The 20 Best Cooking Classes

Local Cooking Classes has researched many cooking classes this year. After review, we are ready to announce our list of the best cooking classes. The following classes have some of the best instructors who know how to offer a top-notch experience when it comes to cooking. Our list focuses on recreational, fun classes that are for self-development as well as a general good time.


Top Rated Recreational Cooking Classes


Chef Alice Cooking Classes & Catering

3980 Oaks Clubhouse Drive #104
Pompano Beach, FL 33069

Email: alice@chefalicecooking.com
Phone: (570)856-6525

Cook, Laugh, Eat! Chef Alice offers a one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Your private cooking class and dinner awaits you in the global cuisine of your choice. Classes are hands-on, over two hours in length and include a lovely dinner. A folder of recipes is also prepared. Upon arrival, an appetizer and homemade beverage awaits to snack on while we prepare a customized three course menu. All diets are happily accommodated, and menus change with the season. You can BYOB if you’d like; Chef Alice will recommend the perfect wine or beer pairing.

The Food Evolution

295 Route 304 in Bardonia, NY

Email: dianehoch@thefoodevolution.com
Phone: (845)507-0260

At The Food Evolution, Diane teaches her students the knowledge and skills necessary to shop for, prepare, and serve healthy and beautiful meals. Diane is extremely passionate and knowledgeable. Her students always find her a pleasure to cook with and they love the focus on local farm/produce. Diane’s passion is to support and teach you how to use whole foods to lead you to vibrant health! You can create a happy, healthy relationship with food with the help of The Food Evolution.


Spork Foods
Jenny Engel & Heather Goldberg

7494 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood CA 90046

Email: jenny@sporkfoods.com
Phone: (323) 512-5544

Spork Foods is a Los Angeles-based gourmet vegan food company owned and operated by sisters Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg. Our delicious, innovative cuisine emphasizes organic, local, and seasonal ingredients. We offer organic vegan cooking classes, in-home healthy eating consultations, private cooking parties, corporate trainings and demos, team-building cooking classes and more.

Jenny and Heather are available for cooking demonstrations at schools, corporations, festivals and parties. Other services include vegan recipe or menu development, video content and television representation for vegan food companies as well as vegan non-profit organizations.

Plate 108: A Cooking & Entertainment Venue

108 E Poinsett Street, Greer SC 29651
3318 Brushy Creek Road, Greer SC 29650

Email: info@plate108.com
Phone: 864-915-2640

 

Plate 108 is a cooking and entertainment venue dedicated to providing you with the cooking skills you need to succeed in the kitchen as well as the perfect space to kick back and have a fine dining experience! Our cooking classes range from participation to demonstration, so whether you’d like to try your hand at making some chef inspired dishes or just relax with a glass of wine and observe, Plate 108 has the perfect class for you! Our chefs teach classes with their own special flair, so each class curriculum is developed with personal passion and experience.

With us you can try the simplest plate to the most fanciest one.  Always wanted to taste or try creating something in particular? Need a special dish delivery to your event or home ?

Have a private party and let one of our chefs create a personalized menu for you and your friends to enjoy! Want to take it a step further? Let our sommelier perfectly pair your menu with wines from every corner of the world.

In addition to cooking classes and private parties, Plate 108 also offers corporate team building events, catering, kids and adults birthday parties, kids cooking and baking classes as well as kid’s culinary camps!

Vermont Culinary Vacations

192 Taylor Rd
Putney, VT 05346

Email: dkrasner@sover.net
Phone: 802-387-6610

Cook with James Beard Award-winning author Deborah Krasner in her eighteenth century renovated barn in rural Vermont. Hands-on classes; local, seasonal and organic food; visits to farmers and local craftsmen, take joy in community and the pleasures of the table.

Three day and six day vacations available, all include luxurious accommodations, beautiful views, access to a unique several thousand volume dedicated cookbook library, perennial gardens, and great food.

