Discover the tastes and textures of Oaxaca during a cooking workshop right in the heart of the city. Join a small group and visit a local market to gather ingredients for your class. There's no set menu, so the group can select which traditional dishes to make. Learn about the origins of each dish and several techniques during your hands-on class. Your tour end with the delicious meal that you've created.

Learn how to prepare traditional Oaxacan recipes
Special dietary restrictions can be accommodated
Sip on complimentary drinks while you cook and eat
A small group means more attention from your instructor

Sample Menu

Main

Mole negro

What's Included

All ingredients
Complimentary drinks
Gluten free option available
Vegetarian applicable menu
Tour to a local market

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Casa Crespo
Reforma 808, RUTA INDEPENDENCIA, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
Casa Crespo en la parte noreste del jardín Conzatti, casa verde portón negro

Start time

10:00 am

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travellers

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveller Photos

Featured review

Kristen_S

Emily was a fabulous teacher! Her passion for sharing her culture and culinary knowledge. Our tour of the market was incredible as was the meal she helped us create. I would recommend this course (and Emily) to anyone visiting Oaxaca.

Reviews

4.5

232 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 232 reviews

Not a real cooking class, just a cooking show

Marco_C, Aug 2023

I booked an experience for max 8 people and we were in 16, there wasn’t space for cook properly and most of the cooking process were hidden for saving time. Was a good experience, but not a real cooking class and for what we did too much expensive

Wonderful!!!

Kristen_S, Aug 2023

One of the best choices I made on my Oaxacan vacation!

Tara_F, June 2023

I booked this class at the last minute when a tour fell through on my last day. It was the perfect way to end my trip and was such a delight. The staff at Casa Crespo is so kind and their passion for good food is apparent throughout the class and market tour. We made some amazing food and had a great time!

Delicious Oaxaca cooking lesson

Sarah_M, May 2023

Oscar is very knowledgable and accommodating. The food was great and preparing it was good to see. We went to the local food markets which was fascinating - we had no idea so many foods were grown locally!

What Oaxacan food is all about

sajidmaqsood268, May 2023

A great experience of shopping, preparing ingredients and cooking a variety of Oaxacan dishes. The host is an excellent coach and has a great assistant/translator. The group was fun to be with. Casa Crespo also makes all its own chocolate.

A highlight of our trip

Ankit_J, Apr 2023

Deciding on the menu, touring the market, then cooking together was a lot of fun. This is a great experience for vegetarians and vegans. The staff is very attentive, coming up with great alternatives to meat dishes and making sure to keep food separate.

A bit of a miss

Diana_B, Mar 2023

Good market tour. Oscar is well organized and clearly a pro..he looks a bit bored, has no charm and given the number of similar experiences in Oaxaca, I would not recommend this one..he seems burned out

Good time!

Jean_K, Mar 2023

Just a great time! Fun meeting people and enjoying the food. Was great how everyone would help make the dishes. Would really like to get the recipes

A great way to spend a day.

Mitch_K, Mar 2023

Oscar was a great teacher. Well organized, efficient, and talented. Loads of great insight and information with a grand finale…a great meal all of us students were instructed to prepare with a lot of mescal and beer to quench our thirst. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Enjoyable and delicious experience

Todd_M, Feb 2023

I was great to visit the local market with someone knowledgeable about the types and uses of ingredients native to Oaxaca. Cooking class was also enjoyable and I appreciated Chef Carlos focusing on dishes we could recreate at home and that are not dependent on ingredients only found in Oaxaca (or that have easy substitutes). It was a large class so it was more learning then doing but everyone had a chance to deseed chiles and prep various ingredients. The best part of course was enjoying the fruits of your labor with the rest of the class. Chef Carlos can be a bit brusque and woe to you if you ask a question he believes he already answered, but I suppose that is the stereotype for chefs. His helpers were amazingly efficient, enabling the class to run smoothly, and were the unsung heroes of the class. I would recommend this class to anyone interested in learning a bit more about local food.

Great cooking class with Oscar!!

Luisa_R, Feb 2023

Oscar made this cooking class a great experience from the minute we entered the courtyard. Our trip to the local market was so informative and exciting to be introduced to many different foods. The hands on cooking was fun, sharing with other travellers added to the experience. Great variety of food and all very tasty.

Good food/market tour.

sccowgirl, Feb 2023

Seeing the food in the market and then cooking with the group was fun. Oscar has lots of knowledge of the Oaxaca cuisine. Made many dishes.

Cookin Oaxaca

peter_m, Feb 2023

Great day!! Really good teacher. Very fun and educational. The open market place was very inspiring with a virtual cornucopia of culinary bliss. We enjoyed eating the fruits of our class with a long leisurely OAXACAN style lunch

Oscar was amazing! So...

Amanda_E, Jan 2023

Oscar was amazing! So friendly and knowledgable! Learned so much from the experience. The walk through the market was so fun

Delicious Oaxacan feast!

Nina_L, Jan 2023

This was such a fun experience to learn more about Oaxacan ingredients and dishes from Oscar. I really enjoyed heading to the market first to get the ingredients. We decided what we wanted to make, and ended up with a black bean soup, ceviche with capers and olives, almonds mole, tamales, tortillas, a few salsas and chocolate ice cream. It was a feast. Since we were a group of 10, we did not have as much of a hands-on experience with the cooking. The food was delicious!

Learn to cook like a Oaxacan!

Terri_K, Jan 2023

We were so excited to take a cooking class while in Oaxaca, especially since the area is world renown for it's food, and we were NOT disappointed, it was amazing! First we decided as a group what our menu would be, then our guide took us on a tour of the local market where we leaned about so many fruits, vegetables and herbs that are used in Oaxacan cooking. Next we got down to the business of prepping each dish before cooking. We made ceviche, mole, tortillas and much more, oh yes, and there was beer and mezcal along the way. At the end we enjoyed our cooking and the comradery of new friends. This was so much fun and we came home with recipes from all the dishes we made. This is a must do activity in Oaxaca!

Great cooking class and market tour! First rate experience

Karen_K, Nov 2022

This class had such good reviews it made it easy to decide to book it. It was even better than expected. Our host, (Oscar) was so incredibly nonweldable and gave us great background and history of the markets and its food. I loved seeing the market and hearing more about the ingredients. I loved it that the class voted on what to make. Cooking the recipes, then having a fantastic meal at the end provided an extremely satisfactory day (but don't count on having a big meal later in the day!!!!)

Saucy Saturday

Jennifer_E, Oct 2022

We both liked how interactive the class was. Everyone had an opportunity to participate in prep. The food was fresh and high quality and we created a 5 course meal from appetizer to dessert. The chef did a great job of explaining the different salsas and moles. All in all, a very worthwhile 4 hour experience with others and attentive staff.

Fantastic Cooking Class!

Ian_C, July 2022

This is an incredible experience. Our host and teacher, Oscar, was incredibly welcoming, engaging, and informative, and we learned so much (and enjoyed making and eating so much good food). I particularly appreciated how he worked with us to develop a menu based on the group's dietary restrictions and interests and make sure everyone in the (6 person) was engaged in some task the whole while still having time to chat and relax. We made a ton of delicious food, including 3 different kinds of salsas, fresh tortillas, almond mole, squash soup, tamales, stuffed peppers, and chocolate ice cream, and Oscar kindly shared recipes of everything afterwards. I cannot recommend this highly enough!

Fun and informative

John_B, June 2022

Great class. Knowledgeable instructor. We made many traditional Oaxaca foods. Highly recommended. Not rushed and no preset menu.