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Immersing yourself in Paris’s food scene is one of the best activities to do while visiting this gastronomic city. We can certainly recommend visiting local food markets and dining in great restaurants, but if you’d really like to get an insider experience of French food, you might like to take a cooking class. There’s a lot on offer, so we’ve come up with a curated selection of the best cooking classes in Paris, including kid-friendly classes and ranging from learning how to make baguettes and croissants to full-course French meals. Bon appetit!

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(WA = Wheelchair Accessible)

Best Cooking Classes to Take while in Paris - Baguette Making

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Learn how to make a baguette at a real bakery 

This 2-hour experience grants you “behind-the-counter” access at a family-run bakery where you’ll learn how to make a true French baguette. Your professional baker and teacher will give you valuable tips and techniques on making the perfect baguette. You’ll also learn how to make and shape croissants. Once you’re finished baking, you’ll sample your fresh-out-of-the-oven bread goods and leave with recipes so you can perfect the art of baguette-making back home.

Reserve a Baguette-Making Class in Paris | 11th Arrondissement

Best Cooking Classes to Take while in Paris - Croissant Making

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Make your own breakfast of croissants and pains au chocolat in a professional kitchen

France is famous for its pastries and there is a special category just for breakfast pastries, viennoiseries, among which are croissants and pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants). If you’d like to learn how to make these flaky delights, then join this class, which is among the best croissant baking classes in Paris. Held in a professional kitchen in central Paris, your professional chef instructor will provide you with clear step-by-step instructions on how to make laminated dough, which is used for these breakfast pastries. The small-group setting allows you to ask questions and garner the best secrets to the techniques required. Of course, the class finishes with tasting the fruits of your labor! 

Book a Small-Group Croissant-Making Class in Paris | 3rd Arrondissement | WA

Best Cooking Classes to Take while in Paris - Cooking Class

Visit a French food market and cook a classic French lunch 

One of the best cooking classes in Paris, these small-group lessons offer a comprehensive introduction to French food and dining habits. Taking place in the Latin Quarter, your experience begins by visiting a local open-air market where you’ll pick out supplies for your class. Returning to the nearby school, you’ll don aprons to prepare a multi-course lunch, guided by a friendly French chef and a vivid storyteller. You’ll learn to cook using classic French techniques and then savor your delicious creations in a relaxed setting accompanied by French wine.

Join a Paris Cooking Class and Market Tour with Lunch | 5th Arrondissement

Best Cooking Classes to Take while in Paris - Pastry Making

Learn how to make Marie-Antoinette-inspired French pastries 

Visitors with a sweet tooth might prefer to take this delectable experience focused on French pastries inspired by Marie Antoinette. Held in one of the best cooking schools in Paris, your qualified chef will teach you to make decadent treats worthy of a queen, which you’ll sample at the end over champagne. The 4-hour class includes a 20-minute tea or champagne break, during which you can try on period wigs, which takes you virtually back in time to Marie-Antoinette’s era at Versailles and which makes for a fun group photo.

Book a French Pâtisserie Class in Paris – Marie Antoinette style | 18th Arrondissement

This is an image of a man sitting in front of a selection of homemade cheeses smiling proudly.

Image Courtesy of Get Your Guide

Discover the ins and outs of French cheese-making 

Cheese is another very popular French food item and this unique class offers you the chance to make your fromage – right in Paris! The class begins with learning about the different varieties of French cheese, followed by a visit to a cheese-aging cellar. You’ll then learn how to make a “tomme fraiche”, a type of fresh medium soft cheese, and artisanal butter. After the workshop, you’ll then get to try your creamy creations over a glass of French wine.

Book a Paris Cheesemaking Workshop | 10th Arrondissement

This is an image of a few people cooking together with glasses of wine.

Prepare and sample Parisian hors d’oeuvres during a apéritif class 

Another top Paris cooking school, among La Cuisine’s line-up of classes, is this unique, very Parisian experience. Held mid-afternoon, the 3-hour class teaches you all about Paris apéritif – before dinner drinks and nibbles – which is perhaps the favorite time of day for Parisians. Your professional chef-instructor will teach you how to make typical French hors d’oeuvres, such as gougères cheese puffs, as well as French mayonnaise and presentation skills which you can then show off to your friends back at home. You’ll end the class by indulging in your own authentic apéro of dainty snacks over a special bubbly apéritif drink.

Book a French Hors d’Oeuvres & Drinks Class | 4th Arrondissement

This is an image of two girls piping macaron filling on to a baking tray.

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Perfect the art of making Macarons with a Parisian chef  

This 3-hour French pastry class in Paris is held in a real Parisian apartment and focuses on one of France’s most famous desserts: le macaron. Instructed by a professional pastry chef, you’ll learn how to prepare the delicate meringue cookie and creamy filling, using the recipe of famous French pastry chef and king of macarons, Pierre Hermé. You’ll make two flavors and use cooking equipment found in most home kitchens, so you’ll be able to easily recreate the recipe back home. At the end, you’ll leave with a box of your own macarons.

Book a Macarons Small Group French Cooking Class with a Parisian Chef | Central Arrondissement

This is two kids putting muffin trays into baking tins.

Enjoy some family fun during a kid’s baking class 

This family dessert class is a wonderful way to introduce kids to French food. Suitable for children aged six to 12 (plus an accompanying adult), you’ll learn the basics of certain classic French desserts, cakes, and tarts – which are much easier to make than you might think! The class adapts to the seasons and might include crème brûlée, seasonal fruit tart, chocolate tea cake, or Eiffel Tower cookies. It’s a fun and interactive experience as well as a bonding experience for parents and children.

Book a Kid’s Baking Class in Paris | 18th Arrondissement

After checking out our selection of the best cooking classes in Paris, are you looking for other food and wine experiences in Paris? Read these articles next: 

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Lily Heise

A long-time Paris resident, Lily Heise is a travel writer whose work has been in Condé Nast Traveler, Huff Post, Fodor’s, AFAR, and Frommer’s, among others. When she’s not uncovering the city’s best secrets, she can be found on a Parisian café terrasse or traveling the globe.

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