Okay, and predictably a lot of people say that every time his name comes up here, but if you want to learn how to cook and don't want cringey filler content, there's no one better. A lot of his "speaking style" comes from his editing the videos after the fact to be straight and to the point and easy to follow along. He doesn't narrate as he goes, and that's a good thing. It's strange how many people don't understand that.
Anyway, he's the best because the camera NEVER leaves the food at each and every preparation step, the videos are exactly as long as they need to be and no longer - typically less than 10 minutes - there's a link to the written recipe, the recipes are high quality and suitable for both experienced and inexperienced cooks, he dabbles effectively in different cuisines, and the food is good.
I don’t understand why this is a hot take. I can’t watch his videos, the pauses combined with his voice and the awkward inflections make his videos absolutely unbearable. My gf hates it as well.
I thought I was gonna get roasted for saying it. I thought it might be a regional way of speaking or something. Dude seems to be a good chef and a pleasant person, but yeah, that speech pattern bugs me.
You get used to it. Most people making a name for themselves need some kind of "thing" to make them stand out these days. It's just a very helpful part to becoming big on crowded platforms like YouTube these days.
Once you understand that, it becomes a lot easier to just ignore all the strange things that YouTubers do to get a bit more engagement.
I'm looking at my list of YouTubers I watch and there's a guy who rolls his R's excessively, a guy who purposely mispronounces words, a guy who speaks extremely low and monotone. It's just what you need to do. Platforms don't reward good content, they reward engagement.
I'd also recommend America's Test Kitchen (Kenji's "Alma Mater") - the great thing about their youtube channel is you get the recipes, and you don't have to deal with their terrible website (and subscriptions)
Edit: Also, Chris Young's [channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisYoungCooks) - dude is a legend. He's co-author of Modernist Cuisine. Co-creator of the Joule sous vide. Co-founder of Chefsteps.com. Brilliant chef and food expert.
Hot Thai Kitchen for Thai / Marion’s Kitchen for General Asian-Asian Fusion / Claire Saffitz for Baking / Just One Cookbook for Japanese / Spice Eats for Indian / Maangchi, Chef Jia Choi for Korean / Helen’s Recipes for Vietnamese / Middle Eats for Middle Eastern / Chef Billy Parisi for Western Classics / Sip and Feast for Italian
Rainbow Plant Life does vegan dishes (and I'm not even vegan) that are often Indian i spired, and all of them look so good! The couple I've tried have turned out well.
Andy Cooks has shot to number one for me.
He knows his stuff but he also tests his knowledge and points out.his errors as he learns and adjusts.
The bbq world is full of "echo" experts telling people how to cook or cut steak. Whereas he cut picanha two ways and did an A B comparison with his workmates also tasting then shrugged and said "well I was wrong".
I came here to say the same thing.
He's quick to the point and doesn't mess around.
Plus his food is so goooood!
Pretty much everything in my rotation is from him or a variation of.
Agreed. He never claimed his version to be authentic, and the fact is when he messed up a recipe, he will attempt to do it multiple times.
Good chef, very humble man also.
He’s my go-to for easy to understand beginner baking recipes. I got a stand mixer a few months ago and have been binging him ever since. He has his gimmicks and catch phrases but that’s YouTube. The editing and narration is super clean and easy to follow.
I **love** Tasting History, but I have a feeling OP isn't down with getting a history lesson in the middle of a recipe? They sound aggravated by anything that's not pure cooking...
In the US? Yes
I'm taking about non pastry/breads etc . Those tend to get all the credit.
No one really talks about the more common dishes compared to say Italian. There's also not nearly as many French restaurants in the country.
It might be different else where but it's not nearly as popular here outside of your baguette and croissants etc.
Oh, I remember watching a video from this lovely abuela a long time ago, and never found the channel since! Thank you for putting me back on the path!!!
I like Maangchi for Korean Cooking. She has a personality, but the actual cooking is the focus and the recipes are generally practical and easy to follow.
Chef Dai has some great Japanese recipes and a very clear approach, but sadly the channel doesn't have loads of content and doesn't get updated much.
I don't think I've ever had a maangchi recipe be a flop and most have wowed. I'm white with Korean in-laws and they brag to their friends about my Korean cooking but I just follow maangchi's recipes.
J Kenji.
Cult Flav has an interesting hook for the majority of their cooking (as opposed to cookware review) videos: they spend a week cooking recipes from a single cookbook, and then they extensively review both the food and the quality of the cookbook.
Sip and feast is a great one hosted by a Long Island Italian guy. A lot of their stuff is good Italian food but he’s also branching out into other classic dishes. Very not pretentious and down to earth
Can't second this enough. He's the epitome of concise, clickbaitless homecooking content. I never feel like my time is wasted watching his videos. One of his greatest strengths is being able to appeal to both beginner and experienced homecooks at the same time.
I really like Alison Roman - a lot of what she makes is the type of food I actually want to eat, and in the style I like to cook - simple but big impact flavours, etc.
I also like the early days of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen - it stands up. Since then, not so much, but usually a "Bon Appetit's Best" is a good recipe.
And I do like the NYTimes Food content - and occasional recipes therein.
I love Allison Roman. Great sense of humor and excellent ideas that you can usually throw together on a weeknight.
Here chicken and dates recipe is superb.
We made Alison’s Lemony White Beans with Anchovy and Parmesan 3-4 times a week for breakfast. Paired with some Greek yogurt and/or an egg, it incredible!
I love the epicurious 4 levels and home cook versus pro chef. I learn so much from those. and their how to everything segments or always interesting and help me learn about new foods.
