Learn How to Cook with the Best Chefs in Online Classes

What are the best online cooking classes that chefs are teaching right now?  Several top chefs are teaching courses online right now, with topics ranging from the basics to advanced techniques. Whether your a novice, or an experienced cook looking to be inspired, you can learn how to cook at a higher skill level with the best online virtual cooking classes from top chefs.

No better time than now to take a cooking class

Self-improvement is an insatiable driver for many of us, and that’s probably true now more than over. The Great Lockdown has left us with extra time on our hands, and the urge to DO SOMETHING with that gift of unstructured time is like an itch that needs to be scratched.

So what better time for an online cooking class? Whether you’re considering doing so because you want to level up your culinary skills – or because you’ve gained the notorious COVID 15 (or 20) and you need to pull it together and eat healthier – there’s a rich pool of options online right now.

the benefits of learning cooking online

We’ve taken some great cooking classes in-person, both in small groups and one-on-one. With strangers and also with work colleagues. Each of those has its charms and drawbacks. And so does taking a course from one of the top chefs teaching cooking online.

The pros of cooking classes online are pretty compelling:

• Many online classes are being offered for a fraction of the in-person cost, making attendance accessible for a much larger group of people.
• These cooking classes have neither geographic nor scheduling time constraints; both students and teachers can squeeze in a lesson in on-demand. Like a Peloton workout, if you want to take a class in the wee small hours of the morning, you can go for it!
• When you’re in your own kitchen, using your own equipment, you get a much better understanding of what it actually takes to cook well IRL.

So while there are clearly some drawbacks – like no opportunity to ask questions in real time, nor to benefit from individual feedback from the instructor – online cooking classes are a pretty good value for the cost. And they will definitely make social distancing feel less onerous. Sounds like a luxury experience to us!

the best online cooking classes from top chefs right now

If you’re up for this, here are our top picks for the best online cooking classes available at the moment, with top chefs sharing knowledge and practical tips to get you to your ideal skill level. There’s one for every personality type and skill level – read on to see which one best suits you.

1. Best for the star-struck sous chef: Masterclass

If you like your teachers to be famous, to teach with theatrical flair – and to often be really hot – then this is your place, Sign up for a Masterclass and you’ll have access to lessons from some of the best chefs teaching cooking online. Names like Alice Waters,  Gabriela Cámara, Thomas Keller and Gordon Ramsay.

For a subscription fee of $15 per month ($180 per year), users have access to tutorials in nine subjects, with over 85 expert instructors. The Culinary Arts track also has classes in barbecue, pastry-making, Italian cooking, mixology and wine appreciation – there’s even a class on gardening to grow your own food.

2. Best for the cerebral cook: Coursera 

Coursera is an online learning platform that connects students with 221 partners·across 52 countries·offering 4,806 courses. You can earn an online degree or certificate, or just take a course or two for the fun of it. The membership cost is $49 per month, and many of the cooking-oriented classes are free for members.

One of Coursera’s most popular offerings related to cooking is The Stanford Introduction to Food and Health. Less a cooking class and more a health and wellness course, the aim is to give students the information and practical skills they need to begin optimizing the way they eat. It’s a call to action to return to “simple home cooking,” and might be the perfect starting point if you need to shore up your motivation and commitment before rolling up your sleeves in the kitchen.

There’s a similar class focused on children’s nutrition and eating. To ensure that kids are learning healthy habits – especially now, when many are learning from home and not eating school lunches,  the curriculum focuses on topics like how to build a balanced meal and learning how to read  nutrition labels.

The Science of Gastronomy course, hosted by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is a course that introduces basic scientific principles and methodology of cooking and food preparation. It’s like your high school chemistry lab class – only much, much better.

3. Best for the ground-level gourmet: Udemy

Similar to Coursera, Udemy is a marketplace for education and learning. It supports 57,000 instructors who teach 150,000 courses with over 65 languages available. Somewhere in there, there’s surely one for you.

If anything, Udemy offers so many options that it can be overwhelming to decide where to start. For example, there’s an Absolute Beginners cooking course – and a cooking essentials class with instruction in 17 standard techniques to build key foundational kitchen skills. The healthy cooking class focuses on boosting flavors, the role of acids and more.

There are also courses on learning to cook Indian food, and another on essential Italian recipes (we are So. All. In. On. That.)  Udemy offers an excellent class on vegan and vegetarian cooking, including ways to swap in plant-based ingredients for meat.

But the Udemy course that we’re most excited to take is Cooking Chicken. Yes, we know it brands us as utterly lacking in sophistication, but a good roast chicken is still our favorite meal – any day, all day, every day.

4. Best for tony Ivy-League toques: edX

If you are a graduate of an Ivy League institution – or wish you were, or hope to be someday – then pull up a chair and take a cooking class at Harvard.

In Science & Cooking, top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Notable chefs reveal the secrets behind some of their most famous culinary creations. And then the Harvard faculty members explain the science behind the recipe. Cool!

5. Best for the classic culinarian: Milk Street

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Cooking School in Boston has robust online courses, with both live streaming options and an archive of pre-recorded lessons. You’ll remember Kimball as the force behind “Cooks Illustrated” and “America’s Test Kitchen” and their related videos and cookbooks. As a heavy user of these products, we can attest to their ability to deliver on the classic family meals that many are looking for. They might not always be brilliant, but they’re always just fine, and that certainty is valuable for a novice cook.

With his new company, Milk Street, the focus is on more adventurous international flavors and techniques. But the clear, simple directions and the tireless testing to develop “the best” recipe for home cooks is still there. You can’t go wrong with a Kimball recipe, and frankly we love that reliability.

6. Best for the avid Anglophile: BC Food

For those who just can’t get enough of British culture, the archive from BBC Food awaits. The online site publishes recipes from its food shows featuring celebrity chefs.

There are lots of cooking technique lessons, including knife skills and the do’s and don’ts of preparing meat and seafood. Sounds good to us. Who’s up for some mushy peas? 

the best online cooking classes

Those are our picks for the best online cooking classes to sign up for right now. There are an incredible number of top chefs teaching cooking online right now. No time like the present to take your culinary game to the next level, right? Just promise to save us some leftovers!

join our community

For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier Newsletter here. And see luxury in a new light.

This article contains affiliate links to products selected by our editors. Dandelion Chandelier may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

Forward This Article