When I transitioned to a vegan diet back in 2015 I wish I had access to some of these incredible online vegan cooking classes. In an effort to make tasty plant-based food that I could show off to my non-vegan mates and family, I ended up cooking some hilariously bad dishes.
I could definitely have done with a helping hand. But, just because I learnt the hard way doesn’t mean you have to also. I know many people are serious about eating more plant-based food and they just don’t know where to begin. Most of us grew up in meat-eating households and weren’t given the tools and the know-how to make vegetables, legumes, and plant proteins taste good.
On top of this, vegan or not, we can all get a little stuck for inspiration sometimes. I have often found myself making the same dinner every evening and soon getting very bored with my own cooking, resorting to unhealthy takeaways and ready meals.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that online vegan cooking courses are really quite popular. And fortunately, there are actually quite a few of them that I consider to provide exceptional learning opportunities for keen cooks and plant-based aficionados.
So, if you too are tired of eating the same old veggies and pre-made sauces with pasta and rice, then you’ll absolutely love the learning opportunities that I am going to present to you below. I have made it my mission to try out all of the online vegan cooking classes that are available to purchase on the internet, and in this blog, I am going to present to you my top picks. There are no courses here that I wouldn’t recommend to my friends and family!
Here are my favourite online vegan cooking classes that are going to provide you with the best vegan cooking experience:
1. Forks Over Knives
- Includes: Knife skills, batch cooking, meal prepping, plant-based staples, flavour enhancing
- Access: Lifetime
- Cost: $39.99 to $249.99
- Gift option: Yes
You may recognise Forks Over Knives from their 2011 documentary. Since then they have been on a mission to make plant-based food more accessible. This cookery class tops my list of the best due to its wide range of plant-based cooking classes, cooking skills and vegan dishes to be learnt. You don’t need any prior cooking skill to get started as they will provide you with everything you need to know!
They have brought together world-renowned chefs to teach this 90-day online cooking course which shares 100+ recipes and teaches a whole range of skills from basic cooking techniques, to meal prepping and cooking without oil. You also get access to their online community and live Q&As.
I found their videos really easy to follow and the syllabus is extensive. So you really do get your money’s worth with their online vegan cooking classes! You can get started with their course at any time and you get access to all of the lessons and vegan recipes for life. Meaning you can take it at your own pace and come back to it to freshen up your skills at any time. Find out more about the course in my Forks Over Knives cooking course review.
2. Veecoco
- Includes: Sourdough making, world cuisines, pastry, raw food, fermented foods, & much more!
- Access: Monthly or yearly membership and lifetime access are available
- Cost: From $39.99 per month
- Gift option: Yes
Veecoco is a fully vegan online cooking school. They have a huge library of plant-based cooking courses taught by a wide range of professional chefs. They are my second favourite of all the vegan classes thanks to their really informative lessons and experienced chefs from around the world.
You can learn from a huge variety of cuisines, think vegan Korean, German, Italian, Thai, and Japanese (sushi and more), and hone in on your pastry and bread-making skills.
If you think this could be the perfect gift for the vegan foodie in your life, well, Veecoco actually offers digital gift cards which you can send to them. Learning vegan dishes from around the world makes for a pretty awesome gift – so take a look at their gift card offering here.
Unlike other cooking classes, they provide theirs on a membership basis with access to everything, perfect for ongoing learning! Find out more about them in my full Veecoco review.
Personally, I love coming back to their online vegan cooking platform regularly to learn new cuisines. It has the largest range of cuisines available in all of the cooking courses, and the best bit, they are all taught by chefs from around the world. Plus they are regularly adding new content for you to learn!
Get 50% off your Veecoco membership with code: LUCY
3. Rouxbe plant-based pro certification
- Includes: Food safety, knife skills, seasoning, cooking methods, fermentation, pasta making
- Access: Lifetime access
- Cost: $1799.99
- Gift option: Yes
Rouxbe is an online chef school that brings culinary school to your kitchen worktop. And thankfully, they have a fully plant-based certification offering also. The best bit is that it is a certified course with international recognition, which will look great on your CV and LinkedIn profile!
I love how in-depth they go on all of the subjects you need to know a lot about in order to become a chef. There are whole sections about knife skills, including how to pick the right knives, how to sharpen your knives, and how to cut with your knives.
They also teach you about food safety and hygiene. Helping you to correctly label your food, read and collect fridge and freezer temperatures, and keep yourself clean. These are all essential things to know when becoming a vegan chef.
On top of this, you’ll learn how to plan menus, flavour food, batch cook, use vegan alternatives, and much, much more. Find out more in my full Rouxbe Plant Based Pro review.
All of this means you don’t need to attend catering college, where you have to learn how to cook with animal-based products. Plus, it is a fraction of the cost!
4. The School of Natural Cookery
- Includes: Intuitive cooking, whole foods, living foods, kitchen setup, and chef courses
- Access: 9 – 18 months of access based on program choice
- Cost: $890+
- Gift option: Yes
If you are looking to learn lifelong skills that will help you to create your own dishes using healthy whole foods ingredients, then The School of Natural Cookery’s online course is for you. They have a different way of doing things, as they want you to learn how to cook intuitively. Meaning you’ll focus less on copying recipes, and more on learning how to create your own healthy recipes from scratch.