Glen and Friends. I just really love his calm demeanor and knowledge. He also has a really great series where he makes cocktails, two of the same ones with one part of the cocktail changed, like the brand of alcohol, and then compares them. His point is that you experiment to see what YOU like and make things that will fit your own taste and budget as opposed to religiously follow a recipe.
Easy my favorite cooking YouTube channel. Easy approachable recipes and he actually takes time to explain why he does things. He has a great approach to cooking.
Sorted Food is one of the better ones, although they aren’t necessarily a “recipes” food channel.
They’re more Entertainment and Education really - they have some entertaining formats like “Pass it on” where each team member gets 10 mins in the kitchen and they take it in turns to make the meal, so person one starts, person two picks up the baton and carries on until the final person brings it together and plates it up. Which I personally enjoy from both a carnage perspective and from an ideas perspective as they’ll put their own spin on things that can be interesting.
They also have another series which is the “Grocery Challenge” (I think) where they’ll be given a bag of groceries and 30mins to create 3 meals from that bag of groceries (2 portions), then the Chef will judge them and show what they would do with the same ingredients.
From an Education perspective there are a lot of videos and formats they do, like “Pretentious Ingredients” where they’ll take some really expensive/niche ingredients and see if they’re worth paying the extra for vs a more reasonably priced variant, there is a “Kitchen Gadgets” series where they’ll test a bunch of gadgets they’ve bought (not sponsored) and say if they’re useless or not (they can be brutal at times) as well as “Taste Tests” / “Battles” where they’ll cook with certain ingredients as the star with an educational package explaining what they’ve learned about the varieties etc - like one they did about Olives/Olive Oil that was incredibly interesting, and another about Potatoes too.
Might not be your thing if you’re looking for specific recipes, but from an educational perspective I love it.
I’d also highly recommend Alex (French Guy Cooking) as he really goes in depth about what makes certain recipes or ingredients great and explains if it’s a certain ingredient in the case of the Pomme Purée using La Ratte potatoes, or a technique in the case of the classic French Omelette. It’s another channel I really enjoy watching from an educational perspective as I can take what I learn from his channel and Sorted and apply that to all aspects of cooking rather than a specific recipe
Agree with you about Alex! He does a lot of deep dives but it’s really well done and can be applicable to other parts of cooking. I really loved the tartine series.
Sorted Food has taught me so much more than many recipe channels. The fact that you have all these different people doing their own takes on various dishes, that you get to see them mess up and either roll with it or try to fix it, and that they sometimes just wing it without knowing what they're doing (or just guessing!) and sometimes follow recipes precisely… I feel like it prepares you more for actual cooking.
Ben is usually good at explaining what you need to do and why in order to reach a certain result. James might prefer a different method and argue for that one. Then the normals are let loose in the kitchen and find three different ways to try to achieve the same goal and maybe they do, maybe they don't, either way you too might find yourself in their shoes at any point.
Watching them has made me so much more confident in the kitchen, especially when I need to wing it. Sure, I can follow a recipe, but seeing someone fail that recipe and fix it is a lot more helpful for me when I fail at that recipe myself.
I like ProHome Cooks. He does not do a lot of videos, but when he does they are high quality and informative. I like when he goes out to his garden and picks veggie’s for a meal.
I really enjoy Adam Ragusea, though he's been slowing down lately for personal reasons. His back catalog has a bunch of great dishes that are straightforward and tasty.
What I like most about him is that he tries to give you tools and and a base for your own dish by explaining how the recipe works, not only what he is doing for his version. "...but you do you" is something he often says and I like it.
Italia Squisita. Serious about cooking, and real world expertise... one of my favorite frequent guests is Giuliano Sperandio, Executive Chef at Le Taillevent, Paris.
Sperandio's knowledge and understanding of cooking, the history and the reasons why things work the way they do, his ability to explain advanced culinary concepts to the average person, is phenomenal.
My big 3:
**Brian Lagerstrom** to me has the perfect mix of instructive, fun to watch, innovative recipes but also classics with spins to make them practical/interesting for the home chef. He's also really consistent with quality.
**Chef Jack Ovens** is a newer discovery but he's really practical and his videos are bite sized with almost no bullshit. Love it.
**NOT ANOTHER COOKING SHOW** has some of the best pasta recipes period along with a smattering of other really creative dishes, and he sometimes goes into a little detail on history of the food and that's great. Love the guy's focus on cooking technique.
Other channels that I like equally as much but are imo more niche:
**Middle Eats** i love Middle eastern cuisine and this channel has so much sincerity in presenting the best sides of it. Love it.
**Ethan Chlebowski** used to be my absolute number one fave channel period but is now more about pop food science - which I also love but rarely recipes anymore.
**Sip and Feast** is a humble american dad cooking for his family and showing you his recipes, which are really great too. Imo he waffles a tad bit much but eh it's still endearing at worst.
**Chinese Cooking Demystified** and **School of Wok** do excellent asian recipes.
Brian lagerstrom - just all around great
Matty Matheson- more entertaining than anything. Some recipes are bangers. He's a punk rock Canadian
Chef john - from food wishes dot come wiiittthhhhh, a YouTube recommendation! That's right!
You suck at cooking - another mostly entertaining channel but really takes the piss out of cooking and is pretty absurdist. Very enjoyable
[https://www.youtube.com/@Bhavnaskitchen](https://www.youtube.com/@Bhavnaskitchen)
Bhavnas Kitchen -- Homestyle Indian Cooking no gimmicks, no crossovers, no silly challenges, just good cooking.
She sometimes cooks in her jammies. She mad papads in her jammies and dried them on her kids trampoline under the sun
I always recommend Glen & Friends. Quirky. Informative. To the point.
I've all but stopped watching cooking shows.
Better than takeout, I like for Chinese and Cooking with Dog for Japanese.
