Get Fired Up: Best Cooking Classes in Healdsburg, Sonoma and Napa
Many wine travelers looking for things to do in Sonoma County seek out the best wineries, wine tours, restaurants and outdoor activities. If you’re a food lover, cooking classes in Healdsburg, Sonoma or Napa should also be at the top of your foodie vacation must-do list. The good news is that there are more options for fun-filled cooking classes in Wine Country than ever before, especially for pastry lovers, hosted in-person and online.
Here are the best cooking class experiences (including baking classes) offered in Sonoma County and Napa Valley. Some chefs offer classes as events on set days, while others host private cooking classes in their kitchens—or they’ll share secret recipes at your Airbnb or virtually. The cooking classes scene is continuing to evolve post-pandemic, so be sure to visit all websites for the latest updates. Most offer baking and cooking classes year-round, but many classes are group events hosted on set days. Book early for your girlfriends’ getaway, anniversary trip or honeymoon activity, because cooking class events sell out quickly.
Best Sonoma Cooking Classes
Jordan Vineyard & Winery
Executive Chef Jesse Mallgren hosts guests to immersive cooking classes during harvest season at this dynamic wine estate just outside of Healdsburg. The experience begins with a continental brunch and Champagne before epicures descend into Jordan’s organic gardens to pick ingredients for their culinary sessions with the former Michelin-starred chef. The hands-on class, focusing on the perfect Wine Country pizza, takes place around the wood-fired oven on Jordan Chateau’s renovated terrace. But, savory pies are just the appetizer before a lavish, three-course wine and food pairing lunch under Jordan’s pergola, overlooking the 1,200-acre estate’s vineyards and wildlands. Jordan’s Pizza Cooking Class & Luncheon series is hosted on select weekends in September.
Relish Culinary Adventures
A hands-on culinary adventure like those offered by Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg is not to be missed. Since 2003, Relish has been sharing its passion for cooking farm-fresh cuisine with consumers, offering epicurean excursions throughout Sonoma County wine country—first as a roving, free-range cooking school and later as an immersive cooking school with demonstration kitchen just off the Healdsburg Plaza. Relish closed its brick-and-mortar cooking school in 2023, so del Rey could return to her pop-up, roaming chef roots. She is known for creating one-of-a-kind, private cooking parties and corporate events at partner locations, including stylish wineries and scenic local farms, along with season-driven public classes. Topics include her wildly popular winter fungi foraging/cooking classes, cooking in the Dry Creek Peach orchard, grilling at Dragonfly Floral Farm and more. Relish recently launched a series of adventures called Relish Sonoma Excursions, featuring guided visits to and from the farmers and makers that are the roots of Sonoma’s vibrant culinary landscape.
Parker Hill Provisions at Quail and Condor
Wife-and-husband superstar chefs Melissa Yanc and Sean McGaughey left Michelin-starred SingleThread in 2020 to open Quail & Condor, not long after she was crowned the Food Network’s 2019 Season 6 Holiday Baking Champion. The grab-and-go bakery’s lines have not subsided in more than two years, and months before being named one of the best bakeries in the U.S. by the New York Times, they decided to move to a roomier location closer to Healdsburg Plaza. The new space in the shopping center off the roundabout includes tables for dining in, a bigger kitchen and elbow room for cooking classes. Lisal Moran, the director and main instructor for cooking classes at Quail & Condor, has launched her own business, Parker Hill Provisions, and serves as the exclusive host of culinary courses at Quail & Condor. She helps foodies develop mad skills, from croissant baking and pasta making to zesty treats and holiday meals. All classes are booked through the Parker Hill Provisions website.
Ramekins
One of Sonoma County’s oldest running cooking schools, Ramekins offers both public and private cooking classes in a charming, Spanish Mission building a few blocks from the historic Sonoma square. Ramekins receives rave reviews for its family- and group-friendly, hands-on classes. The boutique inn where the school is located is known for its weddings and has changed names—it’s now called Seven Branches Venue and Inn.
The Epicurean Connection
If you love cheese with your wine, this is the cooking class destination for you. Founder Sheana Davis is a Sonoma Valley cheesemaker, culinary educator and supporter of the artisan and farmstead cheese movement for more than 25 years. She offers in-depth cheesemaking classes to groups regularly on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. She shares teaching responsibilities with her husband, Ben Sessions, a wine educator and fellow expert. The duo also offers private in-person, as well as virtual, cheesemaking classes, butter making and other culinary classes for foodies and companies seeking interactive culinary experiences. This sounds like a much better idea for a bachelorette party than drinking White Zinfandel at Sutter Home in Napa Valley.
