Listen – we all love food. From giant slices of pizza to delicate macarons and high-end dinners, food brings us joy, especially here in NYC! It carries memories, connections, and history that other things simply can’t do. Particularly if you like making food. yourself, it brings another element of passion to it! But what better way to master your craft without taking one of NYC’s best cooking classes? It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a knife in your life, or are making fancy meals, there’s always room to sharpen your skills! To get you going, we rounded up the best cooking classes in NYC. So settle in, buckle up, and get creative with some of the best chefs around!
1. Institute of Culinary Education – The Essential Skills Course
The Institute of Culinary Education has been around since the 1970s, and they offer classes for just about anything you can imagine! But if you want the most bang for your buck, look no further than the Essential Skills course.
Working with a professional chef, you’ll learn everything from knife skills to sauce making to vegetable roasting. And the best part is that you’ll get to eat the fruits of your labor! This class is perfect to learn the bare essentials of cooking that you can tuck away whenever you need to impress guests!
Where: 225 Liberty St, 3rd Fl
2-6. Cocusocial – Various Classes
If you haven’t heard about Cocusocial, you’ve truly been missing out. They offer hundreds of different cooking classes in NYC for everyone of any skill level, with everything from paella to dumplings to chocolate and pastry. Every course is led by a professional, which is something we really love. Check out our favorites below:
- Spaghetti and Sicilian Meatballs Cooking Class
- Tagliatelle al Pesto Class with a Master Italian Chef
- Risotto alla Milanese Cooking Class
- Fresh Mozzarella & Burrata Class
- Gnocchi: Italy’s Famed Dumpling Class
Where: EVEN Hotel, 221 E 44th St, Floor 2
7-8. Eataly – Everything Italian
Let’s be honest, if you’re going to take a class at La Scuola it has to be Italian. From pasta and bread to pizza, wine, and cheese, La Scuola has all the best pieces of Italian cooking ready for you to learn!
We recommend either the Neapolitan Pizza Workshop or the Pasta Workshop at Il Pastaio di Eataly, but both of them are super popular and sell out quickly. That’s why you have to keep checking the course listings! Pizza and pasta are two things we pretty much all love, so either course would be a great choice for expanding your cooking skills.
Where: NYC Downtown and NYC Flatiron locations
9. The League of Kitchens – Multicultural Meals
The best thing about The League of Kitchens? The comfort of cooking and learning in your own home while being taught by chefs from all walks of life! Some have cooked professionally, some just love doing it – but they all have a passion for food and for sharing it!
The League of Kitchens’ classes are all online and capped at 13-16 people. This makes the small, intimate feeling of the classes super special. The variety of classes offered ranges from Uzbek cooking to Greek and Indian workshops, so you can try out a ton of different recipes from all over the world! Their classes are typically 2.5 hours and on weekends so they can the be perfect activity for a relaxing weekend at home!
Where: Primarily online courses
10. Taste Buds Kitchen – Handmade Pasta
Cooking can be intimidating, but what makes it less intimidating is an adult-only, BYOB atmosphere that embraces cooking novices learning together. Taste Buds Kitchen can teach you how to make just about anything you could possibly want in their cooking classes.
But really, we’re here to talk about their handmade pasta class. Yes, we know we already recommended the pasta class at Eataly, but Taste Buds Kitchen teaches you how to make vegetarian pasta with fresh fettuccine, butternut squash ravioli, spinach ricotta ravioli, and a rustic tomato sauce. The final product is delicious and nutritious, plus it goes perfect with your BYOB wine you brought!
Where: 109 W 27th Street
11. Milk Bar – Build-A-Experiences
Oh my gosh, Milk Bar. Have you even lived if you haven’t had one of their incredible cakes or creative cookie offerings? If you haven’t before, now’s your chance. Signing up for one of their Build-A-Experiences could change your life for the better.
Whether you choose to do their Birthday Cake Assembly Class or get really intimate with their Build-A-Experiences (which serve 2 people max), you can’t go wrong with one of their in-store classes. And really, who wouldn’t leap at the chance to have a Milk Bar Baker help you create the cake you’ve always dreamed of?
Where: 1196 Broadway
12. Butter Lane Cupcakes – Cupcakes
You’ve probably never seen so many different flavors together in one place, but you will in Butter Lane Cupcakes. Peanut butter banana, sea salt, chocolate, raspberry and maple pecan, they’re all made with natural ingredients, baked fresh every day! Truly, they make some of the best cupcakes in New York.
This is why their cupcake cooking class is absolutely to die for. You’ll make 3 cakes and 6 different icings, and all you’ve got to bring is yourself and your excitement. They’ve also limited their courses to just 6 people, so grab a friend or two and make it a party just for you!
Where: 123 E 7th St
13. Murray’s Cheese – Mozzarella and Burrata
Do you love cheese? Do you hate the idea of potentially running out of cheese? Do you love the idea of eating freshly made cheese paired with unlimited house wine? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then Murray’s Cheese needs to be on the top of your cooking class list!
We highly recommend the in-person Burrata and Mozzarella-making class, where you’ll get to try several samples of their cheese before diving in to make your own. Can you imagine how good you’ll feel having a little “mozzarella masterpiece” (as they call it) to take home with you? Or how cool you’ll look when you can whip up a fresh mozzarella ball as a treat for your friends?
Where: 254 Bleecker St and virtual courses are also available.
14. L’Ecole Valrhona – Chocolate
No list of cooking classes in NYC would be complete without a chocolate class. And since 1989, L’Ecole Valrhona has brought the very best of chocolate to the hands and hearts of the pastry and chocolate-loving community. Whatever your level of learning is, these courses teach you everything from the basics of tempering to how to use the latest and greatest ingredients in your next batch of confectionery.
These courses are definitely the most intense on our list; the chocolate bonbons and snacking bars course, for example, takes place over several days and teaches you not just how to make the chocolates but also about the very foundations of chocolate and gastronomy. You’ll leave with new skills and incredible knowledge. What more could you ask for?
Where: Times and locations vary, class calendar here
15. Cozymeal – Global Cuisine
The list of classes offered through Cozymeal is enough to boggle your mind, especially when you think of the range of food you can master. From classic Indian food to Brazilian favorites, there’s a course for just about any food type you can imagine. With classes ranging from $75 – $145, you’re able to learn from master chefs (some even Michelin-starred) over the course of 2 – 3 hours! We love Cozymeal too because it’s great for large groups, date nights, or corporate team-bonding experiences.
Where: Times and locations vary, class calendar here
16. Atelier Sucre – French Patisserie
Learn how to make the finest French patisserie at Atelier Sucre in the East Village! Whether you want to bake croissants, crème brûlée, madeleines and more, various classes are offered most days of the week. Moreover, Atelier Sucre doesn’t limit themselves to just French delicacies. Students can even learn how to recreate an iconic New York bagel!
Where: 104 E 7th St, New York, find the class calendar here