If you love to explore other cultures through food, you  must enroll in a cooking class while visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand. You don’t have to be a cooking pro to learn how to make some of Thailand’s top dishes at a Chiang Mai cooking class.

One of the top tourist activities is a cooking class in Chiang Mai. There’s no better way to experience the food culture than to participate in the making of the top dishes. During a class, you will tour a local food market with a pro to see and select all the ingredients you’ll need to make and taste the dishes on the menu.

The options include a taking a half day or full day Chiang Mai cooking class in the city or on a farm outside the city. There are many classes to choose from, so we’re going to break down the options for you here to make your decision a little easier to make.

Heading to Thailand? Read about the floating markets of Bangkok and see our Essential Travel Guide to Bangkok. You can pack out your itinerary with these great things to do in Bangkok.

Top Cooking Schools in Chiang Mai

Below are our favorite, and highly recommended, cooking classes in Chiang Mai. You can book these through the links we’ve given below (which are affiliate links for which we earn a small commission), or you can go directly to their websites to book.

What is a Chiang Mai Cooking Class Like?

Most of the cooking schools in Chiang Mai follow a similar format. Following your pickup, you will visit a local market to gather ingredients, then return to the cooking school to begin preparing your meal.

Depending on what length of class you choose, you will be making anywhere from 4-6 dishes. The dishes you can make vary from school to school and from lunch to dinner. In most cases, you’ll be given a menu of possible dishes, and you can select the ones you’d like to make for your courses.

At a good cooking school, the ratio of students to teachers is kept small so you can ask questions and receive personalized assistance. Good schools also have enough cooking station for each student, so you don’t have to share, unless you want to.

You will generally do all of your own chopping, rolling and frying. And when you’re done, you will be able to eat the fruits of your labor with your fellow students. It is not typical for a class to include alcohol, but you are often given the opportunity to buy or bring your own, if you wish.

How to Choose a Chiang Mai Cooking Class

When you start looking for a cooking class to take in Chiang Mai, you’ll find out that there are dozens available. Literally. Dozens. Look at their websites and you’ll start to feel like they’re all the same. How can you choose from dozens of similar classes, all with great 5-star ratings on Trip Advisor?

I’m not going to say that there’s one best class to choose. No matter what, you’ll have to pick between a few. That’s because there are different criteria to take into consideration. Each type of class has pros and cons. Which one you choose depends greatly on what you want to get out of the class.

So ask yourself these questions. Your answers will narrow down the choices quite a bit. We’ll go over each of these questions in more details below.

• How long do you want to spend at the cooking class?
• Do you want to stay in the city, or would you rather go outside of town to a farm?
• What is your budget?
• Where can you cook the dishes you want?
• Do you require a vegan or vegetarian cooking class?
• Do you want to go to the market to gather ingredients?

Once you have your preferences set, you can see our list of the top cooking classes in Chiang Mai below and find the one that suits your preferences.

Chiang Mai Cooking Class Length

There are full-day and half-day cooking courses. You’ll first need to choose which one suits you best. If you’re trying to fit this in with other activities during the day, you will want to choose a half-day class. You’ll also want to keep in mind that you’ll be eating all of the courses you make during the class.

So if you have a big dinner planned for the evening of your morning class, you’ll need to rework your schedule. You will go home absolutely full.

Below are the typical length and time frames for the various classes:

• Morning class begins at 9am, ends at 4pm; includes 6 courses.
• Half-Day class begins at 9am, ends at 1pm; includes 4 courses.
• Evening class begins at 3:30pm, ends at 8pm; includes 5 courses (no dessert).

City Class vs Farm Class

There are plenty of classes to take inside the city. These are easy to get to and don’t require extra driving to get there. You will typically walk to and from the closest market. The class will take place inside a house or apartment in the city.

The pros of a city class are close proximity, visiting a smaller local market without tourists, and typically a smaller class size due to space constraints.

The alternative to a city class is one that takes place in the countryside at a farm. You’ll be picked up from your local accommodations and driven to the market and the farm. Farm classes often have more people because there’s more space, but that doesn’t mean you won’t still get your own cooking station.

The pros of a farm class are that you’ll get to visit a working farm outside the city and have a chance to see some of the countryside. And you’ll get pick vegetables that are being grown on the property and are as fresh as it gets.

Cost of the Class

Prices for cooking classes in Chiang Mai vary, but you shouldn’t be spending any more than around 800-1200 Thai baht for any class. If you’re paying more than that, it’s overpriced. All of the popular and best cooking classes cost around that amount. That’s around $25-30 USD or £20-25.

If you want to book a private cooking class, you can expect to pay more. Depending on the number of people included in your private class, you might pay around 1000-1500 baht each for a half-day class.

Cook the Dishes You Want

Most schools have similar menus which include an appetizer, soup, curry paste, curry or main dish, noodle dish and dessert. If you want to learn to make something specific, like the Chiang Mai specialty Kao Soi, you’ll have to search the menus for a class that offers it.

Most of the menus feature Thai favorites like Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Som Tom, Tom Kha Gai and mango with sticky rice, among others.

Some of the dishes you can make:

Vegan & Vegetarian Options

If you need a vegan or vegetarian menu at your Chiang Mai cooking class, there are two ways to go about it. You can either go to a school that is dedicated vegan/vegetarian, or you can  pick a school that offers a special menu.

Often, the special menu has plenty of choices and that will be good enough. However, it’s wise to check with the school about things like fish sauce and cooking oil, as those ingredients are not vegan/vegetarian friendly.

Visiting the Farmer’s Market

Most of the cooking schools visit a local farmer’s market for the ingredients to the dishes you’ll be making. There are markets all over Chiang Mai, so you won’t be visiting the major tourist markets, you’ll be visiting the local market near to the school location. This gives a unique opportunity to see the local markets and to learn more about the ingredients from the chef as you walk around.

If you’d rather not visit the local market, you can book a private cooking class and let them know your preferences. Thai Akha’s evening class also does not include a market tour.

The farm class visits the local market and then includes a walk around the farm to see the vegetables and plants that are growing there.

Tours to Book:

CONCLUSION

A reason the reviews are always so high for the cooking schools on Trip Advisor is that they’re great fun and a very rewarding experience. If you’re on the fence about whether to do it, you should. Taking a cooking class in Chiang Mai will be one of the best memories.

Of course, sometimes it’s just easier to eat out in Chiang Mai and let someone else cook you amazing food. If that’s the route you take, check out this guide on where and what to eat in Chiang Mai.

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Laura Lynch

Laura Lynch, creator and writer of Savored Journeys, is an avid world traveler, certified wine expert, and international food specialist. She has written about travel and food for over 20 years and has visited over 75 countries. Her work has been published in numerous guidebooks, websites, and magazines.