10 Cooking Schools Across Utah for the Adventurous Foodie in You!
By Lynn Blamires Content Writer for My Local Utah
I am not a chef, but I like to cook. I have some recipes that friends and family request. While I am not an expert, I am a foodie. I lose interest in social events that don’t include some culinary refreshment. With these qualifications, I feel justified in having an adventure into Utah’s world of cuisine.
My adventure started with research into cooking classes. I can follow a recipe and produce satisfying results, but working with someone who knows what they are doing can produce some amazing outcomes. Those successful results add to the fun of cooking. I can improve a recipe by trial and error, but working with an expert speeds up the improvement process.
Here is what I learned about cooking classes. Some are on hold because of the pandemic, but others have learned to deal with the restrictions and are still able to hold classes:
Citrus Pear
Serving patrons in five states including nine locations in Utah, Citrus Pear offers in-person preparation classes, pick-up meal kits, and preassembled meals ready to go directly into your freezer. Being interested in the in-person classes, I focused on them.
Locally, they offer classes in North Salt Lake, Kaysville, and North Ogden. The Kaysville location is in-store at Bowman’s Market. In February, the meals on the menu include:
Cajun Chicken Pasta
Chicken Lime Tacos
Coconut Chicken Curry
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Honey Lime Ginger Pork
Lasagna Soup
Penne & Turkey Sausage
Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
Vegetable Beef Stew
In less than two hours, you will help cut, chop, pour, and mix your meals. You can choose to have ten large meals that will feed a family of from six to eight or twenty small meals that will feed three to four adults. The 20 small meals work out to be less than $11.00 each while the 10 large meals come out to just under $20.00 a piece.
Participants are instructed to bring at least a 48-quart size cooler to take their meals with them. The meals will store flat in plastic bags. Cards accompany the meals with instructions for preparation by pressure cooker or crockpot.
I have been in Bowman’s when these classes are in session – they are a beehive of activity. Registration and more information are available at www.citruspeardinners.com

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The Draper Home Lab
Each week, young students in the Home Lab culinary courses put the basics of cooking into action while preparing delicious recipes. Students learn to measure and weigh ingredients, use kitchen tools, and implement kitchen techniques such as sift, blend, cream, whisk, chop, and dice. At the beginning of the session, each student is given a cookbook with all the recipes for the upcoming session. All supplies are included with tuition. More information is available at www.draperhomelab.com.
Kids Cooking School - New Classes start in March
Adult Cooking Classes:
Birthday Parties to Date Nights
Call for availability
Classes are ongoing and cover a wide range of cooking skills and techniques. The new class start in March, click here to register at draperhomelab.com
Along with the cooking classes designed for kids, The Draper Home Lab hosts events for adults as well. From cooking parties, cutthroat kitchen style, to hosting team building events. Make your next party a cooking party. Adult classes and parties are by request. If you would like to book yours, visit draperhomelab.com/parties for more information.

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Harmons Neighborhood Grocer
While in-person classes have been suspended temporarily, on-line classes cover an attractive array of topics that will improve your culinary skills. Instead of a series of classes, Harmons offers specific courses to choose from.
Here are some examples:
Saturdays are for Baking
There’s something so comforting and satisfying about waking up on Saturday and baking. Whether it’s savory or sweet, for now, or later, the kitchen is the place to be on Saturday. They love sharing their favorite recipes for these types of weekend mornings. In this class Chef, Sage will share his famous Morning Buns with Icing and The World’s Best Buttermilk Biscuits. Chef Jake will demonstrate Classic Country Gravy with Sausage. After you get the basics with these recipes, you’ll want to spend every morning in the kitchen!
The price for this class is $50. The class is a zoom meeting taught by chefs from their Station Park store. The price includes an ingredient kit that has to be picked up from the store in Farmington. There is also an equipment list that will need to be gathered before the meeting and instructions for preparation.
Italian Countryside Comfort Food
Most people think of Italy as the land of pasta, tomatoes, and pizza. However, there’s another side to Italian cuisine that uses simple ingredients and techniques. It is through these recipes that one can find some delicious staples of the old country. Come cook along with Chefs Jake and Sage as they explore classic Italian flavors you can create at home.
Menu:
- Chicken Marsala
- Garlic Roasted Potatoes
- Seared Broccolini
- Cannoli and Cream
Secrets to a perfect steak
Join us for this informative live online class to learn the secrets to searing steak perfectly every time. Chef Casey will explain the science of searing from the Maillard reaction, to carry over cooking, to know how much seasoning to add. We will talk about Wagyu beef and what makes it so amazing and create some sides to complete the meal. After this class, you will no longer feel intimidated by a steak, but confident that you will become a master.
Menu:
- Seared Wagyu Steak with Pomegranate Mushroom Pan Sauce
- Charred Carrots with Garlic Herbed Butter
- Creamy Parmesan Polenta
As with all Harmon’s classes, there is a kit to be picked up from the Station Park store.
Prices and locations can be found on the Harmon website.