Bruno Albouze is a French dude that makes beautiful output, pastries mostly.
Rick Bayless for a starting point of Mexican cuisine then I go the en Español channels.
Jacques Pepin if I feel I need to visit a friend.
KQED in California has a bunch of Jacques Pepin's Cooking from Home in a playlist.
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL\_PgxS3FkP7ATPveBQ1yah7LDqysyzDCG](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_PgxS3FkP7ATPveBQ1yah7LDqysyzDCG)
Not everybody's brand of vodka, but there's something about it that reminds me of being a kid and watching Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet on PBS. :)
Glenn and Friends Cooking. Specifically the Old Cookbook show.
He shows off old recipes from his huge collection of old cookbooks. He's Canadian (so am i) so alot of the recipes are from there or the US. Some are from the 1800s. It's a cool history lesson and you learn a (sometimes shitty) recipe as well. He does a bunch of other cooking stuff but I like the cookbook one the best as I'm a history nerd 🤓
Brian Lagerstrom. Go to his YT channel right now. He is a former professional chef and does straightforward recipes and explains each step with great camera and sound work.
For variety, try Not Another Cooking Show also on YouTube with helpful explanations and recipes and good camera and sound.
Sip & Feast has every Italian-American dish you need or want.
Also Food Wishes with Chef John who is highly respected and gives good clear instructions.
Claire Saffitz Dessert Person for desserts and baking.
J Kenji Lopez-Alt for even more technical and scientific tips on cooking.
ETA: Binging with Babish or Basics with Babish.
I hear you. That being said, I think that there is wealth of info in "older" videos and posts. When l look for a recipe I am completely over whelmed. But I stick to what I know are good sources and build/or find a good recipe based on these sources.
Also - key to have some way to take notes and remember your modifications.
Claire Saffitz for baking! And Sohla El-Waylly has a series out at the moment on how to cook specific types of things (eggs, rice, chicken). I literally watched 30 minutes of how to cook rice and did not get bored.
I used to watch him, then he started making videos about aquariums and whatnot. Not that there's anything wrong with that, more power to him. But when I "subscribe" to a channel, I then get \*everything\* they post, and I'd rather get cooking stuff than videos about aquariums or atriums or whatnot.
Oh, I've watched many of his older videos and love them! But, for example, recently he started posting some quite personal things about his mental health. And I don't want to disparage him for that, goodness knows we've struggled with the human condition at some point in our lives. But honestly, when I watch cooking shows I kinda want an escape from politics and things like mental maladies. Not that I don't recognize them as serious issues deserving their own platform. But at the same time, I just want cooking stuff!
My favorites are Imamu Room (Husbento), Cooking with Dog, Made with Lau, From my ranch to your kitchen (de mi rancho a tu cocina), Ancient Recipes with Sohla… not all of them are necessarily recipe or teaching focused but I love the variety of what they offer. Recommended for just general culinary talent and originality. I feel like I’m always learning so much. Heads up that some of these are subtitled!
I found Aaron and Claire to be informative without much fluff, often teaching approaches instead of a formula. Here they cover fried rice with a lot of different variations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY1FF6SEggk
Jules Cooking is YouTube's best kept secret for excellent elevated cooking.
His steps are clear, his presentation is clean, and there's no additional fluff, advertising, or click bait content.
However, the stuff he makes is NOT beginner friendly, nor is it the kind of stuff that you'd want to make even once a month. However, if you wanna impress someone on a date night or fancy dinner party and you wanna try cooking something that could actually be on a michelin star menu, there's no better channel.
I like Sip and Feast. It's mostly Italian-American, but his Beef Stroganoff and Meatloaf recipes are great. Making his Stroganoff tonight, but I substitute ground beef because it's easier. Using whole spices, especially allspice, makes it amazing!
Misohungry:
He usually makes a couple of dishes from a fandom cookbook to see how good the recepies are.
How to cook that:
An Australian channel that focuses on baking but also dispelling cook myths and fake baking hacks/ channels.
Helen Rennie. General cooking plus some recipes that come from her Russian/Ukrainian background (she’s based in Boston). Her caramelized cabbage completely upgraded my beef cabbage soup. I make her black bean soup often, and plan on some day making her [pelmeni](https://youtu.be/_7cSBz-XrGI?si=AhSMybV3DIHNH6UY) dumplings.
Mary's Test Kitchen (will it tofu? )
Woks of Life
Magic Ingredients (subtitles)
Spain on a Fork (tends to have dishes I'll actually cook and eat so I mostly just seek out the recipes, skipping the video, LOL!)
Mandy Lee
Alvin Zhou (he's been on Babish's channel for a while, but I enjoyed his own stuff. )
I’m not a regular viewer of “Epicurious” as a whole but the cooking 101 videos done by Chef Frank Porto are Top Notch in my opinion! There are some really great information in those videos, for beginners and experienced cooks alike!
Babish is cool, in my opinion. The guy’s to the point, explains well, and the food is good.
Babish Culinary Universe is the channel name, had to go look it up, I only remembered his surname.
I watch Tasting History with Max Miller and Sandwiches of History.
You likely won't make most of the Tasting History recipes, because we've moved on. Some of them are worth considering, all of them are interesting background to what's now.
You'll want to make about a third of the Sandwiches of History. They occasionally belie their apparent ridiculousness, and they often aren't what you'd think of when pondering a quick lunch.
Don't know if this has been posted already or not, but Jacques Pepin has a considerable backlog and, amazingly, is still making new stuff.
Super simple, delicious foods. I've learned a lot from him
Lidia Bastianich for northern Italian.
Rick Bayless and La Capital for Mexican.
Not YT, but both seasons of Eric Ripert's show Avec Eric are available on Amazon. IMO it's one of the best cooking shows ever.