Natural Gourmet Institute

Email: hello@nginyc.com
Phone: 212-645-5170

48 W. 21st St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10010

 

Founded in 1977 by Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D., Natural Gourmet Institute (NGI) is the international leader in health-supportive culinary education. Natural Gourmet Institute’s Chef’s Training Program is a comprehensive and professional program that trains students to meet the growing demand for culinary professionals who are able to make the connection between food and health. Natural Gourmet Institute also offers public intensives, hands-on instruction, demonstrations and lectures for the healthy cooking enthusiast. On Friday night, the school is transformed into an intimate dining room, where NGI’s Chef’s Training Program students and instructors prepare a three course vegetarian Friday Night Dinner that is innovative, delicious and beautifully presented.

Appetite For Seduction
Instructor/Owner – Shani & Joel Delamor
Instructor – Bonnie Swencionis

4 E. 1st Street in New York, NY

Email: info@appetiteforseduction.com
Phone: (646)490-8774

You may not be able to convince your partner to do everything with or for you, but you can entice them to join you for dinner. In this interactive, entertaining, and intoxicating evening (think dinner party meets cooking class), you’ll unlock the secrets to creating a sensual meal for two. Our dinner party classes combine this ingredient with aphrodisiacs in mouth watering menus that will induce romance, stimulate seduction and spark passion. Throughout the evening, you’ll discover how to prepare aphrodisiacs and understand their effect on the libido as well as their romantic history. You’ll also awaken your five senses and understand how fiery foods can stimulate your sexual appetite. Our classes are for couples only – choose one of our decadent menus, healthy living menus or a cocktail class.

Simple Real Food
Chef – Amanda Cushman

Shoreline of Connecticut – Madison, Guilford, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Essex, Branford, New London, and New Haven

Email: amandascooking@gmail.com
Phone: (310)980-0139

Chef Amanda Cushman is a culinary educator who has cooked professionally as well as taught cooking lessons for over thirty years. She teaches all levels of students from beginner to advanced and specializes in ethnic, healthy cuisines from countries such as India, Morocco, Italy, Greece and Thailand. Her classes are both hands on and demonstration oriented. Amanda Cushman teaches many group and private cooking classes in Connecticut. Her cooking classes are located in and around the areas of Madison, Guilford, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Essex, Branford, New London, and New Haven. She has developed hundreds of recipes for cookbooks as well as food magazines such as Food and Wine, Self, Fitness, Cooking Light and Fine Cooking.

Seasons of My Heart Cooking School
Chef – Susana Trilling

Mexico – Rancho Aurora, Camino Real S/N, San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, Etla

Email: info@seasonsofmyheart.com
Phone from US: 011 521 (951) 508-0469
Phone from Mexico: 044 (951) 508-0469

Seasons of My Heart Cooking School offers hands-on cooking classes with Chef Susana Trilling, a passionate teacher, chef, writer and television host who will teach you to work with the native foods of Mexico. Our day-long classes include either a tour of a local market or a cheese-making demonstration with a local cheese expert, followed by a short almuerzo either at the market or on the delicious Oaxacan cheese. We then head to the beautiful Rancho Aurora, home of Seasons of My Heart Cooking School, for a lecture on the food that will be prepared that day followed by a hands-on cooking class. Students prepare a delicious five-course meal, which we eat together in a festive celebration of the food we have just created and the new friends we have met. Seasons of My Heart also offers culinary tours and courses in the Oaxaca area, as well as other parts of Mexico. Join us for an in-depth, off-the-beaten-path exploration of Mexico’s delicious cuisine at Seasons of My Heart!

Albertson Cooking School
Chef – Charlotte Ann Albertson

Wynnewood, PA

Email: cookline99@aol.com
Phone: (610)649-9290

Established in 1973, Albertson Cooking School donates all profits to Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Albertson Cooking School attracts talented and well-known local teacher-chefs from their kitchen to share their passion for food by teaching classes for our students. Some classes are also taught by the Albertson chefs. Demonstration classes run 2.5 hours and hands-on classes last 3 hours. Other offerings include seminars, wine pairing dinners, wine and cheese, kitchen design, how to market your food product, walking tours of the Philadelphia Italian Market, and bus trips to Culinary Institute of America.

