The best cooking classes in Los Angeles

While there is no shortage of excellent sushi restaurants in LA, eating restaurant sushi can be expensive (and grocery store or gas station sushi is out of the question). In this CocuSocial course, you’ll learn the techniques you need to make your own restaurant-quality sushi rolls at home. You’ll get hands-on experience making sushi rice, preparing the raw ingredients and rolling them together by hand. You’ll learn how to make a spicy tuna roll, a California roll and a vegetable roll, but the skills you learn are versatile enough that you can start preparing a whole range of different rolls.

Cooking is a skill that blends creativity and practical knowledge, and cooking classes at Radical Cooks in Los Angeles provide a hands-on way to learn everything from fundamental techniques to intricate recipes. Some of the most popular cooking classes at Radical Cooks include lessons on fresh pasta making and knife skills, as well as more focused options like plant-based meal planning and culinary bootcamps. Participants will get to work with fresh ingredients while learning to create balanced, flavorful dishes that incorporate skills like chopping vegetables, rolling fresh dough, and making sauce from scratch. Every session ends with a completed dish to make the process not only rewarding but delicious.

Dumplings are a popular side dish, appetizer or main course that you can learn to make on your own in this handmade dumpling course. This course focuses on making everything from scratch, including the dough and the filling and the proper steps for both steaming and pan-frying dumplings. The recipe you learn is fairly versatile, so even though you will be making pork dumplings and vegetable dumplings, you’ll be able to easily customize the filling to suit your personal tastes. After this course, you’ll be able to add dumplings to any meal.

Send the foodie in your life on a culinary learning adventure with a cooking class gift card! They’ll be able to master everything from fundamental knife skills to perfecting handmade pasta, making this type of gift perfect for those new to cooking or even the experienced home chef. Recipients can enjoy creating dishes they’ve always wanted to try while learning skills they can bring back to their own kitchen. Eliminate the stress of trying to find a class that fits their schedule or having to wonder if they’ll enjoy it and choose a gift card for any available cooking class in Los Angeles.

Pasta is one of the most versatile and ubiquitous foods on the planet and, no matter what the setting, there is likely to be a perfect pasta dish for the occasion. In this course, you can learn how to take any pasta dish to the next level by handmaking the pasta. While this course focuses on how to make a pasta and vodka sauce entree (a very popular choice at Italian restaurants) the skills you learn will be applicable in a much weird collection of recipes.

LA is home to some of the finest Asian restaurants in the US, but you probably aren’t interested in eating out every night (both because of time and money issues). If you still want authentic-style Asian cuisine, consider enrolling in this Pad Thai making course. You’ll get hands-on training in how to make this popular Thai dish from scratch. You’ll be able to choose your own protein and, thus, you can make this dish fairly regularly and you can make it for guests and friends. This is an easy dish to prepare and it is customizable enough that you can make the dish perfect for your own tastes.

French pastries are some of the most renowned desserts that you can learn to make, but they are also some of the most intimidating. You won’t have to worry about that if you take a hands-on baking class like this Art of French Macarons class. You’ll get hands-on training as you make your own plate of macarons from scratch as a skilled chef provides you with the assistance you need to overcome any of the challenges you encounter. Plus, you’ll have a plate of macarons to share at the end of the course.

To master authentic Neapolitan pizza, go straight to the source. If a trip to Italy isn't in the cards, a course at the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana classroom in Los Angeles is the next best thing. This international organization of master pizzaiolos offers a six-hour workshop that’s ideal for beginners. Learn the theory of pizza before trying your hand at preparing, leavening, stretching and cooking the dough. $590

Learn how to make classic Italian-style pizza in this Neapolitan pizza making course for two. Pizza is a great meal to share with friends (or to make for a romantic evening with someone special), so this two person cooking course is a great way to learn a new skill and share a new experience with someone close to you. You and your partner will get hands-on training making every element of the pizza, from the dough to the toppings and you’ll leave the class with your own finished pizza and a second ball of dough for you to give the recipe a try in your home kitchen.