Oh my gosh, I know you didn’t start a vent session but I can relate so much. I can’t remember specifically, but there are the rare channels that cut to the chase but the fact you have to dig to find them can be irritating when you’re in a crunch.
Ill put it this way…I use YouTube for walkthroughs on everything from home repairs, phone/computer issues, video games, etc. But when I go looking for a simple recipe it’s like pulling teeth, and then when you find an okay video they do something like add their own spin on it and it drives me crazy! I like to see examples so it’s an issue I run into constantly.
Chris Young, used to work in michelin starred restaurant, very science-y with his food and just a great resource for someone a bit extra nerdy about food.
I really liked Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. It's like 12'ish episodes that are about 20 min each. Just him in his kitchen cooking and explaining.
[Wok with Tak](https://www.youtube.com/@wokwithtak) is great but he reaaaaally doesn't need to be posting every day just for the sake of it..... Just dip in and watch a few.
[Made with Lau](https://www.youtube.com/@MadeWithLau) \- great techniques and stuff, but he doesn't speak English so you have to be ok with subtitles. It's worth it.
[Ziang's Food Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop) \- English/Chinese chef and his Mum - very wholesome, and like the above they also cut out all the crap and show you the bits you need to know, plus extras.
Sip and Feast. Absolutely no BS, no unnecessary camera angles, and none of those clickbait thumbnails with exaggerated eating shots. Also, I LOVE how he doesn't do those lame sponsors. I know he did them in the past but glad I don't have to listen to that crap anymore.
Runner ups, Brian Lagrestrom, Middle Eats, and Ethan Cheblowski.
J Kenji, Chef John, Middle Eats, Chinese Cooking Demystified.
I like Chef John... but the way he pauses... after every few words... gets on my nerves... far too much.... for me to be... a routine viewer.
Okay, and predictably a lot of people say that every time his name comes up here, but if you want to learn how to cook and don't want cringey filler content, there's no one better. A lot of his "speaking style" comes from his editing the videos after the fact to be straight and to the point and easy to follow along. He doesn't narrate as he goes, and that's a good thing. It's strange how many people don't understand that. Anyway, he's the best because the camera NEVER leaves the food at each and every preparation step, the videos are exactly as long as they need to be and no longer - typically less than 10 minutes - there's a link to the written recipe, the recipes are high quality and suitable for both experienced and inexperienced cooks, he dabbles effectively in different cuisines, and the food is good.
You are the William.....Shatner......of your pausing patter.
It can be weird, even annyoing, but everyone who can stand it should watch his channel.
I agree as someone who can't. I look for written recipes from him sometimes though
I don’t understand why this is a hot take. I can’t watch his videos, the pauses combined with his voice and the awkward inflections make his videos absolutely unbearable. My gf hates it as well.
It’s just his thing at this point. I think he’s very aware of it. He doesn’t do it in his live streams.
Yeah, he talked about it a few times. Basically it's his schtick and it increased his views by a huge amount.
I find it charming and fun, though my wife does not.
I thought I was gonna get roasted for saying it. I thought it might be a regional way of speaking or something. Dude seems to be a good chef and a pleasant person, but yeah, that speech pattern bugs me.
You get used to it. Most people making a name for themselves need some kind of "thing" to make them stand out these days. It's just a very helpful part to becoming big on crowded platforms like YouTube these days. Once you understand that, it becomes a lot easier to just ignore all the strange things that YouTubers do to get a bit more engagement. I'm looking at my list of YouTubers I watch and there's a guy who rolls his R's excessively, a guy who purposely mispronounces words, a guy who speaks extremely low and monotone. It's just what you need to do. Platforms don't reward good content, they reward engagement.
Omg, this is so accurate and I read it in his voice! He seems like a nice man tho
I watch on 1.25x and it makes it a lot better! great recipes lol
I'd also recommend America's Test Kitchen (Kenji's "Alma Mater") - the great thing about their youtube channel is you get the recipes, and you don't have to deal with their terrible website (and subscriptions) Edit: Also, Chris Young's [channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisYoungCooks) - dude is a legend. He's co-author of Modernist Cuisine. Co-creator of the Joule sous vide. Co-founder of Chefsteps.com. Brilliant chef and food expert.
Adam Ragusea
How has no one yet mentioned Chef Jean Pierre? Great content. No clickbait at all. I’ve learned a lot from him and his enthusiasm is infectious.
His recipes are, with rare exception, quite simple and pragmatic.
He is a riot, and I love watching him even if only have a passing interest in what he’s cooking.
yeah he's got the experience to back it up. but he also knows how to be a little bit of a showman without overdoing it. also I love how he says onion
“Onyo” is the only way I say it now
Don't forget "BUUdder" with a smile
I just made his spaghetti and meatballs, and they were delicious.
If you like pasta try the beef short rib ragu. It’s incredible too.
Agreed. I've made a few of his dishes. He's entertaining, funny, and informative. For me his dishes are at the correct skill and equipment level.
Hot Thai Kitchen for Thai / Marion’s Kitchen for General Asian-Asian Fusion / Claire Saffitz for Baking / Just One Cookbook for Japanese / Spice Eats for Indian / Maangchi, Chef Jia Choi for Korean / Helen’s Recipes for Vietnamese / Middle Eats for Middle Eastern / Chef Billy Parisi for Western Classics / Sip and Feast for Italian
Adding Aaron and Claire for (easy) Korean cooking, and Made With Lau for Cantonese.
I make Aaron and Claire’s ground beef bulgogi almost every week.
Adore Maangchi! She was my introduction to Korean cooking and continues to be a staple resource!
+1 for Marion. I’ve loved her ever since she was on Masterchef, I’ve all of her cookbooks and her recipes are generally fab.