Salt Lake Culinary Education
Salt Lake Culinary Education offers recreational cooking classes. Learn to cook from the convenience of your home, Salt Lake Culinary online cooking classes will provide you all the steps you need to make that happen. With access to professional chefs in Salt Lake City, you will be able to improve your cooking skills while still staying in your home.
Each plan provides full access to their growing library of online classes, with new videos added each month. You’ll also be invited to monthly live zoom classes, get access to emails for questions to their chefs, and receive our exclusive monthly newsletter full of inspiring ideas, tested recipes, food news, and cooking challenges. The plans consist of a monthly plan for $9.95, semi-annual for $49.95, and an annual plan for $94.95.
Date night classes are in person and create a fun experience in learning to cook together. The next date night class is on February 15 and involves cooking with fire. The menu includes:
Steak Diane Flambe
Lobster Mac & Brie Gratin
Roasted Vegetable
Crepes Suzette Flambe with Ice Cream
Learn the inside secrets of these culinary delights and sit down and enjoy them together.
The website displays a selection of skills to choose from including how to clarify butter, make handmade pasta, can homemade pickles, sharpen knives, make homemade tortillas, or grill the perfect steak. Visit their website at www.sliceutah.com.

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Spoon and Spatula Cooking School
Situated in Ogden on Skyline Drive, Spoon and Spatula is the life and love of Julia Green. Her love of children (she has two – three and one), has spilled over into her business. Kids seem to blossom under her tutelage as she offers classes during the week including Mommy and Me classes, Kids Cooking Camps, Weekly Kids Classes, and a Chef Advance Program. Much like the different levels of belts earned in karate, Julia advances children through a series of colored aprons from Dark Blue to graduation with a Black Chef’s Jacket.
Surprisingly, there is an even mix of boys and girls in her programs. However, adults are not left out – Julia teaches an adult class she calls A Boot Camp for Novice Cooks, an Advanced Cooking and baking class, a class on Crock-Pot Freezer Meals, and a Date Night cooking experience.
This last class provides time together to prepare and cook a romantic meal and then sit down and enjoy it together. Adult classes are held on Friday nights and Saturdays.
Her Crock Pot Freezer Meals class is two hours long during which time you will prepare ten meals from a choice of three sets of menus to enjoy throughout the month. You can choose between a 20 meal program featuring two servings of each menu item for $275 and a 10 meal program for $175 which will feed four to six people. Of the three menu lists to choose from, the one that appeals to me is listed as “C” and looks like this:
Honey Sesame Chicken
Kalua Pork
Shredded Beef Burritos
Beef Stroganoff
Baked Potato Soup
Country Chicken
Philly Steak Sandwiches
Chicken Tikka Masala
Ranch Pork Chops
Ziti with Sausage
Julia Green, a Utah native, is an avid lover of food and cooking. She learned her love of cooking from her family and has a reputation for describing family vacations by whatever amazing food they ate while they traveled. She has been professionally trained as both a chef and a teacher and taught culinary arts classes at multiple high schools, most recently Northridge High School, where she taught ProStart and trained two culinary teams who took fourth place in the state competition.
Find out more about Spoons and Spatulas at www.spoonandspatula.net

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Cozy Meal
From (online) cooking classes to chef-crafted meal prep delivery, Cozymeal offers choice culinary experiences for a variety of occasions.
The Cozymeal website is a delight to navigate and loaded with details on how to choose and experience a remarkable culinary event. They offer choices of thousands of experiences.
A large number of these classes are offered online in cities all over the country. Because they are online, you are not limited to Salt Lake City classes. The website details how you can choose a city and the type of experience you would like to have from cooking classes.
As you peruse the pages, you will note that each one provides you with information about the chef, the menu you will be preparing, the cost to book the class, a list of ingredients, and the equipment you will need to prepare the meal. I noticed that some of the chefs will be teaching the classes from the country in which the dishes originate.
Handmade Ravioli
Plant-Based Cooking Three-Week Series
The Perfect Skillet Steak
Indian Curry and Homemade Naan
Authentic Fettuccine and Ravioli
Galentine's Day PJ Brunch
Empanadas Two Ways
Vegan Jackfruit Tacos
The Science of Baking: Soufflés
And Many More...
In choosing the menu, you will become acquainted with the details of the class and have the opportunity to read reviews from people who have had the experience. All that remains is to pick a date that works for you and book the class.
Prices for the online classes are reasonable. With a few exceptions, most of the classes run $29 to $39 for a class that runs two hours or less.
Find more information on classes check here cozymeal.com

