Top 10 Free Online Cooking Courses With Certificates 2025

Bolstering one's cooking techniques and culinary skills can be both useful and enjoyable. It helps you prepare tastier and more wholesome food from cooking genres you haven't tried.

While not everyone has the time or resources to attend a master chef school, there are alternative ways for home cooks to master the fundamentals, comprehend the science of cooking, and create marvelous dishes from various cooking styles. Below, we'll discuss how to find free online cooking courses with certificate options upon completion.

Are There Free Online Cooking Courses?

Yes, there are plenty of free online cooking courses that offer step-by-step coaching and tutorials to help you learn culinary techniques at your own pace. Some dedicated cooking courses even offer free cooking certificates online, just in case you want to apply your love of cooking to beginning a new food business.

Do Free Online Cooking Courses Include Certificates?

Many platforms offer a free cooking certificate online, which sometimes costs more than just the regular course. A cooking certificate course does not cost a fortune, however. We'll show you a few convenient resources for finding courses and certification in our list of cooking schools below.

What Will I Learn in a Free Cooking Course?

Cooking courses are a great place for beginner and intermediate learners to learn the basics of food safety, measuring ingredients, portioning, refrigerating and storing, knife skills, how to read cookbooks, and just about anything else related to outstanding meal preparation. Many beginners take these courses to learn about a specific culinary style, such as Italian cooking, Indian cooking, cake decorating, plant-based cooking, and more. You don't have to enroll in an expensive culinary school to learn a lot about this important and practical skill.

Top Free Online Cooking Courses and Certificates

Here are a few cooking courses you should consider if you are curious to learn more. This section will explain each program, mention the costs involved (if any), how long each course lasts, and whether a digital certificate comes with it.

1. Online Gourmet Cooking Certificate - Penn Foster

Penn Foster has an online gourmet cooking course, including a certificate after three months of learning how to prepare and serve exceptional meals. The course covers diverse foods, such as chateaubriand, garde manger, full breakfasts, and sesame shiitake noodles.

• Cost: $829
• Program length: Three months
• Certificate included: Yes

2. Online Cooking & Baking Course - Upskillist

Upskillist has an affordable online cooking and baking course, which you can begin as a free trial. This four-week course teaches you how to read recipes, weigh and portion items, knife skills, and many other baking/cooking procedures.

• Cost: $39.99
• Program length: Four weeks
• Certificate included: Yes

3. Free Online Cooking Classes - Institute of Culinary Education

The Institute of Culinary Education offers free online cooking classes for six specific baking steps: whipping, folding, emulsifying, freezing, laminating, and caramelizing. Chef-instructor Kierin Baldwin takes beginner bakers through each step through easy-to-follow online videos.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: Six free events (evening online courses)
• Certificate included: No

4. Homemade Cooking Classes

Homemade Cooking Classes provides free one-hour cooking classes multiple times a week in the afternoons. This includes rotating cooking topics like Meal Prep 101, Black Forest Sheet Cake, and other specific dishes and techniques.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: One hour
• Certificate included: No

5. Free Online Culinary Course - Cursa

Cursa provides over 30 free online cooking courses, which are helpful for learning everything from Indian cooking and BBQ to meat preparation and cocktail mixing. Depending on the topic complexity, courses can be as short as 20 minutes or last for over two hours.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: 20 minutes to three hours
• Certificate included: No

6. Free Online Cooking Courses - Alison

Alison offers 24 cooking courses with digital certificates. These free classes cover almost every essential element of gastronomy, including meat and seafood, food hygiene, practical chef skills, cheese making, Italian cooking, foraging, and baking sourdough bread.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: Two to six hours
• Certificate included: Yes

7. Free Online Culinary Classes - Unilever Food Solutions

Unilever Food Solutions has free micro cooking courses, which demonstrate cooking techniques in less than two minutes. This is an ideal approach for semi-experienced cooks who wish to learn a quick trick or two without spending time on longer cooking courses.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: Two minutes
• Certificate included: No

8. Best Cooking Courses & Certificates - Coursera

Coursera offers dozens of cooking courses and certificates, usually lasting a few weeks or up to three months. Course topics include Cooking for Busy Healthy People, Child Nutrition and Cooking, Food and Wine Pairing, and The Science of Gastronomy.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: Four weeks to three months
• Certificate included: Yes

9. Free Online Cooking Courses - Swad Institute

The Swad Institute has several chef demonstrators who teach you how to prepare exquisite cuisines and treats, such as South Indian, ice cream making, quick soups, and party recipes. If you enjoy the free tutorials, this team of chefs also offers low-priced workshops for more in-depth training.

• Cost: Free
• Program length: Two to four hours
• Certificate included: Yes

10. Free Cooking Courses & Tutorials - Udemy

Udemy has a mix of free and premium courses on a range of fun cooking subjects, taught by several chef instructors. Certificates are available for the longer premium classes, which also offer more student interaction with the instructor.

• Cost: Free and premium courses (less than $20 each)
• Program length: 30 minutes to two hours
• Certificate included: Yes (premium courses only)

How We Select Free Cooking Courses

Here's how we selected these free online cooking classes. Our list includes free or low-cost programs, which offer great value and optional certifications.

• Program cost: These classes are either free or cost less than $1,000 to complete.
• Program value: We selected courses with a solid reputation for offering accurate and user-friendly content.
• Certification options: We tried to include free online cooking classes with certifications included.

FAQs About Free Cooking Certificates Online

Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) from prospective cooking enthusiasts about free cooking courses and certificates. This section addresses how long these courses usually take, which ones are the best, and the advantages of taking them.

How Can I Learn Cooking Online for Free?

There are numerous ways to hone your cooking skills while watching a YouTube channel or reading a recipe on social media. However, you can accomplish this task faster (and more effectively) by taking a quick class to learn specific cooking techniques from an expert. This won't guarantee you a job as a master chef immediately, but it has helped many folks improve their cooking skills.

Can I Learn Cooking in Three Months?

This may depend on your goals and expectations. If you desire to learn basic and intermediate cooking skills, then yes, there are many training courses that can help you advance your culinary knowledge quickly. It may take somewhat longer to learn how to bake the fanciest cakes or prepare restaurant-quality entrees, though.

What Are the Best Free Online Courses for Cooking and Culinary Arts?

We listed 10 solid options, which cost very little to enroll. Coursera and Alison are among the most popular course vendors with experienced instructors and user-friendly tutorials for detailed recipes.

What Are the Benefits of Taking an Online Cooking Course?

Many course participants mention how fun, informative, and practical these courses are. While it's much more difficult to open a cookbook and prepare things from scratch by yourself, these courses include friendly instructors who know how to teach cooking topics and provide an entertaining experience altogether.

These cooking courses are also beneficial for someone who wants to become a professional chef and open a restaurant or some other food service business.

Where Can I Find Free Online Cooking Courses With a Certificate of Completion?

Some classes we mentioned offer an online cooking course with certificate options after finishing the free courses. These are great resume boosters, and digital certificates allow you to display your new skills on LinkedIn and other social media.

Discover Online Certificate Programs

You can learn about online courses, certificates, online degree programs, and more by using Learn.org. Check out everything else we offer, including everything from cooking classes and online coding boot camps to bachelor's degrees and professional doctorates.