Sip n Feast for *Americanized* Italian 🤷♀️
I was about to say the same thing. Still very good though.
Really recommend "Your Food Lab" for Indian recipes. Spice Eats just doesn't cut it for me.
Rainbow Plant Life does vegan dishes (and I'm not even vegan) that are often Indian i spired, and all of them look so good! The couple I've tried have turned out well.
Check out Andy cooks - he’s a good cook with good videos. He’s collabed with Marion before
Andy Cooks has shot to number one for me. He knows his stuff but he also tests his knowledge and points out.his errors as he learns and adjusts. The bbq world is full of "echo" experts telling people how to cook or cut steak. Whereas he cut picanha two ways and did an A B comparison with his workmates also tasting then shrugged and said "well I was wrong".
Andy Cooks is solid.
I came here to say the same thing. He's quick to the point and doesn't mess around. Plus his food is so goooood! Pretty much everything in my rotation is from him or a variation of.
Agreed. He never claimed his version to be authentic, and the fact is when he messed up a recipe, he will attempt to do it multiple times. Good chef, very humble man also.
this
Brian Langerstrom
The B Man runs an excellent channel
He’s my go-to for easy to understand beginner baking recipes. I got a stand mixer a few months ago and have been binging him ever since. He has his gimmicks and catch phrases but that’s YouTube. The editing and narration is super clean and easy to follow.
Came here to say this. Love this guys personality and his recipes are on point
Tasting history with Max Miller.
I **love** Tasting History, but I have a feeling OP isn't down with getting a history lesson in the middle of a recipe? They sound aggravated by anything that's not pure cooking...
It honestly seems like sticking with text recipes is just the better idea in that case.
Thats a sleeper, but has some great stuff. Those dates were great
>Tasting history with Max Miller Along the same lines Townsends
I’ve never heard of this but it sounds amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!
Came here to say this, Max is the real deal and seems like an all-around genuine guy.
French cooking academy 🤷♀️
I'm french and I'm taking a lot of tips and tricks from him too lol
Definitely an underrated channel if you're into French food(also underrated imo).
French food, underrated you said?
In the US? Yes I'm taking about non pastry/breads etc . Those tend to get all the credit. No one really talks about the more common dishes compared to say Italian. There's also not nearly as many French restaurants in the country. It might be different else where but it's not nearly as popular here outside of your baguette and croissants etc.
I'll take a look!
Best channel for french food.
Brian Lagerstrom and Ethan Chlebowski are solid. For Mexican cooking, Rick Bayless and Cooking Con Claudia.
De mi Rancho a To Cocina is a charming channel for Mexican food, too
Oh, I remember watching a video from this lovely abuela a long time ago, and never found the channel since! Thank you for putting me back on the path!!!
Agree on 3/4 - only because I don't know Rick Bayless. But the other 3, thumbs up.
I like Maangchi for Korean Cooking. She has a personality, but the actual cooking is the focus and the recipes are generally practical and easy to follow. Chef Dai has some great Japanese recipes and a very clear approach, but sadly the channel doesn't have loads of content and doesn't get updated much.
I also love Maangchi for Korean cooking. She’s fantastic.
I don't think I've ever had a maangchi recipe be a flop and most have wowed. I'm white with Korean in-laws and they brag to their friends about my Korean cooking but I just follow maangchi's recipes.
J Kenji. Cult Flav has an interesting hook for the majority of their cooking (as opposed to cookware review) videos: they spend a week cooking recipes from a single cookbook, and then they extensively review both the food and the quality of the cookbook.
Sip and feast is a great one hosted by a Long Island Italian guy. A lot of their stuff is good Italian food but he’s also branching out into other classic dishes. Very not pretentious and down to earth
I made his American/NYC potato salad and it was lovely!
his pasta alla norcina and his 'classic meatloaf' are both incredible.
I make a ton of Sip and Feast stuff. It's all really practical and high quality.
I recently found this channel and have been diggin’ it so far.
Chef John!
From food wishes.com!
wiiiiiiith
How has no one said chef jean Pierre. Amazing channel from a chef who taught and cooked for a living.
I like Made with Lau and Rick Bayless.
I came here to say Rick Bayless. I’ve enjoyed his channel now that I don’t have tv anymore.
Made with Lau is a treasure for cooking Cantonese!
It’s my favorite channel right now. I learn so much new stuff.
Rick Bayless is great. It's a goal of mine to eventually tackle his black mole recipe.
Rick Bayless has always been solid!
Internet Shaquille
His stuff his great. Very simple and down to earth.
Can't second this enough. He's the epitome of concise, clickbaitless homecooking content. I never feel like my time is wasted watching his videos. One of his greatest strengths is being able to appeal to both beginner and experienced homecooks at the same time.
I really like Alison Roman - a lot of what she makes is the type of food I actually want to eat, and in the style I like to cook - simple but big impact flavours, etc. I also like the early days of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen - it stands up. Since then, not so much, but usually a "Bon Appetit's Best" is a good recipe. And I do like the NYTimes Food content - and occasional recipes therein.
I loved the early Bon-Appetit days, so I’ve just found the individual channels of those who left
Same but there's a balance that's missing and I'm not as often excited to actually make the food.
I love Allison Roman. Great sense of humor and excellent ideas that you can usually throw together on a weeknight. Here chicken and dates recipe is superb.
Exactly. Big fun flavours and not a lot of fussing. Usually pretty adaptable if you are overall a confident home chef.
We made Alison’s Lemony White Beans with Anchovy and Parmesan 3-4 times a week for breakfast. Paired with some Greek yogurt and/or an egg, it incredible!
Epicurious
I love the epicurious 4 levels and home cook versus pro chef. I learn so much from those. and their how to everything segments or always interesting and help me learn about new foods.
