The Best Korean Cooking Class in Seoul (Honest Review)

Taking a cooking class in Seoul is definitely worth a spot on your itinerary. I love taking cooking classes when I travel (way more than I enjoy cooking at home, haha). The cooking class I did in Seoul was not only one of my cultural favorite experiences of our trip, but also one of the very best meals we had.

I did a ton of research before signing up for this Korean cooking class in Seoul. I’m writing this article so you don’t have to do quite as much research as I did, and so you know what to expect.

Think: multi-course feast of Korean classic dishes like bulgogi, jap chae, gimbap, and more. (and all were made gluten free for me — more on their accommodations for dietary restrictions below).

And just as a side note, this isn’t sponsored in any way. Our cooking class teachers had no clue that we are bloggers, and we paid for our class with our own hard-earned money. You can trust that this review is 100% honest, as always!

Happy woman holding a tray of Korean dishes at Seoul Cooking Club in Seoul. — All the food we made during our cooking class in Seoul… SO much Korean food!!

First, Why Take a Cooking Class in Seoul?

There are so many reasons to take a cooking class during your trip to Seoul, and my fellow foodies probably don’t need much convincing. Here are a few reasons I think it’s worth it to take a cooking class during your trip to Seoul:

✓ Delicious traditional Korean food

✓ Immersive, cultural experience

✓ Connect with local Koreans and fellow travelers

✓ Learn to make Korean food at home

I also took a cooking class in Busan which I loved, but the menu was much smaller for the same price. The classes were honestly quite different, so it depends on what you’re looking for, but the cooking class I recommend in Seoul has a much more extensive menu, so that’s worth considering!

Seoul Cooking Club sign with kitchen utensils and decor in Seoul, South Korea. — The kitchen.

Seoul Cooking Club: The Best Korean Cooking Class in Seoul

We chose to book our cooking class with a local company called Seoul Cooking Club, for several reasons:

Amazing reviews. They maintain a 5 star rating with 400+ reviews on Get Your Guide and 600+ on Google.
Extensive, multi-course menu. The menu is HUGE! I share more about that below.
Classes offered three times per day, so it was very easy to fit into our Seoul itinerary.
Competitive price, compared to similar cooking classes in Seoul.
Able to accommodate dietary restrictions. As someone with celiac disease, this was huge for me and meant that I was finally able to try gluten free versions of classic Korean dishes! They did an excellent job and I share more about this below.

You can book the cooking class we did with Seoul Cooking Club here.

Smiling woman holding a plate of sushi at Seoul Cooking Club in Seoul. — Me with the kimbap I made!

Korean bibimbap with fried egg, vegetables, and rice in a bowl. — The bulgogi I made.

The Menu

One of the best things about this specific cooking class is the very large menu. You will prepare and eat a FEAST! I researched tons of different cooking classes in Seoul and most of them only offered maybe three dishes, tops. Nope. This class goes all out!

Expect the following menu, or something similar to it.

Appetizers

Jeon (Korean pancakes — we made both seafood and kimchi pancakes)
Donggrangttaeng (pan-fried Korean meatballs)

Main course

Japchae (sweet potato noodles with stir fried veggies and sauce)
Bulgogi (seasoned barbecue beef slices — this one was SO good)
Jeonju bibimbap (a traditional Korean rice bowl made in the style of Jeonju, Korea’s bibimbap capital)
Kimbap (seaweed rice rolls, similar to sushi but with traditional Korean fillings)

Banchan (side dishes)

A selection including kimchi, cucumber, spinach, anchovy, egg roll, and more

Dessert

Traditional Korean desserts are provided (you don’t make them yourself)

Drinks

Water
Korean cinnamon tea
Sikhye (sweet rice drink)
Coke
Sprite

Korean fried patties and zucchini slices on a small basket plate. — Donggrangttaeng (pan-fried Korean pork meatballs)

Assorted Korean dishes served on a table with chopsticks and sauces. — Everything I made!

Dietary Restrictions

As I mentioned above, a major pro for me (as someone who eats gluten free due to celiac disease) was that this cooking class was able to accommodate dietary restrictions.

And after attending the class, I can personally attest that they did an AMAZING job! It’s quite difficult to be gluten free in South Korea and a major sacrifice is not being able to eat much traditional Korean cuisine. This class was so special because I was able to safely eat so many Korean dishes that I never found gluten free versions of anywhere else!

Seoul Cooking Club can accommodate the following dietary restrictions:

Gluten free
Vegetarian
Vegan
Pescetarian
Halal

Once you click through the booking to choose your date and time, there is a box to provide information on your dietary restrictions (before you pay). After you book, you can communicate with Seoul Cooking Club directly.

Book your Seoul cooking class here.

Korean cooking ingredients and utensils on a kitchen counter for a cooking class. — My separate gluten free cooking station!

