Growing up, my mother’s love for gourmet cooking and food experimentation inspired me to want to get in the kitchen as early as I could. I was always happy to help her when we prepared huge meals for family gatherings, and she was happy to have an assistant, constantly giving me cooking advice as we worked. We always had a fresh supply of vegetables and herbs to use from our garden (which my dad planted and took care of), and I’m thankful that my parents both took the time to teach my sister and I that something so necessary and seemingly mundane as feeding yourself can be a lot of fun. Naturally, because of having this kind of attitude towards cooking growing up, I was shocked when I first got to college and had friends who said they didn’t even know how to boil pasta or cook oatmeal. The longer I’ve lived with other people my age, the more I’ve realized that a majority of younger people really don’t know how to cook and also don’t know where to start learning. Thankfully though, there are many great resources online for beginner chefs, and many of them are available for free on YouTube! Here are some of my favorite channels related to cooking.
1. Joshua Weissman
As fun as learning to cook and experimenting with foods can be, stocking up on pantry staples and new spices can get very expensive. With his “But Cheaper” series, Joshua’s videos are a great place to start if you want to start cooking but don’t want to drop a huge amount of money on supplies right away. This series takes popular, but typically expensive, dishes like charcuterie boards, steak, and even recently, an entire Thanksgiving dinner, and offers tips on how to make these foods in a more budget-friendly way. On top of that, his explanation style when cooking is always clear and easy to follow.
2. Emmymadeinjapan
Known for going out of her way to cook and sample novel, sometimes bizarre foods, such as a Japanese Raindrop Cake, a “Hamburger in a Can,” and Haitian dirt cookies, Emmy’s channel is certainly the place to go if you’re feeling adventurous. While it’s fun to see taste tests of these, what I really love about Emmy’s content is her curious, respectful approach to all of the food she’s trying. No matter how seemingly gross a dish is, she never turns her nose up at it and is respectful to the culture it comes from, which is a good lesson for all beginner chefs to learn. Curiosity and the willingness to try new things are two of the most important aspects of learning how to cook. Personally, some of my favorite things I’ve made have been things I’ve been scared to try, and learning the importance of creativity early on in your cooking journey will help keep you from getting stuck in a rut with what you’re making.
3. BORE.D
If you’re a fan of simple, easy to make Korean and Japanese-inspired comfort food, this channel is the perfect place to go. Combining a clever use of editing to make the cooking process feel like a vintage RPG game with an easy to follow, simple explanation of the steps involved makes this channel’s videos just as fun to watch as they are informative. I really like the approach of treating cooking as a game, as it enforces the idea that cooking can be (and should be) fun! All of the recipes are beginner-friendly, and as most of his videos feature no talking, so they’re especially easy to follow if you’re easily distracted.
4. Binging with Babish
Andrew Rea (aka, Babish) gained popularity on social media when he began recreating foods from popular movies and TV series several years ago, such as the Krabby Patty, the eggs and bacon dish from Howl’s Moving Castle, and the Ratatouille (from Ratatouille). While he is probably most well known for these creations, Babish’s channel contains great videos on a lot of basics, such as garlic bread, pasta al limone, mac and cheese, and basic ways of cooking different types of meat. He also has a livestream series called “Basics with Babish,” in which he teaches and demonstrates a dish in real-time, allowing the viewer to follow along at a comfortable pace. Best of all, Babish is a self-taught chef, which should inspire anyone learning how to cook to see someone without formal training making amazing food.
5. Tasty
We all know Tasty for their signature overhead filming style and over-the-top, delicious-looking recipes that often stop us in our tracks when their videos cross our social media feeds. While this style of their videos might be hard to follow for someone just starting out, Tasty has a lot of great resources for beginner chefs as well, such as their Pantry Food cooking series. They also do a lot of cooking gadget reviews, which can be valuable for helping beginner chefs not waste their money when considering investing in more kitchen tools.