If you prefer to learn to cook from a real person (even if that’s online), then there are good courses you can take. That way you can always knock up something tasty from whatever’s in your cupboard or fridge, even if you don’t have a set recipe to hand.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets.
Online Courses from Vegan Chefs
The Vegan Chef School offers a course for home cooks that takes around 3 months, and a Vegan Diploma for professional cooks that includes scaling recipes, adapting for allergies, designing and pricing menus, and plating skills. Above is Day’s recipe for mushroom scallops, below is her goose-friendly ‘faux gras!’
Plus info on adhering to Food Standard Agency guidelines. Graduates receive a certificate, to show to employers. There are also online courses on vegan nutrition and photography, to help elevate your foodie business.
Founder Chef Day Radley was surprised on qualifying as a chef to find ‘grumpy tetchy chefs barking at each other’, with no love for the food they were producing (and they also could not care about cross-contamination for vegans).
She believes that’s because most were boys of 16 asked to choose between being a mechanic, builder or chef, so simply chose the latter.
During the pandemic, she had to switch gears, and since then has taken her courses online to train over 100 vegan chefs worldwide.
Vegan cuisine will not have a great impact, unless we create great chefs. Chef Day Radley
All About Greens offers an accredited ‘cook like a pro’ course with 19 modules, teaching over 100 recipes by Michelin-trained chefs. Enjoy lifetime access and gain confident to cook at home or professionally.
You also get an accredited certificate on graduation. Above is their orange ginger steamed pudding.
The course includes how to make:
- Stocks, Soups & Sauces
- Dressings, Dips & Salsas
- Stews & Batters
- Pastry, Pasta & Bread
- Tofu & Tempeh Recipes
- No-Egg Dishes
- Cakes & Bakes
Affordable Vegan Cooking Class (Europe)
Vegan Academy offers affordable online courses from continental Europe (above is one of the chef’s redcurrant cake recipes. The courses (which include certificates on graduation) include:
- Street Food
- Taste & Texture
- Italian Food
- Vegan Pastry
Learn to Cook Seitan (an online course)
The Ultimate Vegan Kitchen is a fun online course by a US cookbook author, to show you how to create seitan meats. These are wheat-meats that look and taste like meat (sounds like Satan, tastes like Heaven!), but can be a bit complicated to learn.
Above is a before-and-after photo from a student.
A Social Enterprise Cooking School (London)
Made in Hackney (London) is a social enterprise that hosts affordable cooking classes to local people (from youngsters to seniors).
Proceeds raised help fund their free cookery classes and Global Plant Kitchens (an online toolkit to help communities worldwide set up something similar.
I thought vegan meant eating rabbit food. I never realised how tasty it could all be. I’m a changed man! Or a plant-powered man now. Fred
This organisation offers a whole host of classes, some very unique including:
- Plant-based French cooking
- Zero Waste Meals
- Dinner Party Essentials
- Fermented Foods
- Czech Easter Feast!
- Budget-Friendly Cooking
- Soups with No-Knead Breads
- Ethiopian or Turkish Recipes
Made in Hackney also offers a ‘weekly cooking for your community’ class, where you’ll learn how to prepare 200 portions of healthy plant-based food for local people.
Many of the volunteers here, have gone on to find paid work in the food industry.
We Cook Plants is the cookbook just released by Made in Hackney! Written by the founder, this colourful book distils 12 years of experience to teach anyone how to cook, no matter where you live. The 100 mouth-watering recipes include:
- Chipotle Mushroom Tacos
- Brazilian Feijoada
- Mango Kombucha
- Chocolate & Black Bean Pudding
Vegan Cooking Classes (near Malvern Hills)
Our Lizzy (Worcestershire) offers cooking classes with bed-and-breakfast accommodation near the Malvern Hills (so you can walk your dinner off, after making it!)
Prices include tuition, ingredients and a recipe booklet. The day courses include:
- Street Food
- Greek Mezze
- Mexican Morning
- Taste of Thailand
- Cooking with Wild Garlic
- Dairy Free Desserts
- Picnics & Packed Lunches
- Bread-Making
Membership Online Vegan Cooking Classes
If you prefer to learn to cook from a real person (even if that’s online), then there are good courses you can take. That way you can always knock up something tasty from whatever’s in your cupboard or fridge, even if you don’t have a set recipe to hand.
Veecoco (Germany) is a membership site, run by two brothers, who work with the world’s best chefs and teachers. Take a free free 7-day trial, then get access to over 800 lessons from 23 courses.
The courses include:
- Vegan Pastry Essentials
- Classic Italian
- Brunch Recipes
- Raw Food Fundamentals
- Authentic Thai or Japanese Meals
- Vegan Cheese & Desserts
- Swiss Chocolate & Sweets
Brownble offers wonderful membership cooking classes, with new content added weekly. The founder’s medically-trained husband ensures everything is nutritious.
Learn how to cook without a recipe, knife skills, how to replace dairy/eggs, and how to make vegan cheeses and holiday dishes. A portion of profits are donated to farm sanctuaries and plant-based food charities. The course includes:
- Organising your kitchen
- How to batch-cook recipes
- Master knife skills & cooking techniques
- Shopping & meal planning systems
- The 5 French ‘mother sauces’
- Cooking with tempeh & seitan
- Learn to bake bread
- Cooking for the holidays
- Homemade vegan cheeses
- Classic vegan breakfast favourites
Plant Academy: Tiered Online Classes for Chefs
Plant Academy offers three tiered online classes, from a chef who has worked at Leith’s and other top cooking schools. The courses include:
Plant One covers all the basics including finding flavour, artistic plating and food styling. You’ll learn about:
- Knife skills, stocks and basics
- Nuts, seeds and creams
- Fermentation
- Plant-based desserts and baking
Plant Two includes:
- Zero waste cooking
- Cooking from market ingredients
- Cooking with sea salt and seaweed
If you can’t afford the online courses, buy the book instead!
