Budapest is a hedonist’s capital where food and pleasure go hand in hand, but sometimes you might want to delve into the culinary scene with a hand’s on experience. What better way than a cooking class! We’re not talking about going back to basics and learning how to boil an egg, but rather how to make a mean Chicken Paprikás or a gourmet vegan feast. Check out some of these culinary classes to turn yourself into the next Master Chef.

Hungarian classics When in Rome, or rather when in Budapest, you might want to delve into the local cuisine and recreate some famous classic Hungarian dishes at home. Culinary Hungary offer not only the chance to hone your skills at creating a 3-course meal dripping in paprika, but also offer the option to explore the Central Market Hall, where you’ll buy your own ingredients completely fresh before learning to cook with them!

For a different experience, Kitchen Pixie, a private dining venue in Budapest, offers a slightly different culinary experience. While they offer classes where you’ll learn how to cook iconic Hungarian dishes such as Goulash and Hortobágyi Pancakes, they also specialise in Hungarian-Jewish cuisine. If you’ve ever wanted to learn to cook a good Matzo Ball soup, this is the place!

Back to bakingBudapest is full of mouth-watering pastry shops called "cukrászda" and you might be hankering to make your own Dobos Cake at home. Taste Hungary mostly specialises in culinary walking tours, but this baking class will clue you into the secrets of the Hungarian pastry kitchen. The class is held in one of Budapest’s oldest running family-run bakeries and hosted by a pastry chef pro. Classes often begin with a cup of coffee and a dessert sampling, as students hear stories and find out about the history of various cakes. Then, it gets messy, as the students will now have to bake three traditional cakes! You’ll get to take home your cakes, and you’ll get some recipes to help recreate them.

Veggie delights While Hungary might not be the most vegetarian-friendly country, you can still find vegetarian cooking classes in the city. Aforementioned Culinary Hungary offers a vegetarian cooking class focussing on classic Hungarian dishes, however, if you feel confident enough in your Hungarian, there are numerous classes on offer, at lower rates!
Vagány Véganok has courses specialised in gourmet vegan cooking, and has events coming up in March and April. This course not only teaches you a few dishes, but also equips you with the information needed to plan your own vegan and healthy lifestyle.

108.hu, a holistic centre focussed on Eastern spirituality, yoga and Ayurveda hosts regular vegetarian Indian cooking classes, often tied in with philosophy going back to Ayurvedic cooking. If you’re interested in Indian food with a spiritual twist, then this is the course for you!

International flavours So you’ve been in Budapest a while and want to try to incorporate something different into your culinary repertoire, then have no worry, there’s plenty of classes from Italian to Indian and even sushi-making to pick from in Budapest.

With numerous classes covering how to cook a steak to Thai cuisine and even Scottish dishes served up with a splash of whisky, Chef Parade is a popular culinary school to check out. However, make sure you book early! Popular classes like British India get snapped up quickly!

Makifood is a unique culinary school founded by Chef Maki who came to Hungary from America, but is of Japanese extraction. Maki’s classes focus on various elements of Japanese and Asian dishes, including how to prepare a bento box, South-Asian street food, Japanese home cooking and roll your own sushi. She also hired a group of chefs from various countries to offer Tex-Mex classes, French patisserie courses and Italian specials, among others.

If your ambition is to make a great curry or an authentic biryani, then you might want to take advantage of Kashmir Restaurant’s Indian Cooking Classes . This is more of an occasion than a regular cooking class, so check back on their website regularly to see when the next class is taking place.