6 Best Vegetarian Cooking Classes
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Table of Contents
Our Top Pick
Our top pick for the best vegetarian cooking classes are those provided by Veecoco.
They have a huge number of classes. All of which are taught by professional chefs and culinary experts.
People eat meat and think they will become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass.
Pino Caruso
Going vegetarian is one of the best things you can do for your health, for the planet, and, of course, for animal welfare. But, when you first cut meat out of your diet, it can be difficult to know what to replace it with.
Should you simply swap in a nut roast or vegan steak? Or make something else entirely?
Most of us have a few recipes that we have developed over the years. But cutting out meat is a pretty big dietary change. Cooking vegetarian meals doesn’t just mean you need to learn what else you can cook.
But you will also need to learn how to cook it, how to season it, and which foods will go with other ingredients and dishes.
This is where our favorite online vegetarian cooking classes come in. These classes will help you understand the basics of a vegetarian diet. But also help you to make delicious vegetarian meals.
Vegetarian Cooking Classes Lists
- Best Overall: Veecoco
- Best for Beginners: The Happy Pear
- Best for Aspiring Chefs: Food Future Institute
- Best for Desserts: Rouxbe: Vegan Desserts
- Best for Kids: The Tiny Green Chef Programme
- Best for Everyday: Forks Over Knives
Deep Dive Into Our Top Picks
1. Best Overall: Veecoco
Experience Level:
Course Length: 500+ classes within 16 courses.
Price: $297 one-time payment for 12-month access or $35 a month for 12 months.
Pros
- Allows for a free trial
- Huge number of classes
- Classes given by professional chefs and culinary experts
Cons
- No automatic renewal
Overview
This course is exceptionally exhaustive. It has over 500 lessons and 16 courses. These classes cover absolutely everything you could need for cooking.
This includes very basic skills to more advanced techniques. It is also available on an app, provides shopping lists, coursebooks and worksheets, and personalized feedback.
The lessons are all presented by professional chefs and culinary experts so you can be sure that you will be provided with the very best information. Veecoco also provides a free trial.
So, even if you’re not sure if this is the right course for you, it’s worth giving it a go!
Aims
As we have mentioned before, beginning a meat-free or plant-based diet can be difficult mostly because meat dishes often rely on the meat for the flavor.
When you then begin to cook meat-free and plant-based meals, it can be difficult to understand exactly how to season. It can also be difficult to know exactly what to cook.
Resolving this is one of the main aims of the Veecoco courses. They acknowledge that finding interesting and different meat-free and plant-based meals can be difficult if you’re not sure where to start.
Veecoco promises that these classes will help you to:
- Feel more confident
- Improve your cooking skills
- Enjoy flavorful food
- Treat your family and friends
- Feel vibrant and alive.
2. Best for Beginners: The Happy Pear
Experience Level: Beginner
Course Length:
Price: $180
Pros
- Includes live Q&As.
- Payment allows access for a whole year.
- Suitable for all skill levels but especially beginner.
Cons
- Only lasts one month (but can be accessed for a whole year).
Overview
This is an excellent module for beginners. It begins with very basic kitchen skills that would be useful for someone who has no cooking experience at all.
Often when looking for specific cooking classes, such as meat-free and plant-based, they will focus on the specifics needed for cooking certain recipes.
These classes, however, are designed for people who want to learn how to cook but just happen to have a meat-free or plant-based diet.
Aims
These classes promise to give you all the techniques you need to become a great meat-free cook. They will also provide you with all the knowledge you need to cook from scratch. This course doesn’t just teach you a few recipes.
It gives you the skills to choose your own ingredients. This is perfect if you’re trying to eat less meat but aren’t sure what other ingredients to incorporate as a replacement.
It also aims to provide you with all the knowledge you need regarding nutrition. When it comes to eating a meat-free or plant-based diet, the most common question you will receive is “But where do you get your protein?”.
These classes will tell you just how to get all the nutrients that you need for a healthy and balanced diet.
Cutting down on meat is one of the best things you can do for your health. This course aims to provide you with everything you need to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet.
