100 Cooking Quotes That Will Entice Your Inner Chef

These cooking quotes are from some of the best chefs in the industry.

Ever since man discovered fire, humans have been obsessed with cooking.

Sure, some of us still prefer to just grill everything on an open flame, but others treat cooking like fine art.

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Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people who cook at home more frequently have a healthier overall diet than those who cook less often or rely on takeout and restaurant meals. 

This research highlights the potential health benefits of cooking and the importance of home-cooked meals in a healthy lifestyle

Some cultures, like those from Greek and Italian families, treat cooking as a sacred duty that lets everyone know how much we love them.

As an Italian person, I plan nearly every event or holiday around the food, and my siblings all enjoy helping in the kitchen.

There are those who don’t enjoy the act of cooking, but still do it because, you know, eating is important.

Then there are those who are just really not good at it.

Keep reading for some quotes that will resonate with you about cooking, while you think about what to make for dinner tonight.

My favorite chef and cookbook author, Julia Childs, has her own cooking quotes section!

Don’t forget to also check out these kitchen quotes that are about more than just food.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Inspirational cooking quotes from famous chefs

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Alberta found that cooking can be a form of therapy, helping to reduce stress and promote mindfulness. 

This suggests that cooking may have mental health benefits in addition to its practical benefits as a way to prepare food.

1. “Cooking is like snow skiing: If you don’t fall at least 10 times, then you’re not skiing hard enough.” — Guy Fieri

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2. “Once you understand the foundations of cooking—whatever kind you like, whether it’s French or Italian or Japanese—you really don’t need a cookbook anymore.” — Thomas Keller

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3. “Taste as you go. When you taste the food throughout the cooking process, you can make adjustments as you go.” — Anne Burrell

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4. “Fifty thousand dollars’ worth of cabinets isn’t going to make you a better cook; cooking is going to make you a better cook. At the end of the day, you can slice a mushroom in about three inches of space, and you can carve a chicken in a foot and a half. So it doesn’t matter how big the kitchen is.” — Tyler Florence

5. “I feel a recipe is only a theme which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation.” — Madam Benoit

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6. “Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.” — Guy Fieri

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7. “Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.” — Guy Fieri

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8. “I don’t cook for the guide, I cook for customers.” — Gordon Ramsay

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9. “I still love football, though, and I think cooking is like football. It’s not a job, it’s a passion. When you become good at it, it’s a dream job and financially you need never to worry. Ever.” — Gordon Ramsay

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10. “Cooking is about passion, so it may look slightly temperamental in a way that it’s too assertive to the naked eye.” — Gordon Ramsay

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11. “Cooking and baking is both physical and mental therapy.” — Mary Berry

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12. “Cooking is a philosophy; it’s not a recipe.” — Marco Pierre White

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13. “Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way – that’s the best way to take your everyday cooking to a higher level.” — Jose Andres

Cute cooking quotes from Julia Child

Research from the University of Sussex found that the sound and smell of cooking can trigger positive emotions and memories and stimulate appetite. 

This suggests that cooking can be a multisensory experience that engages our senses and emotions in addition to satisfying our hunger.

14. “No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” — Julia Child

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15. “Usually, one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is.” — Julia Child

16. “I think careful cooking is love, don’t you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who’s close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.” — Julia Child

17. “You learn to cook so that you don’t have to be a slave to recipes. You get what’s in season and you know what to do with it.” — Julia Child

18. “Cooking well doesn’t mean cooking fancy.” — Julia Child

19. “You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients.” — Julia Child

20. “This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun!” — Julia Child

21. “In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.” — Julia Child

22. “Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.” — Julia Child

23. “If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” — Julia Child

Cooking quotes that prove it’s an expression of love

24. “I love cooking for myself and cooking for my family.” — Al Roker

25. “Cooking is love made visible.” — Unknown

26. “Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with complete abandon or not at all.” — Harriet Van Horne

27. “Cooking with love provides food for the soul.” — Valerie McKeehan

28. “Cooking is love made edible.” — Unknown

29. “The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it.” — James Beard

30. “The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for.” — Sophia Loren

31. “Cooking done with care is an act of love.” — Craig Claiborne

32. “Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

33. “I love cooking. Not for myself alone. Cooking is about giving.” — Christine Lagarde