A delicious, craft cocktail is the perfect compliment to any meal, whether it is a drink before dinner, a dessert cocktail or a chosen pairing for the main course. In this class, you’ll learn all of the foundational skills you need to start making your own delectable craft cocktails, while learning about the history of the drinks that make-up the menu, the paloma, gimlet, old fashioned, and martini. This is a great introduction to the science of mixology and an excellent course for anyone hoping to start making their own craft cocktails at home.

It has become more convenient and easier than ever to order food online, but with that ease comes a cost (literally, take-out gets real expensive real quick). If you want to save on the cost of take-out without sacrificing the quality and diversity of the food, consider enrolling in a course like this Pad Thai workshop. In this class, you’ll learn how to recreate the streets of Thailand in your own kitchen as you get hands-on experience preparing an authentic Pad Thai dinner from scratch, including noodles and sauces. You can even choose your own protein to make the dish vegan-friendly.

Another option for anyone looking to learn how to make their own pasta at home and move beyond the boxed store bought kind, this course will see you making fine, artisan ravioli. You’ll learn how to make handmade pasta (a skill which can be applied in a lot of other recipes as well) and to make a delicious filling (this class teaches fresh ricotta elevated with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, but the recipe is versatile), and you’ll get to cook and enjoy your own pasta alongside a Romesco sauce that you make as your pasta is being prepared.

If you want to spend a romantic evening over a delicious, handmade meal, this pasta making class might be an ideal option for you and your partner. You and a guest will spend a fun (and/or romantic) evening learning how to make pasta from scratch (you’ll be making fettuccine) and a pesto sauce to accompany your pasta creation. The skills you learn in this class can help you make virtually any kind of pasta, since once you know the basics of making pasta dough, everything else will come relatively easily.

Paella has become something of a trendy meal in the last few years as more and more restaurants are offering cost effective servings of this traditional Spanish delicacy. This dish is made of rice, saffron and a whole host of different proteins, vegetables and other spices, cooked over an open fire and it offers a great deal of customizability (with shrimp, mussels, chorizo and aromatic vegetables being particularly popular additions). You’ll learn how to prepare the rice, the proteins and the aromatics and you’ll leave the course with a fully cooked Paella to share (since Paella is traditionally served as a family meal).

Empanadas are a staple of a host of different Latin American culinary traditions, with subtle regional variations composing the dish’s complex history. In this class, you and the rest of your class will spend a fun evening making Argentinian empanadas, which have been a staple of the cuisine since the 16th century. You will learn to make the dough to then fill with the Chef's recipe featuring ground beef and spices, as well as a savory Mushroom, Kale and Smashed Potato filling, before sealing the edges off to be baked to a flaky, golden perfection. Vegetarian options are also available.

Gnocchi, a kind of potato-pasta that is one of the most famous Tuscan dishes, is a great meal to learn how to prepare if you are interested in expanding your culinary palette and learning how to explore multicultural cuisines. In this class, a professional chef will guide you through everything from preparing the potatoes for the dough to cooking the gnocchi to a crispy perfect brown. By the end of the class, you’ll have made a perfect Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Parmesan and a Gnocchi alla Romana with Blistered Tomato and Braised Greens.

Mmm…donuts. Donuts are one of the tastiest and most customizable pastry treats around and if you want to swap premade Dunkin that has been sitting around for several hours for fresh, delicious donuts, consider enrolling in this aptly titled course. In this course, you’ll experience the breadth of different kinds of donuts available to you as you learn how to prepare traditional glazed donuts, apple cider donuts, jelly-filled donuts and even donut holes. You’ll leave the class with your own box of freshly baked donuts to enjoy and share and you’ll have all the training you need to reproduce any of these treats in your home kitchen.

L.A.’s own Eataly is one stunning ode to Italian cuisine, occupying more that 60,000 square feet at the corner of the Westfield Century City. Cooking classes vary from intensive pasta making, a Neapolitan-style pizza party, comforting winter risotto, a focus on gnocchi, the Italian secondi Milanese style and classic dishes from North to South. Learn about the cultural origins of each dish, picking the perfect ingredients and cooking and flavoring techniques, all while sipping on a complimentary glass of wine. Go forth and mangiare.