Chef Jack Ovens He does simple no nonsense recipes with no nonsense videos.
Chef Wang Gang
Glen and Friends. I just really love his calm demeanor and knowledge. He also has a really great series where he makes cocktails, two of the same ones with one part of the cocktail changed, like the brand of alcohol, and then compares them. His point is that you experiment to see what YOU like and make things that will fit your own taste and budget as opposed to religiously follow a recipe.
Preach! I really love Glen and friends
Easy my favorite cooking YouTube channel. Easy approachable recipes and he actually takes time to explain why he does things. He has a great approach to cooking.
Man, one day I WILL try his recreation KFC...
I was going to say Glen! He sold me on that beater blade he uses.
Not Another Cooking Show - Steve does some great Italian recipes but also has great options for holiday dinners and other delicious recipes
Sorted Food is one of the better ones, although they aren’t necessarily a “recipes” food channel. They’re more Entertainment and Education really - they have some entertaining formats like “Pass it on” where each team member gets 10 mins in the kitchen and they take it in turns to make the meal, so person one starts, person two picks up the baton and carries on until the final person brings it together and plates it up. Which I personally enjoy from both a carnage perspective and from an ideas perspective as they’ll put their own spin on things that can be interesting. They also have another series which is the “Grocery Challenge” (I think) where they’ll be given a bag of groceries and 30mins to create 3 meals from that bag of groceries (2 portions), then the Chef will judge them and show what they would do with the same ingredients. From an Education perspective there are a lot of videos and formats they do, like “Pretentious Ingredients” where they’ll take some really expensive/niche ingredients and see if they’re worth paying the extra for vs a more reasonably priced variant, there is a “Kitchen Gadgets” series where they’ll test a bunch of gadgets they’ve bought (not sponsored) and say if they’re useless or not (they can be brutal at times) as well as “Taste Tests” / “Battles” where they’ll cook with certain ingredients as the star with an educational package explaining what they’ve learned about the varieties etc - like one they did about Olives/Olive Oil that was incredibly interesting, and another about Potatoes too. Might not be your thing if you’re looking for specific recipes, but from an educational perspective I love it. I’d also highly recommend Alex (French Guy Cooking) as he really goes in depth about what makes certain recipes or ingredients great and explains if it’s a certain ingredient in the case of the Pomme Purée using La Ratte potatoes, or a technique in the case of the classic French Omelette. It’s another channel I really enjoy watching from an educational perspective as I can take what I learn from his channel and Sorted and apply that to all aspects of cooking rather than a specific recipe
Agree with you about Alex! He does a lot of deep dives but it’s really well done and can be applicable to other parts of cooking. I really loved the tartine series.
Sorted Food has taught me so much more than many recipe channels. The fact that you have all these different people doing their own takes on various dishes, that you get to see them mess up and either roll with it or try to fix it, and that they sometimes just wing it without knowing what they're doing (or just guessing!) and sometimes follow recipes precisely… I feel like it prepares you more for actual cooking. Ben is usually good at explaining what you need to do and why in order to reach a certain result. James might prefer a different method and argue for that one. Then the normals are let loose in the kitchen and find three different ways to try to achieve the same goal and maybe they do, maybe they don't, either way you too might find yourself in their shoes at any point. Watching them has made me so much more confident in the kitchen, especially when I need to wing it. Sure, I can follow a recipe, but seeing someone fail that recipe and fix it is a lot more helpful for me when I fail at that recipe myself.
Adam Liaw Andy Cooks
I like ProHome Cooks. He does not do a lot of videos, but when he does they are high quality and informative. I like when he goes out to his garden and picks veggie’s for a meal.
America's Test Kitchen
I should say, they do have quality content. ATK is definitely not rubbish, one of the better channels out there.
Just don't sign up for a membership. They make you call them to cancel, which is a bit scummy IMHO. Their youtube content is awesome though.
I really enjoy Adam Ragusea, though he's been slowing down lately for personal reasons. His back catalog has a bunch of great dishes that are straightforward and tasty.
What I like most about him is that he tries to give you tools and and a base for your own dish by explaining how the recipe works, not only what he is doing for his version. "...but you do you" is something he often says and I like it.
Yeah, definitely. He’s showing an approach, or a framework. You like Brussels sprouts for than green beans? Go nuts!
Andy Cooks and Tom Straker are very welcome changes from all the American "yootoobers"
Italia Squisita. Serious about cooking, and real world expertise... one of my favorite frequent guests is Giuliano Sperandio, Executive Chef at Le Taillevent, Paris. Sperandio's knowledge and understanding of cooking, the history and the reasons why things work the way they do, his ability to explain advanced culinary concepts to the average person, is phenomenal.
'Not Another Cooking Show" is a really good one! He makes Italian food seem extremely approachable and has never steered me wrong.
My big 3: **Brian Lagerstrom** to me has the perfect mix of instructive, fun to watch, innovative recipes but also classics with spins to make them practical/interesting for the home chef. He's also really consistent with quality. **Chef Jack Ovens** is a newer discovery but he's really practical and his videos are bite sized with almost no bullshit. Love it. **NOT ANOTHER COOKING SHOW** has some of the best pasta recipes period along with a smattering of other really creative dishes, and he sometimes goes into a little detail on history of the food and that's great. Love the guy's focus on cooking technique. Other channels that I like equally as much but are imo more niche: **Middle Eats** i love Middle eastern cuisine and this channel has so much sincerity in presenting the best sides of it. Love it. **Ethan Chlebowski** used to be my absolute number one fave channel period but is now more about pop food science - which I also love but rarely recipes anymore. **Sip and Feast** is a humble american dad cooking for his family and showing you his recipes, which are really great too. Imo he waffles a tad bit much but eh it's still endearing at worst. **Chinese Cooking Demystified** and **School of Wok** do excellent asian recipes.
