Cooking Classes at Denver Restaurants
Go straight to the source of Denver’s best meals at these favorite local restaurants, which open their kitchens to students on a regular basis.
Bonanno Concepts Chef Cooking Series
Chef Frank Bonanno is one of Denver’s most famous culinary personalities, with multiple establishments under Bonanno Concepts and a Food Network Challenge championship to call his own. Bonanno Concepts hosts about 10 classes a year at its various restaurants, including how to make lobster mac n’ cheese (the winning recipe of the aforementioned challenge) at Mizuna. Each class offers the opportunity to learn from top chefs and ends in a three-course dinner with beer and wine pairings.
Rebel Bread Baking School
The new teaching kitchen at the beloved South Broadway bakery is your playground for mastering the art of sweet and savory baking. Guided by expert master bakers, these immersive three- to six-hour experiences take you deep into the craft, from perfectly puffed tortillas and crackly sourdough to golden pretzels, buttery croissants, towering layer cakes and bakery-worthy cookies.
Cattivella
Roll up your sleeves and dive into Cattivella’s cooking classes, lively two-hour, twice-monthly experiences inspired by the Italian expertise of acclaimed chef Elise Wiggins. From layering bubbling lasagna and frying up pillowy Italian donuts to curing house-made pancetta, you’ll learn the secrets behind the classics. (Our favorite? A pizza workshop where you make Neapolitan, New York and New Haven–style pies in one delicious, flour-dusted dream of a class.) Come ready to cook, taste, laugh and leave with serious Italian cred.
Gourmet Cooking Classes in Denver
These folks are Denver’s most revered culinary gurus and mentors — and they’re ready to pass on their knowledge to you.
Create Kitchen & Bar
Located inside Stanley Marketplace, Create Kitchen & Bar is where community, culture and great food come together. From sizzling Korean BBQ feasts and pasta-making like a true Italian nonna to bold, flavor-packed Puerto Rican favorites, every class is designed to build your confidence in the kitchen while having a seriously good time. And anyone can drop by the bar for cocktails and wine, with or without a cooking class. Grab a glass, hang in the kitchen and make it a night out.
Cook Street School of Culinary Arts
This elegant and inviting downtown cooking school is so beautiful and well outfitted that you might find yourself drooling over the kitchen equipment and wood-fired oven before you even start with the food. For both the home cook and those on a professional track, Cook Street classes are sure to pique your interest. From baking gourmet cookies to how to cook a holiday feast to lessons in beer, wine and spirits — there are dozens of options to choose from.
Uncorked Kitchen & Wine Bar
At this Centennial-based venue, the focus is on the journey of bringing a meal together in every aspect. You’ll be part student, part chef and part diner throughout your dining “event” (as they refer to their classes). Another big focus is on the accompanying wine, which is built in as part of the educational aspect. Uncorked Kitchen’s unique slant on cooking classes make them particularly fun and community-driven.
The Seasoned Chef
The Seasoned Chef is cleverly taking advantage of Denver’s exploding culinary scene by bringing the city’s top chefs into its classrooms. Or you can bring the classroom to your own kitchen with their in-home private cooking classes that can be built around regions, ingredients or even wine. Be extra brilliant and sign your children up for a fun, hands-on summer Kids Camp, where they’ll master safe, practical cooking skills and then become your own personal chef for the night.
Sur La Table
One of the most popular venues for Denver cooking classes, Sur La Table is way more than just a kitchen supply store with covetable culinary tools. Their gleaming, in-store kitchen welcomes you to express your inner Bobby Flay or Giada De Laurentiis with an ongoing selection of topics such as how to grill seafood to perfection, date night options, cast iron cooking, desserts and Italian- and French-inspired cuisine.
Stir Cooking School
This Highlands neighborhood school is in a lovely historic building and is open to all levels, from novices to professionals. Classes run two to three hours for a fun-filled, interactive experience and are offered on a variety of topics, including baking, gluten-free cooking, cocktail-making, date-night dishes, vegetarian food and international cuisine.
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts
This respected culinary institute, located in the foodie haven of nearby Boulder, offers a handful of courses for the casual cook each month. Try your hand at the cuisine of the Cote d’Azur, Indian cooking or date-night dishes — and know that your instructors at Escoffier are of the highest caliber.
Cooking Classes for Kids
Little ones love to stir, pour, pat, sift and generally make a mess in the kitchen. Many of the schools listed above offer cooking classes for kids — from The Seasoned Chef's Young Chefs series to Sur La Table’s Confident Cooking for Kids and Teens classes — and the following are specially designed for youngsters to foster healthy eating and life skills.
Children’s Museum of Denver Marsico Campus
Let your kiddo try their hand at being a chef with age-appropriate tools and fresh ingredients. Children’s Museum of Denver Marsico Campus offers free parent-child cooking classes, live demonstrations and paid workshops in The Teaching Kitchen.
Sticky Fingers Cooking
At Sticky Fingers Cooking, all cooking instructors share a lifetime love of cooking and a passion for cooking with kids. A great summer, spring, fall or winter break activity. Added bonus: you don't have to clean up afterwards.