3. Best for Aspiring Chefs: Food Future Institute
Experience Level: Advanced
Course Length: 200+ hours
Price: $350
Pros
- Includes coursework, exams, and a certificate of completion.
- Only suitable for those who already have advanced cooking skills.
- Classes can be taken at own pace.
Cons
- Requires investing a lot of time.
Overview
As you can tell from the name, these classes provide cutting edge information surrounding meat-free and plant-based eating.
Meat is becoming less and less popular and vegetarian and vegan diets are what the future holds. This will be amazing for the health of ourselves but also for the planet.
The price of these classes is another reason why it is best suited for someone truly dedicated to learning how to become an elite meat-free or plant-based cook. If you’re going to be investing this much money into classes, it needs to be for a serious reason.
You will also be investing quite a bit of your time into these classes too. The curriculum can be personalized to the student. And the one-time payment allows access for an entire year.
Aims
One of the main aims of these classes is to provide you with some incredibly innovative and modern ways of cooking. This is a culinary experience that will completely change up meat-free and plant-based food as you know it.
If you’re struggling to find a way to eat new and interesting foods and find yourself cooking the same dishes on rotation, then these classes are for you.
These classes will provide you with some very advanced techniques that will help you to, eventually, cook up your own meat-free or plant-based creations.
4. Best for Desserts: Rouxbe: Vegan Desserts
Experience Level: Intermediate
Course Length: ~100 hours. Self-paced but each class is only available for 90 days.
Price: $499.99 one-time payment.
Pros
- Focuses entirely on desserts.
- Includes very innovative and different recipes.
- Includes a free trial.
Cons
- Expensive
Overview
If you’re looking for something that will really challenge you, then these classes for vegan desserts are perfect. These classes are presented in 8 units with over 50 instructional techniques videos. These units include over 200 tasks and you will learn 90 recipes.
The price of these classes is quite a bit more expensive than most other classes available. But the price is justified by the exhaustive and specialized curriculum. But also due to the personalized tutor service.
This is a very unique feature. As is the personalized grading and a certificate of completion upon graduating. This is great if you already have a great deal of experience in cooking, especially with desserts and patisserie.
This is definitely not a course well-suited for beginners.
Aims
This course is great for someone who wants a challenge. But it is also best suited for someone who wants to invest not only their time but quite a bit of money as well.
As this course focuses on dairy-free and egg-free desserts, you will learn some truly unique skills.
If you have enjoyed cooking vegetarian foods but want to try something a little different, or perhaps just try a fun way to transition to a vegan diet, then these classes are perfect for you.
These classes will primarily focus on how to produce very standard desserts, such as pastries, chocolates, cookies, and pies. But they will be completely plant-based so you will be learning how to replace animal products in your favorite desserts.
5. Best for Kids: The Tiny Green Chef Programme
Experience Level: Very beginner
Course Length:
Price: $300
Pros
- Includes guidance on nutrition for both you and your child(ren).
- Teaches how to make healthy eating fun
- Includes meal-building templates for you and your child(ren) to create your own dishes.
Cons
- Only includes very healthy recipes.
Overview
A cookery class for young children might not be what you would expect to find on this list. But teaching young children how to eat a well-balanced and nutritious diet from a young age is so important.
As is teaching them how to cook from scratch. This will help them to avoid unhealthy foods and developing poor eating habits as they get older.
These classes provide the absolute basics for meat-free and plant-based cooking. It consists of 4 modules that contain a huge number of recipes. It also contains more than 30 simple step-by-step cooking lessons that your child(ren) can follow along with.
Aims
The primary aim of these classes is to provide both you and your child(ren) with the knowledge to create healthy and well-balanced meals. They will teach your child(ren) but also teach you how to teach your child(ren).
The classes are fun and include classes on kitchen safety, the basics of cooking, and how to create your own recipes.
These classes teach specific recipes but also the basics of cooking. These are classes for people who want their children to learn nutrition and how to have a healthy and balanced diet.
6. Best for Everyday: Forks Over Knives
Experience Level: Advanced
Course Length: 90 Days
Price: £349.99
Pros
- Classes led by professional chefs and culinary experts.