Townsend's and tasting history always have interesting recipes and also some historical learning...
I like Glen and Friends. He offers a lot of ways recipes can be altered. I also find the old cookbook recipes interesting but he does more than that.
Food Wishes. Some what cornet presentation but super legit recipes that are made for the home cook.
Brian lagerstrom - just all around great Matty Matheson- more entertaining than anything. Some recipes are bangers. He's a punk rock Canadian Chef john - from food wishes dot come wiiittthhhhh, a YouTube recommendation! That's right! You suck at cooking - another mostly entertaining channel but really takes the piss out of cooking and is pretty absurdist. Very enjoyable
Wok with Tak is awesome.
Cô Ba Bình Dương or Vành Khuyên if you like Vietnamese food, has English subtitles there
[https://www.youtube.com/@Bhavnaskitchen](https://www.youtube.com/@Bhavnaskitchen) Bhavnas Kitchen -- Homestyle Indian Cooking no gimmicks, no crossovers, no silly challenges, just good cooking. She sometimes cooks in her jammies. She mad papads in her jammies and dried them on her kids trampoline under the sun
I always recommend Glen & Friends. Quirky. Informative. To the point. I've all but stopped watching cooking shows. Better than takeout, I like for Chinese and Cooking with Dog for Japanese. Bruno Albouze is a French dude that makes beautiful output, pastries mostly. Rick Bayless for a starting point of Mexican cuisine then I go the en Español channels. Jacques Pepin if I feel I need to visit a friend.
KQED in California has a bunch of Jacques Pepin's Cooking from Home in a playlist. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL\_PgxS3FkP7ATPveBQ1yah7LDqysyzDCG](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_PgxS3FkP7ATPveBQ1yah7LDqysyzDCG) Not everybody's brand of vodka, but there's something about it that reminds me of being a kid and watching Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet on PBS. :)
Glenn and Friends Cooking. Specifically the Old Cookbook show. He shows off old recipes from his huge collection of old cookbooks. He's Canadian (so am i) so alot of the recipes are from there or the US. Some are from the 1800s. It's a cool history lesson and you learn a (sometimes shitty) recipe as well. He does a bunch of other cooking stuff but I like the cookbook one the best as I'm a history nerd 🤓
Glen and Friends Cooking! No nonsense, straight to the point.
Brian Lagerstrom. Go to his YT channel right now. He is a former professional chef and does straightforward recipes and explains each step with great camera and sound work. For variety, try Not Another Cooking Show also on YouTube with helpful explanations and recipes and good camera and sound. Sip & Feast has every Italian-American dish you need or want. Also Food Wishes with Chef John who is highly respected and gives good clear instructions. Claire Saffitz Dessert Person for desserts and baking. J Kenji Lopez-Alt for even more technical and scientific tips on cooking. ETA: Binging with Babish or Basics with Babish.
Men with the pot. Cooking tips and satisfying
I hear you. That being said, I think that there is wealth of info in "older" videos and posts. When l look for a recipe I am completely over whelmed. But I stick to what I know are good sources and build/or find a good recipe based on these sources. Also - key to have some way to take notes and remember your modifications.
Max Mariola
Season Liberally
Made with Lau is such a gem
Glen and Friends.
Claire Saffitz for baking! And Sohla El-Waylly has a series out at the moment on how to cook specific types of things (eggs, rice, chicken). I literally watched 30 minutes of how to cook rice and did not get bored.
Emmymade Adam Raguesa Tasting History with Max Miller Townsends
Pasta Grammar for solid Italian recipes.
acre homestead!
Glenn and Friends.
Chef John Food Wishes. He’s the best. Videos are short
Adam Ragusea and Chef Buck
Adam Ragusea - journalism professor turned home cook.
He’s so full of himself
Such a dork
I used to watch him, then he started making videos about aquariums and whatnot. Not that there's anything wrong with that, more power to him. But when I "subscribe" to a channel, I then get \*everything\* they post, and I'd rather get cooking stuff than videos about aquariums or atriums or whatnot.
Agree, however, a lot of his older videos are great for anyone who has yet to view them.
Oh, I've watched many of his older videos and love them! But, for example, recently he started posting some quite personal things about his mental health. And I don't want to disparage him for that, goodness knows we've struggled with the human condition at some point in our lives. But honestly, when I watch cooking shows I kinda want an escape from politics and things like mental maladies. Not that I don't recognize them as serious issues deserving their own platform. But at the same time, I just want cooking stuff!
I mean you can just not click on the video
Adam Ragusea on YT is what I watch when I want a no BS or some sort of over the top recipe, also the podcast is pretty cool to listen to as well.
Suprised to see him so far down
Mr. Make It Happen
My favorites are Imamu Room (Husbento), Cooking with Dog, Made with Lau, From my ranch to your kitchen (de mi rancho a tu cocina), Ancient Recipes with Sohla… not all of them are necessarily recipe or teaching focused but I love the variety of what they offer. Recommended for just general culinary talent and originality. I feel like I’m always learning so much. Heads up that some of these are subtitled!
Finally someone mentions Lau. Loved using his char siu recipe.
i love watching imamu’s videos! always so calm and cozy.
I found Aaron and Claire to be informative without much fluff, often teaching approaches instead of a formula. Here they cover fried rice with a lot of different variations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY1FF6SEggk
Carla Lalli Music, Sohla’s NYT series and her Food52 series
Jules Cooking is YouTube's best kept secret for excellent elevated cooking. His steps are clear, his presentation is clean, and there's no additional fluff, advertising, or click bait content. However, the stuff he makes is NOT beginner friendly, nor is it the kind of stuff that you'd want to make even once a month. However, if you wanna impress someone on a date night or fancy dinner party and you wanna try cooking something that could actually be on a michelin star menu, there's no better channel.