34. “Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.” — David Chang

35. “Cooking is at once one of the simplest and most gratifying of the arts, but to cook well one must love and respect food.” — Unknown

Funny cooking quotes (make sure you aren’t chewing or drinking)

36. “I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.” — W. C. Fields

37. “My cooking is so fabulous even the smoke alarm is cheering on me on.” — Unknown

38. “Annoying the cook will result in starvation.” — Unknown

39. “The two biggest sellers in any bookstore are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food, and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.” — Andy Rooney

40. “When compelled to cook, I produce a meal that would make a sword-swallower gag.” — Russell Baker

41. “Cooking? Oh we were great, you’d take anything and melt cheese on it, and the one who could guess what it was didn’t have to wash up!” — Dylan Moran

42. “If you’re not the one cooking, stay out of the way and compliment the chef.” — Michael Straham

More cooking quotes and sayings

43. “Cooking is actually quite aggressive and controlling and sometimes, yes, there is an element of force-feeding going on.” — Unknown

44. “Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it’s more important to make yourself feel good.” — Unknown

45. “I don’t like food that’s too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture, I’d buy a painting.” — Andy Rooney

46. “I’m not a chef. But I’m passionate about food – the tradition of it, cooking it, and sharing it.” — Zac Posen

47. “If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it’s not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others – it’s the same with music.” — Will.i.am

48. “Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.” — Milton Glaser

49. “Cooking, to me, it’s kind of therapeutic. It’s completely different from music as well. I’m not amazing at it, but I can cook myself a good meal.” — Phillip Phillips

50. “I’m just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression.” — Maya Angelou

Powerful cooking quotes to unleash your inner chef

51. “Cooking demands attention, patience, and above all, a respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving thanks.” – Judith B. Jones

52. “Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation—experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way.” – Paul Theroux

53. “Cooking is not difficult. Everyone has taste, even if they don’t realize it. Even if you’re not a great chef, there’s nothing to stop you understanding the difference between what tastes good and what doesn’t.” – Gerard Depardieu

54. “Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors—it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.” – Wolfgang Puck

55. “A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.” – Thomas Keller

56. “Cooking is an observation-based process that you can’t do if you’re so completely focused on a recipe.” – Alton Brown

57. “When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste.” – Laiko Bahrs   

58. “Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.”        

59. “For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place.” – Wolfgang Puck        

60. “Cooking is about creating something delicious for someone else.” — Ayumi Komura  

Cooking Quotes To Show You Are Excited By What You Do

61. “Cooking may be as much a means of self-expression as any of the arts.” ― Fannie Farmer

62. “Oh, I adore cooking. It makes me feel so mindless in a worthwhile way.” ― Truman Capote

63. “The ambition of every good cook must be to make something very good with the fewest possible ingredients.” ― Urbain Dubois

64. “I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school.” ― Emeril Lagasse

65. “I like being at home and cooking.” ― Shania Twain

66. “I remember when I was in college, I used to watch Julia Child’s cooking show during dinner and joke with my roommates about becoming a TV chef.” ― Martin Yan

67. “Cooking for six people every day is like having a cafe.” ― Linda McCartney

68. “I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘cooking’ but I can make noodles. That means I can boil water, put the pasta in and wait until it’s done.” ― Devon Werkheiser

69. “Cooking is like making love, you do it well, or you do not do it at all.” ― Harriet Van Horne

70. “I guess I fell into cooking.” ― Bobby Flay

Cooking Quotes To Inspire Cooking From The Heart

71. “A restaurant is good when the cooking is better than your own.” ― Neel Burton

72. “Cooking is the art of adjustment.”  — Jacques Pepin

73. “I watch cooking change the cook, just as it transforms the food.” — Laura Esquivel

74. “Cooking and eating are a feast of colors, smells, and tastes.”  — Remez Sasson

75. “One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been that I have never stopped learning about Good Cooking and Good Food.”  — Edna Lewis

76. “All cooking is a matter of time. In general, the more time the better.” — John Erskine

77. “Cooking is about imbibing different cultures and putting them in a plate on the table.” — Johnny Iuzzini