Included in their core essentials course are lessons on intuitive cooking, kitchen setup, cooking skills, nutrition, and making the most out of whole foods. On top of this, they have additional lessons which are included in their complete course (or you can purchase them individually) which take you through vegan proteins like tofu and tempeh, vegan desserts, living food, and bread making.
It is a very thorough vegan cookery school that will provide you with the know-how on stocking your kitchen with the right ingredients and cooking nutritious whole foods. If you are looking to take it one step further, they also have an online vegan chef course, but it is the most expensive one I’ve found so far.
Their courses are done through independent study but they do include a coaching session.
5. Brownble’s Melt
- Includes: Culturing, fermentation, ageing, easy vegan cheeses
- Access: Lifetime access
- Cost: $119
- Gift option: Yes
Brownble is an online vegan course platform led by Kim, a teacher, and Carlos, a medical doctor. They are both avid cooks and long-term vegans. Over the years they have built an enormous vegan recipe library on Brownble alongside a series of courses.
My favourite is their vegan cheese course, Melt. It has a large selection of plant-based cheese recipes, perfect for all the cheese lovers out there. Their videos are all beautifully shot and are some of the easiest to follow along with. They feel intuitive and fun.
I also love how easy it is to get in contact with the instructors. Throughout the videos, you can add your comments to the comments box and an instructor will get back to you. This is really useful, especially when it comes to difficult tasks like learning how to make vegan cheese!
Overall, I find their online vegan cheese course has a really good range of vegan cheeses to learn. It covers all the bases, including stretchy melty cheeses like mozzarella, and cheeses with a rind, like camembert.
6. Rouxbe essential vegan desserts course
- Includes: Pastry, mousse, bread, glazes, cakes
- Access: Lifetime access
- Cost: $499.99
- Gift option: Yes
Do you love baking? Are you interested in finding out how to veganise your favourite bakes? Or do you want to increase your vegan dessert repertoire? Then look no further than this fully dedicated plant-based dessert class. It is taught by a vegan pastry chef, Fran Costigan, who spent many years working in the pastry section in kitchens before publishing her own cookbooks and becoming an online vegan cooking instructor.
With Fran, you can learn how to replace egg and dairy, how to use gels and thickeners, and how to create pastry and dough from scratch. You will learn how to bake vegan cakes, cookies, tarts, mousses, and much more.
You also get access to instructors, for any support needs. And you get a certificate upon completion. Making it perfect for any vegan pastry chef wannabe. That being said, you don’t have to want to make vegan baking your career to do this course. You can get a lot from this course even if you just love to bake in your kitchen at home.
I love how it starts off by helping you set up your kitchen and to learn the essentials before covering key vegan baking ingredients and how they function. After this, you go on to baking delicious pastries, cakes, bread and more.
7. Food Future Institute
- Includes: Raw food, pasta, smoking food, gluten-free, menu planning
- Access: Lifetime access
- Cost: From $300
- Gift option: No
Food Future Institute (FFI) is Matthew Kenney’s online plant-based cooking school. He is a world-renowned vegan chef with hundreds of plant-based restaurants scattered around the world. You may recognise him from the Netflix documentary Bad Vegan. His cooking style is fine dining with elements of raw food.
If you are lucky enough to have eaten in one of his vegan fine dining restaurants, like Adesse in London, then you’ll know just how delicious his food is. So it is very exciting that you can learn from this through his online vegan cooking course platform, Food Future Institute.
He offers two courses, one for home cooks and another for professionals. They are both chef-driven, so expect technical dishes and exciting plating opportunities. Like many of the other courses, they cover basic kitchen skills as well as learning to cook for dietary preferences like gluten-free. If online isn’t enough for you, Food Future Institute also has in-person courses in California.
8. Leiths
- Includes: Plant-based brunch, roast dinner, street food, Italian food, and healthy dishes
- Access: For 6 months
- Cost: £295
- Gift option: No
Leiths is something of an institution in the UK. Many great chefs started out in their cookery school in London. In more recent years they have developed their online learning platform which is one of the cleanest and most intuitive I’ve seen yet!
It is worth noting though, that Leiths is not a vegan cooking school, but they do have a very well-designed plant-based cookery course that will allow you to tap into the knowledge of these experienced chefs.
Their course is somewhat different to many of the other ones I have included in this article, that is because it is more of a one-off learning experience. They have split it across 6 weeks with 3 hours of cooking time each week. You will have virtual classmates and one-on-one support from a Leiths chef. You will still be able to access the course content for another 6 months though. Meaning you can come back and refresh your knowledge in that time.
There are no classes spent learning specific skills, meaning you can get straight into cooking. This includes lessons on plant-based brunch, street food, and roast dinners. Giving you all the basic knowledge of cooking your favourite foods, but vegan, as well as learning new cuisines.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some frequently asked questions regarding learning to cook through online vegan cooking courses. I have drawn upon my own experiences and research to answer all of these.
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