What About Cross Contamination?

In my experience, they took gluten free and cross contamination very seriously, and I’m sure they do for other dietary restrictions, too. Here are some steps they took for me:

Separate station
Separate pans, utensils, and chopping board
Gluten free soy sauce
Gluten free gojuchang
Gluten free kimchi
Gluten free flour for the jeon (Korean pancakes)
Knowledgeable teachers, I felt like they really understood gluten free

Korean soy sauce in a hand with a busy kitchen background. — Gluten free soy sauce provided by our cooking class.

Close-up of a hand holding a small clear cup with golden liquid and sesame seeds. — Gluten free gojuchang, marked by the green dot.

Our Experience at This Korean Cooking Class in Seoul

I won’t go into major detail about our experience at this cooking class, because I don’t want to bore you or spoil the experience! So here’s a quick overview.

Booking the Class

Personally, I booked our cooking class through Get Your Guide and you can book yours here.

I’ve used Get Your Guide for several years now (since we did our first sushi making class in Tokyo!) and I’ve grown to really love and trust it.

Mainly, I appreciate the cancellation policy which is a full refund up to 24 hours in advance. You can also avoid any PayPal fees and terrible transaction rates, which you have to deal with if you book directly.

And there’s also the ability to input dietary restrictions when you book, and communicate directly with the cooking class provider after you’ve booked, which was great.

One important tip to mention here is that I recommend you book your cooking class more than a month in advance if possible (yes, really!).

I booked our cooking class exactly a month in advance, and the date and time we wanted to do the class was already fully booked! This meant we had to rejig our Seoul itinerary a bit, so that we could take the class on a day it was available.

Modern Korean cooking class kitchen with bar stools and cooking equipment. — The beautiful kitchen at Seoul Cooking Club.

Korean chef preparing sushi roll in a professional kitchen. — Our teacher, Sharon!

Arrival & Prepping the Food

We took the brunch class (10am start time), so we started our day at Alto Coffee Bar nearby, which ended up being award-winning! I had the best flat white of our time in Korea, so that’s just a quick tip if you love a good morning coffee, too.

Anyway, back to the cooking class! We arrived and were assigned our stations and met our teachers and fellow cooking class students. For us, that meant a very cool mother-son couple from the USA, on a DIY home school educational trip… remind me to ask my parents why I didn’t do this instead of public school, LOL.

We then spent nearly two hours learning how to make the most delicious Korean food! We started out with the appetizers and were able to eat some of those before we moved on to our main courses.

Woman preparing sushi at Seoul Cooking Club in Seoul, Korea. — Hard at work rolling the kimbap…

Assorted Korean dishes including kimbap, bibimbap, and side dishes on a tray. — All the dishes we made!

Cooking Korean pancakes in a professional kitchen during a class. — Jeon (Korean pancakes) cooking away…

Woman cooking Korean dishes in a modern kitchen at Seoul Cooking Club. — Stir frying my bulgogi.

Eating Together & Take Home Recipes

After we finished preparing all the food, we had a mini feast together. I ate SO much and was SO stuffed, yet we still had quite a bit of leftover food. Our teachers packed this up for us, which meant I had a delicious kimbap roll to eat on our high-speed train to Busan the next day.

Young man enjoying Korean dishes at a restaurant in Seoul. — Dan enjoying his self-made Korean feast! Look at all that food!

Seoul Cooking Club cookbook cover with Korean dishes and ingredients. — I loved that they gave us a recipe book to take home.

More Cooking Classes in Seoul

I loved and recommend the cooking class we did with Seoul Cooking Club. It’s my #1 recommended cooking class in Seoul, but perhaps you want to cook a specific dish that’s not on their menu, or maybe Cooking Club Seoul is sold out!

Whatever the case, it’s important to have options. Below are other top-rated cooking classes in Seoul, including classes that specialize in specific dishes like Korean fried chicken or dumplings.

Korean Fried Chicken Cooking Class: One of the few cooking classes in Seoul that makes Korean fried chicken (chimaek).
Homestyle Cooking Class in Hongdae: Make tteokbokki, gimbap, and japchae in a convenient Hongdae location.
Royal Cooking Class in Hanok: A highly-rated cooking class in a 100-year-old hanok building
Kimchi Cooking Class: Master the art of making kimchi! (Vegan option available for this one).
Korean Royal Cuisine Cooking Class: Learn to make two dishes (gujeolpan and tteokgalbi) in the delicate, elegant royal cuisine style.
Rice Cake Dessert Class: This one is both vegan and gluten free! Learn to make traditional Korean rice cakes, which is a classic dessert.

Please note that I cannot vouch for the above cooking classes, personally, including any ability to accommodate dietary restrictions. If you’re gluten free like me, or have another dietary restriction, then my only recommended class is Seoul Cooking Club.