- Includes very specific classes for techniques and skills
- Choice of 2 courses
Cons
- Only available for 90 days
Overview
These classes are available in either The Essential Course or The Ultimate Course. The Ultimate Course includes more classes that focus on seasoning and working with ingredients such as grains and legumes.
The Essential Course, although more limited, still includes a great deal of information and classes. Forks Over Knives also has a focus on cutting and chopping techniques used by professional chefs.
But it also includes classes on more basic skills, such as cooking and steaming vegetables, and more general recipes.
Aims
As can be seen by the name, the focus of these classes is ethical as well as practical. These classes provide the best way to follow a meat-free and plant-based lifestyle.
Forks over Knives aims to provide you with some very specific skills. Even in The Ultimate Course, there is little information about the basics of cooking.
How to Choose The Best Vegetarian Cooking Classes
Basic Cooking Classes
When it comes to vegetarian cooking, the most difficult thing to learn is seasoning. Seasoning food is a natural instinct for some people. They can tell which ingredients go well with others. As well as which herbs and spices work best together.
But, for people without this instinct, seasoning is a skill that needs to be learned. If you have eaten meat for most of your life, you probably have several set meals that you know how to easily make.
Then, when you choose to go vegetarian or to just make more vegetarian meals, you have no idea how to season and cook a meal.
If this is you, then you absolutely need to focus on a basic vegetarian cooking class. These classes will get down to the absolute basics and allow you to learn everything from scratch.
Intermediate Cooking Classes
If you feel pretty confident about how to season foods and already have some cooking experience, then the best course for you is one that introduces you to specific ingredients.
Try looking for a class that offers simple recipes that you already know but with a few new things as well. You don’t want to sit through half the course being told things you already know, such as when to add the salt.
But watching someone make something that you already understand, but with a vegetarian twist, will help you to understand vegetarian cooking better.
Advanced Cooking Classes
If you already know how to whip up complex and delicious meals, then some of these classes might seem pretty beneath your skill level. But there are still some great options on this list that will allow you to perfect your skills.
Although the majority of vegetarian cooking classes are aimed at those who are just getting into vegetarianism, that doesn’t mean only new veggies need to learn how to cook.
If you have been a vegetarian for years but want to up your game, then an advanced class is for you.
Try to find something completely new and different. Look through the recipes but also make sure to check the experience level recommendations and the skills that you will learn.
If a course promises to tell you the best way to swap out steak or chicken in a roast, then skip it. If it tells you how to make a complex vegetarian pad thai that sounds completely different from anything you have tried before, then go for that one!
Vegan Cooking Classes
When looking for vegetarian cooking classes, you are more likely to come across vegan classes and recipes. This can be a little frustrating if you don’t yet want to cut out dairy and eggs from your diet. But don’t ignore them completely.
Veganism and plant-based eating have come on in leaps and bounds in just the past two or three years. People often assume vegans simply eat “rabbit food”.
But this definitely isn’t the case. If you’re looking for more of a challenge than just swapping out meat for a vegetable or plant-based alternative, then a class with vegan elements is definitely the way to go.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can vegetarians eat food cooked in meat?
This depends on the vegetarian you’re cooking for. But, generally, the answer is no. If a cooking course claims to be vegetarian but includes recipes that use animal fats, it is not a truly vegetarian recipe.
As a general rule, vegetarian food should not include any ingredients that have been brought about through the slaughter of an animal.
Which country has the best vegetarian food?
If you’re looking for a course that provides you with a specific national cuisine, you might be concerned that a lot of countries eat meat. But this isn’t necessarily the case. Vegetarianism is not nearly as modern as we think it is.
People who lived in Ancient Greece, including the famous mathematician Pythagoras, are said to have been vegetarian. So, if you’re concerned about finding vegetarian dishes, almost every culture has a dish that doesn’t include meat.
About the Author Jacob M.
Jacob has a background in finance and engineering. Outside of his day job, he is a lifelong learner, who enjoys reading, taking online courses, and writing about what he's learned.
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