8 Cooking Classes in Oaxaca to Build a Day Around

1.Flavors of Oaxaca: Cooking Class with No Set Menu and Local Market Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 333 reviews · 4 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $75Our pick

Market tour and hands-on Oaxaca cooking class in small groups. Choose dishes like mole negro, with drinks included. English or Spanish.

“100% worth doing, definitely exceeded my expectations. Our guide and translator was excellent, she took us on a great tour of a local market and the cooking part of the class was well organized and of course delicious. It was great fun meeting people from across the globe all wanting to take this class.”

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2.Traditional Oaxaqueña Cooking with Grandma’s Recipes

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 260 reviews · 3 hours (approx.) · from $90Top rated

Learn traditional Oaxacan cooking with Chef Adhey Andrade, starting with bread and hot chocolate, then a 3-course hands-on meal with mezcal.

“You will learn traditional Oaxaca cooking with Adhey and her husband. It was a wonderful experience. Adhey was so warm and welcoming. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Highly recommend you taking this cooking class with Adhey”

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3.The Real Traditional Oaxaca culinary Cooking experience

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 251 reviews · 5 hours (approx.) · from $100

Cook Oaxaca hands-on at Quinta Brava: market and nixtamal tortillas, 9 to 10 mole tastings, and a full meal in a farm kitchen.

“It was an amazing experience. Hospitality was top notch, from the moment we were picked up. We learned to cook everything from scratch, and the food was great. Eat from the moment we got there, until the time we left. Miguel is a great teacher, he is very knowledgeable. He knows the history of the food and he is an excellent chemist. 😊”

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4.Oaxacan Vegetarian Cooking Class

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 235 reviews · 4 hours (approx.) · from $70Best value

Oaxaca City vegetarian cooking class with a market walk for local ingredients, hands-on mole and salsas, and a shared lunch.

“First, Quetzal took us to a small Mercado which was not crowded. This allowed her to show us different types of fruit and vegetables without being in anyone’s way. We tasted quesilla and bought 2 types for our meal. We walked back to Etnofood with our purchases and went to the kitchen space. She gave clear instructions to each of us on what to prepare. For our class, we made a soup and memelas, so we cut vegetables and pressed masa. The food was delicious, and it was a great way to learn about Oaxacan flavors.”

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5.Traditional Cooking Class with Minerva Lopez

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 197 reviews · 6 hours (approx.) · from $119

Start at Mercado de Abastos, then cook traditional Oaxacan mole and tortillas in Minerva Lopez’s outdoor kitchen, with mezcal tasting.

“Minerva’s class was amazing! We learned so much and had a blast cooking. Walking through the market was also incredible.”

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6.Vegetarian Cooking Class

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 139 reviews · 3.5 hours · from $70

Oaxaca vegetarian cooking class with market shopping, hands-on mole and salad, dessert, wild mezcal tasting, then a shared meal in a small group.

“Viktor and Wendy were fantastic guides. Really enjoyable morning buying, cooking and eating some local traditional foods. Recommended.”

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7.Traditional Oaxacan Cooking Class with Market Visit

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 80 reviews · 5.5 hours · from $133

Oaxaca market-to-kitchen cooking class where you shop with a chef, cook classic regional dishes, and eat with tortillas and Oaxacan drinks.

“We went to a family in Teotilan and the whole experience is very unique and wonderful. Edgar (our guide) and David (our driver) picked us up right on time and the car is very clean. We drove to Teotilan which took about 35 min and met with our cooking teacher Alicia. Then we gathered the ingredients from the market and made it back to the kitchen to start preparing a local dish. They accommodated the fact that I cannot take spicy food and still gave us a whole experience of preparing everything from scratch that is authentic here that I can safely eat. All the other ladies who work there…”

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8.Cooking classes from the Isthmus with a Tehuana

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 51 reviews · 6 hours (approx.) · from $127

Market shopping and a 3-course Tehuana meal in Oaxaca City, plus artisanal mezcal cocktails and hotel drop-off. Small group, English class.

“This was such an incredible experience. Betsy is an absolute doll - warm, inviting, and unquestionably an excellent chef. You walk into her incredible kitchen and it's like walking on to the set of a cooking show. It's so beautiful, incredibly appointed, and laid out so there's plenty of room for everyone. The menu selections (sent in advance so you can let her know what you'd like to cook -- appetizers, main course, dessert) were awesome, and you can find options for cooks with little to no experience in the kitchen all the way up to experienced. One member of our group is pescatarian, and she was very easily accommodated…”

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