Joel McHale investigates ‘Crime Scene Kitchen’

His latest show is fresh out of the oven. 

Joel McHale hosts “Crime Scene Kitchen,” a new reality baking competition series where teams of chefs must “decode” what type of dessert to whip up.

“I do very much love hosting and I love cooking,” McHale, 49, told The Post. 

“And the production team that makes this also makes ‘The Masked Singer’ and ‘I Can See Your Voice’ and I enjoyed those shows,” he said. “Their take on this — it being an unboxing and mystery show on top of being a baking show — I thought was a great idea. And then they get Curtis Stone and Yolanda Gampp, who are super-experts. Their knowledge terrifies me, and so I jumped at it.”

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Premiering Wednesday, May 26 (9 p.m. on Fox), each episode follows chefs scouring a kitchen for “clues” on dishes that were previously baked. Based on their guesses, they re-create the treats for judges Chef Stone and cake artist Gampp and compete for a $100,000 grand prize.

“[Contestants] have two minutes minutes and there are clues like, ‘Here’s some cocoa powder, here’s a fork that makes a pattern — go!’ You’ll be amazed at how much they get and how some of them completely miss it,” said McHale.

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McHale, who’s based in L.A. with his wife and kids, spends a lot of time in the kitchen himself. 

“I don’t do a lot of baking,” he said. “I do a lot of meat cooking, from fish to chicken to lots of steak, lamb, buffalo. I will say the skill level for baking is higher. Smoking a brisket takes precision, no doubt, but you can undercook a steak and if people want it more done, you can cook it a little more. But with cakes, if you screw up one part, forget it. And we saw that a number of times [on the show]. You won’t believe what people pull off in just a couple of hours.”

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Although McHale is known for both hosting and acting, he has no plans to turn his focus on just one. 

“I always really enjoyed game shows, and there was always a rule in Hollywood that you couldn’t do acting and hosting — especially game-show hosting. When I started hosting ‘The Soup,’ my actor friends were like ‘I wouldn’t do that!’ and I was like ‘I’m doing it, it seems fun,’” he said.

“Thank God for Jamie Foxx and Alec Baldwin and Dwayne Johnson. They blew the model off the thing. I really enjoy it, and seeing people actually win money is deeply satisfying. I have a tiny little ball-bearing of a heart, and it makes it grow two sizes.”

McHale often works on CW’s “Stargirl,” starring in the rom-com movie “Happily” and reuniting with his “Community” co-stars for a table read, which ignited talks of a potential movie. 

“I think after that table read, that really sparked us seeing each other [more]. We all missed each other. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said ‘Forget it,’ or like, ‘Sure, a movie, yeah,’” said McHale. “But now I’m like, ‘Oh, this could happen!’ But saying it could happen and then actually it happening for making a movie — there’s a lot of steps. And, we need millions of dollars.”

McHale said he has no plans to slow down his perpetual juggling of projects.

“This is how I always have been. Growing up I had a weeding job, I made espresso, I folded sweatshirts, I was a dishwasher, on top of doing different sports all the time…. I always had more than 1 thing going all the time,” he said. “I’m also an extreme extrovert, I’m like four Golden Retrieversin one. I still to this day can’t believe people are paying me to jump around on stage. I still get thrilled by that.

“I’m waiting for the job police to come and take me away and make me get a real job.”