[8][9] Her interest in pursuing a career as a chef was sparked when she began working at her Aunt Marcela's cooking school in Tijuana, Mexico.

[13] Valladolid's first cooking show was Relatos con Sabor on Discovery en Español which aired in the United States and Latin America.

[14] Valladolid's first cookbook, Fresh Mexico: 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor, debuted in August 2009[15] and has since received positive reviews.

She and Flay teamed up to defeat Masaharu Morimoto and teammate Andrew Zimmern on a New Year's edition of Iron Chef America in 2012.

On November 27, 2013, Valladolid was a guest model on the Thanksgiving episode of The Price Is Right, and long before that was a contestant in 2004 playing "That's Too Much", winning a car.