78. “Cooking is one of the strongest ceremonies for life.” ― Laura Esquivel

79. “One of the most meditative times of my day is when I’m cooking.” — Gabrielle Bernstein

80. “Cooking is both simpler and more necessary than we imagine.” ― Tamar Adler

Cooking Quotes for Happy Family Moments

81. “Marriage is survived just on the basis of ordinary etiquette, day in and day out. Also cooking together helps a lot.” — Jim Harrison

82. “For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.” — Thomas Keller

83. “For me, cooking is very connected to my family and friends.” — Trisha Yearwood

84. “My Mom always cooked healthy. Greek food lends itself to cooking healthy.” — Cat Cora

85. “Cooking is great, love is grand, but soufflés fall and lovers come and go. But you can always depend on a book!” — Claudia Christian

86. “I can still enjoy the foods I like I just eat much smaller portions now. And of course Ive had to give up that southern style way of cooking.” — Della Reese

87. “I love cooking during Christmas, all smells like the hot apple cider, the hot spiced wine.” — Amy Smart

88. “I love food, all food, everything about food. I enjoy going to the market and having what’s in front of me – what’s fresh, seasonal – tell me what I’m cooking.” — Tyler Florence

89. “A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.” — Elsa Schiaparelli

90. “Summer cooking implies a sense of immediacy, a capacity to capture the essence of the fleeting moment.” — Elizabeth David

Cooking Quotes To Ignite The Cooking Passion In You

91. “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” ― Julia Child

92. “No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” — Laurie Colwin

93. “Great cooking favors the prepared hands.” — Jacques Pepin

94. “Cooking is one failure after another, and that’s how you finally learn.” — Julia Child

95. “When we no longer have good cooking in the world, we will have no literature, nor high and sharp intelligence, nor friendly gatherings, no social harmony.” — Marie-Antoine Careme

96. “My two rules of cooking: keep it fresh and keep it simple.” — Michael Isabella

97. “Cooking is the most succulent of human pleasures.” — Sylvia Townsend Warner

98. “Cooking is about life. It gives us what we need to keep going, and it gives us something to share with other people.” ― Joan Bauer

99. “If you can read you can cook, if you can season you can delight.” ― Nanette L. Avery

100. “Good cooks make the most of what they have, great cooks of what they don’t.” ― Neel Burton

Cooking Quotes on the Art of Cooking and Enjoying Food

101. “Cooking has always brought me a happiness that I didn’t think was available. I just fire up the stove, and things start to fade away.” ― Paula Deen

102. “An agrarian mind begins with the love of fields and ramifies in good farming, good cooking & good eating.” ― Wendell Berry

103. “Balance is key in cooking – you want a little acid, a little sweet, a little savory – the flavors should be harmonious.” ― Gail Simmons

104. “Fine cooking is when the things you have cooked taste as they are.” ― Curnonsky

105. “Advice is like cooking-you should try it before you feed it to others.” ― Croft M. Pentz

106. “Cooking is an art form and the kitchen is your canvas.” ― Emeril Lagasse

107. “To barbecue is a way of life rather than a desirable method of cooking.” ― Clement Freud

108. “My mom is a really good cook. I didn’t get the cooking gene, but she cooks this really amazing dinner every Christmas, and that’s always really fun.” ― Miranda Cosgrove

109. “I cook with love, and the rest is just ingredients.” ― Carla Hall

110. “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” ― Harriet Van Horne

What did you learn from these cooking quotes?

Cooking can be something you do alone as a form of therapy.

It can also be a great idea for a date night, as cooking together requires teamwork and communication.

Cooking can also be a family affair and is a great way to spend time with one another.

However you cook, cooking is good for your physical and mental health.

Cooking gives you control of what ingredients go in your food, so it is easier to make sure that you are using fresh and wholesome ingredients.

It is also less costly than going out to eat, which is good for your wallet.

I have trouble cooking for the right amount of people (a downside of being from an Italian family), so we almost always have leftovers.

This also saves us money on lunch for the next day!

My son’s favorite dish is chicken parmesan, and my husband loves meatloaf!

I like to cook a meal we haven’t had before at least once a week.

What is your favorite dish to cook?

Do you have any other favorite cooking quotes and sayings to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.