watched while procrastinating college coursework. That spark led him to experiment with live-fire techniques himself, and what began as a personal obsession became a full media operation spanning Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Wolf's content centers on wood-fired and ember-based cooking — steaks, picanha, smoked meats, and inventive fusion recipes like peanut butter chili oil steak ramen — delivered in a high-production, fire-forward visual style that prioritizes drama and accessibility in equal measure. Beyond content, he has extended the brand into physical products, including proprietary rubs and sauces, and authored a bestselling cookbook, giving Over the Fire Cooking real commercial infrastructure beyond sponsorship revenue.
Wolf's audience skews heavily female and concentrates in the millennial and younger Gen X age bands — a demographic profile that distinguishes him from traditional grilling and BBQ personalities and signals strong crossover appeal into mainstream home-cooking culture rather than a narrower pit-master enthusiast base. His engagement rates across platforms outperform category medians, indicating an audience that actively interacts with recipes and techniques rather than passively scrolling. Brand alignment with companies like Ninja and Montana Knife Company reflects a sponsor mix that straddles kitchen appliances and premium outdoor gear — a sensible position for a creator whose content bridges indoor and open-fire cooking. As fire cooking continues to grow as a lifestyle category, Wolf's combination of cookbook credibility, a proprietary product line, and a multi-million cross-platform following places him well to expand brand licensing and retail partnerships beyond digital sponsorships.
Derek Wolf reaches an audience concentrated in United States primarily through Instagram, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories, TikTok branded content. Their sponsorship history skews toward Food / Seasonings, Outdoor / Cutlery, a clear signal of fit for brands in those categories. Demonstrated partners include Ninja and Over The Fire Cooking (OTFC). Engagement on Instagram runs around 2.3%, pointing to an audience suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel brand campaigns rather than pure-reach buys.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Derek Wolf's tier (Mega, 6.6M combined followers, United States). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
The CreatorDB Agency runs end-to-end influencer campaigns globally — shortlisting, outreach, contracting, and performance reporting. Talk to our team about building a campaign around creators in this niche.
According to his own YouTube bio, Derek Wolf discovered live-fire cooking in college while watching a Netflix documentary that followed a South American chef cooking over open flames. He describes it as love at first sight, and that single episode became the founding story behind the entire Over The Fire Cooking brand.
Yes — Derek Wolf identifies himself as a best-selling cookbook author directly in his Instagram bio. His books center on the live-fire and open-flame cooking techniques he has built his brand around, covering everything from steaks to smoked cuts.
Yes, the Over The Fire Cooking brand includes a line of dry rubs, sauces, and seasonings made for open-fire grilling. His Instagram bio explicitly promotes "Recipes, Rubs, Sauces & more" and points followers to his website for the full product range.
Montana Knife Company is a brand Derek Wolf has tagged and featured in recent posts when breaking down and prepping cuts of meat. It's one of the gear brands he incorporates naturally alongside his fire-cooking content rather than as a standalone ad.
Picanha is a Brazilian rump-cap beef cut prized for its thick fat cap and bold flavor, making it a natural fit with the South American fire-cooking tradition that originally sparked Derek Wolf's entire brand. He regularly features it both as a straight grill and as a smoked preparation, and it has become one of his most recognizable signature cuts.
Ninja partnered with Derek Wolf for sponsored content on YouTube in early 2025. Given that Ninja produces grills, outdoor cookers, and kitchen appliances, the collaboration is a logical fit for a creator whose entire identity is built around live fire and heat.
When Derek shares a new dish, he regularly prompts viewers to comment the word "recipe" to have the full recipe sent to them automatically via DM or a direct link. It's a widely used Instagram engagement tactic that drives comment activity while routing his audience to his recipe content and website.
A bacon weave is a technique where strips of bacon are interlaced into a flat woven sheet, which can then be used to wrap other ingredients or act as a grillable base layer on its own. It's a recurring format in Derek Wolf's content that fits his Over The Fire Cooking approach of bold, meat-forward recipes cooked over open flame.
Derek Wolf is based in the United States and is widely reported to be from Colorado. His audience reflects that heavily, with the U.S. accounting for the large majority of his followers across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Derek Wolf has built a combined following of well over 6 million people across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, placing him firmly in the Mega-creator tier. Instagram is his largest platform by audience size, though his YouTube and TikTok channels each carry substantial communities of their own.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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