Hell’s Kitchen Crowns Kori Sutton Its Winner: 'It Really is an Honor'

fox (2) Mary Lou Davis and Kori Sutton

WARNING: Spoilers contained below

Mary Lou Davis and Kori Sutton faced off on Thursday's finale of Hell's Kitchen – but only one came out victorious!

Chef Sutton from Newport Beach, Calif. ultimately took home the title of being America's next culinary star and will be the next head chef of Hell's Kitchen Lake Tahoe in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"It really is an honor," the chef said upon winning.

"Chef Kori is everything I could want in a head chef. She's decisive, level-headed, and most importantly passionate. From the moment she stepped into Hell's Kitchen she was instinctual and a natural-born leader," Chef Gordan Ramsey told cameras. "She'll be a great asset to Hell's Kitchen in Lake Tahoe."

Sutton tells PEOPLE her risotto that continued to impress Chef Ramsey and Chef Christina Wilson throughout season 19 was the result of practicing every chance she had before coming onto the show.

Scott Kirkland / FOX

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"I kept re-doing risotto and scallops, over and over and over again until my son couldn't eat it anymore," the single mom shares.

Sutton adds, "I would [also] practice the little things: grilling chicken properly, searing my steaks. Even though these are common things for me it's just one of those I just want to keep repeating it, just in case."

The season 19 winner then opened up to PEOPLE about the lessons she's learned throughout the competition show.

"I definitely learned to have more patience, to stop worrying a little bit and keep on going," she says.

Scott Kirkland / FOX

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Sutton adds, "I did learn a lot of techniques from Chef Ramsey. He is extremely talented as well as Chef Christina. Both of them took their, you know, 20 seconds of the day and taught us something every single time we went into the kitchen. I definitely learned a lot from both of them."

As far as her next steps, the chef plans to release a cookbook and a line of small-batch salsas.

"The cookbook God-willing by the end of next year we'll have that out," Sutton tells PEOPLE. "And then my salsa should be out within the next three or four months."