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Mindful Cuisine
Mindful Cuisine is a cooking and dining experience in beautiful Park City, Utah. Chef Linda Elbert is a native of California who with her New York husband, chose to turn their Park City summer home into a first-class cooking school.
Chef Linda also offers cooking and baking techniques in the comfort of your own kitchen. You will be guided through all the steps necessary to create delicious food at home. Cooks of all skills are welcome. Contact Chef Linda to create a class and book a date, classes typically run 90 minutes to two hours.
On-site classes are held in the Mindful Cuisine Kitchen, where you will have a hands-on cooking experience. Create a custom menu from a wide variety of choices. Not only will you experience a restaurant-quality meal, but you’ll have learned to make it again, at home!
Austrian Alpine Dinner
Italian Style!
French Farmhouse Dinner
Tapas-Style Dinner
Swedish Comfort Food
Italian Seafood Dinner
Winter Holiday Dinner
Gather and Graze: Dishes from the Mediterranean
And Many More...
Or Plan Your Own Menu
Class tuition varies according to the size of the group but runs from $90 to $135 per person. With your group, you will select an appetizer, a salad, an entree, a side dish, and a dessert. Start your adventure in cooking at mindfulcuisine.com.
Keep an eye out for their recipe blog as well for additional meals to try at home at mindfulcuisine.com/recipes

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The Baking Hive
The Baking Hive offers baking classes for children ages 4 – 14 and special classes for adults. Located in East Millcreek, Head Chef, Elisa Barber brings her skills learned in culinary school in Ireland and her experience in restaurants and bakeries in London back to her home town to share with the community.
The Baking Hive offers a one of a kind, hands-on bakery experience that can be enjoyed by all ages: from our Decorating Hive (where kids can drop into ice, top, and decorate their own cupcakes and cookies), to Kids’ Baking Classes, to Baking Birthday Parties, to Adult Baking Classes. Stop on by the bakery or call today to book yourself and/or your child in one of our fabulous baking classes!
Kids Baking Club
Weekly Delivery Boxes also Available
The bakery is located at 3362 South 2300 East. You can also visit their webpage at bakinghive.com where you can find contact information and plan your own baking experience.

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Sweet + Salty – Salt Lake City
Chef Katy grew up in a big Italian-American family where almost every occasion was marked by cooking and eating a big delicious meal. The memories of eating and sharing great food always stuck with her and helped her become certain that she wanted to make cooking her profession. So she enrolled in The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley and it was the best decision she ever made!
Soon after culinary school, she found work in several notable Southern California restaurants and bakeries where she gained the experience that has made her the chef she is today. Now, she lives in beautiful Utah, and through her work as a personal chef she happily shares her experience and love of cooking with her clients. “I believe there is nothing like sharing delicious food and the fun of creating a meal with others, and that is what Sweet+ Salty is all about.”
Personal Chef Services
Special Events
Dinner Parties
Private Cooking Classes
Chef Katy offers private cooking and baking classes with hands-on instruction for every recipe. Her classes include knife skills, kitchen organization, cooking techniques, and of course, eating! The instruction can be customized to suit your level of cooking skill as well as the types of cuisine you are interested in learning. Contact information can be found at www.sweetandsaltyslc.com.

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Classpop!
Classpop! offers the most fun and exciting cooking classes by connecting consumers with some of the nation’s top chefs offering fun and social cooking classes. Clasping a whisk in one hand and a drink in the other, guests enjoy a fun event while learning new culinary skills and techniques. Our cooking classes are suitable for everyone and no prior experience is needed to participate.
Join top chefs and people from around the world in your own kitchen! Classpop!’s fun and social culinary experiences are also online. From handmade pasta to gourmet pizza, create your favorite dishes during these live virtual cooking classes taught via Zoom while enjoying your favorite beverage with the help of entertaining, expert chefs. You’ll learn cooking tips, get step-by-step coaching, and you can ask as many questions as you want!
Plant-Based Jackfruit Tacos
Mandalorian-Themed Menu
BBQ and Bacon With a Southern Touch
French Crêpe Brunch
Homemade Polish Pierogi
Pizza New York - Style
Fundamentals of Focaccia
Singapore Date-Night Dishes
Perfectly Paired Sangria and Paelle
And Many More...
One class that appealed to me is the Fried and Fresh Spring Rolls from Vietnam and Thailand. Chef Josh takes you through the experience step-by-step in a two hour session. This class is being offered at a special price of $45, which is all-inclusive. Find more information at www.classpop.com.
