10 Best Online Cooking Classes

Like many other things in the world, most cooking classes went online due to COVID. And many of these classes are awesome! Let’s take a look at the best virtual cooking classes out there.

Best Paid Classes Online

Zoom With Sur La Table

One of the best ways to take an online cooking class with a live chef is through Sur La Table. They have up to ten sessions a day with a cost of $29 each per household. Classes, which allow you to ask questions and interact with the chefs, span from 90 to 120 minutes and fall into different categories. These include "Global Flavors," with classes such as Perfect Pad Thai and A Taste of Greece, plus "In Season," with dishes like Parisian Pan-Seared Salmon and Grilled Chicken and Spring Risotto.

The Chef and the Dish for Private Sessions

Some folks might balk at the idea of paying $300 for a cooking class. But is that really so much when you consider you're getting one-on-one time with some of the world's best chefs? Well, two-on-one, as the classes are for couples. With the Chef and the Dish you get to choose from over 70 different culinary experiences, with chefs who live in Spain, Italy, Thailand, and beyond. Average classes span two hours and help you to create three different dishes.

Discover Udemy’s Vast Library

With prices that range from $10 to $100 per culinary course, Udemy has tens of thousands of videos in its collection. Top chefs from around the world offer a massive variety of sessions, such as Moroccan, Indian, and Thai cooking classes. Plus Udemy has advanced courses like the art of French macarons, and the popular Essential Cooking Skills and Healthy Cooking Fundamentals for beginners.

Cooking With Airbnb Experiences

Soon after the coronavirus restricted travel in 2020, Airbnb took some of its popular Airbnb Experiences online. With home chefs in over 30 countries, you can now schedule a Zoom session to cook with hosts in classes that cost $40 and under. Some of the popular chefs include the pasta experts and brothers Lorenzo and Luca Cosimo, pastry chefs in Sweden, and Neha Gupta and her Indian dishes—coming to you live from the Himalayas!

Rouxbe for Advanced Lessons

One of the world's top online cooking schools, Rouxbe offers some next-level culinary experiences best suited for those who know their way around a kitchen. They offer professional courses, complete with evaluation and certification, that can be costly. But they also offer access to their expansive library of cooking classes for $99 a year. And you can first check them out with a free 30-day trial.

Free Online Cooking Sessions on Instagram

Baking With Christina Tosi

Christina Tosi came to fame baking birthday cake truffles out of New York's Milk Bar, which has since expanded to six locations in North America. And you can catch her giving baking lessons on Tosi’s Instagram page. Decadent lessons. Ones that will leave you with treats like chocolate cheesecake bars, popcorn cupcakes, and homemade graham crackers. Her lessons are live at 2 p.m. ET most days.

More Baking With Joanne Chang

Another great baking class on Instagram, pastry chef Joanne Chang of Boston's Flour Bakery regularly goes online to show us the secrets to her baking success, evident in her wildly popular sticky buns. But Chang also focuses on healthy baking, with treats like a low-fat vegan chocolate cake, rye chocolate chip cookies, and multigrain loaves. And we can be certain she measures ingredients correctly—she's got a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard!

Kitchen Quarantine With Massimo Bottura

We're pretty sure that a chef at one of Italy's most famous restaurants, Osteria Francescana, has a handle on Italian cooking. And chef Massimo Bottura is sharing his expertise for free on Instagram! From his home in Modena, Italy with help from his family, Massimo offers master classes almost every night. And you might be surprised at the ingredients—Bottura's in-home creations often involve turning leftovers into gourmet cuisine.

José Andrés Has Recipes for the People

One of the world's most famous chefs, José Andrés may be best known these days as the head of the food-delivering non-profit World Central Kitchen. But his generosity doesn't stop there! Chef Andrés takes to Instagram all the time to cook simple meals with his family under the banner #RecipesForThePeople. But he's not above making fancier dishes like Catalan Style Chicken With Lobster or having some fun mixing outdoor margaritas.

Kitchn's Free Lessons for 20 Days

The Kitchn Cooking School is an amazing source of free cooking courses. The Kitchn website offers 20 lessons over 20 days absolutely free, beginning with the basics like using knives and ending with the know-how to throw an elaborate dinner party. But if you're not down with putting in that much effort you can just check out Kitchn’s Instagram page, where they've posted lots of full-length cooking lessons.

Some of us may be stuck indoors for a little while longer. But that shouldn’t stop your culinary exploration. With the best online cooking classes, you can become a virtual cook today.

Written by William McCleary for Knockaround.