Williams-Sonoma
Williams-Sonoma’s flagship store is one of the few in the country offering private, in-person cooking classes. The store opened in 2014 and features a grand island for cooking classes up to seven people. Prices vary based on the culinary experience, all led by Williams-Sonoma in-house chef. Their Skills Series Sunday classes focus on techniques with household essentials they sell, while hands-on cooking classes take place on select Thursdays. If you’re staying in Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Carneros or downtown Napa, it’s situated in the perfect location for a private cooking class for your girls’ getaway trip, a family reunion or a couples’ date idea. View the store’s upcoming events.
Central Milling
Central Milling of Petaluma is part farmer, part miller and part baker. They supply high-quality grains to top chefs and bakers in the area, and they also opened an Artisan Baking Center (ABC) at their corporate headquarters in 2017. They are located in an office park, but don’t let that deter you. Their state-of-the-art baking research and development center serves as a culinary education facility for a series of in-person and online baking classes. Hosted on select days each month, Friday classes typically dive into a particular style of pastry, such as sourdough bread, hand-rolled croissants or bagels, while Saturday classes feature enough substance for a date night idea. (Fried chicken and American pizza dough two ways are upcoming class examples). So, if you’re not ready to sign-up for a class while in Sonoma County, try one of ABC’s online cooking classes first. Online classes (starting at $49) are led by master chefs from around the world, such as Tony Gemignani and Pablo Puluke Giet, and in-person baking classes and workshops topics range from milling and baking to artistic design, chocolate desserts, pasta making and other culinary techniques (around $135-$235 per person). Whether you’re a home baker or a seasoned pro, the Artisan Baking Center has classes tailored to different skill levels. They also specialize in private cooking classes for groups or team building events
Sur La Table
Sur La Table’s location in Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village offers private and group cooking classes. Topics range from artisan bread and pastry baking, cookie making and pastas from scratch to fancy date night recipes and ethic cooking from different countries, such as Thailand, Brazil and Italy. Some classes are 18+ while others welcome foodies ages 14-17, as long as they are accompanied by an adult.
Best Napa Cooking Classes
The Culinary Institute of America (COPIA)
The pioneer of Napa cooking classes, The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) offered hands-on training for chefs and consumers alike at its Greystone campus in St. Helena for decades. Over time, demand for cooking classes outgrew their historic stone building, and they purchased COPIA in downtown Napa in 2016 with the goal of relocating all of the CIA consumer cooking classes there. After two years of building out a dream kitchen for hands-on classes, CIA at COPIA opened in 2019. Experiencing a cooking class at CIA at COPIA is definitely an item for your Napa Valley bucket list. There’s a vibrant program for consumers of various skill levels and interests, from three-hour classes (prices start at $175 per person) to five-day Boot Camps (around $2,500 per person). The one-day Basic Training Boot Camp is one of their most popular classes, which dives deep into classic cooking techniques. Cuisine or theme specific classes, such as global street foods, brunch and plant-based, also draw crowds. COPIA is more than a cooking school, so be sure to set aside extra time to explore the restaurant, café, wine bar and the grounds.
Napa Valley Cooking School at Napa Valley College
There’s another academic campus that offers Napa cooking classes to hobby enthusiasts, not just students. Napa Valley College’s Napa Valley Cooking School stays so busy with student enrollment that its consumer cooking classes have been known to go on hiatus at times, but the executive chef says that they hope to resume in the last half of 2025. During the school’s Food & Wine Enthusiast classes, attendees are combined into groups or can work individually under the direction of their professionally trained chefs. Classes are kept small, allowing for a good amount of one-on-one team with the instructor. Past class themes included Filipino cooking, sushi making, masa, American desserts, wine and cheese pairing and many more.
PLAYTE Kitchen
During the pandemic, three local chefs and two industry friends decided to funnel their energy into a new kind of cooking school in Napa and launched PLAYTE Kitchen. They offer in-person and virtual cooking classes with a weekly events calendar featuring topics, such as Spanish tapas, handmade pastas, Thai cooking, baking and classic sauce making. Prices range from $30 for virtual classes to $150 per person for in-person classes. Private cooking classes are also available. The chefs also offer recipe development and food photography services using their stylish kitchen as a backdrop.
Cooking Classes By Private Chefs
Several chefs with small catering companies also offer private educational classes in addition to cooking for private events. They include Julie Logue-Riordan, who hosted private Napa cooking classes at the Kitchen Collective, but now brings the fun to your home or vacation rental; Carlo Cavallo, the former corporate executive chef for Giorgio Armani & Louis Vuitton; and chefs Laura and Eric Lee, who met while cooking at Simi Winery and have been cooking as a couple ever since. Many local chefs featured on TakeAChef.com can also be booked for private cooking classes in your home or vacation rental.
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