Wild Thyme Cooking & Event Center
Owner – Allison Davis
Chefs – Joan Barney, Corrie Gralheer, Ruth Oesterman

1060 Chinoe Road Ste 108
Lexington, Kentucky 40502

Email: gordon.donna.t@gmail.com
Phone: (859)523-COOK (2665)

Our Mission is to be the premier culinary experience in the community for all ages teaching that cooking can be fun, healthy and always delicious. At Wild Thyme, you eat what you cook, talk about what you eat and learn new culinary creations. We offer hands on cooking classes, demonstration cooking classes, kids classes, kids summer camps, parties (kids and adults), team building events, catering, weekly meals to go and Friday/Saturday Chef’s Table Dinners. Our classes are posted to our website every two months and can be booked on line.

The Community House
Various, Unique Classes
10 Top Notch Instructors

380 South Bates Street
Birmingham, MI 48009

Email: programs@tchserves.org
Phone: (248) 644-5832

This Winter session at The Community House we are offering a variety of cooking classes. Including two extremely popular and healthy series cooking classes: Winter Raw Foods series & Juicing series. The Cacao Tree Café chefs will be teaching: Raw Cookies, Raw Pudding, Parfaits & Coconut Whip Cream, Raw Mediterranean Feast, and Vegan Winter Dinner. Our Juicing Series instructor is a cancer survivor on a mission to help others heal & recover through the power of juicing: The Basics of Juicing & Juicing Part 2: Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxification.

Other top notch classes we offer range anywhere from Asian Soups to Fresh Water Fish- Sautéing and Broiling, to Vegetarian Nights: Cooking With Mushrooms to Molecular Gastronomy featuring Gastronomy’s executive chef from the Modern American Bistro. All classes include samples and recipes for you to try at home.

The Community House has over 10 top notch instructors with an astonishing amount of knowledge and experience. Come & experience our newly renovated kitchen and always a fun time.

A la Carte Culinary Services

Polly Talbott, CCP, Owner & Director

32 Atlantic Avenue
Lynbrook, New York 11563

Email: alacartecs@optonline.net
Phone: (516) 599-2922

A la Carte is a boutique-style cooking school in the heart of the village of Lynbrook, New York. The warm and friendly atmosphere makes it an extremely comfortable place to learn to cook. A la Carte’s Mission Statement is “To help people everywhere learn to enjoy the rewards and pleasures of cooking and eating great food.” With various, well-trained, patient and professional chefs as teachers, you are bound to learn each and every day while having a blast.

Parties That Cook

Cooking Classes led by Professional Chefs

San Francisco, CA
Chicago, IL

Email: info@PartiesThatCook.com
Phone: (888) 907-2665

Parties That Cook public cooking classes encourage interaction and fun in the kitchen. Guests learn to prepare mouthwatering recipes while mingling with other guests. At this exciting hands-on cooking party, guests enjoy a lively interactive cooking demonstration. Upbeat music sets the mood as guests break into teams and work together to prepare two recipes from the evening’s small plates menu. A social affair, every class concludes with a delicious gourmet meal enjoyed by all.

Art of Thai Cooking

Chef/Instructor: Kasma Loha-unchit

PO Box 21165
Oakland, CA 94620

Email: kasma@thaifoodandtravel.com
Phone: (510) 655-8900

Since 1985 Kasma Loha-unchit has taught thousands of students to cook mouth-watering Thai food using ingredients available in the United States. Her in-depth classes emphasize how to harmonize a myriad of flavor ingredients to create authentic Thai tastes whether using a recipe or not. She offers 11 different evening series (with 4 classes each) and 5 weeklong summer classes where you’ll get to cook many Thai recipes seldom seen outside of Thailand alongside well-known favorites.

Classes are small and participatory with students doing all of the prep and most of the final assembly under Kasma’s personal tutelage. One caveat: many students say they can no longer eat at local Thai restaurants after taking the classes – they can cook better food at home!