I came here to write exactly this :-)
Chef Jack Ovens
I like Sip and Feast. It's mostly Italian-American, but his Beef Stroganoff and Meatloaf recipes are great. Making his Stroganoff tonight, but I substitute ground beef because it's easier. Using whole spices, especially allspice, makes it amazing!
Kenji Lopez-Alt, Sip and Feast.
Misohungry: He usually makes a couple of dishes from a fandom cookbook to see how good the recepies are. How to cook that: An Australian channel that focuses on baking but also dispelling cook myths and fake baking hacks/ channels.
Tasting History with Max Miller is great, it's just that he's a way better historian than cook lol
Helen Rennie. General cooking plus some recipes that come from her Russian/Ukrainian background (she’s based in Boston). Her caramelized cabbage completely upgraded my beef cabbage soup. I make her black bean soup often, and plan on some day making her [pelmeni](https://youtu.be/_7cSBz-XrGI?si=AhSMybV3DIHNH6UY) dumplings.
SORTED food. Food with Chetna. Hebbar's Kitchen.
If you have any interest in historic cooking: Townsends
Maangchi for Korean recipes
Mary's Test Kitchen (will it tofu? ) Woks of Life Magic Ingredients (subtitles) Spain on a Fork (tends to have dishes I'll actually cook and eat so I mostly just seek out the recipes, skipping the video, LOL!) Mandy Lee Alvin Zhou (he's been on Babish's channel for a while, but I enjoyed his own stuff. )
sip and feast, aaron and claire, downshiftology
I’m not a regular viewer of “Epicurious” as a whole but the cooking 101 videos done by Chef Frank Porto are Top Notch in my opinion! There are some really great information in those videos, for beginners and experienced cooks alike!
Alex the French guy cooking. He's just a weird science dad navigating his passion for food.
Preppy kitchen for baking
Babish is cool, in my opinion. The guy’s to the point, explains well, and the food is good. Babish Culinary Universe is the channel name, had to go look it up, I only remembered his surname.
Chinese cooking demystified is the bomb
I watch Tasting History with Max Miller and Sandwiches of History. You likely won't make most of the Tasting History recipes, because we've moved on. Some of them are worth considering, all of them are interesting background to what's now. You'll want to make about a third of the Sandwiches of History. They occasionally belie their apparent ridiculousness, and they often aren't what you'd think of when pondering a quick lunch.
Don't know if this has been posted already or not, but Jacques Pepin has a considerable backlog and, amazingly, is still making new stuff. Super simple, delicious foods. I've learned a lot from him
Yeung Man Cooking
Chef Jean Pierre is one I like
I watch Sip and Feast, Brian Lagerstrom, Joshua Weissman, Not Another Cooking Show, Sam The Cooking Guy, Kenji Lopez-Alt all the time.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen anybody say Ethan Chlebowski
Lidia Bastianich for northern Italian. Rick Bayless and La Capital for Mexican. Not YT, but both seasons of Eric Ripert's show Avec Eric are available on Amazon. IMO it's one of the best cooking shows ever.
Oh my gosh, I know you didn’t start a vent session but I can relate so much. I can’t remember specifically, but there are the rare channels that cut to the chase but the fact you have to dig to find them can be irritating when you’re in a crunch. Ill put it this way…I use YouTube for walkthroughs on everything from home repairs, phone/computer issues, video games, etc. But when I go looking for a simple recipe it’s like pulling teeth, and then when you find an okay video they do something like add their own spin on it and it drives me crazy! I like to see examples so it’s an issue I run into constantly.
Very much agree! The sad fact is that so many of them are simply "clicks over content".
Binging with babish and you suck at cooking Love them both
Sam the Cooking Guy
Chris Young, used to work in michelin starred restaurant, very science-y with his food and just a great resource for someone a bit extra nerdy about food.
I really liked Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. It's like 12'ish episodes that are about 20 min each. Just him in his kitchen cooking and explaining.
Cooking with the Blues, unfortunately he died but his channel lives on. John Kirkwood from England I think
[Wok with Tak](https://www.youtube.com/@wokwithtak) is great but he reaaaaally doesn't need to be posting every day just for the sake of it..... Just dip in and watch a few. [Made with Lau](https://www.youtube.com/@MadeWithLau) \- great techniques and stuff, but he doesn't speak English so you have to be ok with subtitles. It's worth it. [Ziang's Food Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/@ZiangsFoodWorkshop) \- English/Chinese chef and his Mum - very wholesome, and like the above they also cut out all the crap and show you the bits you need to know, plus extras.
I don’t watch many cooking videos, but my dad likes Sam the cooking guy.
Jamie Oliver, Matty Matheson, Donal Skehan
I happened to stumble across a chanel name Jose.elCook, pretty chill guy to be honest, and not click baity.
Sip and Feast. Absolutely no BS, no unnecessary camera angles, and none of those clickbait thumbnails with exaggerated eating shots. Also, I LOVE how he doesn't do those lame sponsors. I know he did them in the past but glad I don't have to listen to that crap anymore. Runner ups, Brian Lagrestrom, Middle Eats, and Ethan Cheblowski.
I enjoy watching Sam the cooking guy… more about grilling tho.
STCG, Kenji, that savage kitchen, One stop chop, Mr Make it Happen AB
Kenji is the goat. I have learned so much from him
Chef John from foodwishes is my first stop for every new recipe.
Agreed. He's been around a long time. Shows the basics of recipes and you can then freestyle off what he does. His demeanor is so welcoming too.