Kitchen Cabinet presenter Annabel Crabb was forced to defend interviewing opposition leader Peter Dutton on the show after fans accused her of running a 'sycophantic puff piece'.

The veteran ABC star has faced a torrent of criticism before Tuesday night's episode featuring the Liberal Party leader has even aired, with some left-wingers voicing concerns Crabb will 'humanise' Mr Dutton in the same way she did with Scott Morrison.

The former Prime Minister, who was known for his hardline image and tough immigration policies, appeared on the show in 2015 where was able to burnish his image as a family man by cooking 'scomosas' and a Sri Lankan curry.

Now, just hours before the interview with Mr Dutton is due to be broadcast, Crabb felt compelled to defend her choice of interviewee in a lengthy post on Instagram.

Kitchen Cabinet presenter Annabel Crabb was forced to defend interviewing opposition leader Peter Dutton on the show after fans accused her of running a 'sycophantic puff piece' (pictured together)

It comes amid reports that Crabb confronts Mr Dutton on the show, which airs on Tuesday night, about allegedly 'racist remarks' he has made as the pair share a custard slice with brown butter and rum (pictured)

She outlined her pride in the seventh series of the show, which features a mix of home cooking and friendly conversation between herself and frontline politicians, claiming it is the 'most diverse ever'.

'Of COURSE I was always going to interview the Opposition Leader if he was amenable,' Crabb wrote.

'I asked both major party leaders, and of the two of them, Peter Dutton said yes. He's the alternative PM.

Crabb said she took the 'same approach I have taken in every one of the 48 episodes my team and I have made'.

'I turn up and bring dessert, and I ask the host questions about my host's life,' she said.

'Sometimes viewers like them better by the end of the show, sometimes they don't. The important thing is that viewers decide for themselves.'

'That's how things roll in a democracy.'

The ABC stalwart revealed she would be taking a break from social media in the wake of the outcry.

Last week, Crabb faced a backlash for describing Dutton's politics as 'muscular' during a promotional interview for Kitchen Cabinet on ABC News.

One angry viewer tweeted, 'I don't need a sycophantic puff piece to have Dutton 'reveal' anything about himself. Every hateful word and action has revealed all I need to know about him.'

Critics fear Crabb will 'humanise' Mr Dutton in the same way the show helped foment the image of Scott Morrison as a family man

Others criticised the ABC for hosting the show altogether

Annabel Crabb (right) is under fire for featuring federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton (left) in a friendly interview on her popular talk show Kitchen Cabinet

Some viewers even went so far as to say Mr Dutton's appearance means that Kitchen Cabinet should be taken off the air.

'Kitchen Cabinet shouldn't be renewed for another season. Trying to humanise a politician who is manipulatively pushing a No vote is not defensible,' complained one, referring to the Liberals' opposition to the indigenous Voice proposal in the upcoming referendum.

Last week, Crabb defended herself against accusations she was affording her interviewees a 'free ride'.

'I'm interviewing them in a way that is different than your Sarah Ferguson boot-on-the-throat variety, which is absolutely necessary for our democracy, but I also think sometimes when you take a different approach, particularly when you're in someone's house, you're polite to them, you're not going to start chucking stuff at them,' she said.

'But if you make them feel comfortable enough they will often reveal things about themselves that are actually quite interesting and key to understanding them, and I think that's certainly true of the Dutton episode.'

Her nuanced approach has done little to appease her staunchest critics.

A 2015 article, entitled 'Junk Food Journalism: Why Annabel Crabb's Kitchen Cabinet Is Toxic', has resurfaced in the wake of Mr Dutton's forthcoming appearance on the show.

Amy McQuire, who wrote the piece, accused Crabb of fluffing 'her way through interviewing some of the most powerful people in Australia by coating their numerous acts of structural violence with sugar frosting'.

'This insidious spread of propaganda, soft interviews with hard-line politicians who wield enormous power over the lives of the most vulnerable, is sold as a fun, light-hearted look into the lives of the people we elect,' wrote Ms McQuire.

'But this taxpayer-funded sycophantic date with power will end up making us all sick.

'It completely dumbs down debate and again re-ingrains the perception that politicians are just like us, while the people their policies hurt, aren't.'

Crabb defended her choice of interviewee, claiming: 'That's how things roll in a democracy'

Other critics went further, mocking up an image of Crabb sat smiling at a dinner table next to Adolf Hitler.

It comes amid reports that Crabb confronts Mr Dutton on the show about allegedly 'racist remarks' he has made as the pair share a custard slice with brown butter and rum.

Mr Dutton made the remarks in question in 2016 where he claimed Malcom Fraser's Government in the 1970s made a mistake by resettling Lebanese refugees.

At the time, he defended the comments, claiming that 'out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 of those people are from second and third generation Lebanese-Muslim background'.

The veteran ABC star has acknowledged that she's taking a softer approach with her show and doesn't want to engage in combative dialogue with her guests

'I can't see how there's any way of looking at that, apart from that it's a racist remark,' Crabb tells the conservative politician on Kitchen Confidential, according to news.com.au.

Mr Dutton concedes he should not have made the comment and says he has apologised for them before.

Outside of MrDutton, the latest season of Kitchen Cabinet will feature a wide variety of political figures including Bridget McKenzie of the National Party and former Greens and now independent senator Lidia Thorpe.

Kitchen Cabinet is currently airing on ABC and available to stream on iView.