Over the years, Kasma has fostered a following of advanced students, many of whom have taken classes from her for more than a decade, and keep eagerly returning each time she comes up with a new series every couple of years. Not only do her classes offer great learning experiences, they are fun, social events for those who love to cook and eat exquisite foods, including a guaranteed fabulous dinner each time. An added bonus for people interested in healthy eating is valuable nutritional information from fascinating research being done in Asia and health food trends there that aren’t yet known in mainstream America.

ChefKas, LLC
Chef/Instructor: ChefKas

Las Vegas, NV 89121

Email: chefkas@chefkas.com
Phone: (845) 464-2332

Already pretty good in the kitchen, but ready to try some new things? Make your time in the kitchen tastier and more valuable! ChefKas is an experienced teacher, not only from his time in the kitchen, but also from teaching experience in other subjects, such as English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bangladesh, and teaching basic levels of the martial art Capoeira.

ChefKas will use his lifetime of experience to help you achieve some of your culinary dreams. Anything you can think of, the kitchen will be your laboratory. For each class ChefKas can design a menu, bring surprise ingredients, or you can shop for some things you would like to learn to use. Classes can also be tailored to any individual concept or idea. Each class is a minimum of 1.5 hours, and can accommodate anywhere from 1-20 people.

Inn de La Mer Culinary Institute

14 Lincoln Street
Niantic, CT 06357

Email: fourteenlincoln@aol.com
Phone: (860) 739-6357

The culinary classes offered at Inn de La Mer offer something for everyone. From the most skilled chef to the beginner. We promise a fun and enlightening experience! Classes are small usually 6-8 students offering individual instruction for all! Classes range from 2-4 hours, use of all tools and a complete supply of ingredients are included. Each student has the opportunity to master a new skill, sample the menu items and receive a copy of the recipes from their event!

Venice Cooking School
Martha Rose Shulman & Clifford A. Wright

1238 Stearns Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Email: venicecookingschool@gmail.com
Phone: (323) 932-1632

Venice Cooking School is the creation of two prolific, award-winning cookbook authors and cooking teachers, Clifford A. Wright and Martha Rose Shulman. Between them they have published close to fifty cookbooks, and they have taught cooking classes to sold-out crowds all over the United States.

Shulman and Wright are emphatically home cooks with years of experience. Wright specializes in the cuisines of the Mediterranean and Shulman on a healthy approach to cooking and vegetarian cooking. Classes are intimate and hands-on, either in the clients’ homes or in Shulman’s home.

At Home with Vicki Bensinger

Area Served: St. Louis

Email: vicki@vickibensinger.com
Phone: (314) 799-1633

At Home with Vicki Bensinger offers in-home culinary classes for individuals or small groups in the comfort of your home. Vicki has been teaching culinary classes throughout Missouri since 1992.She offers personalized private culinary classes for individuals and small groups in the comfort of their home or organization. Schedule an In-Home Culinary Class just for you, with friends, or as a gift for someone special.

The Mardi Gras School of Cooking
Chef – Richard Bond
Chef – Robin Midgett
Instructor – Teresa Vernon

232 Bermuda Street
New Orleans, LA70114

Email: chefbond@cox.net
Phone: (504) 362-5225

The Mardi Gras School of Cooking is located in historic Algier’s Point inside of the Mardi Gras World complex. Offering a variety of classes and menu items we also provide you with an authentic New Orleans style experience that is sure to make you savor every moment!

Julian Krinsky Cooking School
Director: Ann-Michelle Albertson

Villanova University & Haverford College

Email: Imagine@jkcp.com
Phone: (610) 265-9401

Julian Krinsky Cooking School is specially designed for middle and high school students.  From beginner to advanced, students start with basic instruction and then learn specialty and advanced preparation.  The classes teach students about using farm to table, sustainable and locally sourced foods and also promote healthy eating. Students learn everything from knife skills, mise en place, plate presentation, and much more.