He was born in France and learned to cook at a young age from his grandmother. When he was young, his family moved to Andorra, where he was raised. He later returned to France and attended culinary school in Perpignan. At the age of 17 in 1982 he moved to Paris where he worked for two years at La Tour d'Argent, a famous restaurant more than 400 years old. Ripert next worked at Jamin under Joël Robuchon and was soon promoted to Assistant Chef de Partie. In 1985 Ripert left to fulfill his military service, after which he returned to Jamin as Chef Poissonier.

In 1989, Ripert moved to the United States and was hired as a sous chef in the Watergate Hotel's Jean Louis Palladin restaurant. He stayed for two years before moving to New York City in 1991 to work for David Bouley. He stayed just under a year so he didn't break contract by being pursued after by Gilbert Le Coze at the Le Bernardin. In 1994, Ripert became Le Bernardin's executive chef after Gilbert Le Coze died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The following year, at the age of 29, Ripert earned a four-star rating from the New York Times, and in 1996 he became a part-owner. In the Michelin Guide NYC 2006, Ripert's Le Bernardin was one of four New York City restaurants to be awarded the maximum 3 Michelin stars for excellence in cuisine. Le Bernadin received four stars from the New York Times four consecutive times, making it the only restaurant to maintain that exquisite status for that length of time and never dropping a star in ten years. Le Bernadin is often referred to as the Temple of Seafood.

Ripert is the Chair of City Harvest’s Food Council, and President of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation. He has been a guest chef at the French Embassies in Mexico and Venezuela and for the New York City Ballet.

Ripert lent his name, talents, and several members of his team including Le Bernardin's then-sous chef Richard Brower to the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, in the form of two restaurants: Blue and Periwinkle. The former received a AAA Five Diamond Award, the only restaurant in the Caribbean to receive this rating. Both restaurants make creative and extensive use of local food products - particularly the lobster and red snapper, which are strictly sourced from the surrounding waters - as well as sea salt harvested by evaporation. Blue features a three course prix-fixe menu by tradition, as well as a six course taster menu and à la carte selection. They were the first restaurants to bear Ripert's name and he reportedly brings a team to the restaurants once a month to ensure quality.

Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd & M Streets in Washington, D.C., opened on November 8, 2007. The concept features casual French and American bistro fare in DC's West End neighborhood. In early 2009, to encourage people to continue to go out for meals despite the economic downturn, Westend Bistro began serving a family-style Sunday Supper of a starter and entree for $28 per person. Ripert opened his newest venture in the Ritz Carlton Philadelphia spring 2008. The name of the restaurant, 10 Arts (run by former Le Bernadin Sous Chef and now Chef de cuisine Jennifer Carroll, also a Top Chef contestant), comes from the hotel's address along Philadelphia's vibrant Avenue of the Arts.

Eric Ripert has made several guest appearances on cooking-based television shows, including guest judge and assistant chef roles on the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons of Bravo's "Top Chef". He is friends with and has appeared on many episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Most recently he has launched a series of brief online cooking videos called "Get Toasted" on his website AVECERIC.com which focuses on easy and quick meals that can be prepared and cooked in minutes with a toaster oven. In the series he uses a somewhat high end brick-oven based toaster oven produced by Cuisinart. Adding to his adventures, PBS has aired Avec Eric episodes (started September 2009) where he travels the world and finds inspiration and shows the idea in a profession setting, travels on location, and then finally shows the enlightenment in his very own home kitchen. Chef Eric occasionally resides in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York with his wife, Sondra and son.

Chef Ripert has been a featured chef on Great Chefs television.

In 2010 he played himself in the television show Treme on HBO (season 1 episode 5).

Chef Ripert is now a permanent judge on the Bravo TV show Top Chef.

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